Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari

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Description

Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari
Saint Joseph embracing the Infant Christ, the Virgin, the Infant Saint John and Saint Elizabeth beyond
oil on canvas

Provenance

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, June 17, 1955, lot 103 (as Maratta), to Cevat;
By descent from the mother of the present owner who had acquired the present lot in the Midwest in the 1960's.

Catalogue Note

The present work betrays the influence of Chiari's master, Carlo Marratti, and in fact the composition appears to have been derived from a work by the older artist (unpublished, in a private collection, Spain). The subject matter is somewhat unusual in Italian painting, where the figure of Joseph is most often depicted in an ancillary role. In the present composition, however, he has replaced the Madonna as the focus of the composition.