L. Muti & D. De Sarno Prignano, Magnasco, Faenza 1994, p. 227, cat. no. 153, reproduced fig. 312 (with incorrect dimensions of 85 by 61 cm.).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting, like its mate (lot 14), is in very fresh condition with a lining probably from about twenty years ago. There is less cracking here than in the other lot, and therefore less retouching. The condition is very good.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Although both this and the following lot are highly representative of Alessandro Magnasco's energetic style, only the present grisaille sketch is published by Muti and De Sarno Prignano in their monograph on the artist.¹  Both paintings are datable to  circa 1725-26 and a third canvas, showing a Bishop in Adoration, previously in the Robiati collection in Lodi, compares closely both in subject-matter and tone, and also shows the figure set within a stone niche.²  Though the dimensions correspond closely to those of the present works (11¾ by 7¾ in.), the Robiati Bishop is bent on one knee, with his face turned upwards and crosier down at his side, and he does not provide as satisfying an arrangement within the niche as the pictures presented here.

Although the palette of these two small paintings is monochromatic, by the very nature of their being grisailles, the artist has managed to introduce an astonishing vibrancy through his characteristically energetic brushwork. The paint is thickly applied, in broad, rapid strokes: highlights in the rich grey undertone are defined by white flicks of paint, and to contrast these he has used dark shadows to cut deep into the folds of the figures' draperies and to hollow out their cheeks. Magnasco's extraordinary ability to convey the vivacity of human expression in little more than a few touches is perfectly exemplified by these two pictures. The brushstrokes themselves are swift and fragmented, the white zig-zag denoting a sleeve or long broad strokes defining the pages of a book, and yet the pictures are immediately legible and the figures possess a remarkable solidity of form. Their astonishing three-dimensionality raises the question as to whether these canvases were intended as independent paintings or as bozzetti for larger works, whether in painted or sculpted form. They may even record the appearance of existing sculptures though these have yet to be identified.

We are grateful to Dott.ssa Fausta Franchini Guelfi for endorsing the attribution to Magnasco on the basis of photographs and for suggesting a date of execution in the 1720s.

1.  See L. Muti  & D. De Sarno Prignano, under Literature.
2.  B. Geiger, Magnasco, Bergamo 1949, p. 99, reproduced plate 278, and in Muti & De Sarno Prignano, op. cit., p. 226, cat. no. 149, reprod🐠uced fig. 423 💖(as on the London  art market).