(Cento 1591–1666 Bologna)
Saint Paul the Hermit with two Putti,
oil on canvas, 204 x 153.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Ranuzzi collection, Florence and Bologna (possibly acquired by Vincenzo Ferdinando Antonio Ranuzzi Cospi [1658–1726] in Florence in 1720-1730);
and thence by descent to the present owner

Literature:
A. Mazza, L’età dei Ranuzzi. Progetti decorativi e quadreria nel nuovo palazzo dal conte Marcantonio Ranuzzi al conte Vincenzo Ferdinando Antonio Ranuzzi Cospi (1679-1726), in: Palazzo Ranuzzi Baciocchi. Sede della Corte d’Appello e della Procura Generale della Repubblica, ed. by E. Garzillo, Bologna 1994, p. 104, not illustrated (as a copy from Guercino)

The present painting relates to Guercino’s Saint Augustine, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Paul the Hermit painted between 1637 and 1638 for the church of Sant’Agostino, Rome (see fig. 1.). The figure of Saint Paul the Hermit, as well as the two angelic putti with a cartouche can be compared, with some minor variants, to the present painting.

Other autograph or studio versions of the saint are in the Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna (where the cartouche is replaced by the palm of martyrdom, and the iconographic attributes of the Saint are positioned at lower left), in the Galleria Sabuda Turin (inv. no. 163), in the Galleria Colonna, Rome (inv. no. 131) and in the Art Institute of Dayton, Ohio (inv. no. 1963.28). All these paintings may derive from a cartoon that Guercino evidently retained after delivering the Roman altarpiece and made available to his collaborators. This practice was not unusual for important studio workshops of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and was a determining factor in the production of certain images. (see N. Turner, The paintings of Guercino, Rome 2017, p. 525 cat. no. 235).

The present painting was with all probability acquired by Count Vincenzo Ferdinando Antonio Ranuzzi Cospi between 1720 and 1730 (see A. Mazza, in literature), perhaps in Florence where the family had longstanding ties. Indeed, the latter’s father, Count Annibale III Ranuzzi (1625–1697) was among the most prolific Bolognese correspondents of the Medici Household and of Grand-Duke Cosimo III, engaged in finding, and acquiring, works to send to Tuscany (see R. Carapelli, Annibale Ranuzzi e i rapporti con la Firenze medicea nel ‘600, in: Il Carrobbio, 1984, pp. 70-79). From 1668 this role was taken up by Vincenzo Ferdinando who lived in Palazzo Pitti in Florence.

The Ranuzzi also collected works of art for their own family palace in Bologna (today the seat of the Court of Appeal of Bologna) and their collection was among the most important in the city, alongside those of the Zambeccari, Hercolani and Tanari. The collection was described in 1732 by Giampietro Zanotti, secretary of the Accademia Clementina, as: ‘Una copiosa galleria di pitture di Guido, de’ Carracci, del Guercino, del Viani, e del Canuti; e il famoso Coriolano del Pasinelli, una Carità Romana, molte mezze figure dello stesso’ [‘A copious gallery of paintings by Guido, by the Carracci, of Guercino, of Viani, and of Canuti; and the famous Coriolanus by Pasinelli, a Roman Charity, many half figures by the same’] (see F. Bores [eds.], Vincenzo Ferdinando Ranuzzi Cospi: essere un gentiluomo. Le “memorie della vita” scritte nel 1720, Bologna 2016).

The present painting follows the traditional iconography of Saint Paul of Thebes: he is represented seated on a rocky outcrop covered by a mantle of palm leaves; in his right hand the hermit holds a stick while in his left he holds rosary beads. His gaze is turned to the heavens where two putti support a cartouche inscribed: ‘PRIMUS IN EREMO’ recording that Paul was the first Christian hermit.