Francesco Rosa

Anonymous sale ('Property from a European Private Collection'), London, Sotheby's, 5 December 2013, lot 174, where acquired by the present owner.

Genoese by birth, Francesco Rosa was active in Venice between 1660-78 and then again by 1710. As evidenced in this painting, his style compares closely with his Venetian tenebrist contemporaries, such as Gregorio Lazzarini, whom he taught for two years. Other works by the artist include a signed and dated Saint Anthony reviving a Child from 1670 in the Chiesa dei Frari, Venice.¹ The attribution is due to Professor Lino Moretti, by whom it was proposed on the basis of a photograph at the last appearance of this painting on the market. 1. See C. Donzelli and G.M. Pilo, I pittori del Seicento veneto, Florence 1967, p. 359, reproduced fig. 389.