CARLO MARATTA (1625-1713) & Studio and GASPARD DUGHET (1615-1675)

DIANA AT HER BATH SURPRISED BY ACTAEON
With several of the figures by Giuseppe Passeri (1654-1714), according to Dr Alessandro Aggresti 
Oil on canvas
71 x 96 cm
 
 
PROVENANCE
Palazzo Santini, Lucca (by repute);
Anonymous sale, Langford's, London, 08.03.1776, Lot 63 ('FRANCESCO ALBANO, Nymphs bathing. The place the painter has fixed on for this scene, is well imaged [sic.] for the purpose. Large masses of lofty trees embower the cool retreat, and secrete it from the inquisitive eye: a small stream, or lake of water, presents itself for the bath, in which many figures are regaling themselves') 
[bears inscription in pen & ink to stretcher ALBANE 63] (sold for 13 guineas);
Ramsay Richard Reinagle, R.A. (1775-1862), London;
His sale, Christie's, London, 14.06.1825, Lot 76 ('FRANCESCO ALBANO & GASPAR POUSSIN, The Bath of Diana, Calisto escaping: a capital production of these renowned artists. From the Palace Santona [sic] at Lucca') [bought in, n.b. numbered Lot 72 in the first edition of the catalogue];
His sale, Christie's, 22.05.1826, Lot 98 ('FRANCESCO ALBANO & GASPAR POUSSIN, The Bath of Diana; the Nymphs are finely drawn, painted, and coloured') [bought in];
His sale, Christie's, 17.06.1830, Lot 204 ('FRANCESCO ALBANO & GASPAR POUSSIN, The Bath of Diana; a rich and beautiful composition, of chaste yet brilliant effect') [seemingly sold to 'Chapman', for £52-10];
Ramsay Richard Reinagle, Edward Foster, London, 06.05.1831, Lot 73 ('FRANCESCO ALBANO, The Bath of Diana. This master often resembles his fellow pupil Domenichino, so closely, that it is a difficult matter to decide the authorship of some of their pictures -- this landscape would seem to be by Domenichino -- a lively, bright, and delightful composition');
Where acquired for £29-8 by Joseph Robins, London;
His sale, Christie's, London, 22.02.1834, Lot 75 (FRANCESCO ALBANO, Diana and nymphs at the bath, disturbed by Actaeon, in a romantic cavern) [bought in];
His sale, William Henry Hoard, London, 08.05.1835, Lot 16 [label in pen & ink on stretcher reads 
Albano / 16, see fig. II below] (sold as 'FRANCESCO ALBANO, A grand Landscape, in which are introduced Diana and Nymphs and the Punishment of Acteon, a masterly production');
Private collection, Southwest England (until 2023, when sold as 'Circle of Andrea Locatelli' at auction)
 
 
 
 
 
 
The present work is due to be published by Dr Alessandro Agresti later this year as a rediscovered collaborative painting by Carlo Maratta and Gaspard Dughet, two of the leading Roman painters of the Baroque period, whose work together is well-documented, but by the both of whom only one painting is known today, the Landscape with the Union of Dido and Aeneas in the National Gallery, London (acc. no. NG95). 
 
Dr Dario Beccarini and Dr Francesco Petrucci have both separately attributed the work to the Studio of Maratta, with Gaspard Dughet providing the landscape background, on the basis of digital images. 
 
 
 
The present subject was treated on several occasions by Maratta and his workshop, though this is the only known example of one involving Dughet. The 'prime' version of Maratta's Diana and Actaeon is now in the Devonshire Collections at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. Further versions include a workshop example at Christchurch College, Oxford, and another in the State Pushkin Museum, Moscow. Dr Agresti has also recently published a fourth example in Eredità ed evoluzioni del classicismo romano (De Luca Editori d'Arte, 2022).