ANTONIO CAVALLUCCI (Sermoneta, 1752 - Rome, 1795) Madonna and Child, St. Anne and St. John (c. 1790) Oil on canvas, 128.5 x 97 cm Provenance: Cardinal Xavier de Zelada (Rome, 1717 ; 1801) Cardinal Giovanni Rinuccini (Florence, 1743 ; Rome, 1801) Private collection Bibliography: A. de Angelis, Il Cardinale Francesco Saverio de Zelada (1717-1801) e la sua collezione. Degree thesis (University of Roma Tre), academic year 1998-1999 L. Barroero, Domenico Corvi, Milano e la Polonia: una committenza incompiuta, in Antologia di Belle Arti. Il Settecento III, new series, nn. 63/66, 2003, pp. 73-78, fig. 4, footnote 36 The work presented here must be classed among the best pictorial evidence of Antonio Cavallucci who, a pupil of Stefano Pozzi and Gaetano Lapis, benefited from the protection of Duke Francesco Caetani and Monsignor Francesco degli Albizzi, bursar of the Fabbrica di San Pietro from 1778. A devout painter, as demonstrated by his predilection for sacred themes, his adherence to the neoclassical language adapted to ecclesiastical patronage, declining his own language to softened manners, with a smooth, luminous and nuanced colouring. His style was influenced by the manner of Bernardino Nocchi, but in his maturity also by the influences of Giuseppe Cades and Angelica Kauffmann. In his early works, on the other hand, the influences of Gaetano Lapis and Pompeo Batoni can be seen. Returning to the canvas under examination, in addition to its quality, it proves important in reconstructing the famous collection of Cardinal Francesco Saverio de Zelada, who was an admirer of Cavallucci's work. The inventory of assets specifically mentions that in his bedroom in Palazzo Conti, the cardinal kept a painting 'in emperor's canvas, representing St. Anne with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Child and St. John' by Cavallucci (cf. Barroero 2003, p. 78, note 36). Reference bibliography: C. Pietrangeli, L'appartamento del cardinal Zelada in Vaticano, in Bollettino dei monumenti musei e gallerie pontificie, VI, 1986, p. 153-198 A. de Angelis, La collezione di primitivi del cardinale Francesco Saverio de Zelada (1717-1801), in Ricerche di Storia dell'Arte, 77, 2002 (2003), pp. 41-53 L. Barroero, Il Museo del Barocco Romano, La Collezione Lemme a Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia, exhibition catalogue edited by V. Casale, F. Petrucci (Ariccia, Palazzo Chigi, 2(X)7-2008), Rome 2007, cat. no. 110-112 S. Roettgen, Antonio Cavallucci e la sua pittura religiosa. Un pictor cristianus nella Roma di Pio VI, Debenedetti, Elisa (Hrsg.): Palaces, churches, furnishings and sculpture. Rome 2011, S. 253-291 (Studi sul Settecento romano, 27) A. Agresti, Un artista e il suo patenato: Francesco V, Antonio Cavallucci e la decorazione del Palazzo Caetani a via delle Botteghe Oscure, in rivista dell'Istituto Nazionale d'Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte 68 III serie, year XXXVI, 2013, pp. 111-141