Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato

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 restored and should be hung in its current condition. The canvas has a fairly recent lining. The paint layer is cleaned and retouched. Retouches are visible under ultraviolet light and although they are fairly evenly applied and in some areas in a fairly concentrated form, the works looks well. The face is showing a few isolated retouches here and there. The retouches are more numerous in the neck, pale blouse, blue robe and hands.
"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."

Giovanni Battista Salvi, more commonly known as Sassoferrato, after the town in which he was born, learned the rudiments of painting from his father Tarquino before embarking on a trip to Rome. There he studied the works of his contemporaries, including Reni, Domenichino, and the Carracci. His greatest influence, however, was Raphael and he is known to have directly copied the latter's compositions (see, for example, Sassoferato's Madonna and Child in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin [inv. no. 482], which is directly based on Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks on loan to the National Gallery, London). Despite being an accomplished portraitist, Sassoferato specialized in easel paintings of a devotional nature, usually representing the Madonna alone or with the Christ Child, of which the present composition is an outstanding example. The large number of autograph and studio replicas of his compositions attest to the popularity they enjoyed within the artist's own lifetime.  

The composition of the Madonna in Prayer is one of Sassoferrato's most celebrated and was repeated by him in numerous variations that differ primarily in the Madonna's drapery and headdress.  This particular variant is a bust length version of a half-length composition by Sassoferrato that is known from a drawing in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle (inv. 6053) and three other half-length depictions in oil that have been on the market.¹

1.  See New York, Christie's, 31 January 1997, lot 197 and London, Christie's, 27 June 1975, lot 96;  another sold, London, Sotheby's, 8 July 1999 lot 195, reproduced; and a third sold New York, Sotheby's, 3 June 2010, lot 58.