Corrado Giaquinto

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 10 July 2008, lot 229, for $240,000, reproduced on the front cover of the catalogue;
There acquired by the present collector.

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 beautiful condition. The canvas has a thin old lining. The texture of the impasto is still very good. The paint layer is cleaned. The only notable restoration is a diagonal damage beginning in the left ankle of the child extending through his right calf. This is a thin scratch with some associated paint losses. Otherwise, some pentimenti in front of the toes of the right foot have been reduced with retouching. There are other pentimenti, particularly around the legs of the child. The remaining retouches are in isolated spots that are not concentrated in any particular area. The retouches could be slightly more accurate, particularly in the legs of the child, but the work could also be hung as is.
"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."

Corrado Giaquinto is better known for his large-scale decorative programmes (of both mythological and religious subjects) and the bozzetti and modelli produced in preparation of these complex projects. Somewhat rarer are his religious works painted for individual patrons, almost certainly for private devotion, and this unpublished work is an outstanding example of the latter. Unknown prior to its sale at Sotheby's London in 2008, the painting was at that time examined firsthand by Dr. Edgar Peters Bowron who endorsed its attribution.

After beginning his career in Molfetta (near Bari) and Naples, Giaquinto moved to Rome where he was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca in 1740. It was during the 1730s and '40s, prior to the artist's departure for Spain in 1753, that Giacquinto was at his most productive. His style shows the influence of Carlo Maratta and Sebastiano Conca, whose works Giaquinto was able to study in Rome, and his paintings are characterised by their colourful palette and elegant rococo forms.

The defined profile of the Madonna here is a motif that appears often in Giaquinto's works and the clear forms, though softly modelled, serve to emphasise the narrative being depicted; compare for example, the profile of Medea in Giaquinto's painting sold London, Christie's, 27 May 1983, lot 163, or more recently that of the angel in his Penitent Magdalene sold New York, Sotheby's, 26 January 2006, lot 73, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The focus in this small canvas is on the tender embrace between mother and child rather than on the divinity of the young Christ. This contrasts with many of Giaquinto's depictions of the subject, such as his Madonna and Child with the Cattolica Popolare co-operative in Molfetta,¹ which includes a crucifix (symbol of the cross on which Christ would later be crucified) and shows the Madonna preparing the Infant Christ for his life Mission rather than concentrating on the motherly embrace evident in the present work.

1. See P. Amato, Corrado Giaquinto "noto per il suo valore nella pittura", Rome 2002, pp. 110-11, cat. no. 22, reproduced.