Lot 75: Francesco Stringa , Modena 1635 - 1709 the madonna of the rosary with saints dominic, catherine of siena and francis Pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk; bears numbering in brown ink, upper left of verso : No. 37. ; bears attribution in

Pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk; bears numbering in brown ink, upper left of verso : No. 37. ; bears attribution in pencil, lower left: F Stringa f.

measurements note 450 by 283mm

With Galerie Ratton et Ladrière, Paris; acquired in 2003

The graphic work of the little-known Emilian artist Francesco Stringa is very rare, and until recently only two drawings could be securely attributed to the artist: an Adoration of the Magi in the Biblioteca di Rio de Janeiro, and a Madonna of the Rosary with Saints in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. The latter drawing is preparatory for the artist's painting of the same subject in the church of S. Michele Arcangelo in Gombola di Polignago, near Modena (fig. 1). The altarpiece is thought to be an early work by Stringa, possibly painted before he entered the workshop of Ludovico Lana in 1661 at the age of 26.υ1 It is possible that the present sheet may also have been drawn in preparation for the Modena painting. The altarpiece varies somewhat from the composition as we see it here: Saint Francis, the musical angels at the upper right and the amusing dog are absent, and the Christ Child sits upon his mother's lap rather than standing at her side. The essence of the painting is, however, the same, with its landscape setting, distant buildings and main figure group, still appearing in the triangular formation that Stringa developed in this study, with Saint Dominic raising both hands to receive the rosary from the Madonna. We now know that the largest body of drawings by Stringa is in the Galleria Estense in Modena: a group of six academic studies of male and female nudes, presumably sketchbook pages, with the same distinctive facial type that we see in the present drawing.υ2 A more comparable sheet, however, is a compositional study in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, showing the Madonna and Child enthroned, adored by Saints Jerome, Crispin and Crispinian, preparatory for the painting of the same subject in the church of San Prospero, Reggio Emilia.υ3 Executed in the same media and drawn in a similarly fluid manner, the Stuttgart sheet displays the same treatment of space and sense of movement in the figures. L'arte degli Estensi: la pittura del Seicento e del Settecento a Modena e Reggio 2. J. Bentini, op.cit., pp. 238-247 3. See D. Benati et al, Disegni Emiliani del Sei-Settecento, Quadri da stanze e da altare, Milan 1991, p. 204, cat. nos. 53, 53.1