Studio of Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato

The actual painting is less red and warmer in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The canvas has an old effective relining. No damages are apparent. The paint surface is well preserved and is under a very dirty and yellowed layer of varnish. No retouchings are visible to the naked eye and further inspection under UV light is impeded by the dirty varnish layer. Overall, the painting is in good condition. Offered in a decorative black wood frame with gilt moulded borders in good condition. (MW)
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This studio work most closely relates to an autograph work by Sassoferrato in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Bordeaux (inv. no. E. 950; n. 1789).¹

Giovanni Battista Salvi was known by the name of his town of birth, Sassoferrato, and was primarily active in nearby Urbino and other central Italian cities. In Rome, he came under the influence of Domenichino and Carracci, but his tender and devout Madonna's were most strongly inspired by Raphael.
Other than a few public commissions, Sassoferrato mainly painted small devotional pictures for private patrons, and the Madonna at prayer was one of his most popular subjects. Like the present work, the many variants and copies of variable quality that emanated from the artist's workshop and from within his circle demonstrate the popularity and demand for this devotional image fuelled by the Counter Reformation.

1. See F. Macé De Lépinay, P. Zampetti and S. Cuppini Sassi, Giovan Battista Salvi "Il Sassoferrato", exhibition catalogue, Milan 1990, p. 52, cat. no. 6.