The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena

Vanni Francesco

(Siena 1564 - 1610)

Attributed in 1833 to Francesco Vanni, this name was accepted by critics for the undeniably Baroque ideas, which are particularly evident in the figure of the Child and the use of vivid colours.

The painting depicts the mystical wedding of Catherine of Siena. Kneeling and crowned with thorns, she receives the ring from her divine Spouse. Witnessing the scene along with the Virgin are Francis of Assisi and John the Evangelist, the latter depicted while holding a cup with a snake, his typical iconographic attribute. According to tradition, in fact, the saint – forced to drink infected wine – miraculously transformed the poison in the cup into a slimy snake.

Object details

Commentary

According to Paola Della Pergola (1959), the painting originated from the inheritance of Ortensia Santacroce, wife of Francesco Borghese. In her inventory, datable between 1612 and 1616, a work is listed as “A painting of St Catherine, the Madonna, St Francis, and St John the Evangelist.” This places the work chronologically in the year of the noblewoman’s death, rather than to 1642, as erroneously inferred by the scholar from undated documents (Della Pergola 1955, p. 156). Francesca Profili (2003), followed by Belinda Granata (2005) and Marco Ciampolini (2010), has alternatively suggested that the painting was among the group of works transferred from Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrato to Scipione Borghese in 1608, as part of Sfondrato’s payment for the pension attached to the Bishopric of Cremona.

It appears unlikely that the canvas can be identified with the only work on this subject described at the Villa Pinciana in a passage by Iacomo Manilli (1650): “The small painting of the Marriage of St Catherine, believed to be by Il Fattore”. As noted by Della Pergola (1959), neither the attribution nor the diminutive expression “small painting” corresponds to the present work. It is, however, certain that this Marriage is the one attributed to Andrea del Sarto in the 1693 inventory. This is confirmed both by the indication of dimensions and support: “a painting of 4 palms on canvas” and the reference to the inventory number “88”, which remains visible in the lower right corner of the canvas.

The work was first attributed to the Sienese painter Francesco Vanni in the Fideicommissari inventories of 1833. This attribution was later supported by Giovanni Piancastelli (1891) and Adolfo Venturi (1893), the latter of whom in particular, recognized the influence of Federico Barocci in the depiction of Christ. Della Pergola (1959) further highlighted this feature, noting the vivid reddish hues of the Child’s face and legs.

Other scholars, however, such as Roberto Longhi (1928), followed by Elena Rita Mirolli (1932) though not by Giuseppe Scavizzi (1959), associated the canvas with the oeuvre of Ventura Salimbeni “on account of its more subdued chromatic range.” Nevertheless, Della Pergola (1959) reinstated the painting within the orbit of Vanni, convinced that it was the work “of a master very close to Vanni, if not Vanni himself.” This hypothesis has subsequently been endorsed by several scholars (Profili 2003; Granata 2005; Granata and Vodret 2005; Ciampolini 2010). Most notably, Kristina Herrmann Fiore (in Siena e Roma 2005) definitively attributed the painting to the Sienese artist, dating it to circa 1605–1610.

Two other works on the same subject by Vanni are held at the Göteborgs Konstmuseum (A. Bagnoli, in Raccolta d’arte senese 2006, pp. 58–63) and in the collection of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Siena, Palazzo Sansedoni; c. 1600). The latter, datable to around 1600, appears to share a comparable chronology with the Borghese version, while displaying some compositional variations, particularly in the landscape and the background figure.

Antonio Iommelli