|
|
| Artist | Attributed to studio of Barocci, Federico (Italian painter, 1528-1612) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to Barocci, Federico (Italian painter, 1528-1612) |
| Title | The Infant Saviour |
| Alternative/previous titles | The Infant Christ |
| Date earliest | 1597 |
| Date latest | 1612 |
| Material | oil on panel |
| Measurements | 18.4 x 12.6 cm |
| Description | According to Bellori, Pope Clement VIII was a guest of the Duke of Urbino, who gave him a princely present, a golden vase for Holy Water, which, to make it even more precious, was decorated with the figure of the infant Christ painted by Federico Barocci, with one hand holding the globe while with the other he blesses the world. The pope liked it so much that he had it removed from the vase and kept it in his prayer book. The Glasgow painting may be one of the two copies paid for by the Duke of Urbino in 1597 and 1598. |
| Subject | figure; religion (the Infant Christ) |
| Collection | Culture and Sport Glasgow (Museums): Kelvingrove Museum |
| Current accession number | 162 |
| Acquisition details | Bequeathed by Archibald McLellan 1855. |
| Provenance | Probably one of the two copies of a lost painting for a vase donated to Pope Clement VIII, paid for by the Duke of Urbino in 1597/8;. |
| Principal publications | Bellori, G. P., Le vite de' pittori scultori et architetti moderni, Rome, 1672 [ed. Sala Bolognese, 1977], p. 186; The McLellan Gallery: Catalogue of Pictures Bequeathed to the People of Glasgow by the late Archibald McLellan, Glasgow, 1855, 'Centre Room: Italian and German Schools', no. 69, p. 10, as 'Federigo Baroccio; Olsen, H., Federico Barocci, Stockholm, 1955, under no. 52, p. 156; Olsen, H., Federico Barocci, Copenhagen, 1962, p. 199, no. 53, as a studio replica of the lost original of 1597; Catalogue of Italian Paintings: Illustrations, Glasgow Art Gallery and Museums, 1970, p. 30 (ill.), as studio of Federico Barocci. |
| Notes | The panel has been enlarged on the top; fragment of blue bordered label on frame. A closely related drawing, in the Martin von Wagner Museum, Würzburg, is illustrated by Olsen, 1962, plate 102b; another is in the Uffizi, Florence (inv. no. 11641). The figure itself has strong similarities to the Madonna with the Child of the Chiesa dell'Ospedale at Urbania (Olsen, cat. 68, pp. 214-15 and pl. 102a; Emiliani, A., Federico Baroccio (Urbino 1535-1612), vol. 2, pp. 372-75, who, however, does not make mention of the Glasgow picture). |
| Rights status | Culture and Sport Glasgow (Museums) |
| Author | Dr Heiner Krellig |
