Paintings | All Painters | | | Artwork profile

86 x 71,5 cm
Oil on canvas
1700-1705 ca.


Report

Expertise

Visitation in the sepulchre with the Virgin and three Marys

The subject
Carlo Maratti portrayed on this canvas the three Marys accompanied by the Virgin Mary as they examined the then empty tomb of Christ. An angel approached and showed the Mother the crown of thorns, a symbol of the Passion of the Son.


The painting

The work was identified by Giancarlo Sestieri (written communication on 15 June 2005) as one of the two original versions of the subject: one was destined for Pope Alexander VIII Ottoboni, which was however given to the cardinal of the same name as the pope died prior to its completion, while the other version was completed for Niccolò Maria Pallavicini. The prestige this artist gained in painting religious subjects centred on the image of the Madonna was such that he gained a reputation as the head of the Roman painting school of the late 17th century and was given the name, “Carletto delle Madonne”.

In fact, this iconographic depiction of the Virgin was an essential reference point for Roman painting in the first half of the 18th century and underwent a revival following the work of other artists including Sebastiano Conca and Francesco Trevisani. Another very similar painting depicting the Madonna exists in the collection of the patron Niccolò Pallavicini and it is possible that it is one of the two aforementioned versions. No significant qualitative differences are evident from a direct comparison of the two versions, apart from a greater malleable softness and pictorial sensibility in the depiction of the drapery in the piece presented here.