Virgin and Child Adored by Saint Francis
Francesco Albani·c. 1606
Historical Context
Francesco Albani painted this Virgin and Child Adored by Saint Francis around 1606 on copper, one of his refined devotional compositions from his early career in Bologna. Albani was a pupil of Annibale Carracci and one of the founders of the Bolognese classical tradition that dominated Italian painting in the seventeenth century. His devotional paintings combine the warmth of Correggio's influence with the classical clarity of the Carracci reform.
Technical Analysis
The oil on copper provides the smooth, luminous surface ideal for Albani's refined, small-scale devotional paintings. His characteristic soft modeling and warm, harmonious palette create an atmosphere of tender devotion that reflects the Bolognese classical tradition at its most accessible and appealing.
Provenance
Probably Prince Victor Amadeus I of Savoy-Carignano (died 1741); sold de Poilly, Paris, July 30, 1742, pp. 10–11 ["Deux petits Tableaux, l’un sur cuivre, l’autre sur bois, de onze pouces de haut, sur neuf pouces de large, represantans l’un une Vierge avec son Enfant & un Saint François, & l’autre une Assomption de la Vierge, de l’Albane" (two small paintings, one on copper, the other on wood, 12 3/8 x 10 1/8 in. (1 pouce = 1 1/8 inches) representing the one a Virgin and Child with Saint Francis and the other an Assumption of the Virgin), sold together for 2,050 fr. according to Charles Blanc and Henri Delaborde. Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles. École Bolognese, Paris, 1877, p. 8]. Julius H. Weitzner, New York; sold by Weitzner to the Art Institute, 1962.
