Saint Catherine and the Hermit, oil on canvas, 138 x 121 cm, framed

Provenance:
Marchese Pio Theodoli, Palazzo Albergati, Bologna;
European private collection.

Literature:
D. Benati, Qualche osservazione sull’attività giovanile di Francesco Albani, in: Paragone, 381, 1981, p. 51, fig. 37;
Idem, Con pari tenerezza e miglior disegno: Albani (e Reni) prima di Roma, in: Arte cristiana, LXXXIX, 742, 1991, p. 31, fig. 9;
C. R. Puglisi, Francesco Albani, New Haven-London 1999, p. 102, no. 19, fig. 38

The present painting, which was traditionally given to Ludovico Carracci, was first published as a work by Albani by Daniele Benati in 1981, who dated it to around 1603 when the artist was in Rome. The treatment of the figures and drapery in the present painting display strong similarities to other early works by Albani; for example, the hermit’s pointed facial features are reminiscent of those of Saint Jerome (Prado, Madrid) or those of Pan in Pan and Daphne (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome). The saint’s profile and the short curls gently enveloping her face recall the facial type of the angel in Saint Jerome (Prado, Madrid), while the generous, heavy drapery of her garment is close to that of the kneeling woman in The Birth of the Virgin (Rome.Pinacoteca Capitolina). Moreover, the drama of the scene and its nocturnal lighting strongly resemble the artist’s Penitence of Saint Peter of 1600 in the oratory of San Colombano in Bologna, which dates from a period when Albani was still very much under the impact of Ludovico Carracci’s style of painting.

Albani was apprenticed to Denys Calvaert when he was twelve years old. Subsequently he became a student and collaborator of Ludovico Carracci, through whose influence he also received his first public commissions. Between 1601 and 1617 Albani worked in Rome and then returned to Bologna, where he formed his own workshop.

The present composition illustrates the moment when Catherine of Alexandria was converted to the Christian faith by a hermit who showed her a picture of the Madonna and Child. Albani has rendered this unusual subject in the form of an intimate nocturnal scene lit by candlelight.