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Premium Giovanni Battista SALVI, Il SASSOFERRATO (Sassoferrato, 1607…
See original version (French)
Giovanni Battista SALVI, Il SASSOFERRATO (Sassoferrato, 1607…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 7
Description
Giovanni Battista SALVI, Il SASSOFERRATO (Sassoferrato, 1607 - Rome, 1685)
Madonna and Child
Oil on canvas
In a giltwood 'a cassetta' frame with faux marble and 'a sgraffito' decoration, central Italy, first part of the 17th century
The Virgin and Child, oil on canvas, by G. B. Salvi called Il Sassoferrato
38.58 x 29.13 in.
98 x 74 cm
The son of a painter who left frescoes in Sassoferrato, Giovanni Battista Salvi is mentioned in 1630 in Perugia. There, he familiarised himself with the work of Perugino before continuing his career in Rome, where he was recorded in 1641. His work was part of the Counter-Reformation movement, which promoted the cult of the Virgin Mary. A painter for the papacy, rightly nicknamed the "painter of the Madonnas", he produced around a hundred devotional works depicting the Mother of Jesus. Emerging from the shadows, the Virgin, in this case pensive, protects the sleeping Child. The importance given to the white linen, highlighted by the abundance of folds, already foreshadows the shroud of her Passion.
Our painting is based on the composition of The Virgin and Child Jesus asleep, a lost work by Guido Reni that was once in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome1. Reni's painting was engraved several times, notably by Giovanni Gerardin (fig. 1), Guillaume Varlet and Nicolo Billy. Two other autographed versions of Sassoferrato are known to us, including the one in the Galleria Estense in Modena (no. 8083).
In contrast to the baroque fashions of seventeenth-century Rome, Sassoferrato's works were often mistaken for originals by Raphael and his workshop because of their classicist purity. Sassoferrato may also have been inspired here by Giovanni Francesco Penni's Madonna of the Blue Tiara, now in the Louvre.
1. Stephen Pepper, Guido Reni. L'Opera completa, Novara, 1988, p. 258, no. 117.
We would like to thank Mr Massimo Pulini for kindly confirming the authenticity of this work in an e-mail dated 5 September 2025.
The hammer price is exclusive of VAT. VAT at the reduced rate of 5.5% applies to the hammer price and the sales commission. This VAT is recoverable for French professionals. It is refundable for a buyer from outside the EU on presentation of proof of export from the EU or for a professional buyer with an intra-Community VAT number and a document proving delivery in the Member State.
The hammer price will be VAT excluded. 5.5% VAT will be added to the hammer price and buyer's premium. Upon request, this VAT can be refunded to the purchaser on presentation of written proof of exportation outside the EU or to the EU purchaser who will submit his intracommunity VAT number and a proof of shipment of his purchase to his EU country home address.
See original version (French)
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