“HOLY FAMILY: MADONNA WITH CHILD AND SAINT JOSEPH”
INNOCENZO FRANCUCCI DA IMOLA, known as “INNOCENZO DA IMOLA”
MASTERPIECE
(Work of museum value to be considered an AUTOGRAPH by the Master)
(Imola, c. 1484-1490 - Bologna, 1545/50)
Egg yolk tempera on poplar panels
cm. 45 x 37 (with frame: cm 83 x 77)
(New entry)
Expertise: Prof. Giancarlo Sestieri
Innocenzo (di Pietro) Francucci da Imola, known, more simply, as "Innocenzo da Imola" (Imola, c. 1484-1490 - Bologna, 1545/50), was one of the most significant Renaissance artists of his time and deserved the epithet, coined for him by Vasari, of "Raphael of Romagna" for his classically harmonious style and for the illuminated pictorial style that brought him very close to the compositional methods of the great artist from Urbino, Raphael Sanzio. Son of a goldsmith, thanks to a city subsidy, he apprenticed in Bologna with Francesco Francia, one of the most influential painters of the time, of whom he would become the main pupil. In 1515, after having created an important altarpiece for the church of Bagnara di Romagna, he opened his workshop in Imola and the painting "The Madonna Enthroned with Child, Saint Cassiano and Saint Pier Grisologo in the Act of Adoration" dates back to this period, kept in the Municipal Art Gallery, which is said to have been made by the painter as a sign of gratitude towards the Imola municipality for the subsidy granted to him: in fact, the painting depicts the patron saints of Imola, with Saint Cassiano holding the city in his hands. In 1517 Innocenzo left Imola for Bologna, marking with this the transition to commissions of greater prestige and fame. The large altarpieces and numerous paintings of private devotion, including this delightful interpretation of the theme of the “HOLY FAMILY” (dating back to 1515), or the “MADONNA WITH CHILD AND SAINT JOSEPH”, masterfully expertised by Prof. Giancarlo Sestieri of Rome (see expertise published below) and part of the catalog of autograph works recognized by the master, consecrated him as a painter of the major religious orders and the most important Bolognese and Romagna families.
In 1517 he obtained permission to fresco the nocturnal choir of the Olivetan convent of San Michele in Bosco, and, in the same year, he was called to Bologna to create numerous works for the Marquis Giovanni Battista Bentivoglio. In 1526 he created the altarpiece for the cathedral of Faenza and from 1527 to 1530 he worked on the Pala Bazzolini depicting the Madonna with Child, saints and the Archangel Gabriel with Tobias (Pinacoteca di Forlì), where the classicist language, taken from Raphael and Giulio Romano, reaches its full expressive maturity here. The altarpiece was probably completed in 1530, in addition to some works for the church of Santa Maria dei Servi. Among the last Bolognese works, we remember the altarpiece with the Marriage of Saint Catherine, for the Scardova chapel in San Giacomo Maggiore (1536), and the similar altarpiece with the Marriage of the Virgin, for the church of Santa Maria dei Servi.
Among his most famous pupils were Gaspare Sacchi from Imola, who was strongly inspired by the master's pictorial models, as in the work 'Marriage of the Madonna and Saints, for a long time attributed to Innocenzo and which is now in the Municipal Art Gallery of Imola. And then Prospero Fontana, interpreter of late Bolognese mannerism, whose daughter Lavinia, from Imola by adoption, was the author of important works in the city of Imola, including the large altarpiece for the chapel of the Palazzo Comunale depicting the patron saints of Imola in the act of venerating the Madonna, now part of the collection of the Municipal Art Gallery. During his life he produced numerous frescoes and religious altarpieces, painting in the manner of Raphael. His only secular paintings are five mythological frescoes in the Palazzina della Viola in Bologna. He was master of artists of the caliber of Francesco Primaticcio, Prospero Fontana and Pietro Lamo. The Church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna was painted internally by Francucci.
Measurements: cm. 45 x 37 (with frame: cm 83 x 77)
Emilia-Romagna – around 1515
A MASTERPIECE FOR A LARGE INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM
CONFIDENTIAL NEGOTIATIONS
Known works
• The Virgin with Child and Saints Sebastian, Rocco, Cosma and Damiano (1515) - Bagnara di Romagna (Ra) – kept at the Parish Museum “Mons. Alberto Mongardi”
• Holy Family: Madonna with Child and Saint Joseph (1515) - Bagnara di Romagna (Ra) private collection
• The Madonna Enthroned with Child, Saint Cassiano and Saint Pier Grisologo in the Act of Adoration, kept in the Municipal Art Gallery of Imola (Bo)
• The Virgin and Child with Saints John, Apollinaris and Catherine and a Bishop (1516) formerly in Casola Valsenio (Ra) now Diocesan Museum of Imola (Bo)
• Study of an angel and draping (1520) - Getty Museum - USA
• The Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, Joachim and Anne (1526), Cathedral of Faenza (Ra)
• The Virgin of the Rosary (1531), church of San Domenico fuori le mura, Catania
• The mystical marriage of Catherine of Siena, Filangieri Museum, Naples- Naples
• Madonna and Child in glory and Saint Michael the Archangel and the blessing of Peter, National Art Gallery of Bologna
• Saint John the Evangelist, La Salle University Collection – Philadelphia – USA
• Marriage of the Virgin – Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna
• Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine – Scardova Chapel in San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna
• Pala Bazzolini depicting the Madonna with Child, saints and the Archangel Gabriel with Tobias - Forlì, National Art Gallery
• 5 mythological frescoes – Palazzina della Viola in Bologna
• Madonna with Child and Saints Francis and Jerome – Rome - Galleria Borghese
• Madonna with Child and Saints Francis, Clare and Little John – Bologna, National Art Gallery
• Madonna with Child Enthroned and Saints – London, British Museum
• Female Portrait – London, Pat Coombs Collection
• Baptism of Christ – Milan, Museum of the Archbishopric
• Madonna with Child in glory, Saint Sebastian, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Petronius, Saint Clare, Saint Catherine de' Vigri and the client – Alte Pinakoteck of Munich (D)
• Holy Family with Saint John and Saint Mary Magdalene – Milan – Private collection
• Madonna with Child in glory – Modena - Fondazione Bper Banca
• Nativity of Jesus – New York, O. Klein collection
• Mystical marriage of Saint Catherine – Imola – Banca d’Imola Collection
• Holy Family with Saint John and Saint Francis of Assisi – Rome, Galleria Colonna
• Madonna of Help – Rome, private collection
Essential bibliography
1. ^ Innocènzo da Imola, in Treccani.it – Online encyclopedias, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.
2. ^ Rezio Buscaroli, La pittura romagnola del Quattrocento, Faenza 1931, pp. 399-427
3. ^ "Francucci, Innocenzo di Pietro".
4. ^ Pedrini, Claudia (1998).
5. ^ Geronimus, Dennis (2006).
6. ^ Wyss, Edith (1996).
7. ^ Innocenzo da Imola, 700, Study of an Angel and of Drapery (drawing)
EXPERTISE OF PROF. GIANCARLO SESTIERI (see photo)
