(Venice 1579–1620)
The Presentation of the Virgin,
oil on copper, 52 x 38 cm, framed

We are grateful to Maria Giulia Aurigemma for her opinion on the present painting on the basis of photographs.

The oeuvre of Carlo Saraceni is characterised by the flourishing artistic exchange between Venice, his native city, and Rome, where he spent a considerable part of his career, together with the artistic influences that reached Italy from the Northern European artists who travelled there. Saraceni was in personal contact with some of the most important Northern artists in Venice and Rome, including Hans Rottenhammer and Adam Elsheimer (see M. Hochmann/C. Marin, Carlo Saraceni a Venezia, in: Carlo Saraceni. 1579–1620. Un Veneziano tra Roma e l’Europa, ed. by M. G. Aurigemma, exhibition catalogue, Rome 2014, p. 31).

Especially in the rich artistic milieu of Rome, where painters from all over Italy and Europe would come together, techniques that originated in the North, such as painting on copper, gained a new popularity. Saraceni frequently used the support, which gives a detailed quality to the typically rather small, precious compositions. Furthermore, the technique of painting on copper stands out for its extremely fine handling of paint, as exemplified by the present painting.

A particular attention to the contrast between light and shadow characterises this Presentation of the Virgin, displaying the early influence of Caravaggio. Amongst the overall dark tonalities, the bright clothing of Saint Anne, the Virgin’s mother, immediately catch the eye. Interestingly, Saraceni chose to subtly highlight the figure of the young Mary herself, who kneels in the centre with her back to the viewer, with a narrow, bright ray of light that falls on the side of her face.