Francesco Foschi Ancona 1750-1805 Rome

Private Collection, France;
With Habolt & Co., Paris.

M. Vinci-Corsini, Francesco Foschi, Milan 2002, p. 186, cat. no 116, reproduced (in reverse) p. 122.

The original is a little warmer in tone than as shown in the catalogue illustration. The canvas has a fairly recent sympathetic relining which is sound. The painting has been quite recently cleaned, restored and re-varnished and the paint surface is very well preserved overall. There are however a few restored damages to the upper centre of the sky, two of them minor but the other measuring approx. 3 by 3 cm. Inspection under ultra-violet light reveals some retouching to the craquelure, notably to the brightest area of the sky, and to other localised areas throughout. The painting is however in very good condition overall. Sold with a carved wood and plaster gilt frame, in good condition, with some losses. AF*
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Vinci-Corsini (see Literature) dates this work to the 1770s and compares it to the artist's Replenishing the water supply (op. cit., pp. 180-1, cat. no. 84, reproduced) which is signed and dated 1770 and in which the same figures of mother and child and the two travellers reappear, albeit in different positions.