Lot 26A: Giulio Raibolini, called Giulio Francia , Bologna 1487-1545 The Madonna and Child with Saint Joseph oil on panel

oil on panel

measurements note 24 by 19 1/2 in.; 61 by 49.5 cm.

E. Negro and N. Roio, Francesco Francia e la Sua Scuola, Modena 1998, p. 295, cat. no. 257, reproduced p. 294 (as by Giulio Francia and School, see note).

Private collection, Nurnberg, Bavaria, as by Barbara Longhi, thence by descent.

The present painting is a typical work by Giulio Francia, the younger son of Francesco Francia. Roio (see literature) compares the present panel stylistically to one of the few secure works by the artist, a signed and dated Madonna and Child with Saints Sebastian, James and the infant Baptist in San Giovanni Battista, Fuipiano (see op. cit., p. 269, cat. no. 205). The more attenuated forms of Giulio, rather than those of his brother Giacomo, are discernable in the present work; Roio notes, in fact, that the painting is "eseguito prevalentemente da Giulio Francia..." but that "non è improbabile... l'intervento di uno dei suio più assidui collaboratori."