Andrea del Sarto (Andrea dAgnolo [di Francesco]) - Die Heilige Familie mit dem Johannesknaben

auction 379, Lot 265

FINE ART & ANTIQUES

on 21 March 2018

Andrea del Sarto (Andrea dAgnolo [di Francesco])

Die Heilige Familie mit dem Johannesknaben

estimate:
€ 25.000 to € 30.000

Differenzbesteuerung    

result:
€ 41.910 (incl. 27 % buyer's premium)

description:

SARTO, ANDREA DEL

1486 - Florenz - 1530, Follower of

 

The Holy Family with the young Saint John the Baptist

 

Oil on canvas. 123.5 x 96 cm. Relined. Restored. Minor damage. Damage to profile frame with pipe cut and torsion bar decoration. Provenance: South German private collection.

 

The unknown artist, who was likely a direct follower of Andrea del Sarto, took inspiration for the above painting from two of del Sartos well known works, both of which are mentioned by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists. The composition corresponds, with some anomalies such as the background and colouring, to that of the "Sacra Famiglia Borgherini" (circa 1528, oil on panel, 135 x 100 cm, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art). The figure of Mary, however, is directly taken from the "Carità" ( circa 1528/29, oil on wood 122 x 93 cm, Washington, National Gallery of Art, Kress Collection), although the colour of her robes has been altered to a bright red colour highlighted with shimmering yellow iridescence.

 

Whilst the artist certainly seems to have been familiar with both of the original paintings, he has also taken the opportunity to reinvent the piece in his own style. The characteristic and striking handling of the physiognomy of both Mary and child shows an artist who has chosen not to directly imitate the style of the master - as was often the case with workshop members. The painter also differentiates himself not only through his use of colour, where he deviates from the schemes used in the original works, but he also stylistically "emancipates" himself from the work of one of the leading Florentine artists of his time.

 

The infant Saint John the Baptist holds a globe together with the Christ Child, or rather he holds it whilst the Christ Child reaches out towards it. This is an iconographic feature that is directly borrowed from the above-mentioned "Sacra Famiglia Borgherini", which was commissioned by Giovanni Borgherini, a major patron of the short-lived Florentine Republic (from 1527). The "world" in the hands of the Son of God and the young John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence, serves here as a symbol of the republican government, which, in February 1528, had declared Christ "Rex populi florentini" by adding an inscription above the entrance to the Palazzo della Signoria.

 

In an iconographical sense, the unusual and remarkable feature of this painting is the representation of Mary with bared breast, which is directly taken from "Carità". Whilst the nurturing Mother of God is a motif firmly anchored within art history, here her son turns away from her and towards the globe. According to the previous owners, a later added veil, covering the chest, was removed at some point as part of a restoration.

 

See Natali, Antonio / Cecchi, Alessandro, Andrea del Sarto. Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence 1989, p. 119, WVZ no. 56 (Sacra Famiglia Borgherini) and p. 139, WVZ no. 69 ("Carità").