This work was attributed to Giovanni Cariani, during the early years of his sojourn in Venice, by Mauro Lucco and Francesco Rossi, based on the similarity of the shape of St. Francis’ face and the manner of painting the hands with those of the St. Agatha from the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh (inv. 2494), which Alessandro Ballarin situates in the “cultural conjecture of Venice around 1510, marked by the affirmation of the modern manner of Giorgione, who had at that point attained his last period, of Titian and of Sebastiano [del Piombo].”

This picture depicts St. Francis of Assisi with, on the back of his left hand, one of the stigmata. He is painted half-length, against a background of green cloth, reading a book that he holds in both hands; this activity suggests that it was intended for private devotion and created for a Franciscan monk.

The entirety of the background being taken up by a cloth hanging is unusual for Cariani, even though he sometimes used drapery for portions of the background—for example, in the Portrait of Francesco Albani at the National Gallery in London, generally dated around 1516–1517. This use of cloth behind the scene, as Francesco Rossi has observed, is more commonly found in works from the Brescia region, such as Moretto’s; he also notes the strong resemblance between St. Francis’ face and that of the Virgin in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. Mina Gregori, after E. Martini, now attributes this Virgin and Child between St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome as a product of collaboration between Cariani—painter of the Virgin’s face—and Gerolamo Savoldo—painter of the two saints—demonstrating the close links Cariani maintained with artists from Brescia.

In this portrait of St. Francis of Assisi, Cariani retains the precise, nearly anecdotal, style of Bergamo, where analogies have sometimes been drawn to Flemish painting. All the details are meticulously cared for and rendered without facility. One also notices the great simplicity and realism of the blocks of bright colors—grey, green, red, flesh tones—composed in a diagonal structure.

References:

1. The influence of Giorgione and the young Titian. Paintings: Giovan de’ Busi called Cariani, nos. 64–67, in Le siècle de Titien. L’âge d’or de la peinture à Venise, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1993, p. 386.

2. Savoldo ante 1521: riflessioni per una inedita “Crocifissione”, in Paragone, no. 587, January 1999, pp. 72–73.

3. Opere inedite del Cariani con alcune osservazioni, in Notizie Palazzo Albani, 1978, p. 64.

Giovanni Busi, called Giovanni Cariani (Fulpiano al Brembo, c.1485 – Venice, 1548?)

Originally from Bergamo, Giovanni Cariani was above all active in Venice, where he is registered as a painter from 1509 to 1517, then from 1524 until his death. In his works from the first decade of the 16th century, one can clearly see the imprint of Giovanni Bellini and Lotto, for example in the Sacred Conversation from Venice (Galleria dell’Accademia) or the Portrait of Two Venetian Gentlemen (Paris, Musée du Louvre).

Cariani’s style between 1510 and 1515 evidences the influence of Titian and the “intellectualism” of Giorgione, though his colours remain lively in the tradition of Bergamo. Mauro Lucco and Alessandro Ballarin have highlighted the role of Sebastiano del Piombo in Cariani’s development during this second decade. Notable works from this period include the Portrait of a Young Man (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie), the Lute Player (Strasbourg, Musée des Beaux Arts), and The Seduction (St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum).

From 1517 to 1524, Cariani settled in Bergamo, painting the Altarpiece of San Gottardo (Milan, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Brera; c.1517–1518), the Virgin suckling the Child and the Christ Carrying the Cross (Bergamo, Accademia Carrara), and the Portrait known as the Albani Family, signed and dated 1519 (Bergamo, Roncalli Collection). He shifted away from the Venetian “sfumati” toward stronger colours and a more assertive realism of Lombardian origin, anticipating Caravaggio. Works from this period include the extraordinary Concert (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), the Three Saints (St. Sebastian, St. Roch, St. Marguerite) from the Musée des Beaux Arts, Marseille (c.1520), the Portrait of Giovanni Benedetto Caravaggi (c.1517–1518), and Virgin and Child with a Donator (signed and dated 1520; both in Bergamo, Accademia Carrara), as well as the Portrait of Giovan Antonio Caravaggi (Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada; c.1521–1522).

In the third decade, while the artist is documented again in Venice in 1523 and 1527, are situated the Adoration of the Shepherds and Woman in a Landscape (Berlin, Staatliche Museen), reflecting his contacts with Palma, the Visitation (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), and the Virgin Sewing (Rome, Galleria di Palazzo Barberini).

Having returned to Bergamo around 1528, Cariani adopted more northern stylistic accents visible in the Glorification of the Cross (Accademia Carrara), Virgin with Doves (Bergamo, cathedral), and Virgin and Child with St. Sebastian (Paris, Musée du Louvre). Canvases from the 1530s, like the Veronica from the Ambrosiana in Milan, stand out for their dramatic animation.

From the end of his career date the Portrait of an Old Man (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie; 1536), and Portraits of men from the National Gallery of Oslo, the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, and the Museo del Castello in Milan.