Cleveland Museum of Art acquires a painting by Maso da San Friano that may have belonged to Bernini

Major acquisition for the Cleveland Museum of Art, which secures a painting by Maso da San Friano (Tommaso Manzuoli; Florence, 1531 - 1571), a Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine, made around 1560 by a Maso then in his early thirties, at the height of his short career (he would die prematurely in 1571 at the age of thirty-nine). It is a panel in excellent condition, described by the museum as one of the best-preserved 16th-century paintings among those that have come on the market in recent decades. Scholars who have analyzed the painting believe it is a work that once belonged to Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s collection.

Maso da San Friano treats one of the most popular themes of Counter-Reformation art with a glimpse of the underworld in which the figures of the Holy Family, the little Saint John eloquently turning his index finger upward, and Saint Catherine about to receive the ring from the Child are arranged. Many of the typical characteristics of Tommaso Manzuoli’s style are evident: the monumentality of the figures, the draperies with folds that almost form geometric figures, the broad and almost theatrical gestures, the elongation of proportions, the formal elegance, the statuesque profiles, and the clear and balanced colors.

We do not know what the painting’s original purpose was: given the theme and format, it is highly likely that it was a panel made for private devotion. The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine is the first Italian Mannerist work in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection: it joins other Italian works in the collection of the Ohio museum, one of the most important U.S. institutions for Italian art already boasting masterpieces by Filippino Lippi (the Holy Family with St. John and St. Margaret), Annibale Carracci (the Young Man drinking a glass of wine), Caravaggio (the Crucifixion of St. Andrew) and Orazio Gentileschi (the Danae).

Image: Maso da San Friano, Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (c. 1560; oil on panel, 148 x 103 cm; Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art)

Cleveland Museum of Art acquires a painting by Maso da San Friano that may have belonged to Bernini

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.