Gaetano Gandolfi

Possibly Vendeghini-Baldi collection, Ferrara;
Carlo Baldi;
From whom acquired by a private collector, Rome;
By descent to the current owner.

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 work is in wonderful condition. Although it is probably quite dirty now, it certainly looks very attractive. If the work were cleaned, the yellowed varnish would be removed. There are some restorations in the chest of the Madonna, in the left hand of Jesus, in the Madonna's left knee and maybe a few other isolated spots. The condition and texture of the original paint is extremely well preserved. The lining is old but 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 Holy Family was painted in circa 1775 by Gaetano Gandolfi, Bologna's leading painter of the second half of the eighteenth century. It was in 1775 that Gandolfi, at the apex of his career, produced his monumental signed and dated masterpiece, the Marriage of Cana, in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna.¹

Until recently the present design was only known through a red chalk preparatory drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig. 1). While the drawing's delicate poses and overall composition are barely altered in the finished painting, the latter stands out for its strikingly warm light and the richness of the primary colors. Gandolfi's confident ability in the handling of paint is also evident in the painting: the smooth flesh tones, both in Joseph's ruddy face and in Christ's body, are contrasted with the thick brushstrokes in Christ's hair as well as the more fluid strokes of the Madonna's red and blue drapery, and the rich folds of the background curtain. The carefully modeled hands are typical of Gandolfi's easel paintings and can be compared with the Madonna Annunciate sold London, Sotheby's, 8 December 2010, lot 35, which also dates from around 1775. 

The attribution has been endorsed by Dottoressa Donatella Biagi Maino, a copy of whose expertise accompanies the painting.

1. See D. Biagi Maino, Gaetano Gandolfi, Turin 1995, pp. 370-71, cat. no. 101, reproduced in color plate LXVIII.