Early 18th Century "The Virgin and Child With Saints Crispin, Crispinian and Jerome" Etching After Guido Reni

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The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Crispin, Crispinian and Jerome — an antique etching after Guido Reni, framed.

The … Read more The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Crispin, Crispinian and Jerome — an antique etching after Guido Reni, framed.

The original painting, dated 1620–21, was made for the altar of the Arte de' Calzolari, the Shoemakers' Guild of Reggio Emilia, in the church of San Prospero — so Reni set the Virgin between Saints Crispin and Crispinian, the patron saints of shoemakers, with St Jerome reading at the side. The painting was later taken into the Este ducal gallery at Modena, and in 1746 it was among the hundred Este masterpieces sold to Augustus III of Saxony in the celebrated Dresden Sale. It hangs today in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.

This print is a reproductive etching after that altarpiece — Reni himself never etched this composition. The plate is lettered in the image "Guidus Renius Inuenit" (Guido Reni designed it) and dated 1620, with a dedication below the image to the martyred saints and to Count Gabriele Pratoneri, whose coat of arms appears at the centre. The printmaker's own name is lettered too faintly to read with certainty, so we describe him honestly as unidentified.

• After Guido Reni (1575–1642); original painting 1620–21, Gemäldegalerie Dresden
• Medium: etching on paper (antique reproductive print; printmaker unidentified)
• Image: 9¾ × 15¾ inches
• Framed overall: 19¼ × 22¾ inches
• Inscriptions: "Guidus Renius Inuenit," dated 1620; dedication to Saints Crispin and Crispinian and to Count Gabriele Pratoneri
• Condition: very good for its age — please review the photos carefully See less