(Bologna 1555–1619)
The Marriage of the Virgin
oil on copper, 44 x 34 cm, framed

Provenance:
(Possibly) Church of the Madonna of Strada Maggiore, Bologna;
with Colnaghi, London, 1979;
with Pietro Scarpa Gallery, Venice, 1986

Literature:
(Possibly) C. C. Malvasia, Le pitture di Bologna, 1686, p. 347, ed. by A. Emiliani, Bologna 1969, p. 238;
L. Ciammitti, in: Tre artisti nella Bologna dei Bentivoglio, exh. cat., Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, 1985, p. 62, note 1;
G. Feigenbaum, in: A. Emiliani (ed.), Ludovico Carracci, exh. cat., Museo Civico Archaeologico, Bologna and Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1993, p. 63, note 1 (under no. 29);
S. Pepper, Ludovico Carracci: A new sequence of his works and additions to his catalogue, in: Atti e memorie, Bologna, 1995, p. 52 (as Ludovico Carracci);
A. Brogi, Ludovico Carracci, 2001, vol. I, p. 274, no. R55; vol. II, fig. 296 (as a copy)

Exhibited:
Colnaghi, London, Old Master Paintings and Drawings, 19th June - 3rd August 1979, no. 6 (as Ludovico Carracci);
Museo Civico Archaeologico, Bologna, Ludovico Carracci, 25th September – 12th December 1993;
this exhibition later travelled to Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, 22nd January – 10th April 1994 (as Ludovico Carracci)

The present painting is considered by some scholars to be a fully autograph work by Ludovico Carracci.

It has been suggested that this painting is the work on copper formerly in the church of Santa Maria Lacrimosa degli Alemanni (Madonna di Strada Maggiore) in Bologna mentioned by Ludovico Carracci’s biographer, Carlo Cesare Malvasia: ‘dietro l’Altar maggiore in Coro, il belliffi.mo rame (ch’era ufcito di mente) della Sponfalizie della B:V: […] che hanno i Signori Marchefi Tanari, con aualche aggionta, del gran Lodovico […]’ (see op. cit. Malvasia, 1686 [1969], p. 238).

There is another version of the Marriage of the Virgin by Ludovico, also on copper (see op. cit. Brogi, 2001, vol. I, p. 116, no. 12, vol. II, fig. 43, as Ludovico Carracci).

It has been suggested that the differences between the two versions allow this work to be dated to some two years later than the first version. The other version is painted in soft pinks, yellows and mauves, a palette that is derived from Federico Barocci. The present version is painted in stronger colours: the yellow is a bright lemon, and the pink has become a striking red. It has been suggested that these changes in colouration, as well as the stature of the figures and treatment of depth, suggest that this painting is close in date to the Assumption of the Virgin of 1587, now in the North Carolina Museum of Art. The original version should be dated to around 1584–85.

The differences between the two paintings may reflect the development in Ludovico’s career from the intimate Baroque manner of his early years to the much more ambitious phase of activity that began with this painting and continued in the North Carolina Assumption, the Burgellini Altarpiece (1588) and the altarpiece in Cento of 1591. In his 1995 article, Pepper writes: ‘When we compare the two treatments of the Marriage of the Virgin (cat. no. 29), we see the identical changes that mark the differences between the early period and the Assumption. The second Marriage displays the same range of palette as the Assumption, and in the figures the sweet innocence and fragility that characterizes the Baroccesque phase have been replaced by a new amplitude, and the complexity of movement on the surface and in depth is shown most strikingly by the opening to an actual landscape passage in the background’ (S. Pepper, op. cit., Bologna 1995, p. 52).

Provenance:
(Possibly) Church of the Madonna of Strada Maggiore, Bologna;
with Colnaghi, London, 1979;
with Pietro Scarpa Gallery, Venice, 1986

Literature:
(Possibly) C. C. Malvasia, Le pitture di Bologna, 1686, p. 347, ed. by A. Emiliani, Bologna 1969, p. 238;
L. Ciammitti, in: Tre artisti nella Bologna dei Bentivoglio, exh. cat., Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, 1985, p. 62, note 1;
G. Feigenbaum, in: A. Emiliani (ed.), Ludovico Carracci, exh. cat., Museo Civico Archaeologico, Bologna and Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1993, p. 63, note 1 (under no. 29);
S. Pepper, Ludovico Carracci: A new sequence of his works and additions to his catalogue, in: Atti e memorie, Bologna, 1995, p. 52 (as Ludovico Carracci);
A. Brogi, Ludovico Carracci, 2001, vol. I, p. 274, no. R55; vol. II, fig. 296 (as a copy)

Exhibited:
Colnaghi, London, Old Master Paintings and Drawings, 19 June - 3 August 1979, no. 6 (as Ludovico Carracci);
Museo Civico Archaeologico, Bologna, Ludovico Carracci, 25 September – 12 December 1993;
this exhibition later travelled to Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, 22 January – 10 April 1994 (as Ludovico Carracci)

The present painting is considered by some scholars to be a fully autograph work by Ludovico Carracci.

It has been suggested that this painting is the work on copper formerly in the church of Santa Maria Lacrimosa degli Alemanni (Madonna di Strada Maggiore) in Bologna mentioned by Ludovico Carracci’s biographer, Carlo Cesare Malvasia: ‘dietro l’Altar maggiore in Coro, il belliffi.mo rame (ch’era ufcito di mente) della Sponfalizie della B:V: […] che hanno i Signori Marchefi Tanari, con aualche aggionta, del gran Lodovico […]’ (see op. cit. Malvasia, 1686 [1969], p. 238).

There is another version of the Marriage of the Virgin by Ludovico, also on copper (see op. cit. Brogi, 2001, vol. I, p. 116, no. 12, vol. II, fig. 43, as Ludovico Carracci).

It has been suggested that the differences between the two versions allow this work to be dated to some two years later than the first version. The other version is painted in soft pinks, yellows and mauves, a palette that is derived from Federico Barocci. The present version is painted in stronger colours: the yellow is a bright lemon, and the pink has become a striking red. It has been suggested that these changes in colouration, as well as the stature of the figures and treatment of depth, suggest that this painting is close in date to the Assumption of the Virgin of 1587, now in the North Carolina Museum of Art. The original version should be dated to around 1584–85.

The differences between the two paintings may reflect the development in Ludovico’s career from the intimate Baroque manner of his early years to the much more ambitious phase of activity that began with this painting and continued in the North Carolina Assumption, the Burgellini Altarpiece (1588) and the altarpiece in Cento of 1591. In his 1995 article, Pepper writes: ‘We can compare the two treatments of the Marriage of the Virgin (cat. no. 29) we see the identical changes that mark the differences between the early period and the Assumption. The second Marriage displays the same range of palette as the Assumption, and in the figures the sweet innocence and fragility that characterizes the Baroccesque phase have been replaced by a new amplitude, and the complexity of movement on the surface and in depth is shown most strikingly by the opening to an actual landscape passage in the background’ (S. Pepper, op. cit., Bologna 1995, p. 52).