THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
GIOVANNI FRANCESCO ROMANELLI* (1610-1662)

Details
GIOVANNI FRANCESCO ROMANELLI* (1610-1662)

The Return from Egypt

oil on canvas
Inscribed with the Corsini Inventory number '198'
63 3/8 x 74¾in. (161 x 189.9cm.)
Provenance
Cardinal Francesco Barberini, Palazzo Cancelleria, Rome 'A di 20 Maggio 1635. Fatto fare al Sig.re Gio. Francesco pittore Romanelli. Un quatro fatto p di sopra a menzo torno alto palmi nove largo palmi setti menzo con la Madonna ch tiene p la mano Jesuchristo ch vanno á piedi in viaggio con Gioseppe et Angelo che mena p la corda l'Asinello et paesi et arbori, et per disopra un Dio padre con nuvole et l'ospirito Santo sotto De quale..' (and listed in his inventories of 1649 and 1679); by descent to
Prince Maffeo Barberini, Villa Bagaia, near Rome; listed in his inventory of 1686 'Un quadro in forma quasi quadrato, d' di sopra mezzo tondo, rapresenta La Mad.a il Bambino, S. Gios.e Dio P're in Gloria alto p.i 9. largo 8. in circa, con cornice intagliata, e'dorata, mano del Romanelli', and thence by descent
Cardinal Benedetto Barberini; appearing as no. 457 in his inventory of 1844 in which the size is given as 'al. p.i. 10, lar. p.i. 8'
Duke Carlo Felice Barbarini, by descent to his daughter
Princess Anna Corsini, (d.1911)
Prince Tommaso Corsini (d. 1919); appearing in the inventory compiled on his wife Princess Anna Corsini's death in 1911, of works of art at the Palazzo di Tagliacozzo in Abruzzi, no. 198 'Fuga in Egitto. Giovan Francesco Romanelli. Altezza m.2.18 x 1.90, L.1000'
with Riccardo Finghini, Florence, 1952, by whom sold to
Mary H. Zimmerman, Detroit, and thence by descent
Literature
M. Lavin, Seventeenth Century Barberini Documents and Inventories of Art, 1975, p. 35, no. 278; p. 37, no. 289; p. 238, no. 598; p. 354, no. 19; p. 421, no. 625; p. 514

Lot Essay

Commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini in 1635 for the chapel of the Chiesa di San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane for the sum of 100 scudi, the present painting is referred to in several of the Barberini documents dating up to 1686 as having a rounded top which included a vision of God the Father over the Holy Family as well as the Holy Ghost in the Clouds (M. Lavin, op. cit., p. 35). After this date no specific mention is made of this upper level which has been cut from the top edge of the existing canvas. There is, however, evidence of red pigmentation over the stretcher supporting the present painting which may, perhaps, have formed part of God the Father's robes