Attributed to Carlo Dolci

At Devonshire House by 1813 until at least 1854 and transferred to Chatsworth by 1890.

Devonshire House Wall Plan of paintings, 1813;
G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London 1854, vol. II, p.92 (as 'Carlo Dolce... an original');
Anon., Pictures at Chatsworth, circa 1890, mss, when hanging in the South Corridor;
W. G. E. Strong, Handlist of Pictures at Chatsworth and Devonshire House, 1909, p.64, in The Allcove Room.

 

Relined. There are signs of craquelure, which appear to be stable, visible in the catalogue illustration. The varnish has discoloured but the paint surface appears sound. UV light confirms the good original condition.
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Dolci painted several versions of this subject and composition, showing Christ both full-length and, as here, bust-length. Both autograph full-length versions, in the Thyssen Bornemisza collection, Madrid and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, depict the young Christ seated on a step in a formal garden holding a small garland of flowers in his left hand.¹ Each is recorded by Filippo Baldinucci who describes in detail the 1675 commission from the Empress Claudia Felicità for a replica of the version now in Madrid:

Gesù, in età di sei anni in circa, in atto di sedere, sopra l'ingresso dell'orto.... con una ghirlanda di bellissimi fiori in mano...²

The principal bust-length version, which the present picture follows in all but a few details of the flowers and curls of hair, is in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.³

1.  See F. Baldassari, Carlo Dolci, Turin 1995, pp. 137-40, no. 111, reproduced p. 139 and pp. 140-1, no. 112,reproduced p. 140.
2.  See F. Baldinucci (ed. F. Ranalli), Notizie dei Professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua, vol. V, Florence 1847, pp. 350-1.
3.  Ibid., p. 141, no. 113, reproduced p. 140.