St. Frances of Rome and an Angel

Giovanni Antonio Galli, known as Spadarino
oil on canvas
1632-1637 ca

This small canvas of Santa Francesca Romana e l’angelo (St. Frances of Rome and an Angel) is among the most precious and intriguing works of the entire art collection in the Benedictine monastery of San Pietro. It had for a long time been attributed to Caravaggio, but Roberto Longhi corrected this to Giovanni Antonio Galli, called lo Spadarino, he himself being a refined interpreter of the artistic language of Merisi. Spadarino is also represented in Umbria by another work, a Cena in Emmaus (Supper at Emmaus) in the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Arrone. Spadarino repeated the Santa Francesca theme on at least three other occasions; the version in the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro in Rome (previously in the Barbarini collection, and then the Almagià), another version can be seen at the Palazzo Ross in Genoa, and the third version in a private collection in London.