Giacometti Old Master Paintings
On the occasion of our third participation to the Tefaf event of Maastricht we showcased the rediscovery of an important painting from Giustiniani’s collection: “The return of the prodigal son” by Giovanni Lanfranco.
This work was registered for the first time in 1638, in the marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani’s inventory, and it remained in the Palazzo Giustiniani in San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome until 1757.
The painting will reappear in Belgium in the mid-1880s as property of a noble family.
Linked to the painting-lost and then found- were already a canvas, stored in the Palazzo Spada in Rome, and a replica of the whole composition in the Prado Museum, Madrid.
The canvas in the Palazzo Spada had already been attributed to Lanfranco by Erich Schleier in 1970.
The cut of figures from the waist up, the beam of lights that bounces them in a strong light and shadow contrast, reveal us, in all its originality, the talent of the painter and the clients’ taste.
