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Lot Essay
The present painting can be added to a small group of works that are attributed to the Bolognese painter Girolamo Mirola. A compelling comparison can be made with the Madonna and Child with Saint Catherine (Pinacoteca del Seminario, Venice) now attributed to Mirola but previously ascribed to Parmigianino, Pellegrino Tibaldi and Nosadella, among others. The distinctive fluid application of paint in conjunction with the monumental figures with heads in sharp profile and delicate features are common to both works and representative of an artist that has studied the work of Parmigianino but is otherwise firmly based in the Bolognese painting tradition of the Cinquecento.
Mirola's best-known artistic achievements are the frescoes painted for Duke Ottavio Farnese in the Palazzo del Giardino, Parma. He designed the decorative scheme for the Sala di Orfeo and Sala di Bacio in 1556-62, working in collaboration with a Parmese contemporary Jacopo Bertoia (1544-1573), who was involved with other Farnese commissions at the time. In her study of this cycle, Diane De Grazia reveals Mirola's significant role in this project, thus shedding new light on the artist's style, which has traditionally been difficult to distinguish with any certainty (see D. De Grazia, Bertoia, Mirola and the Farnese Court, Bologna, 1991, pp. 395-406).
A fresco decoration for the tomb of Ludovico Gozzandini (Santa Maria dei Servi, Bologna) is the sole surviving example from Mirola's Bolognese period, before his move to Parma circa 1556. The present painting along with picture in the Pinacoteca del Seminario and the Intervention of the Sabines in the war of the Romans and Sabines (oil on canvas, 264 x 359 cm.; Museo di Capodimonte, Naples) likely date to Mirola's time in Parma, the early 1560s.
Mirola's best-known artistic achievements are the frescoes painted for Duke Ottavio Farnese in the Palazzo del Giardino, Parma. He designed the decorative scheme for the Sala di Orfeo and Sala di Bacio in 1556-62, working in collaboration with a Parmese contemporary Jacopo Bertoia (1544-1573), who was involved with other Farnese commissions at the time. In her study of this cycle, Diane De Grazia reveals Mirola's significant role in this project, thus shedding new light on the artist's style, which has traditionally been difficult to distinguish with any certainty (see D. De Grazia, Bertoia, Mirola and the Farnese Court, Bologna, 1991, pp. 395-406).
A fresco decoration for the tomb of Ludovico Gozzandini (Santa Maria dei Servi, Bologna) is the sole surviving example from Mirola's Bolognese period, before his move to Parma circa 1556. The present painting along with picture in the Pinacoteca del Seminario and the Intervention of the Sabines in the war of the Romans and Sabines (oil on canvas, 264 x 359 cm.; Museo di Capodimonte, Naples) likely date to Mirola's time in Parma, the early 1560s.