Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato

Sir Francis Cook, 1st Bt., Visconde de Monserrate (1817-1901), Doughty House, Richmond, by 1901;
Sir Frederick Cook, 2nd Bt., (1844-1920);
Sir Herbert Cook, 3rd Bt., (1868-1939);
Thence to Sir Francis Cook, 4^th Bt. and The Trustees of The Cook Collection;
By whom sold to Marshall Spink in February 1955;
With Galerie G. Cramer, The Hague, by 1964.

Wolverhampton, Bolton and Eastbourne, The Art Exhibitions Bureau, Touring Exhibition, Sacred Art from the Cook Collection, June - November 1947;
Northampton, Scarborough, Mansfield, Sheffield, Doncaster, Blackpool, Gateshead, Darlington and Sunderland, The Art Exhibitions Bureau, Touring Exhibition, Paintings by Old Masters from The Cook Collection, April 1948 - August 1949, no. 3.

An Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Belonging to Sir Frederick Cook, Bart, Visconde de Monserrate, London 1907 and 1914, p. 28, cat. no. 28, in The Long Gallery;
T. Borenius, A Catalogue of the Paintings of Doughty House, Richmond & elsewhere in the collection of Sir Frederick Cook Bt., London 1913, vol. I, p. 88, cat. no. 77, in The Long Gallery;
An Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the collection of Sir Herbert Cook, Bart, London 1932, p. 33, cat. no. 77, in The Long Gallery;
E. Danziger, "The Cook Collection, Its Founder and Its Inheritors," The Burlington Magazine, vol. 146, no. 1216, July 2004, no. 77. 

The painting overall is in lovely condition and is ready to hang in its present state. The canvas appears to be unlined and remains taut and stable on its stretcher. The painting appears to have been recently conserved, presenting a strong crisp image, and the paint surface is clean beneath a clear fresh varnish. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals some small filled and retouched losses in the arm and leg of the Child and further very minor retouched losses here and there in the faces, in the Virgin's right hand and in the background, but these are not apparent to the naked eye. The painting requires no further work. Offered in a simply carved dark and gilt wood frame.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Sassoferrato specialized in the production of private devotional works, and was primarily employed by his patrons to provide images for personal spiritual contemplation. This composition is one of his most famous and successful designs. Known in a number of variants, some as horizontal and some including putti around the Madonna, the most notable versions are the paintings in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino.¹ The design appears to derive from a lost work by Guido Reni, now known only through contemporary engravings,² but the distinctive coloring and handling of the drapery is entirely Sassoferrato's own. 

The present picture is one of the finest versions of this composition, and comes from the collection of Sir Francis Cook, who formed perhaps the greatest collection of Old Masters in England in the 19^th century, amounting to over five hundred paintings, including innumerable masterpieces such as The Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi now in the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.

We are grateful to M. François Macé de Lépinay for endorsing the attribution to Sassoferrato on the basis of an image and to John Somerville, Keeper of the Cook Collection Archive, for his assistance with the catalogue entry.

1. See F. Macé de Lépinay et al., Giovan Battista Salvi 'Il Sassoferrato', exhibition catalogue, Milan 1990, respectively pp. 72 and 94, cat. nos 21 and 35.
2. See The Illustrated Bartsch. Italian masters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, vol. 40, New York 1987, pp. 330–37, especially cat. no. 30 C1, reproduced p. 330.