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The Vision of Saint Francis
Provenance
Possibly the copper mentioned in the Casa Falconieri in Rome by 1678 ("In casa Falconieri il bel rame, ove una femmina allatta un puttino, uno ismorza una face, uno vota una cornucopia di ricchezze ed un Angeletto gli cenna verso il cielo. L'altro di non inferiore beltà, ov 'è la B. Verg. col puttino, S. Francesco e un Angelo veramente di Paradiso," according to Malvasia, vol. 1, 1841, p. 355); might be the picture listed as in the collection of Don Carlo Francesco Ferrari, Prevost of Crevalcore ("Una Madonna con un S. Francesco che ha un puttino e una Beata Vergine, di Lodovico Carrazza," according to Campori, 1870, p. 430); collection of Hans Merkel, Esq.—a dealer with a small gallery near Baker Street, London—by 1973 [according to George Gordon of Sotheby’s London, in correspondence with Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, February 2010]; London, Sotheby’s, May 30, 1973, lot 57 for £9,000 to Leggatt Brothers; Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London, by 1973; purchased by John Goelet from Agnew’s at an undisclosed date [according to Clovis Whitfield in correspondence with Eve Straussman-Pflanzer on November 10, 2010]: New York, Christie’s. January 27, 2010, lot 14, to Otto Naumann, Ltd; sold to the Art Institute, 2010.
Exhibition history
London, Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., England and the Seicento, November 6–December 7, 1973, no. 20, ill.
Publications
Giuseppe Campori, Raccolta di cataloghi ed inventarii inediti di quadri, statue, disegni, bronzi, dorerie, smalti, medaglie, avori, ecc. dal secolo XV al secolo XIX, 2nd ed., (Bologna: Arnaldo Forni Editore, 1975), p. 430. Sotheby’s, London: May 30, 1973, Catalogue of Old Master Paintings, no. 57, ill. Stephen Pepper, “England and the Seicento, Bolognese paintings from British Collections at Agnew’s,” Burlington Magazine, vol. 115, no. 849 (December 1973), p. 823, ill. no. 89. Richard E. Spear, “Recensioni di mostre: L’Inghilterra ed il Seicento,” Arte illustrata, 58 (July 1974), p. 220. James Byam Shaw, Drawings by Old Masters at Christ Church Oxford, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), vol. 1, pp. 243-4, no. 921, pl. 559. Babette Bohn, “The Drawings of Ludovico Carracci.”Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1982, p. 326, no. 199. Gail Feigenbaum, “Lodovico Carracci: A Study of His Later Career and a Catalogue of His Paintings.” Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1984, pp. 219-20, no. 17, fig. 20. Anne Summerscale, Malvasia’s Life of the Carracci, (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), p. 316, n. 553. Alessandro Brogi, Ludovico Carracci (1555–1619), vol. 1, (Bologna: Edizione Tipoarte, 2001), p. 193, no. 80, fig. 171. Christie’s, New York: January 27, 2010, Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings & Watercolors, Part I, no. 14, ill. Duncan Bull, "Ludovico Carracci's Vision of St Francis: Inspiration and Influence," The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 60, no. 4: 302 fig. 28.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Ludovico Carracci (Italian, 1555–1619)
- Date
- c. 1602
- Medium
- Oil on copper
- Dimensions
- 37.2 × 28.6 cm (14 5/8 × 11 1/4 in.); Framed: 50.8 × 40.7 × 3.2 cm (20 × 16 × 1 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- painting
- Style
- 17th Century
- Place
- Italy
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Lacy Armour Fund
- Accession no.
- 2010.274
More by Ludovico Carracci in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00001677
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