(Bologna 1532–1577)
The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and Saint Joseph,
oil on canvas, 115 x 98 cm, framed

Provenance:
English private collection.

Nicholas Turner, who examined the present painting in the original, has confirmed the traditional attribution to Orazio Samacchini. Emilio Negro and Nicosetta Roio have independently arrived at the same opinion.

Apart from general stylistic clues, the present painting exhibits a number of motifs that also recur in several other works by this master, such as Saint Catherine’s unusual woven hair garment and the crown, while the depiction of the Infant Saint John the Baptist is also highly typical. Moreover, in terms of pose, expression, and facial features, the carefully rendered Madonna corresponds to a type frequently used by Samacchini. Although Samacchini had been a pupil of Pellegrino Tibaldi, his early output reflects first and foremost Raphael’s classicism as it was interpreted in the art of Bagnacavallo, in Innocenzo da Imola’s Mannerism, and in the oeuvre of Prospero Fontana. Such works as the Marriage of the Virgin (c. 1550–60, San Giuseppe, Bologna) are governed by formal simplicity, clear colours, and linear purity.

The present painting dates from the period after the artist’s return from Rome, when Fontana’s style and typological pictorial elements were combined with a refined colour scheme that is reminiscent of early 16th-century painting in the Southern Netherlands. Moreover, his works reveal a stylistic influence deriving from Lorenzo Sabattini. Samacchini’s Roman experience resulted in works characterised by ambitious compositional and spatial solutions, in conjunction with a lively and impressive description of the figures.