Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009262Portrait of Francesca Gommi Maratti
About the Artwork
In 1700 Carlo Maratti’s wife died, permitting him to marry his longtime mistress, Francesca Gommi, who began modeling for the artist in the 1670s and was the mother of his only child, Faustina. This painting was presumably painted shortly after the marriage as an homage from the artist to his new wife. To introduce an allegorical element into the composition, Maratti included a painting within a painting—in this case a drawing depicting Venus forging the love-darts of her adolescent son Cupid, suggesting that love will conquer all.
Provenance
by 1705: [presumably] Carlo Maratti and Francesca Gommi Maratti, Casino d'Albano possibly until 1745: [possibly] by descent to their daughter, Faustina Maratti Zappi (1679–1745) By 1911–1919: Pietro Ceci (d. 1919), Rome 1919–2004: by descent to his widow, Maria Barbani Ceci, and daughters, Feliciana Schiff-Giorgini and Adriana Misciatelli 2004: (Carlo Orsi, Milan) 2004–2014: Luigi Koelliker, Milan 2014–2017: (Robilant + Voena, London and Milan) 2017: (Nicholas Hall, New York, by whom sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 2018–present: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018). Lust, Love, and Loss in Renaissance Europe. The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL (organizer) (April 5-June 12, 2021).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Carlo Maratti (Italian, 1625–1713)
- Date
- c. 1701
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Overall: 98.5 x 74.5 cm (38 3/4 x 29 5/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 2018.1
More by Carlo Maratti in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009262
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