Lot 110: The Madonna and Child with Saint Paul

Circle of Girolamo Marchesi, called Girolamo da Cotignola (Cotignola ?1471-?1559 Rome)
The Madonna and Child with Saint Paul
inscribed 'deus autem pacis conterat sathanam sub pedibus uestris uelociter' (on the scroll in Saint Paul's hand)
oil on panel, the top corners cut
68¾ x 49 in. (174.7 x 124.5 cm.)

with Carlo Gamora, Vienna, until 1822, when purchased by
Johann I Josef, Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf (1760-1836), and by descent in the Garden Palace at Rossau; moved to the Cloister of the Merciful Sisters at Schloss Feldsberg, Valtice, Bohemia, before 1852, when it was placed as an altarpiece in the Chapel of the so-called Neugebäude at Schloss Feldsberg; taken to the Fürstliches Museumzimmer, Vienna, in 1888, until 1893, when returned to Schloss Feldsberg, until August 1927, when returned to Vienna, until 1944, when moved to Schloss Vaduz, Liechtenstein, until the present.

This altarpiece, of somewhat unusual iconography, is evidently by a Romagnol master under the influence of contemporary Emilian painters, including Innocenzo da Imola and Bagnacavallo.

The text in Saint Paul's hand is from his Epistles to the Romans (16:20), 'And the God of peace crush Satan under your feet speedily; [the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you]', and was intended as a an adjuration to the viewer as well as an attribute (with his sword) of the apostle.

The picture is shown in situ in the chapel of the 'Neugebäude' at Feldsberg in a watercolour by Rudolf von Alt (Liechtenstein Collection, inv. no. GR 30).