Carlo Maratti

Bears unidentifed collector's mark (L.474, formerly associated with Pierre Crozat);
John Skippe,
by descent to Mrs. Rayner Wood, and
Edward Holland Martin, 
his sale, London, Christie's, 20-21 November 1958, lot 127B, purchased by Ralph Holland

Laid down on the old mount . A bluish stain lower right and on the drapery to the left. A few scattered, small light brown stains. Some sort of staining, in a light straight line, in a beige color running between the two hands, starting after the head of the saint . Some surface dirt. One crease at the top and a few to the right corner.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A.E. Popham, who wrote the catalogue of the 1958 sale of the Skippe collection, rightly identified this as a study for Maratti's painting of St. John the Evangelist, which was in the collection of England's first Prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole, later 1st Earl of Orford, and hung in the 'Carlo Maratti Room' at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, until it was sold by Walpole's grandson, the 3rd Earl of Orford, to Catherine the Great of Russia, in 1779. 

The current location of the painting is not known -- although Popham presumed it was in the Hermitage he wrote that it was not described in the 1891 catalogue of the museum's holdings -- but fortunately its composition is recorded in a 1787 stipple engraving by Riott (fig. 1).  This print was produced as part of the great project, initiated in 1774 by the publisher John Boydell, to make a printed record of the famous Walpole collection, before it disappeared to Russia for ever.¹  In the end, Boydell did not have time to succeed fully in his aim before the sale was concluded in 1779, but all the same he did commission 162 fine prints from Richard Earlom, Valentine Green, and a number of other engravers, which were issued at regular intervals in sets of ten or so plates, and then finally published as a lavish, two-volume compendium, under the title 'A Set of Prints Engraved after the Most Capital Paintings in the Collection of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress of Russia, Lately in the Possession of the Earl of Orford at Houghton Hall in Norfolk', generally referred to as The Houghton Gallery.  

Riott's print after Maratti's St. John the Evangelist was plate 61 in the second volume of The Houghton Gallery.²  From this print, we can see that in the painted version the head of the Saint is turned to the spectator and the right hand is lower than any of the positions indicated in the present sheet.  According to Ralph Holland another study for this same figure was in Anthony Blunt's collection.

1.  Gregory Rubinstein, 'The Genesis of John Boydell's Houghton Gallery,' Houghton Hall, The Prime Minister, The Empress and The Heritage, exhib. cat., Norwich, Castle Museum, and London, Kenwood, 1996-97, pp. 65-73
2.  Idem., 'Richard Earlom (1743-1822) and Boydell's Houghton Gallery,' Print Quarterly, VIII, no. 1, 1991, p. 27