Master Paintings Part II
Master Paintings Part II
Property from an American Estate
The Madonna and Child with Young St. John the Baptist and two angels
No reserve
Lot Closed
January 28, 04:27 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from an American Estate
Pittore di Pontignano (possibly Agostino d'Anselmo Carosi)
active Siena circa 1602 - 1627
The Madonna and Child with Young St. John the Baptist and two angels
inscribed on the reverse on the original strainer: Di Gio. Francesco Rustici Fiorentino nobile di detta Città
oil on canvas, unlined, possibly in the original frame
canvas: 51¾ by 37 in.; 131.4 by 94 cm.
framed: 65½ by 52 in.; 166.4 by 132.1 cm.
Ciampolini has introduced the possibility that Pittori di Pontignano, a moniker for an anonymous hand, may in fact be Agostino d’Anselmo Carosi, an artist linked to the workshop of Casolani. Carosi was active in Siena during the first quarter of the 17th century. In 1602, a payment was made to Carosi by the Compagnia of San Antonio Abate for a now lost altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with Saints. Carosi is also recorded as purchasing a farm near Siena from Francesco Bartolini in 1603, the same farm that would be sold after Carosi’s death in 1627 to Rutilo Manetti, a prominent artist of the Sienese Baroque.
On the original strainer of this painting is an inscription identifying the author as Giovanni Francesco Rustici (1475-1554), a Florentine sculptor. This erroneous inscription likely arose from a confusion between this sculptor and the Rustici family of painters, active in Siena from the end of the 16th century to the early 17th century.
We are grateful to Marco Ciampolini for endorsing the present attribution. His expertise forms the basis of this cataloguing entry.
1. For the frescoes, see M. Ciampolini, Pittore senesi del Seicento, Siena 2011, vol. II, reproduced plates 325-328.
2. M. Ciampolini, Pittore senesi del Seicento, Siena 2011, vol. II, p. 635. As translated, “assorbe l’emotivi del Casolani e il vellutato smalto pittorico del Vanni, nonché la tenera umanitá di Ventura Salimbeni.”
3. Ciampolini 2011, p. 635.3.
4. Other examples from this set in the Chigi-Saracene collection include Angels with Flutes (inv. No. MPS 425) and Angels with a Violin (inv. No. MPS. 427).