*Sacred Scripture* Madonna with the Infant Christ Child holding a Goldfinch on a String – Sassoferrato

This artwork by Sassoferrato shows Our Lady holding the Child Jesus Christ, lovingly looking down at Him. The Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, is in the air above the Mother and Child.

Description
Giovanni Battista Salvi, called Sassoferrato
Madonna with the infant christ child holding a goldfinch on a string
oil on copper

*Sassoferrato specialized in devotional easel paintings, usually depicting the Virgin Mary alone or with the Christ Child. His works were in great demand in his own lifetime and the enormous popularity of his compositions is attested to by the numerous autograph and studio replicas of these charming and intimate sacred images. The present composition is known in four other versions: in the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart (on copper, 62.5 by 48 cm.); in the Civico Museo Francesco Borgogna, Vercelli (on oval canvas, 103 by 77 cm.); in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; and another which was sold, New York, Sotheby’s, 5 June 2002, lot 38 (oil on canvas, 99 by 80 cm.). A squared preparatory drawing, which is almost the exact same size as the present painting, is in the collection of the Courtauld Institute, London (24 by 17 cm.).

Sassoferrato based his composition for The Madonna with the Infant Christ Child Holding a Goldfinch on a String on a work by Simone Cantarini known from an engraving. A related painting by Cantarini, depicting the Christ Child holding a flower, is in the collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson.

In a letter dated 29 September 2010, François Macé de Lépinay confirmed the attribution to Sassoferrato.

**Giovanni Battista Salvi (Il Sassoferrato) was an Italian Baroque painter best known for his devotional images of Catholic themes. His smoothly rendered and idealized works were influenced by the paintings of various prominent artists of the Baroque and Renaissance era, particularly Guido Reni, Albrecht Dürer, and Raphaël. Born on August 25, 1609 in Sassoferrato, Italy, he was an apprenticed to his father, the painter Tarquion Salvi, at a young age. He later moved to Rome to start his career, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. Today, Salvi’s works are in the collections of the most prominent institutions worldwide, notably the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Rikjsmuseum in Amsterdam, the National Gallery in London, and the Prado Museum in Madrid. Salvi died on August 8, 1865 in Rome, Italy.
https://www.artnet.com/artists/giovanni-battista-salvi-il-sassoferrato/9