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MARCANTONIO FRANCESCHINI (Bologna 1648 - 1729) ALLEGORY OF CHARITY
Red chalk, over traces in black chalk, incised for transfer. Lined in red chalk. Watermark: trefoil in a circle with letters SC, letters BERGAMO in a cartouche. 220 x 297 mm. This drawing is closely related to a painting on copper which has been sold at Bonhams and Brooks, London, in 2001. The painting (one of a pair, the other one being an allegory of Liberality) has been published by Dwight Miller, see Dwight Miller, 'Marcantonio Franceschini', Artema, 2001; p. 365. Dwight Miller dated the painting 1680-82, when Franceschini was still influenced by the languid style of his master, Carlo Cignani. This drawing too shows a strong influence of Cignani's draughtsmanship.

A pupil of Carlo Cignani, with whom he worked in Bologna and Parma, Franceschini did not follow his master when he moved to Forlì and preferred to keep on working in his native town, opening his own studio. After the initial strong influence of Cignani on his style, Franceschini moved toward a classicism influenced by Poussin, Reni and Francesco Albani. Franceschini had a long career painting canvases on religious and mythological subjects for patrons in Bologna, Genoa, Rome and Vienna. Numerous painters worked and trained in his studio; among them Giacomo Boni, Francesco Caccianiga, Antonio Cifrondi, Ercole Graziani the elder, and Giuseppe Marchesi, called il Sansone.