Lot 141: Giacomo Francia , Bologna circa 1486 - 1557 The Holy Family with Saint Jerome oil on panel, unframed

stamped on the reverse with the inventory number : 8 oil on panel, unframed

measurements note 76 by 61.2 cm.; 29 7/8 by 24 1/8 in.

Count Aeneas Sylvius de Caprara (1631-1701), according to a wax seal on the reverse;
Prof. Hans Best. Munich.

This rediscovered Holy Family with Saint Jerome can be securely placed in the oeuvre of Giacomo Francia who trained in the workshop of his father Francesco. With his brother Giulio he took over the running of the workshop on his father's death in 1517. Giacomo often reworked his father's compositions adapting them to more contemporary Raphaelesque models, but in the present painting his own individual style can clearly be felt. Gone are the Ferrarese landscapes of the 1520s and more idiosyncratic elements are introduced: the turned torso and crossed legs of the infant Jesus are surely a development from the more static elements of the previous generation's compositions.υ1

We are grateful to Dott. Emilio Negro and Dottssa.Nicosetta Roio for endorsing the attribution to Giacomo Francia.


1. See for the figure of the Infant Jesus the same pose in E. Negro and N. Roio, Francesco Francia e la sua scuola, p. 299, cat. no. 271, reproduced p. 300.