Offered by Antichità Castelbarco
Giovanni Battista Ramenghi, known as Bagnacavallo 'the young' (Bologna 1531 - 1601)
Madonna and Child, St. John and St. Catherine of Alexandria
Oil on canvas (92 x 79 cm - Framed 111 x 98 cm.)
Expertise of Dr. Riccardo Battiferro Bertocchi
This superb composition depicts the Virgin and Child, accompanied by the little Saint John and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the latter with the attributes of martyrdom, the palm leaf and the wheel.
The painter's choice of the composition is masterly. Wishing to propose the iconographic theme of the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, he immortalises the Saint who has received the ring, here caught in the instant that she seems to be receiving a kiss from the little Jesus.
It is a painting of uncommon beauty, where, especially in the female figures, there is an unusual search for formal perfection, combined with a skilful use of colours, such as the bright blue and deep red of the Madonna's clothes.
No less remarkable is the acuteness of the faces and hands of the Virgin, haughty and aristocratic, and of Saint Catherine, whose intense face caught in profile in the act of directing a kiss of devotion to the Divine Child.
The realism of the little Jesus and John the Baptist (whose left arm wraps around the cross to which is tied the traditional ribbon with the inscription of the Agnus Dei) rosy, plump and with curly blond hair contrasts with the hieratic majesty of the two women.
The canvas was at first attributed for stylistic reasons to the Ravenna painter Bartolomeo Ramenghi, known as Bagnacavallo (Bagnacavallo 1484 - Bologna 1542), a protagonist of the artistic scene in Emilia-Romagna in the first half of the 16th century.
In this regard, a comparison is proposed here with a work of similar theme by Ramenghi senior, oil on panel, with the variant of St. Joseph instead of the Baptist, sold in March 2010 by the auction house Farsetti https://www.farsettiarte.it/it/asta-0151-1/bartolomeo-ramenghi-detto-bagnacavallo-sacra--71014
However, an analysis of the pictorial subject matter would place the execution of the work at the beginning of the 17th century and would direct its authorship to his son Giovanni Battista Ramenghi, the Bagnacavallo junior (Bologna 1531 - 1601), himself a painter of some renown and a pupil of his famous father.
It would therefore be a replica executed by the son of a father's canvas, a model that was very successful at the time and was therefore in demand by the rich conservative patrons of Counter-Reformation Bologna, still bound to Raphaelesque stylistic features, which were, moreover, anachronistic at the dawn of the 17th century.
Delevery information :
We take care of and organise the transport of the purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.
We take great care We personally take care of the packaging, to which we devote a great deal of care: each work is carefully packed, first with arti- cle material, then with a custom-made wooden box.
Should you have the desire to see this or other works in person, we would be happy to welcome you to our gallery in Riva del Garda, Viale Giuseppe Canella 18, we are always open by appointment only.
