Ciro Ferri

Ciro Ferri (Rome 1633 – 1689) Madonna with Child and St. John the Baptist as a child, oil on canvas, 72 x 85 cm, framed Provenance: European private collection A painting by Cirro Ferri depicting the Virgin with Child and St. John as a boy was auctioned at Christie's on 8 June 1839 as lot 15. The composition is based on a work by Pietro da Cortona (a painting of the same theme was up for sale at Sotheby’’’’s on 13 November 1985 as lot 105). The present depiction of the Virgin with the Child Jesus and St. John in a landscape probably dates from the period around 1670, when Ciro Ferri began to accord more prominence to the landscape element in his compositions (Jacob and Laban, Rome, Galleria Corsini; Noli me tangere, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum; Erminia and the shepherds, Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphilj). We are grateful to Dr Maria Cristina Paoluzzi for the attribution of the present painting having examined it in the original. She will include it in her catalogue raisonné which is in preparation. Specialist: Mark MacDonnell

LOT 48 - CIRO FERRI, AND STUDIO ROME 1633 - 1689 PEACE EMBRACING JUSTICE 10,000—15,000 GBP measurements measurements note 155.2 by 176.5 cm.; 61 1/8 by 69 1/2 in. Description oil on canvas CATALOGUE NOTE The painting is known in a number of other versions: one (159.5by 194 cm.) sold, London, Phillips, 10 December 1991, lot 9 (asAttributed to Ciro Ferri); a second, probably a modello due to itssize (61 by 74 cm.), was formerly in the collection of MaurizioFagiolo dell'Arco (reproduced in Pittura barocca romana, DaCavalier d'Arpino a Fratel Pozzo, exhibition catalogue, Ariccia,Palazzo Chigi, November 1999 - March 2000, pp. 88-9, cat. no. 15,reproduced in colour fig. 21); and a third version (155 by 192.4cm.), seemingly of inferior quality, was sold, London, Christie's,11 March 1983, lot 10 (as by Ciro Ferri). We are grateful to Maria Cristina Paoluzzi for providing us withthe above information.

LOT 16 CIRO FERRI ROME 1633 - 1689 NOLI ME TANGERE 10,000—15,000 GBP Pen and two shades of brown ink with black chalk PROVENANCE F. Abbott (L.970) CATALOGUE NOTE This subject was painted by Ciro Ferri on at least two occasions: a small painting on copper is in the Kunsthistorishes Museum, Vienna, and an oil on panel was sold in London in 1992.1 The former is in the same direction as the present sheet and shares similarities in the scale and poses of the figures, although the background is occupied by a landscape rather than a building. We are grateful to Professor Jörg Merz for confirming the attribution on the basis of a photograph. 1. See Die Gemäldegalerie des Kunsthistorisches Museum in Wien. Verzeichnis der Gemälde, Vienna 1991, p. 55, pl.174; London, Christie's, 15 April 1992, lot 53

Ciro Ferri (Rome 1634-1689) Saint Augustine appearing to Saint Teresa of Ávila black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white,partly incised for transfer, on light brown prepared paper 17 5/8 x 11 1/8 in. (447 x 283 mm.) This drawing, a highly finished study for the altarpiece of S.Maria della Scala in the Ospedale, Siena, was commissioned at thetime of the canonisation of the Florentine Carmelite MariaMagdalena de'Pazzi in 1669, by Pope Clement IX. Originally fromRome, Ferri was invited to Florence in 1657 by Grand Duke CosimoIII to complete the frescoes in the Planetary Room in the PalazzoPitti, left unfinished by his master Pietro da Cortona. While inFlorence he accepted other commissions including the altarpiece inthe Ospedale. The Discalced, or Barefoot Carmelites for whom Magdalena de'Pazziwas Mother Superior in Florence, was a reformed branch of the mucholder Carmelite Order, founded in 1593 by Saint Teresa of Ávila andSaint John of the Cross in Spain. The creation of new convents wasmostly limited to Spain as the Order was regarded with a certaindegree of suspicion in Italy. However the canonisation of Magdalenade'Pazzi acknowledged publicly that the Discalced Carmelites werean accepted religious order. This new found recognition may explainFerri's handling of the composition. The founder Saint Teresa isexperiencing a vision of Saint Augustine, the Church's mostcelebrated and influential theologian. She is demurely seated in apose reminiscent of the Virgin Annunziata, while Saint Augustine,in full ecclesiastical garb, brings a message from God. Thisclearly emphasised the importance of the new Carmelite order, andthe composition stresses the mysticism and theological teaching oftheir doctrine. It was most likely the directness of thiscomposition that saw it engraved by Blondeau to be distributedamong the French public. Ciro Ferri's choice of a pose for Saint Augustine is a consciousreference to that of Apollo on a cloud slaying the daughters ofNiobe, a conceit which in turn is reminiscent of the arrow in theecstasies of Saint Teresa of Ávila. Another drawing in pen and ink,in preparation for the altarpiece, of Saint Augustine upon a cloudsupported by putti, shows clearly that the artist had that pose inmind and later adapted it (Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe,inv. no. F.C. 124430).

MEASUREMENTS measurements note 374 by 252mm DESCRIPTION bears old attribution in brown ink, lower left: Ciro Ferri pen and brown and black ink and wash over black chalk, squared for transfer in black chalk, within brown ink framing lines PROVENANCE The Right Hon. Lord St Helens; Dr. C.R. Rudolf; Purchased from Alister Mathews, 1958 LITERATURE AND REFERENCES J. M. Mertz, 'Landscape Drawings by Pietro da Cortona', in Metropolitan Museum Journal , no. 39, New York 2004, p. 146, reproduced, fig. 31 CATALOGUE NOTE Jörg Merz has kindly brought to our attention the fact that he published this impressive drawing as Ciro Ferri in a recent article on the landscape drawings of Pietro da Cortona (see Literature ). After discussing (and in many cases rejecting) various previous attributions to Ferri, Merz refers to our drawing as 'a point of departure in reconstructing his oeuvre as a landscapist'. He also noted that the attribution dates back at least to the late 18th Century, when Conrad Metz made an aquatint, in reverse, after the drawing, which was then in the collection of Lord St Helens. Merz notes that, as in other landscapes by Ferri, the handling in the background trees is comparable with foliage in drawings by Cortona (such as the Landscape with dancing nymphs , Paris, Louvre), and that the figures 'conform perfectly to Ferri's style'. Please note that this drawing is sold framed.