Cassa di Risparmio di Cento Foundation: acquisition
We are thrilled to announce the recent acquisition by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cento of the preparatory preparatory sketch/study by Ubaldo Gandolfi with Saints Sebastian and Roch for the large altarpiece commissioned around 1775 for the homonymous church in Cento.
Although known to scholars since a while, the work has always belonged to different private owners, and was only exhibited in public in 1987, on the occasion of the exhibitions in Venice and Bologna devoted to Ubaldo, Gaetano and Mauro Gandolfi.
This is nevertheless a significant recovery. The painting is the only known pictorial evidence of the disappeared altarpiece from the Church of Ss. Sebastian and Roch in Cento; a reason, besides the great quality of execution and conservation of the work, that convinced the Foundation to proceed with its purchase in respect of the aims cultural activity assumed in the territory by the Institution.
After a long period of absence, a testimony of a great masterpiece by Ubaldo Gandolfi returns to Cento, albeit in a reduced format.