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Antonio Balestra (Verona 1666 - 1740), Sketch for the altarpiece of the church of San Gregorio al Celio, Oil on canvas cm 113 x 55.5 SOLD Painting subject to notification restrictions by the Ministry of Culture and the ABAP Superintendency of Turin, with a declaration of cultural interest for the protection of historical and artistic heritage. A high-profile Venetian figure, Angelo Maria Querini (1680-1755), who was elevated to the dignity of cardinal in 1727, had approached Balestra to request the Roman altarpiece. The painting from the Giamblanco Gallery presented here is linked to this prestigious commission. There are few differences with the final version: the compositional layout and the position of the main characters appear to be completely overlapping, only Gregory the Great in the altarpiece will lower his right hand, ready to write on the heavy book that a little angel struggles to hold above himself. In the small canvas, a companion of the latter occupies the lower left corner, almost to watch over the tiara that the Father of the Church seems to have abandoned on the ground, all intent on capturing the inspiration of the dove of the Holy Spirit; and Jesus Child escapes from the hands of the mother, in a spontaneous but a little disarticulated pose, which will be calibrated more in the Roman altarpiece. The major variation is found at the top right, where a teenage angel holds the cloth that serves as an improvised canopy to the celestial apparition: a detail that in the larger version will be replaced by two smaller and playful winged infants. A series of characters allows us to return even this canvas to the hand of Antonio Balestra: the correctness of design; the careful, but full-bodied, material drafting; the sensitive lighting direction, as revealed by the inlays of light and shadow that define the body of the Child; the face of Saint Andrew, modeled with color notches; the surplice of Saint Gregory, whose whiteness is virtuously rendered with "dirty" colors; the beautiful invention of the angel above, who offers the soft back to the full light. - Andrea Tomezzoli