Attributed to Giovanni Antonio Galli, called lo Spadarino

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 6 December 1972, lot 116 (as Spadarino), for £600 to Beech;
With Fabrizio Apolloni, Rome;
Andrea Busiri Vici collection, Rome.

A. Busiri Vici, "Ancora sullo 'Spadarino'", in Antichità Viva, 1975, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 40-41, reproduced figs. 2 and 3 (the latter in its frame);
A. Busiri Vici, "Ancora sullo 'Spadarino'", in Scritti d'Arte, ed. B. Jatta, Rome 1990, pp. 311-12, reproduced fig. 2 and in colour (in frame) fig. 3.

The catalogue illustration is representative. The copper support is mostly flat, although very slightly uneven at the left edge. The paint surface is very well preserved overall and covered by a dirty layer of varnish. There is an area of paint loss at the extreme upper right corner. There is an are of restored damage to the dark background lower centre, and a small restored loss at the botto of the madonna's cloak. There are some very small retouchings to Christ's face and to an area of the sky beneath the dove.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The iconography of the Madonna holding the Christ Child on her lap, the latter reaching out to a dove (representing the Holy Spirit) and John the Baptist nearby, relates to a larger canvas of a similar subject formerly in a private collection, Rome, and now of whereabouts unknown.¹  The compositions of the two works have notable differences as the artist has chosen to compress the design to fit the octagonal format of the copper, introducing two putti to fill the space upper left.

Busiri Vici, in whose collection this painting once was, first published the work as by Spadarino after his attention was drawn to it by Erich Schleier. Busiri Vici plausibly suggested that the small copper was almost certainly executed as a 'capo da letto' for a cardinal or wealthy principe in Rome. Its elaborate frame with pietra dura inlay is very similar to an octagonal example from the Spanish Royal Collection, today in Madrid, Instituto Valencia de Don Juan.²

1.  Reproduced in Busiri Vici, see Literature, 1990, p. 308, fig. 12, and more recently in G. Papi, Spadarino, Soncino 2003, pp. 154-55, cat. no. 34, plate 16).
2.  Inv. 6077; reproduced in colour in A. González-Palacios, Las Colecciones Reales Españolas de Mosaicos y Piedras Duras, Madrid 2001, p. 261, no. 54.