Jesus and Mary bestow the Mantle on Saints Felix of Valois and John of Matha - SOLD

The Carlone family “produced many virtuous Subjects in Painting” and Giovanni “was a valued Painter" [Soprani/Ratti, p. 261]. Giovanni Carlone was born in Genoa in 1584, to Taddeo, a sculptor, who immediately sensed his abilities; Sorri was his first teacher during the Genoese period of the Sienese painter. This was followed by a stay in Rome and then, in the atelier of Passignano, in Florence, before returning to his homeland “loved and esteemed by his colleagues” so much so that Bernardo Castello “enamored with his virtue, gave him his daughter Ersilia in marriage” [p. 262] . As a painter and fresco artist, he was highly appreciated by Genoese patrons, from the Lomellini to the Spinola families, and by many religious orders in the city and beyond: in 1630 he was called to Milan by the P.P. Teatini to decorate their church of Sant'Antonio Abate, where he prematurely passed away. At the center of the canvas, seated on a soft cloud, is the Madonna with the Child in her arms, kneeling at their feet are Saints John of Matha and Felix of Valois, who are about to receive from the hands of Jesus the white Mantle on which the emblem of the order is present “the red and blue cross". The two friars are indeed the co-founders, in 1198, of the Ordo Sanctae Trinitatis et Captivorum, or the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives. The Rule of the religious order of the Trinitarians was the liberation of Christian slaves captured by the Turks, certainly through the payment of ransom but also through the Trinity with the redemption of the same, often freed by their jailers but forced to abjure. In the background, below the cloud, is visible the Lantern, a symbol of the city of Genoa, which elected the Virgin as its queen in 1637 (a political act to sanction the sovereignty and independence of the Republic) and its protector. The red galley returns from or departs for the port, furrowing the sea. The painting represents a very interesting document as a canvas of identical setting by the Genoese painter Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari (1598-1669) is preserved at the Church of San Benedetto al Porto, commissioned for the Trinitarian convent by Zenobia Doria del Carretto to collect alms to redeem the slaves [Gavazza/Terminiello, Genoa in the Baroque Age, Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1992, card no. 63 p. 158] Our canvas, perhaps deriving from the same drawing, of different pictorial execution, with different physiognomies of the characters, of the lights, shadows and colors used, is attributable to the Genoese painter Giovanni Carlone. This beautiful painting has a story. A destiny that has brought it to me. A future that will give it to a special person who, in addition to buying a painting, will buy a story. Dimensions: canvas 154 x 98 cm - frame 166 x 115 cm