ATTRIBUTED TO CARLO MARATTI | VIRGIN OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

This small work on copper, probably painted for private devotion, depicts the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, a subject Maratti painted on several occasions, most notably his altarpiece of 1663 for the Cappella De Sylva in Chiesa di Sant’Isidoro a Capo e Case, Rome. This work incorporates several of the same background figures seen in the altarpiece (though depicted on the opposite sides of the composition), such as the two angels, one with clasped hands, and the two cherub heads, one in profile.

The present composition was engraved, in the reverse sense, by the French engraver Etienne Picart (1631-1721) in 1665. (fig. 1). The engraving bears the inscription Carol. Maratti hancce tabulam pinx. and has a dedication to Queen Marie-Thérèse of France as founder of the order of the Immaculate Conception in France.