Orazio Riminaldi (Pisa 1593 - 1630), The Sacrifice of Isaac

oil on canvas. 60 1/4 by 46 1/2 in.; 153 by 118 cm. Estimate 250,000—350,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Anonymous sale, Paris, Tajan, May 26, 1992, lot 8, as 'Emilio Savonanzi';
With Bruno Scardeoni, Lugano, 1995;
With Old and Modern Masters, London, from whom acquired by the present owner.

EXHIBITED: Milan, Palazzo Reale, 15 October 2005 - 6 February 2006; Vienna, Liechtenstein Museum, 5 March - 9 June 2006, Caravaggio e l'Europa, pp. 450-451, reproduced in colour;
Ariccia, Palazzo Chigi, La "Schola" del Caravaggio. Dipinti dalla Collezione Koelliker, Ariccia 13 October 2006- 11 February 2007, pp. 238-241, cat. no. 69, reproduced in colour;
Mississippi, Museum of Art Jackson, Angels in Italian Art, 1 June - 31 December 2007.

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: Advertisement in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXXV, no. 1086, September 1993, p. xxi;
D. Benati, 'Orazio Riminaldi: Un nuovo sacrificio di Isacco', in Studi di Storia dell'Arte in onore di Mina Gregori, Milan 1994, pp. 250-254, reproduced;
R. Vodret, Caravaggio e la Collezione Mattei, exhibition catalogue, Milan 1995, pp. 164-168, under no. 21, reproduced;
R. Vodret, in Caravaggio e i suoi, Rome 1999, pp. 72-3;
P. Carofano and F. Paliaga, Pittura e Collezionismo a Pisa nel Seicento, Pisa 2001, pp. 98, 102;
G. Papi, in Caravaggio e l'Europa, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2005, pp. 450-451, reproduced in colour;
G. Papi, La "Schola" del Caravaggio. Dipinti dalla Collezione Koelliker, Milan 2006, pp. 238-241, cat. no. 69, reproduced in colour.

CATALOGUE NOTE: In his entry on this painting in the catalogue of the 2006-2007 exhibition in Ariccia, Gianni Papi considers this painting as one of the unquestioned masterpieces of the Pisan master, Orazio Riminaldi. It has, however, only relatively recently come to light, with the attribution to Riminaldi being proposed by Daniele Benati only in 1994 when he saw the painting in the gallery of Bruno Scardeoni in Lugano. Benati and Vodret, and more recently Carofano and Paliaga (see Literatures), date the painting to circa 1624-5, while Papi argues for a dating slightly earlier, on the basis of a comparison with his Samson killing the Philistines in the Duomo at Pisa which was completed in 1622, and with the banner for the Confraternità di Santa Caterina at Assisi (comprising a Martyrdom of St Catherine of Alexandria and SS. James and Anthony Abbot), also executed in the early 1620s.

A comparison of this painting with another of the same subject by Riminaldi in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, and commissioned by Asdrubale Maffei, puts the attribution beyond doubt (see fig. 1). The Barberini version is of landscape rather than portrait format but the figure of Isaac is repeated in nearly exactly the same design, only his feet being differently arranged. The angel is here seen from an angle slightly further to the right, thus requiring a foreshortening of his outstretched right arm. Only the figure of Jacob differs, his knife in the Barberini version nearly touching Isaac's neck where here it is raised, caught by the intervening angel. Where the Barberini version is arranged along a single plane, with the present version Riminaldi aims for a greater depth and three-dimensionality, foreshortening both the angel and Isaac's legs so that they protrude deeper into the background and his head seems to fall almost out of the picture at the lower margin.

Sotheby's. Important Old Master Paintings, Including European Works of Art. 29 Jan 09. New York www.sothebys.com photo courtesy Sotheby's