Marcantonio Franceschini (Bologna 1648-1729) Noli me Tangere oil on canvas 145.7 x 98.8cm (57 3/8 x 38 7/8in). Footnotes: Provenance The Collection of Dwight C. Miller, USA, before 1970 Exhibited Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Italian Painting of the 18th Century: Rococo to Romanticism, 19 September- 1 November 1970, cat. no 50 Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Italian Painting of the 18th Century: Rococo to Romanticism, 24 November 1970- 10 January 1971, cat. no 50 Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Italian Painting of the 18th Century: Rococo to Romanticism, 7 February- 21 March 1971, cat. no 50 Literature Italian Painting of the 18th Century: Rococo to Romanticism, Chicago, 1970, exh. cat., p.127, cat. no. 50 D.C. Miller, Marcantonio Franceschini, Turin, 2001, p. 240, no. 137, ill. The subject, Noli me Tangere, occurs several times in the artist's account book, preserved in the Biblioteca Communale in Bologna (MS B.6). The present painting, which has been dated to the first decade of the 18th century, would seem to relate to the one commissioned by the Marquess of Exeter on the 4 June 1704 when Franceschini was still residing in Genoa and was working on the decoration of the Palazzo Ducale. A companion piece, Christ and the Woman of Samaria was also requested at the same time. These paintings remained in the artist's studio at the death of the Marquess that same year. The popularity of the composition is attested to by the number of copies after it. Three of these were known to Dwight Miller: a good studio replica of similar dimensions in the Palazzo Arcivescovile, Bologna; what Miller described as an excellent replica, perhaps partially finished by Franceschini himself, which appeared on the art market in Berlin in the mid-1930s; and a good replica of the lower part of the composition traditionally said to have been painted by Francesco Ange, which hangs in the sacristy of Santa Maria di Galliera, Bologna. Miller suggested that a comparison of the present work with the version the artist did of the same subject at least a decade earlier (Spinola Gallery, Genoa) demonstrates the development of Franceschini's interpretation towards a more sober, meditated composition. This came out of his intensified pursuit of the classical style: the handling is smoother, the concentration on clean, linear rhythms more intense, the palette clearer and lighter, and the pose of Christ more formalised. In general Miller detected a reflection here of Albani's Noli me Tangere in the Servite Church in Bologna. He also observed how in transforming the rather wistful pose of Christ in the earlier version in Genoa to one of greater formality Franceschini paraphrased the pose given to Christ in a Noli me Tangere by Lucio Massari, a gifted pupil of Annibale Carracci and suggested that Franceschini must have first studied this picture when he executed his high altar for this church in 1686. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com