Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child
after Orazio Borgianni (c.1578 - 1616)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1669
Materials
Oil on alabaster with slate back
Measurements
171 x 127 mm (6 3/4 x 5 in)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Scotney Castle, Kent
NT 792013
Summary
Oil painting on alabaster with a slate back, Saint Christopher carrying the Christ-Child, after Orazio Borgianni (c.1578-1616). Saint Christopher is seen advancing through the river (represented by the naked alabaster) with his right foot in the water and left foot on the bank, turning his head back to look at the Christ Child on his shoulder. He grips a long staff in his left hand, whilst his right hand clasps the white drapery gathered at his waist. He wears red trews, and has slipped a blue jerkin off down to his waist. This is a copy of a popular composition by Borgianni, of which the prime version appears to be the one on canvas (39 x 29 ins.) in the National Gallery of Scotland, which also owns one of the many copies of it, and another version of which, of apparently equal quality, belonged to Hermann Voss before World War II (see Alfonso Perez Sanchez's entry on the original, in the exhibition catalogue The Age of Caravaggio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Museo Capodimonte, Naples 1985, no.21). The small differences from the Edinburgh picture, especially in Saint Christopher's dress, suggest that the Scotney reduced copy may, rather, be after the lost version that once belonged to Dr Voss, or that it is after the engraving that Borgianni dedicated to one of his main Spanish Ambassador in Rome between 1609 and 1616. It is doubtful whether this copy will ever be attributable to a particular hand. The old attribution to Jacques Stella is doubtless owed to the fact that, when in Italy, he was known for his ability to paint on various stones and marbles.
Provenance
Accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of inheritance tax and transferred to the National Trust under the terms of the will of Mrs Christopher Hussey (1907-2006)
Credit line
Scotney Castle, The Hussey Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: On back, the remains of a red wax seal with a phoenix as a crest Verso: In ink on luggage label to the reverse 'by Jacques [Stella?] / ? ? / he painted on marble / Minor history. 1647. Paris, Lyons; and in a later hand in biro- FARINATI (?)'
Makers and roles
after Orazio Borgianni (c.1578 - 1616), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Jacques Stella (Lyon 1596 - Paris 1657), artist