Westcoast Fine Art has dated this Italian Baroque Oil Painting to the 18th Century.
Title: Madonna and Child with Two Angels
Date: Circa late 17th, early 18th century
Measurements: Overall measurements are 126cm x 94cm x 4 and the painting measured at 110cm x 76cm
Provenance: From a private London collection
The present work depicts the Madonna holding the infant Jesus as two angels look on adoringly. The infant Jesus sits on the lap of the Madonna with arms outstretched.
There is an elegant and refined character to this painting that suggests the painting of a female hand. The delicate features of the Madonna and Child are indicative of a feminine touch. Another artist whose work comes to mind in comparison with this work is Barbara Longhi (1552-1638), although this particular painting appears to be much closer to the work of Orsola Maddalena Caccia.
Orsola Maddalena Caccia, born Theodora Caccia (1596–1676) was an Italian mannerist painter and Catholic nun. She painted religious images, altarpieces, and still lifes Caccia spent the majority of her career running a successful studio in the Ursuline convent in Moncalvo, which was founded by her father in part to house his six daughters.
Orsola's father, painter Guglielmo Caccia, also known as Il Moncalvo, trained her and her sister, Francesca, in his studio.
In 1620, Orsola took her vows at the Convento delle Orsoline in Bianzè, Italy, in the northern region of Piedmont. At the time of her arrival, four of her sisters were already in residence. Bianzé was a fortified outpost between lands governed by the Gonzagas, the dukes of Mantua and Monferrato, and the Duchy of Savoy. Subsequently, its location was between these warring areas.
To find a safe place for his daughters, he sought permission from the Bishop of Casale Monferrato to establish the Ursuline convent at Moncalvo. For this project, he used his own resources—money and the houses he owned. In 1625, Orsola and her sisters transferred to the newly established convent.
A few months later, on April 15, 1625, Guglielmo died. He bequeathed his drawings, set squares, and tools to his daughters for their use at the convent. However, he stipulated that after all six of his daughters died, his belongings should be returned to his male heirs. He also stipulated in his will that Orsola complete an unfinished altarpiece for the Franciscan church of Montalvo. She did finish the work, in addition to taking commissions for other panel paintings for local churches.
Orsola took matters into her own hands when the convent experienced financial problems. She addressed the Duchess of Savoy, Madama Reale Christine of France, in two letters in 1643. Orsola requested an opportunity for paid work. Christine commissioned a Nativity and a Saint John the Baptist. Since commissions earned money for the convent, being able to paint well was a valuable skill. Painting was a vocation for the Ursulines of Moncalvo, and Orsola set up a painting studio within the convent, where she trained other nun artists.
Although influenced by her father’s technique, Orsola elaborated a personal style that is attentive to detail, as well as to developments in Lombard and Flemish painting. Despite executing numerous altarpieces, her fame especially rests in her small, refined cabinet paintings, and on her elegant female saints. Her patrons included both the courts of Savoy and the Gonzaga.
We think the pairing offered most likely to have been composed by a follower of the old master perhaps a student.
Westcoast Fine Art has dated this Italian Baroque Oil Painting to the 18th Century.
Westcoast fine art ltd is a UK based dealer in fine classical works of art.
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Westcoast Fine Art Profile Page
Italia School Painting of the Madonna and Child with Two Angels, (Xvii-xviii) Follower of Orsola Maddalena Caccia
