Corrado Giaquinto

Until very recently, in a private collection, Munich.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The canvas has an old lining, there is a loss of tension and, consequentially, deformation across the picture plane. The paint surface is secure and flat. There are three or four minor restored paint losses to the sky and likewise to the Madonna's blue dress at the bottom, otherwise, the painting is in an excellent untouched condition with both the paint texture and the impasto well preserved. Removing the discoloured varnish would improve the overall tonality. Offered in an 18th C gilt wood frame, some losses."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In 1753 Ferdinand IV of Spain called Giaquinto to Madrid to take over from the court painter Jacopo Amigoni. There the artist remained until 1762 in a period that was arguably the high point of his career. Most likely to date from this Spanish period or soon after the artist's return to Italy, the Madonna's three-quarter profile turned heavenward looks back to a St Cecilia formerly in the collection of Stephen Pepper, New York. The latter probably dates from the early 1750s, from a time when Giaquinto was still in Rome, and displays the same pastel colouring as the present work, whilst the clutch of putti are an ever-present motif in his oeuvre. The brushstrokes of the Madonna's robes mirror the tight folds found in the Virgin and Child with Saints in the Palacio Real de Aranjuez, Madrid (inv. no. 10012903) which also dates from the artist's Spanish period.

We are grateful to Dr. Edgars Peter Bowron and Prof. Nicola Spinosa for independently endorsing the attribution to Giaquinto, the former following inspection of the original and the latter on the basis of photographs. Prof. Spinosa has proposed a date of execution in the early 1760s, during the artist's Spanish sojourn or soon after his return to Naples in 1762.