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Giovanni Baglione
1571-1644
The Martyrdom of Saint Agatha
Pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk on laid paper.
5 3/16 x 3 15/16 inches (131 x 100 mm)
Purchased on the Seligman Fund.
2015.60
Inscription:
Inscribed in pen and black ink in a later hand at lower center: Domenich.o.
Provenance:
Paul Mathias Polakovits (1921-1987; see L. 3561); Sale, London, Sotheby's, 14 April 1999, lot 238; Sale, Paris, Christie's, 26 March 2014, lot 29 (bought in); purchased Sale, Paris, Artcurial, 3 June 2015, lot 18.
Notes:
The study is preparatory for Baglione's altarpiece of the Martydom of Saint Agatha, now in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta, Malta. There are a number of changes between the compositional sketch and the finished work, but this is fairly typical for Baglione. A number of common details -- the action of binding the saint, the semi-recumbent figure at lower left -- point to the connection between the drawing and painting, and the painting is Baglione's only work with this subject.
Associated names:
Polakovits, Mathias, 1921-1987, former owner.
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