Possible Imperial Gramatica (Rome, 1599 - 1634)

The Guardian Angel

oil on canvas

134 x 96 cm. / in gilded wooden frame 158 x 120 cm.

This precious seventeenth-century altarpiece bears a great deal of charm. Its subject is the Archangel Raphael protecting and showing the right way to the young boy Tobiolo: over time this iconography has taken on a broader meaning, eventually becoming the emblem of the human soul protected by its Guardian Angel.

This is one of the most popular and appreciated compositions by Antiveduto Gramatica (Siena, 1571 - Rome, 1626), of which numerous replicas are known, even with workshop variants. According to biographer Giovanni Baglione, Antiveduto painted an early version of this subject, which could therefore be the original prototype, for the Roman church of Sant'Agostino [1]. On this altarpiece he wrote as a note: "Et è di sua invenzione l'Angelo Custode, che vestito di bianco tiene, e guidare un'anima per le mani, sì come se ne vede uno nella Sagrestia di S.Agostino di sua mano''.

The earliest version of the painting, datable before 1620, is documented in the church of S. Agostino in Rome [1], but the wide popularity of the composition, as attested by the numerous replicas, is probably due to the diffusion of the painting's iconography during the Counter-Reformation period, due to its strong propaganda and devotional value.

Other examples can be found in the National Museum in Palermo, in the. Church of S. Pudenziana in Rome (http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/48451/Anonimo%2C%20Angelo%20custode), in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Marseilles, in the Abbey of Casamari near Frosinone https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/1200707351), in the Royal Palace of El Pardo in Madrid (on loan from the Prado Museum) and again in the Church of Saint-Martin in Aquitaine (https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/palissy/IM17001984).

In addition to these, several versions are known to have passed through international auctions, one of the most beautiful being that of December 2008 at Sotheby's in London (https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l08036/lot.37....


From the point of view of composition, there are several versions, which can be divided into two groups: a first (to which our painting belongs) in which the child holds on to a thread tied to an anchor held by the angel, his head is surmounted by a flame and he carries a cup and a host in his left hand, and a second group in which the child holds the angel by the hand while their gazes meet.

The painting depicts a beautiful metaphor of an innocent soul being led to Faith.

A Caravaggesque painter active in Rome in the first thirty years of the 17th century, Antiveduto Grammatica was already an established and independent artist around 1590, so much so that he was able to boast a young Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio among his pupils in his workshop, albeit for a short period.

With regard to the iconographic theme under examination, we know that in order to satisfy the copious requests of his patrons, he made use of numerous collaborators, first and foremost his son Imperiale, a direct continuator of his father's models. The painting could therefore be a replica entrusted by Antiveduto to his son, artistically still immature, in order to quickly introduce him - thanks to an iconographic theme that was by then famous and "proven" - into the public commission market.

[1] ANTIVEDUTO GRAMATICA (Rome 1569 - 1626)

Guardian Angel, 1610-1611

Oil on canvas, 145x109 cm

Rome, Church of St. Augustine

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The conservation condition of the work appears good, freshly restored by our atelier.

The work is sold complete with a beautiful gilded wooden frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

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