Catalogue Roberti Fine Art, TEFAF Maastricht 2026 (1) compressed - Flipbook - Page 32
LITERATURE
E.G. Gardner, The Painters of the School of Ferrara, London 1901, p. 216;
M. Bryan in G.C. Williamson (ed.), Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, vol IV, New York 1903,
p. 184;
B. Berenson, North Italian Painters of the Renaissance, New York 1907, p. 222;
G.C. Williamson, Francesco Raibolini called Francia, London 1907, p. 152;
J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in North Italy, vol. II, London 1912, p. 285;
G. Lipparini, Francesco Francia, Bergamo 1913, pp. 71-72;
A. Venturi, Storia dell9arte italiana. La pittura del Quattrocento, vol. VII, part 3, Milan 1914, pp. 902-03;
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance…, Central and North Italian School, vol. I, London
1968, p. 148 (as the 8Crespi9 Saint Barbara, in the collection of Mrs Langbourne Williams);
E. Negro and N. Roio, Francesco Francia e la Sua Scuola, Modena 1998, pp. 157-158, cat. no. 28,
reproduced;
V. Mosso in V. Sgarbi and M. Danieli (eds.), Rinascimento a Ferrara, Ercole de9 Roberti e Lorenzo Costa,
exhibition catalogue, Rimini 2023, p. 386, cat. no. 105, reproduced in colour p. 367.
This beautiful Saint Barbara is one of Francesco Francia9s best easel paintings and is in excellent
condition. The proud signature 8aurifex9 (goldsmith) is a direct nod to his training as a goldsmith and
is a useful reminder of the frequent interchangeability of the different crafts performed by artists
during and (before) the Renaissance period. Francia had indeed trained as a goldsmith and turned
to painting relatively late in his career, around 1485, but established himself almost immediately as
one of the leading artists in Bologna. His interest in and involvement with precious metals
continued throughout his career and in addition to serving as an officer of the goldsmith9s guild on
several occasions, he was director of the Bolognese mint under the ruling Bentivoglio family and
later under Pope Julius II. He continued to sign his paintings aurifex but usually, as pointed out by
Valerio Mosso (see Literature), with the additional adjective 8bononiensis9 (from Bologna), affirming
his patriotic ties to his native city; the present panel9s exclusion of the bononiensis perhaps suggest
the panel was commissioned by a collector from another of Italy9s prosperous cities.
This outstanding example of Francia9s work can be dated to the very early 1500s, when he was at
the peak of his career and fully imbued with the artist language of his contemporary Pietro
Perugino, who was working in Tuscany and Umbria. The great early chronicler of artists9 lives,
Giorgio Vasari made explicit in the preface to the third volume of his Vite the parallel between the
two artists, specifically mentioning
