Francesco Albani (Bologna 1578-1660)

In addition to his important fresco commissions for Roman palazzi and churches, Albani was celebrated for cabinet pictures, often painted on copper such as the present painting, which reprises the composition of a small painting on copper of circa 1645-50 now in the Musée des Beaux-Artes et d’Archéologie, Besançon. Here, however, Albani has expanded the composition somewhat to the right so that the tree is now fully seen and the table in front of Saint Joseph is longer. The composition must have been a successful one for the artist, as he returned to it on at least one other occasion (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden). We are grateful to Dr. Catherine Puglisi for endorsing the attribution to Albani on the basis of firsthand examination.