Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato

With Galleria Caretto, Turin;
From whom acquired by the present owner.

F. Macé de Lépinay (ed.), Giovanni Battista Salvi, il “Sassoferrato”, Milan 1990, exhibition catalogue, p. 70, under cat. no. 20.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The artist's copper panel is providing a secure and stable structural support. Paint Surface The paint surface has a rather dull and uneven varnish layer and cleaning would be very beneficial. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows small scattered spots of retouching in the sky and clouds, a few small retouchings around the framing edges, and larger retouchings in the red pigments of the robes of the Virgin along Her right arm and smaller retouchings around Her feet. There are other small scattered spots of inpainting including one very small retouching on the Virgin's forehead, and small retouchings just above Her collar. A line of inpainting to Her left knee fluoresces as well as other very small spots of inpainting elsewhere. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and should respond very well to cleaning, restoration and revarnishing.
"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 charming copper by Sassoferrato is a splendid example of the artist’s work. The beautiful condition as well as the copper support, so perfectly suited to his style, allow us to fully appreciate Sassoferrato's meticulous attention to detail, the porcelain-like fleshtones of his figures, the voluminous folds of the clouds and the rich lapis lazuli. Like other examples of his works, the design is inspired by Raphael, in this particular case the Madonna of Foligno in the Pinacoteca Vaticana.¹ Since the figures are reversed, it can be assumed that Sassoferrato based his design not on Raphael’s original, but on Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving after the painting.

As was his custom, Sassoferrato produced several versions of the composition, all with some variations: one example, on canvas, is in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin and includes the heads of four putti above the Madonna; another canvas was in Corby Castle in the nineteenth century before being with Robert Noortman in the 1980s and includes unusual rays of light behind the figures.³ A copy after the present work, also on copper, is in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan.

M. Macé de Lépinay, to whom we are grateful for endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs, will be including the painting in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist.



1. See C. Pietrangeli, Paintings in the Vatican, Udine 1996, pp. 242-43, cat. no. 235, reproduced in colour.
2. The last example of a painting on copper by Sassoferrato to come to the market was sold New York, Sotheby's, 26 January 2012, lot 46, for $320,000.
3. See Macé de Lépinay, under Literature.