Lot 63: MASSIMO STANZIONE ORTA DI ATELLA NEAR CASERTA (?) 1585 (?) - 1656 (?) NAPLES (?)

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Description: signed with initials lower centre: EQ^. MAX^. (in ligature)

oil on canvas, laid on panel

THE MADONNA AND CHILD IN A LANDSCAPE

Notes: The painting is stylistically related to other works of the early 1650s and a similar date of execution seems plausible: compare the Madonna and Child in a landscape in Palazzo Corsini, Rome, and the Madonna and Child in the Museo Diocesano, Salerno (S. Schütze & T. Willette, Massimo Stanzione. L'opera completa, Naples 1992, cat. nos. A100 and 107, reproduced figs. 338 and 345 respectively).

The form of signature on this painting appears in other works by Stanzione. The initials "EQ. MAX." are an abbreviated form of the title "Eques Maximus"; a title which Stanzione was evidently keen to publicise. He was granted the honour of becoming both Cavaliere dello Speron d'Oro (Order of the Golden Fleece) and Cavaliere dell'Ordine di Gesù Cristo (granted by Pope Urban VIII in exchange for a painting), as well as later becoming Cavaliere di San Giorgio.

Provenance: THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Dimensions: 47 by 36.6 cm.; 18 1/2 by 14 1/2 in.