Holy Family with the Infant John the Baptist offering Fruit
Simone Cantarini (Opopezza 1612 - Bologna 1648)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1632 - 1648
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1180 x 880 mm (47 x 34 1/2 in )
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
NT 108833
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Holy Family with the Infant John the Baptist offering Fruit by Simone Cantarini (Opopezza 1612 – Bologna 1648). The Virgin sits on the left, with infant Jesus Christ on her lap, turned to the right, taking fruit proferred by Joseph, top right, The Infant Saint John, standing on the right is holding up a plate of fruit. The infant cousins meet for the first time when they are both in Egypt. Cantarini is sometimes unfairly known as a mere imitator of Guido Reni, whose pupil he made himself when he was already a mature master; but as this picture shows, his paintings have a vigour of their own. Previously in the collection of John Barnard (d.1784), whose collection of drawings and engravings was one of the most celebrated of the 18th century, this picture is first recorded in the Green Bedchamber in the West Attic in c.1778. It replaces a 'Temple of Flora' by "Viviano"' (Codazzi), that was auctioned in 1801, when pictures were brought here from the London house which had been sold.
Provenance
John Barnard (1709 -1784); first recorded in the Green Bedchamber in the West Attic in around 1778; and thence by descent until gifted to the National Trust in 1986 by Francis Curzon, 3rd Viscount Scarsdale (1924-2000).
Credit line
Kedleston Hall, The Scarsdale Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and transferred to The National Trust in 1987)
Marks and inscriptions
tablet - painted - bottom of frame - text - CONTARINI 1549-1605
Makers and roles
Simone Cantarini (Opopezza 1612 - Bologna 1648) , artist