Denys Calvaert Antwerp circa 1540 - 1619 Bologna

Calvaert, who was known as ‘Dionisio Fiammingo’ (an appellation with which he often signed), was born in Antwerp in around 1540 but arrived in Italy as a young man; if Bolognini Amorini is to be believed, when he was about 20 years old. He first entered the workshop of Prospero Fontana in Bologna, and then that of Lorenzo Sabatini, whom he accompanied to Rome in 1572. Calvaert returned to Bologna three years later and opened an academy for young artists attended by, amongst others, Guido Reni. Calvaert’s style remained thoroughly mannerist throughout his artistic career and, like Barocci and Correggio whom he greatly admired, he was also a prolific draughtsman.

This painting’s mannerist style brings it in line with Calvaert’s works executed in the last quarter of the 16th century, after his return to Bologna. The pose of Christ, with His raised over-sized hand and head tilted to one side, echoes that of Calvaert’s Saint Cecilia, of which two different autograph versions exist, both of which are dated to the early 1580s.¹ The naturalistic rendering of the donor lower left may be compared to figures in Calvaert’s famous altarpiece showing The miracle of the brandeum painted for the church of San Gregorio, Bologna, in 1581.² During the decade that ensues Calvaert’s paintings show a renewed interest in Barocci and Correggio, particularly in his small-scale devotional works, and it is reasonable to assume that this painting dates from around this time.³

The composition of this painting appears to be unrecorded in Calvaert's oeuvre, both in its painted and graphic form.

1 One is in the Galleria Pallavicini, Rome, and the other in the Pinacoteca in Parma. The former is reproduced by T. Montella, in V. Fortunati Pietrantonio, Pittura bolognese del ’500, Bologna 1986, vol. II, p. 692.
2 Calvaert signed the contract for the altarpiece in that year. See Montella, op. cit., p. 684, reproduced in colour p. 693.
3 See, for example, the Holy Family with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist, signed and dated 1584, sold in Milan, Sotheby’s, 30 May 2006, lot 5, for €160,000.