(San Matteo della Decima 1734–1802 Bologna)
The Holy Family,
oil on canvas, oval, 48 x 62 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Bologna

Literature:
P. Bagni, I Gandolfi. Afreschi, dipinti, bozzetti, disegni, Bologna 1992, p. 558, no. 527, ill. (as Mauro Gandolfi)

We are grateful to Donatella Biagi Maino for confirming the attribution of the present painting after examination in the original.

The present painting belongs within the celebrated oeuvre of small works by Gaetano Gandolfi representing the Holy Family which would have been largely produced for private devotion. In these works, predominantly from the 1770s and 1780s, the painter worked almost as a miniaturist and they are characterised by a soft delicate palette that is close to that of pastel. Gandolfi focused in these paintings on tight knit compositions that highlight the sentiments and sweetly graceful spirituality of maternity. Here in an interplay of embraces and affectionately familiar gestures of intimacy, Saint Joseph supports and helps the suckling Child (see L. Bianchi, I Gandolfi, Rome 1936, pp. 81-83).

The present painting was previously attributed to the artist’s son Mauro, also a painter, who worked and lived several years in France (see literature). Much has been made of a French influence on Gaetano owing to the prints and drawings he received from his children in Paris as well as from the prints that would have been available to him in Bologna. Indeed, this influence has been described as a ‘maniera gandolfiana alla Fragonard’ (Gandolfi’s style in the manner of Fragonard). However, the rapport of exchange between Gaetano and French culture dates to before Mauro’s return from France in 1787.

Gaetano Gandolfi was a pupil of Felice Torelli and Ercole Lelli and at the age of seventeen he entered the Accademia Clementina di pittura, scultura e architettura in Bologna. In 1760 he travelled to Venice to study and to copy the works of the great masters of the Cinquecento and Settecento and above all works of the Tiepolo. On his return to Bologna, he transformed what he learned there into an extensive production of altarpieces. His artistic output which became increasingly cultured and refined, was especially appreciated by both the clergy and the private collectors of Bologna.