Lot 40: FRANCESCO RAIBOLINI, CALLED IL FRANCIA AND GIACOMO RAIBOLINI, CALLED FRANCIA, BOLOGNA CIRCA 1486 -

FRANCESCO RAIBOLINI, CALLED IL FRANCIA AND GIACOMO RAIBOLINI, CALLED FRANCIA, BOLOGNA CIRCA 1486 - 1557 BOLOGNA CIRCA 1450 - 1517

inscribed in an old hand on the reverse of the panel: Fracesco detto il Fracia

oil on panel

62.8 by 50 cm.; 24 3/4 by 19 3/4 in.

THE PROPERTY OF A NOBLEMAN

In the collection of the family of the present owner since at least the early 19th century.

Francesco Francia was one of the leading artists working in Bologna during the late Quattro- and early Cinquecento. His work was strongly influenced by the classicizing style of his direct contemporaries Lorenzo Costa and Pietro Perugino, who carried out a number of commissions within Bologna. Francia's output consists principally of a number of important altarpieces commissioned for churches in and around Bologna; a small number of portraits; and numerous small private devotional images, such as the present painting.

This work can be dated to the latter part of the artist's career, circa 1510-15, at a time when Francia relied heavily on the demand for private devotional images, following the overthrow of his principal patrons in Bologna, the Bentivoglio family. The style of the painting is characterized by a broader application of paint and the brushwork reveals a less enamelled finish, present in his earlier work. Although seemingly familiar, the overall composition is unique in the artist's oeuvre, though the pose of the Madonna and Child is echoed in a painting of lesser quality, given by Negro and Roio to Francesco Francia in collaboration with one of his sons, now in the Massachusetts Art Museum, Worcester (inv. no. 1916.11; see E. Negro & N. Roio, Francesco Francia e la sua Scuola, Modena 1998, pp. 235-6, cat. no. 142, reproduced p. 235).

We are grateful to Dott. Emilio Negro and Dottssa. Nicosetta Roio for confirming that this is a collaborative work between Francesco and his son Giacomo, executed around 1510-15, on the basis of a colour transparency. Dott. Negro points out that the Madonna's head can be attributed to Francesco, as is the case in his paintings in the National Gallery, London, and Akademie der bildende Kunst, Vienna (Negro & Roio, op. cit., cat. nos. 72 and 76, both reproduced). The Christ Child, infant St. John the Baptist and St. Francis are almost certainly by Giacomo; an opinion shared by the co-authors of the artist's monograph. Please note that Dott. Negro intends to include this painting in a forthcoming publication.