GIOVAN BATTISTA GAULLI, known as Il Baciccio (Genova,... Lot n° 9

Portrait of Pope Alexander VII Chigi c. 1667 Chigi Albani Della Rovere Collection, Castel Fusano Oil on canvas, 90 x 78 cm This painting, which appeared on the Italian market fairly recently (in a sale of "Dipinti antichi e dell'Ottocento" held by Wannenes on 3 December 2013), may be considered to be an autograph replica of the portrait of Pope Alexander VII Chigi in the National Gallery for Foreign Art in Sofia, published by Francesco Petrucci. Petrucci also publishes this picture, from the Chigi Albani Della Rovere Collection in Castel Fusano, as an autograph work by Baciccio (Francesco Petrucci, Baciccio. Giovan Battista Gaulli 1639 - 1709. Bozzi editore, Rome 2009. Pp. 147 et seq.; cat. A8, with particular reference to cat. A9a). Rediscovered by Petrucci in Sofia in 2009 and published in the monograph mentioned above, the Sofia prototype, formerly in the Messinger Collection (dispersed in a public auction held in Munich in 1918), was published alongside a second picture rediscovered on the same occasion. This second picture, a portrait of Mario Chigi, the brother of Pope Alexander VII, is also in the museum in Sofia. The two portraits, particularly that of the pope, are mainstays in the development of Baroque portraiture, acting as a kind of foil to Bernini's contemporary sculpture, with which they are indeed frequently associated. Our version's intrinsic quality is certainly as good as that of the portrait of Alexander VII in Sofia. The brushwork is of superb quality, and it is easy to discern the hand of the master both in the perfect definition of the portrait and in the treatement of the papal attire. The nuanced delicacy and irridescent luminosity of Baciccio's palette, which enables him to turn an official portrait into a lofty expression of Baroque naturalism, are concentrated in our version in the face and hands of the sitter; the brushwork of the mozzetta and the cardinal's beretta is only slightly less vibrant here than in the Sofia prototype, but the