(Bologna 1620–1684)
The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine,
oil on canvas, 111 x 145 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Galleria Fondantico, Bologna;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Daniele Benati for suggesting the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

The present painting relates to a similar composition published by Simoneta Stagni in her monograph on Domenico Maria Canuti (see S. Stagni, Domenico Maria Canuti pittore [1626-1684], Rimini, 1988, pp. 163-164, n. 26). Benati dates the present work to circa 1670.

The sumptuousness of the impasto in the present painting serves to illuminate and outline the forms of the figures that are set against a dark background, showing the influence of Annibale Carracci. Canuti conscientiously tried to eliminate any idealisation of Renian inheritance, strongly anchored to the Bolognese tradition, and his oeuvre reflects a personal reinterpretation of Annibale’s neo-Venetian and neo-Correggesque work of the 1590s: precious qualities the current painting reposes in a newly revised reading.

The horizontal orientation of the present painting is a frequent format in Canuti’s production of easel paintings: other examples include the Education of the Christ Child in the Museo Diocesano, Imola (op. cit. Stagni, 1988, p. 145, n. 13) and the Holy Family with Saint Elisabeth, the Infant John the Baptist and an Angel in the Museum of John Paul II Collection, Warsaw, that is according to Benati erroneously attributed to Alessandro Tiarini (Europäische Malerei. Galerie ‘Johannes Paul II’.Sammlung Janina und Zbigniew Carroll-Porczynski, Warsaw, 1991, p.191, no.43).

Canuti´s visit to Rome was an important contributing factor to the artist’s rapid stylistic development, visible in his works of around 1670, as well as his sojourn in Mantua. From 1662 Canuti was involved in the decoration of Carlo II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers’s now lost villa at Marmirolo and during this time he was able to study the works of Peter Paul Rubens that were present in Mantua. Subsequently Canuti was to supply paintings to the Mantuan court, the first being the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa of 1670 and the last being the Guardian Angel of 1677 for the cathedral; dated to a moment between these works came the Communion of Saint Jerome made for the church of San Girolamo fuori Porto and now in the Museo di Palazzo Ducale, Mantua (see S. L’Occaso, Museo di Palazzo Ducale di Mantova. Catalogo generale, Mantova, 2011, p. 364, n. 444).