Lot 107: The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Orazio Sammachini (Bologna 1532-1577)
The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria
oil on canvas, transferred from panel
37 3/8 x 30 1/8 in. (94.9 x 76.4 cm.)

This painting is can be compared to the Holy Family with Saints Margaret, Catherine and Francis, formerly in the collection of Kaiser Wilhelm II, dated circa 1567/8; and to the Holy Family in the Galleria Estense, Moderna (inv. no. 264), dated to circa 1570 (see J. Winkelmann, Orazio Samacchini in Pittura Bolognese del '500, ed., V. Fortunati Pietrantonio, Bologna, 1986, II, p. 640). The head of the Christ Child is also extremely close to the face of the putto holding the curtain in the Aeneas and Dido in the Louvre, Paris (ibid., II, p. 659). We are grateful to Professor Daniele Benati for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs.