FOLLOWER OF THE CARRACCI FAMILY | Saint Francis at prayer

oil on canvas, laid onto board, unframed This is likely to be a copy after an as yet unidentified prototype from an artist in the circle of the Carracci Family. Ludovico Carracci and his cousins Agostino Carracci, and Annibale Carracci, rose to artistic prominence in the last quarter of the 16th century. The Carracci family are justly renown for the extraordinarily far-reaching influence their new style bore; the artistic reform that the Carraccis initiated was founded in a desperation to escape the sterility of the prevailing Mannerist style and a commitment to north Italian naturalism and 'colore'. This 'Saint Francis' shares the Carraccis' interest in a realistic and natural setting, and an honest depiction of the weathered and bare-foot saint. Among their many pupils were three younger members of the Carracci family: Agostino’s natural son Antonio Carracci, Ludovico’s younger brother Paolo Carracci, and Francesco Carracci, the son of Agostino’s and Annibale’s brother Giovanni Antonio Carracci.

All paintings available to view at the Sotheby’s Greenford Park warehouse, 5 - 7 and 10 – 13 September (10 - 4pm), by appointment. The canvas is laid onto a board which is flat and stable. The paint surface is dirty and the varnish is discoloured and uneven. In raking light, it is possible to discern a small restoration lower left by the book measuring no longer than 1 cm., as well as other small, scattered retouchings on the left margin, along the lower margin, next to the skull, in the upper and lower right corners, and in the rocks next to the saint, centre right. There are also more concentrated areas of discoloured retouching throughout the sky, and all of these restorations are confirmed under ultraviolet light.
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