Carlo Maratta (1625 – 1713), Circle of - Madonna in preghiera - NO RESERVE

Circle of CARLO MARATTA
(Camerano, 1625 – Rome, 1713)
Madonna in Prayer
Oil on canvas, 70 x 50 cm

NOTE: Publication in the Intermidiart collection catalogue (PDF). Unsigned work. Certificate of Guarantee and Lawful Provenance. Work without frame:

We present in the catalogue an interesting, good-quality oil painting on canvas, which depicts with refined devotional grace a popular subject in Roman painting at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: the Annunciate Virgin (or Madonna in Prayer).
The iconographic subject draws on the Marattesque type of the praying Virgin, or the Virgin portrayed at the moment of the Annunciation, a theme reproduced with variations by leading pupils in the circle, such as Giuseppe Chiari, Agostino Masucci and Niccolò Berrettoni. The painting displays delicate chiaroscuro modeling in the face, shown in three-quarter view and inclined downward as a sign of humble acceptance of the divine will. The subtle transitions of shadow and the careful rendering of the garments—characterized by the typically flowing yet geometrically ordered drapery—directly recall Maratta’s mature work.
The painting displays the stylistic and formal characteristics typical of the Roman visual culture of the second half of the seventeenth century, dominated by the influence of Carlo Maratta. The master from the Marche region established an ideal of devotional grace and restrained classicism that became the essential model for religious painting of the period, widely disseminated both by his very active workshop and by a large circle of collaborators and followers.
The work has historically been attributed by collectors to Tommaso Conca (Rome, 1734 – 1822). While this attribution would place the canvas in the mid-eighteenth century, it attests to the enduring popularity of the Roman classicist tradition and the influence of Marattesque models on subsequent generations of painters in Rome. However, compared with the formal solutions and handling typical of Conca, the crisp monumental solidity and flowing treatment of the veil highlighted with gold suggest that the canvas was more likely executed within Maratta’s circle between the late seventeenth and very early eighteenth centuries. The painting is a valuable testament to the widespread popularity of classicist Marian devotion in the contemporary art market.
The painting is in generally good condition, structurally stable and fully legible.
The original canvas has previously undergone a careful relining, ensuring excellent tension in the support. A natural, dense network of craquelure (age-related cracking), typical of the oil binders of the period and perfectly stable, is visible on the paint surface.
The color transitions and delicate glazes in the flesh tones are well preserved; only a few minor, old retouchings from restoration are present, localized on the dark background and along the edges. The surface is protected by a natural varnish that shows slight, normal oxidation, lending the work a warm patina of age without altering its strong chiaroscuro structure.
The painting is offered without an outer frame, although it is enhanced by a beautiful gilded wooden frame.

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Sicily

PUBLICATION:
 INEDITA QUADRERIA, General catalogue of paintings in the collection of the Intermidiart Gallery of Andrea Maggio, 2026 (PDF).

In the event of a sale outside Italy, the purchaser will have to wait for the export procedures to be processed.