Lot 112: Andrea Bianchi, il Vespino (active Milan, c . 1612-1640)

Andrea Bianchi, il Vespino (active Milan, c. 1612-1640)
The Meeting of Christ and the Infant Saint John the Baptist
inscribed 'ECCE A[GNUS] DEI' (on the bandolino held by St. John)
oil on panel
22 7/8 x 27¾ in. (58.2 x 70.5 cm.)

P.C. Marani, 'Un'aggiunta Leonardesca al pittore di Federico Borromeo Andrea Bianchi detto il Vespino', in Arte e storia di Lombardia. Scritti in Memoria di Grazioso Sironi, Rome, 2006, pp. 273-8, fig. 1.

Marchesa Capuola Serponti-Taverna (according to an inscription on the reverse).
Dr. Giuseppe Cagnole (according to an inscription on the reverse).

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Andrea Bianchi copied several paintings by Leonardo for Federico Borromeo, notably the Last Supper, better known as Il Cenacolo, a fresco that was already deteriorating at the time and that was copied with the greatest attention, as stated by Federico Borromeo himself (Federico Borromeo. Musaeum, ed . G. Ravasi, Milan, 1997, pp. 42-3; the copy is in the Ambrosiana). Also for Federico Borromeo he copied the version of the Virgin of the Rocks that at the time was in the Cappella dell'Immacolata Concezione in the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan, and is now in the National Gallery, London. Vespino's copy was executed after 1611, as it is not recorded in Federico Borromeo's codicillo, and before 1618, when he donated it to the Ambrosiana, where it remains today.
This panel derives from the same composition, but is executed with a certain freedom, in the positioning of the figures and the flowers. It shares, with the Ambrosiana picture, the absence of halos and of the cross held by the Infant Saint John the Baptist, that in the London panel are also thought to be later additions. Pietro C. Marani (op. cit.) considers the painting to have been executed at around the same time as the other two important copies, 1611-1618, and to be indeed an interesting addition to the oeuvre of this not yet very well known painter and to the studies on the revival of Leonardo in early 17th century Milan.