Orsola Maddalena Caccia

Private collection, Italy;

Whence sold ('Property from an Italian Private Collection'), London, Sotheby's, 7 May 2020, lot 28, for £212,500;

Where acquired by the present owner.

Like many of the earliest known female artists of the Renaissance, Orsola Maddalena Caccia was a nun, taking her vows at the Ursuline convent of Bianzè in 1620. Born in 1596 in Moncalvo, a small town in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, she was the daughter of the painter Guglielmo Caccia (1568–1625), known as 'Il Moncalvo', who trained her and her sisters in the art of painting. Under her father’s guidance, she went on to establish a painting studio at the convent in Moncalvo, where she organized a small workshop of nuns who produced religious and devotional artworks. These paintings served both a spiritual and economic purpose, providing a source of income for the convent through commissions from local churches and patrons. 

Although still lifes represent only a small proportion of Caccia’s œuvre, these works, such as this still life depicting birds, insects and flowers, are notable for their exquisite quality and subtle spiritual meaning. The birds she so carefully painted were not chosen at random but carried deep religious symbolism in Christian iconography. The goldfinch, for instance, was associated with Christ’s Passion, its red markings recalling the blood of sacrifice, while the partridge could symbolize deceit or moral vigilance. By including such creatures within her compositions, Caccia transformed naturalistic observation into a form of meditation, inviting viewers to reflect on divine creation and the moral order of the world.