Studio of Carlo Dolci Florence 1616 - 1687

This painting once belonged with two others, representing Christ carrying the Cross and The Madonna, being offered as lot 38 in the Old Master Paintings sale to be held in London, Sotheby's, 6 December 2006. All paintings are on their original canvases and are of similar dimensions, denoting that they once hung as a 'triptych'. The other two paintings are of notably better quality and are late autograph works by Dolci, whereas the present painting was probably produced in his workshop to act as a pendant to the other pair (perhaps at the patron's bequest). Although often conceived as a pendant to a Madonna, it is unusual to associate the Archangel Gabriel with Christ Carrying the Cross. The iconography is not unique in Dolci's oeuvre but no other version of this composition is known. The brooch and gilded trim of the Angel's cloak are similar to those on Dolci's Angel in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. 3827 (see F. Baldassari, Carlo Dolci, Turin 1995, pp. 124-5, cat. no. 97, reproduced).