Lot 255: GIROLAMO SICIOLANTE DA SERMONETA

GIROLAMO SICIOLANTE DA SERMONETA 1521-1575 MADONNA AND CHILD WITH THE INFANT ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST oil on panel 48 1/4 by 38 3/8 in.; 122.5 by 97.5 cm.

Girolamo Siciolante is said to have begun his career in Rome under the tutelage of Leonardo Grazia da Pistoia (1502–?1548). By 1540 he had developed into one of the most sought after artists in Rome while working as one of Perino del Vaga's most trusted assistants on a number of important commissions for the papal court. Siciolante not only executed works of Perino's design, but also acted as an independent master under his general direction.(1) The two artists are first recorded working together in 1544 on Perino's fresco series for the Loggia of Pope Paul III in Castel Sant'Angelo. His talents in Rome did not go unnoticed, as only a year later he received an independent commission in Piacenza from the Pope's son Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma. Though they first collaborated in 1544, Siciolante must have known Perino, or at least been aware of his art by 1541, the date of Siciolante's first known painting, The Valvisciolo Altarpiece (Sermoneta, Castello Caetan). In that early work, he has very clearly quoted Perino in his rendering of the young St. John the Baptist, a specific figure visible throughout Perino's oeuvre. One such example is his Holy Family from the Liechtenstein collection, Vaduz (inv. no. G 24), in which Perino uses the same serpentine pose for the depiction of Christ.

The Valvisciolo Altarpiece is an appropriate point of comparison with the present work, as the Madonna shown here is taken almost directly from the same figure in that early work. The composition of both the Valvisciolo Altarpiece and this picture may derive from examples by Perino, though it is unclear given the absence of any direct overall comparison. Interestingly, a repetition of the present composition, albeit of lesser quality, was offered as by Attributed to Perino del Vaga in New York, Sotheby's, 25 May 2000, lot 19 where a possible attribution to Siciolante was also suggested. Ultimatley though, Siciolante emerges as a painter whose compositions are rooted in a more classical, Raphaelesque sensibility. Through Perino, Siciolante absorbed the lessons of Raphael and his classicising predecessors, as is apparent here in the elegently rendered figures, balanced composition, and overall sense of calm. These qualities are especially distinctive given the general rise of Mannerism in Italy beginning in the sixteenth century.

We are grateful to Daniele Benati for confirming the attribution of the present picture, based on photographs.

1. J. Hunter, "The Drawings and Draughtsmanship of Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta", in Master Drawings, vol. 26, Spring 1988, p. 5, no. 1,