Carlo Cignani

Marchese Rezzonico, Rome and Venice;
Don Manuel Godoy, Madrid;
Private collection, Paris;
With The Matthiesen Gallery, London;
From whom acquired by the present collector in 1992.

Possibly Breve Racconto di Carlo Cignani Muto Academico. Bologna, A di 14 Agosto 1702, Bibl. Communale, Bologna;
Possibly I. Zanelli, Vita del Gran Pittore Cavalier Conte Carlo Cignani dedicata al Signor Conte Cristoforo Tardini ministro del Serenissimo Signor Duca di Modena, Bologna 1722, p. 20;
Possibly L. Pascoli, Vite de'Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti moderni, Rome 1730-6, p. 161;
Possibly G.B. Zanotti, Storia dell'Accademica Clementina di Bologna, Bologna 1739, vol. I, p. 145;
Possibly M. Oretti, Le Pitture che si ammirano nelli Palaggi e Case de'Nobili della Cittá di Bologna..., Ms.B 104, Bologna 1760-80, p. 76;
Possibly M. Oretti, Notizie de Professori ed Architetti bolognesi e de forostieri di sua scuola, VII, Ms. B 129, Bologna 1760-80, c. 348;
Possibly C.C. Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice. Vite de' pittori bolognesi. Con aggiunte, correzioni e note inedite del medesimo autore, di Giampietro Zanotti e di altri scrittori viventi, Bologna 1841 vol. II, p. 186;
Possibly T. Gerevitch, "Carlo Cignani", in Thieme Becker Kunstlexicon, vol. VI, Leipzig 1912, p. 578;
Possibly B.B. Fabri, Carlo Cignani: Affreschi, Dipinti, Disegni, Bologna1992, p. 271 (under "Opere menzionate e non ritrovate").

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 on copper is backed with an old piece of wood. The copper panel itself is heavy, flat, and in beautiful condition. There is one restored scratch on the bottom edge beneath the tail of the dove. There is a spot or two of retouching in the cheek of the child, in the blue shoulder on the right side of the Madonna, and in her chin. The paint layer has remained perfectly stable, and there have been none of the losses that one so often sees with paintings on metal supports. The condition is remarkably good.
"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 tender Madonna and Child beautifully displays the soft, reflective manner for which Cignani was held in such high regard by his contemporaries. His ability to depict children, be they representations of the Infant Christ, putti, or allegorical figures, reflects the Bolognese classicist tradition from which he emerged. His figures are distinguished by their soft skin, doe-eyed features, and carefully composed embraces in which the Infant Jesus hangs his head away from the Madonna whilst looking directly at the viewer. Cignani returned to this basic format in other bust length depictions of Madonna and ChiId, such as a work of similar dimensions in the Uffizi (inv. no. 1333). In these sensitive pictures he displays the clear influence of Correggio, as well as the influence of Guido Reni, and Cignani's own teacher Francesco Albani, who like Cignani excelled at tender representations of the Madonna and Child executed on copper.

A prolific artist, Cignani was held in high regard by his peers in Bologna, where he ran a large workshop in the 1660s and 1670s.  In 1709 Cignani was elected Principe Perpetuo ('director for life') by the Accademia Clementina, the first municipal art academy in Bologna. The title was among the most esteemed for an artist in Bologna, and was never awarded again after Cignani.

The picture may possibly correspond to a Virgin and Child, also executed on copper, which Fabbri references (see Literature) as once hanging in the Palazzo Caprara in Bologna, though little evidence exists to confirm this claim. Furthermore, the early literature on Bolognese painters and Cignani himself describes a Madonna and Child of similar description, and though no dimensions or provenance are listed in these early sources to confirm this, there has been no argument against the certain authenticity of this beautiful and delicate Madonna and Child.