Roman School, 18th Century

Andrew Ciechanowiecki, London;

With Heim Gallery, London, 1971 (as Francesco Fontebasso, Vision of Saint Louis IX);

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 28 October 1988, lot 92 (as Circle of Luigi Garzi, Vision of Saint Louis IX);

With Galerie Cailleux, Paris, 1989 (as Francesco de Mura, Carloman renouncing the crown);

Anonymous sale, Paris, Oger-Dumont, 17 November 2000, lot 35 (as Francesco de Mura, Carloman renouncing the crown);

Where acquired by the present collector.

London, Heim Gallery, Faces and Figures of the Baroque: Autumn Exhibition, 9 November - 24 December 1971, no. 40 (as Francesco Fontebasso, Vision of Saint Louis IX);

Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Les Étapes de la création, Esquisses et dessins de Boucher à Isabey, 12 June - 13 July 1989, no. 13 (as Francesco de Mura, Carloman renouncing the crown).

M. Magrini, Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769), Vicenza 1988, p. 232, cat. no. 19A (under the section, "works with uncertain or erroneous attribution").

Formerly attributed to Francesco Fontebasso (1707-1769) and Francesco de Mura (1696-1782), this small-scale painting is probably the preliminary oil sketch for an untraced altarpiece. Executed with exceptionally energetic brushwork, the painting depicts a man, his hands clasped in prayer, kneeling before an elaborate altar and crucifix. A golden crown and scepter are set beside him on the ground, suggesting his identity as a prince or king and indicating the primacy of his devotion to the Cross above his royal title. Over the past century, the subject has been identified as either the vision of Saint Louis IX of France or Carloman renouncing the crown, both attributions of whom are rarely depicted, yet share a similar iconographic tradition.

In 1989, the present work was recognized as Francesco de Mura’s modello (a small, rapidly executed sketch capturing the initial idea for a composition) for a painting commissioned circa 1732-1734 for the Abbey of Monte Cassino near Rome. Around this date, Carloman’s relics were transferred from the church's main altar to a nearby chapel where De Mura’s finished work (destroyed by the bombings of 1944) was later installed. A more mature oil sketch of the lost painting depicts Carloman (circa 715-754), son of Charles Martel and joint ruler of the Frankish kingdom, receiving the ecclesiastical vestements from Pope Zechariah upon renouncing his title in 747.¹ After ceding his crown and scepter to embrace a monastic life, Carloman entered the monastery at Monte Cassino where a chapel was later dedicated in his honor and for which De Mura received the painting commission. 

¹ Francesco de Mura, Carloman Presented with the Benedictine Habit by Pope Zacharias, private collection.