Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato (Italian, 1609-1685)
Madonna at Prayer

oil on canvas
Unframed: 47.5 x 38.5 cm. (18 3/4 x 15 1/8 in.) Framed: 63 x 54 cm. (24 3/4 x 21 1/4 in.)

Collection of Carl (Charles) Frederick August Breul (1836-1898), Vienna and London
Thence by inheritance to the present owner

Previously unknown to modern scholars, this Madonna at Prayer is an exciting addition to Sassoferrato's body of work. Having remained in the same private collection since at least 1898, the painting emerges to the market after nearly 130 years. The refined palette, the meticulous attention to detail and typical compositional format is characteristic of Sasssoferrato's hand, exhibiting the full range of stylistic hallmarks for which he is most renowned.

The captivating Madonna is set against a dark and plain background highlighting the vibrant blues and red pigments of her garments; focusing the viewer on her act of devotion and humble appearance. Due to their widespread popularity in Rome during the seventeenth century and during Sassoferrato’s lifetime, this composition was repeated on multiple occasions by the artist.(1) By 1990, at least fifteen other examples are recorded, with three portraits belonging to the Louvre, the private collection of Lord Yarborough and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.(2) A preparatory study for this composition can be found in the Royal Collection Trust, Windsor Castle (RCIN 906050).(3)

Named after the town in which he was born, Sassoferrato trained with his father, Tarquinio Salvi, before travelling to Rome where he studied the works of Guido Reni (1575-1642), Domenichino (1581-1641), and most notably, Raphael (1483-1520), who he is known to have copied directly (see Sassoferato's Madonna and Child in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin, no. 482, which is directly based on Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks, National Gallery, London, no. NG6596).

Although the influence of these masters is evident throughout Sassoferrato’s oeuvre, he developed a highly individual style that resists simple classification within any specific region or movement, thereby establishing him as one of the most significant contributors to Italian seventeenth-century art.

Note on Provenance:

Carl (Charles) Frederick August Breul (1836-1898), born in Germany, relocated to Vienna where he became an Austrian citizen in 1857. He subsequently settled in London and, in 1868, established the antiques firm Breul & Co. It appears likely that Breul acquired the Madonna at Prayer at some point in the late nineteenth century, he is also noted as the owner of Diego Velázquez’s The ‘Pope’s Barber’, which was sold after his death to Sir Edmund Davis of Chilham Castle, now held in the Prado Museum, Madrid (no. P007858). After Breul’s death in 1898, the Madonna at Prayer remained in the same family collection, until its presence today at auction.

We are grateful to Professor Massimo Pulini for endorsing the attribution on the basis of digital images.

Please note that this work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné by François Macé de Lepinay and Vincenzo Mancuso.

References:

1. Blunt, A., Cooke, The Roman drawings of the XVII & XVIII centuries in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. London, 1960, p.86.
2. Voss, Hermann, and Thomas Pelzel, Baroque Painting in Rome, San Francisco, 1997, pp. 175-178.
3. Alaux, D., Musée de Peinture de Bordeaux. Catalogue, Bordeaux, 1910, p. 21 ; Ch. Manciet, Le Musée de Bordeaux, Paris, 1931, p. 10, n. 29; J. Habert, Bordeaux, Musée des Beaux Arts, Peinture Italienne, pp. 134-135, n. 86.