(Bologna 1515–1595)
The Madonna and Child with Saints Mary Magdalen and Catherine of Alexandria,
oil on panel, 76.5 x 61 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

Literature:
A. Mazza, Ai primordi della catalogazione del patrimonio artistico. Il censimento del 1820 nel territorio bolognese, in: M. Fanti/P. L. Perazzini, La schedatura delle opere d’arte a Bologna e nel suo territorio nel 1820, Bologna 2015, illustrated p. 220, fig. 43 (as Ercole Procaccini the Elder)

According to Mazza (see literature), the present painting is a late work by Ercole Procaccini the Elder and should be dated to circa 1580. This work can be compared to the Madonna and Child with Saint Nicholas in the Church of San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna (see Fototeca Zeri no. 38571).

Ercole Procaccini the Elder trained in the studio of Prospero Fontana and worked alongside him on the decoration of the Belvedere, Rome. The artist is documented in Parma, where he painted the two organ doors of the cathedral, and in Milan where he moved definitively in 1586. The artist was an important contributor to the development of Mannerism in Bologna. He was the father of the artists Camillo Procaccini (1551–1629) and Giulio Cesare Procaccini (1574–1625), both important protagonists of Lombard painting.