“[...] the marked naturalism of the origins is associated with extreme formal stylisation in the papery rendering of the drapery and the compact volumes of the forms.”

This painting depicts Mary and Joseph placing the Baby Jesus into the manger at night, under the curious and gentle eye of the ox. The Madonna directs her prescient eyes to the sky to invoke divine aid for her newborn son, who shines with his own light and illuminates the faces of those present. The masterful rendering of the intense contrasts of light and shade, created by the emergence of the figures from the dark background, has previously been used to justify the attribution of the canvas to Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. The work has since been rightly assigned to the catalogue of the Ticino-based artist Giuseppe Antonio Petrini by Rossanna Bossaglia,¹ who compares it to some of his late works at the Museo d’Arte in Lugano, including the Holy Family and the Rest on the Flight into Egypt. The reference to Petrini was initially confirmed by Andreina Griseri (1963),² then by Simonetta Coppa (1989; 1991),³ who proposed paralleling the figures of the Madonna and Child with the frescoes on the ceiling of the oratory of San Gerolamo in Delebio, painted after 1745. During the Petrini exhibition at Villa Malpensata in Lugano, Laura Damiani (1991) instead suggested bringing the date forward to between 1735 and 1740,⁴ a “period when the marked naturalism of the origins is often associated with extreme formal stylisation in the papery rendering of the drapery and the compact volumes of the forms.”⁵ The evocative nocturnal settings that characterise works such as the Philosopher (Lugano, private collection), the Mathematician (Varese, private collection) and Diogenes (Kassel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen) were a recurrent feature during that period, with the strong chiaroscuro contrasts enabling the artist to refine the simplified masses of the figures and reinforce the drama of the featured moment. In these works, the artist from Carona achieves results comparable to contemporary works by Piazzetta, reflecting deeply on the works of the Lombard masters from the previous century, revitalised thanks to artists such as Filippo Abbiati. His close reflection on lighting effects also derives from his appreciation for the works of Giovanni Serodine and his probable thorough knowledge of works by followers of Caravaggio. 

Petrini was born in Canton Ticino in 1677. Historical sources tell us that he worked as an apprentice in the workshop of Bartolomeo Guidobono and accompanied his father Marco, a sculptor, during his visits to Turin, where he had the opportunity to meditate upon works such as Andrea Pozzo’s Nativity in the Cappella dei Mercanti. 

During the 20th century, the Holy Family in the Cerruti Collection initially formed part of the Carpano Collection, before entering the collection of Benedetto Fiore,⁶ and then a private collection in Bergamo.⁷ 

Simone Mattiello

¹ Bossaglia 1961, pp. 62-63, fig. 3.

² A. Griseri, “Pittura”, in Turin 1963a, vol. II, p. 98, cat. 257, pl. 128.

³ Coppa 1989; S. Coppa, in Milan 1991, p. 169, cat. I.140.

⁴ L. Damiani, in Lugano 1991.

⁵ Ibid., pp. 178-179, cat. 36.

⁶ Arslan, Bossaglia 1961; Griseri 1963.

⁷ Bona Castellotti 1986, pl. 501.