ATTRIBUTED TO ANNIBALE CARRACCI, BOLOGNA, 1560 - 1609, ROME,...

Estimate

£4,000 - £6,000

ATTRIBUTED TO ANNIBALE CARRACCI, BOLOGNA, 1560 - 1609, ROME, 16TH CENTURY OIL ON CANVAS
Compositional preparatory study, titled ‘The Entombment of Christ’, C1590/1595, on Original canvas, held in a gilt frame, bearing label verso Bermondsey, London, further indistinct markings to stretcher.

Provenance: Cyril Earnest Kenney, Chartered Surveyor, Artist, collector and bibliophile formerly of the Royal Flying Corp, 1914 - 22

N.B. the present work has all the attributes of being a semi finished composition of the late 16th Century with signs of pentimenti. It is clearly by an exceptional hand with some passages - particularly the Christ figure - being expertly achieved. Compositionally, and in dimensions, this work very closely matches the version on copper now fully attributed to Carracci which only emerged in 1998, and is now housed in the Metropolitan Museum, NY [34.9cm x 43.8cm]

The Entombment of Christ was originally commissioned by the clergyman Astorre Sampeiri in Bologna, who in turn had a copy made by Carracci’s pupil Guido Reni [1575-1642], that copy by Reni is “now untraced. Based on compositional and lighting changes, as well as technique, it is unlikely the present work is based on any version by Badalocchio. Significantly, some scholars strongly believe that there must be a lost original of the composition, by Carracci himself. Until now, no such candidate has emerged