FRANCESCO CURRADI (Florence, 1570 - 1661) The Madonna and Child Appearing to St. Francis Signed lower left: Franc. Curradi P. 1614 Oil on canvas, 235X173.5 cm Provenance: Milan, Alfredo Geri Auction House Milan, in storage at the Capuchin Museum Milan, private collection Bibliography: T. Tovaglieri, A signed and dated painting by Francesco Curradi, in Prospettiva 179-180, July-October 2020, pp. 103-108 The work under scrutiny presents clear Florentine stylistic features and there are precise comparisons with the autograph works of Francesco Curradi, a prolific creator of images with a sacred theme who, having freed himself from the late manner, adhered to reformed illustrative formulas. We can also grasp how the artist applied himself to accurate drawing, expressing a sober seal in terms of narrative clarity and chromatic score. A pupil of the late Mannerist Giovanni Battista Naldini, Curradi enrolled in the Accademia del Disegno in 1590, demonstrating his graphic talent and evolving his style by looking at the works of Santi di Tito, Cigoli and especially Passignano and Gregorio Pagani. His style, characterised by a formal simplification of considerable spiritual impact, enabled him to obtain numerous ecclesiastical commissions. Equally numerous is the catalogue of works destined for private collections that show, particularly during his maturity, a greater refinement of execution, in which the author concentrates on depicting the refinement of fabrics in a manner that would influence many Florentine painters, including Cesare Dandini who was his pupil, Jacopo Vignali and Carlo Dolci. Returning to the altarpiece presented here, we do not know its ancient location and its scenic construction reflects other creations by the author. The Virgin, for example, can be found a few years later in the painting already at Christie's on 9 December 1994, lot 356, and a similar composition, but with inverted figures, was sold at Christie's in Rome on 22 December 1988, lot 276 (oil on canvas, 198x144 cm). Having said this and having critically ascertained Curradi's link with Counter-Reformation imagery and a substantial impermeability to the innovations of Capitoline naturalism, Tovaglieri observes that the canvas under examination does reveal a reflection on Emilian examples and Ludovico Carracci in particular, perceptible in the 'embryonic' dilatation of forms and the unprecedented opening of the landscape, albeit bent to Cigoli's models. However, the typically elegant and refined tones of 17th-century Florentine painting are reiterated here with typical formal and chromatic elegance. Reference bibliography: G. Cantelli, Repertorio della pittura fiorentina del Seicento, Fiesole 1983, ad vocem S. Bellesi, Catalogo dei pittori fiorentini del '600 e '700, 3 vols. Florence 2009, I, ad vocem F. Baldassari, La Pittura del Seicento a Firenze, Indice degli artisti e delle loro opere, Turin 2009, pp. 234-251