(Venice 1709–1787) The Holy Family and St. Francis, St. Antony of Padua and St. Gaetano of Thiene, oil on canvas, 176.5 x 89.5 cm, framed

Provenance: private collection, Padua. Certificate: Prof Egidio Martini. In his certificate, Prof Martini explains that the composition of this picture is based on a painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo held in the Puschkin Museum in Moscow. In the Zugno version, however, the figure to the left of the Madonna is not St. Louis of Toulouse, but instead St. Gaetano of Thiene, a saint revered in Venice and the Veneto. Prof Martini says in his certificate: “In questa pala la fattura pittorica è eseguita con una tecnica particolare, con una pennellata morbida e una forma più sfumata che, pur restando entro l’invenzione tiepolesca, ha reso sua originalità: una fattura che ci riporta, proprio per questi suoi caratteri stilistici, ad attribuire il dipinto qui in esame a Francesco Zugno, cioè al maggior discepolo e collaboratore del grande Maestro...”. The typology of the head of St. Gaetano of Thiene, modelled in grey tones, also testifies, according to Martini, to the authorship of Francesco Zugno in the case of this painting. Martini dates the pala to around 1745, offering as comparison a ‘Holy Family with a bishop’ by Zugno (see G. M. Pilo, Francesco Zugno, in: Saggi e Memorie, 1958, fig. 35). This painting is a good example of Zugno’s talent, who was more than just a gifted pupil of Tiepolo.