SEBASTIANO CECCARINI Lot n° 520

(Fano, 1703 - 1783)
Madonna and Child, Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Anthony of Padua
Oil on canvas, 257X157 cm.
Bibliography:
E. Negro, in I sensi e le virtù. Ricerche sulla pittura del 700 a Pesaro e provincia, exhibition catalog edited by C. Giardini, E. Negro, N. Roio, Modena 2000, no. 45
A pupil of fellow countryman Francesco Mancini (Sant'Angelo in Vado, c. 1679 ; Rome, 1758), the artist moved to Rome in 1724, where he stayed until 1729, but in the years that followed there were countless trips to the Eternal City, where many of his admirers resided, including Pope Clement XII himself. There is no doubt, however, that Ceccarini was the greatest and most prolific Marche painter of the 18th century, and from 1738 until 1754 he had an extraordinary Roman career. His eclectic style is characterized by attitudes of gentle and polite realism, without renouncing especially in portraits the ornamental pomp, which enabled him to exercise a kind of artistic monopoly in his homeland. Famous for his sumptuous portraits and still lifes, equally notable was his production of altarpieces, characterized by a delicate rococo accent without neglecting the examples of Carlo Maratti and the Emilian authors of the seventeenth-century age. Returning to the canvas under consideration, it is well placed in the middle of the century, in analogy with the Madonna and Child entrusting the Child to St. Gaetano di Thiene in the presence of St. Liberata, Anthony of Padua and a donor with her son preserved in the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Fano. Another interesting comparison is when looking at the painting depicting Saints Urban and Euphemia appearing to the Poor Clares in the Museum of Rome.