Located in Milano, Lombardia
Matteo Bonechi (Florence, Italy, 1669 - Florence, Italy, 1756)
Title: Presentation of Jesus
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: without frame 75 x 49 cm – with frame 89.5 x 65 cm
Shaped, carved and gilded wooden box frame
Not signed
Expertise by Sandro Bellesi, Professor and art historian
Fairs: The International Biennial of Antiques in Florence 2022 (BIAF, Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato di Firenze)
Publications: Bozzetti, modelletti, sketches: dalla collezione di Giorgio Baratti (From the Giorgio Baratti Collection) curated by Anna Orlando, Agnese Marengo and Annalisa Scarpa, Genova, 2022, pp. 20, 21.
The present painting is a very interesting testimony of the creative process of Matteo Bonechi, one of the leading artists on the Tuscan art scene in the early 18th century. The canvas in question is in fact the last preparatory model made by Bonechi before he executed an altarpiece for the church of San Filippo Neri in Cortona in 1716. The scene presented here is that of the Presentation of Jesus, when, forty days after his birth, the child is ransomed through an offering in the temple and placed in the hands of Simeon, who prophesies his future: the coming of the Messiah...
Category
Early 18th Century Old Masters Alessandro di Cristofano Allori Art
