Guido Reni and Studio

With the current owner since circa 1985.

D. S. Pepper, "Guido Reni's Practice of Repeating Compositions," in artibus et historieae, an art anthology, vol. XX, no. 39, 1999, pp. 34 and 36, reproduced fig. 10.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been quite recently retouched and varnished. While the lining does not fully eliminate the raised cracking, the paint layer is stable and given that this is an old lining, it is most likely worth keeping as is. The paint layer is cleaned yet there is a nice patina, particularly on St. Joseph's face, and the retouches have been nicely handled. The retouches are clearly visible under ultraviolet light addressing the kind of isolated losses, small patches of thinness and blemishes that are to be expected from a picture of this period. The retouches are not unsubstantial yet the picture has a fresh, unabraded quality which is very nicely preserved, particularly in the face of St. Joseph and in a good deal of the remainder of the picture.
"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."

This touching picture of St. Joseph and the Christ Child illustrates a theme that preoccupied Reni during his later years.  Pepper cites a number of autograph works of this subject, dating from the 1620s to the end of Reni's career,¹ probably the most famous of which is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Rienzi Collection. 

In the earliest treatments, such as the examples in the Hermitage and in a Lausanne private collection, the scale is expansive, as Reni portrays St. Joseph in three quarter length in a woody landscape.  Joseph's grasp seems almost tentative as he cradles the Christ Child, who reaches up to play with his beard.  The present work varies the composition somewhat; here the setting is more constricted and the interaction between the two figures more intimate.  Joseph's grasp seems firmer as he looks down at the placid figure of Christ and directly meets his gaze.  It is datable to 1636-37.  Others versions of this type are in the Palazzo Arcivescovado, Milan and another formerly on the London art market, and have been similarly dated to the late 1630s.²    The last group of pictures, which includes the Rienzi painting, is datable to the late 1630s and early 1640s. There Reni has distilled the composition still further, eliminating the landscape and concentrating wholly on the relationship between the two figures.

In the present picture, the refined treatment of St. Joseph's hair and beard, and the handling of the figure of the Christ Child are surely the work of Reni himself, but the background and areas of the drapery appear to have been finished by his workshop. 

1.  See Literature, p. 34.
2.  D. S. Pepper, Guido Reni:  opera completa, Novara 1988, Appendix I, cat. nos. 50 and 49, respectively, both illustrated.