Lot 251: Giovanni Andrea Donducci, il Mastelletta (Bologna 1575-1655)

Giovanni Andrea Donducci, il Mastelletta (Bologna 1575-1655)
The Resurrected Christ and the Madonna with angels, appearing to Saint Francis of Assisi in the chapel of the Porziuncola, Santa Maria degli Angeli
oil on copper, arched top
24 1/8 x 16 1/8 in. (61.3 x 40.9 cm.)

Dubois de Saint-Gelais, Description des tableaux du Palais Royale avec La Vie des Peintres á la tête de leurs Ouvrages dédiée à Monseigneur le Duc D'Orleans, Paris, 1757, p. 241-2.
G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, II, London, 1854, p. 490.
C. Stryienski, La Galerie du Régent, Philippe, Duc D'Orléans, Paris, 1913, p. 172, no. 270.

Phillippe, Duc d'Orléans (le Régent).
Louis, Duc d'Orléans.
Philippe, duc d'Orléans, called Philippe-Egalité (1747-1793), with whose collection sold in 1792 to
Edouard Walkiers, a banker from Brussels, by whom sold in 1792 to
M. Laborde de Méréville (who bought this and the other Orléans Italian pictures to England) by whom sold to
Jeremiah Harman, who made all the Orléans pictures over to a syndicate consisting of
Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803); George Granville Leveson-Gower, Earl Gower, subsequently 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833); and Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle (1748-1825). Exhibited for sale by private contract at Bryan's Gallery, 88 Pall Mall, London, for six months from 26 December 1798, no. 45 (unsold).
Sale, Coxe, Burrell and Foster, London, 14 February 1800, lot 19 (unsold).
William Young Ottley; Christie's, London, 25 May 1811, lot 52 (unsold)
William Young Ottley; Christie's, London, 4 March 1837, lot 72 (51 gns. to Kesseler).

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium
The present painting appears to be a bozzetto for a lost altariece that was part of a St. Francis cycle that Mastelletta painted for the Monti chapel in S. Francesco, Bologna, in circa 1615. The subject is one of the most important scenes from the life of the Saint, and takes place in the chapel where the Franciscan movement began, and which remains its most venerated site. Other pictures in the series include The death of Saint Francis and Saint Francis receiving the Stigmata (both now in the Duomo, Casalmaggiore) as well as Saint Bonaventura (S. Petronio, Bologna).
The paintings were dispersed at the end of the 19th century when the side chapels were destroyed.