Altarpiece from the Church of San Francesco, Fano: The Madonna of Loreto Appearing to Saints John the Baptist, Eligius, and Anthony Abbot

Artist Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri) (Italian, 1581–1641)

Datecirca 1618–1620

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions94 7/8 x 67 1/8 in. (241 x 170.5 cm)
Frame: 105 1/4 x 77 1/4 in. (267.3 x 196.2 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Object numberGL.60.17.51

On View

On view

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ProvenanceCommissioned by goldsmith Antonio Salvatore for his family chapel in the Church of San Francesco, Fano [1]; acquired by the church on 25 February 1805 by Marchese Antaldo Antaldi (1770-1847) [2]; possibly Francesco Rosapina (1762-1841), Bologna [3]; Eugène Rose de Beauharnais (1781-1824), Viceroy of Italy [4]; Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840), Prince of Canino, by 1805 [5]; sold in 1814 to Maria Luisa, former Queen of Etruria (d. 1824), Palazzo Ercolani, Rome; by descent to her son, Carlos Luis de Borbón-Parma (1799-1883), Duke of Lucca, 22 December, 1824-1840, London or Palazzo Ducale, Lucca [6]; [his sale, July 1840, no. 12, bought in or sale did not take place]; [Phillip's, London, 5 June 1841, lot 50]; sold to Johnston[e?]; Sir Frederick Lucas Cook (1844–1920) 2d Bart., Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, by 1903; by inheritance to Sir Herbert Frederick Cook (1868–1939), 3d Bart., Doughty House, at least until 1932; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th bt. (1907-1978), Doughty House and Cothay Manor, Somerset; presumably sold after 1939 to [Alessandro Contini Bonacossi (1863-1955), Rome-Florence]; sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation on 10 March 1949, K1623; gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation to the NCMA, 1961.

[1] The chapel, perhaps one and the same as the sacristy of the church, was dedicated to saints John the Baptist and Eligius, both depicted in the painting. Anthony Abbot is the patron saint of the man who commissioned the painting, Antonio Salvatore, goldsmith of Fano. Eligius previously identified as Paternianus, the first bishop and patron saint of Fano. Archivio di Stato, Sezione di Fano, Fondo Notarile, Astolfo Battisti, v. YY 1602-1636, cc. 54r-57r. “After spending several years in Rome, Domenichino was called to Fano to execute a series of lucrative commissions for the Nolfi family.”

[2] The contract between Celestino Alcioni, the “guardiano” of the Convento of S. Francesco and Marchese Antaldi is found in the Archivio di Stato, Sezione di Fano, notarile Giuseppe Gregorio Polidori vol. E (1805-1806), cc. 46r-51v; cited in Tombari, 1989, 110, fn. 12.

[3] Rosaspina’s ownership of the painting has not been verified. The Memorie della vita e delle Opere di Francesco Rosaspina (1842) written by Marchese Antonio Bolognini Amorini, who knew Rosaspina well, makes no mention of the painting (or Rosaspina’s print after the painting) which seems highly improbable if Rosaspina had once owned the painting. The earliest mention of Rosaspina’s ownership appears to have been Tomani Amiani’s manuscript “Guida storica-artistica di Fano (1853), which was written only a few years after Rosaspina’s death. He reported that Domenichino’s painting had been sold for a high price to an avid collector by Rosaspina who had purchased it from the church “for very little money” and had engraved it. The account of the sale by the guardiano of the church to Antaldi (see note 2) disproves this account. Amiani knew that Rosaspina had engraved the work, and this seems the basis for his “elaboration” of Rosaspina’s involvement. A later (1909) account wrote that the priests of S. Francesco had sold the painting to Rosaspina for 40 scudi, and he made an outline engraving and then sold the painting for many thousand scudi.

[4] Stepson of Napoleon. Beauharnais was made a member of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Imperial family on June 14, 1804. Napoleon added the title of Viceroy of Italy on June 5, 1805. He was formally adopted by the Emperor on January 12, 1806. Lucien Bonaparte was Napoleon’s brother. Maria Luisa was the daughter of King Charles IV of Spain; Napoleon created the duchy of Etruria for her husband Louis, the great-grandson of Louis XV of France.

[5] Younger brother of Napoleon.

[6] Kress says Duke of Lucca, London. See Nannini 2005, 134, 136.