(Rome 1691-1758),
The Prayer of Pope Saint Gregory the Great,
oil on canvas, 184 x 115 cm, framed

We are grateful to Prof. Erich Schleier, Berlin, and Prof. Daniele Benati, Bologna, for their assistance, and to Prof. Giancarlo Sestieri, Rome, for identifying the present painting as a work by Agostino Masucci.

Agostino Masucci ranks among the last prominent exponents of Romano-Bolognese Neoclassicism in the tradition of the Carracci, having taken this style to a late and impressive bloom. Initially trained by Andrea Procaccini, he worked in the studio of Carlo Maratta during his early years. Already then a Classicist conscious of tradition, the Accademia di S. Luca, whose member he had been since 1726, appointed him its principe in 1736. He was a friend of Filippo Juvara and Luigi Vanvitelli, and through their agency came into contact with the Turin court, for which he painted several history cycles and altarpieces. He also executed several altarpieces for King Joao V of Portugal, such as for the high altar of the Cathedral of Evora, as well as preliminary designs for the mosaic panels in the Igreja de Sao Roque in Lisbon. These commissions established his reputation among the European aristocracy. In 1754 he painted a widely admired copy of Reni’s Aurora for the Duke of Northumberland. However, Masucci was first and foremost specialized in the decoration of Roman Chapels, which he decorated with numerous altarpieces. The present painting, for which Masucci referred to a now-lost altarpiece by Annibale Carracci, must be seen in this context. Carracci’s altarpiece had been installed in a chapel in Rome before it was sold to the Earl of Ellesmere.