Giovanni Battista Salvi, called il Sassoferrato

(Sassoferrato 1609–1685 Rome)
The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist,
oil on copper, 25 x 34.3 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Thomas Baring (1799–1873), London, acquired from Mr Bentley in 1845;
by inheritance to Thomas George Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook (1826–1904), London;
thence by descent to his wife Florence Anita, Countess of Northbrook (1861–1946), London;
her sale, Christie’s, London, 11 June 1937, lot 17;
sale, Christie’s, London, 27 July 1945, lot 128;
sale, Christie’s, London, 4 November 1960, lot 63;
Private collection, Rome

Literature:
J. P. Richter, A descriptive catalogue of the collection of pictures belonging to the Earl of Northbrook, London 1889, p. 158, no. 212

We are grateful to François Macé de Lépinay for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.

The present painting on copper belonged to the prestigious nineteenth-century collection formed by Sir Thomas Baring, a member of one of the most important banking families of Britain, and a member of Parliament from 1844. According to Richter (see literature) Baring’s interest in collecting had been passed on to him by his grandfather, Francis, who had formed a collection of primarily Dutch paintings, and by his father, Thomas, who was principally an enthusiast of Italian painting.
On Thomas Baring’s death in 1873, his collection, which now included works from all of the principal schools of European painting, passed by inheritance to his nephew, Thomas George Baring, a political figure who held several important posts in India.

The present painting represents the Madonna positioned centrally, dressed in rose and wearing a blue mantle, while gently raising the white cloth upon which the Christ Child lies asleep. Saint Joseph observes the scene from the right, while the baby Saint John the Baptist is present on the left, his hands closed together in prayer. The background opens out onto a luminous landscape and is closed to the left by trees and flowering shrubs. The clear light, the polished surface of the painting and the peaceful tone of its composition constitute typical qualities of Sassoferrato’s work.

A preparatory drawing for the present painting, of similar dimensions is conserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (see J. Bean, 17th century Italian drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1979, pp. 264-265, no. 349, see fig. 1).

Sassoferrato, named after his birthplace in the Marches, trained in Rome with Domenichino. This brought him into contact with classicalism and introduced him to the great masters of the past, and most especially Raphael. Indeed, Sassoferrato’s pictorial output specifically refer to the Renaissance tradition through the application of intentionally archaising compositions. The artist was primarily celebrated for his easel paintings of devotional subjects, characterised by a refined intimacy, as is apparent in the present painting.