Holy Family with the young Saint John the Baptist and Saint Catherine

Before the discovery in 1989, during its restoration, of a beautiful signature (IOANNES CAPASSINI F, FACIEBAT, lower left), this painting had never been exhibited since entering the museum's collection. It now enriches the oeuvre of a Tuscan artist who remains to be rediscovered, active in the Rhône Valley during the third quarter of the 16th century: Giovanni Capassini. The painter had escaped total oblivion thanks to a triptych reconstructed in the 2000s, painted in 1555 for Cardinal François de Tournon, whose main scene is The Resurrection of Christ (Tournon, Musée du Rhône). During his training in Florence, Capassini was strongly influenced by Michelangelo and especially by Andrea del Sarto, whose workshop he frequented. Then, during the period preceding his arrival in France following Cardinal de Tournon at the turn of the century, he worked in the style of later Tuscan Mannerists such as Vasari. Although the female figures and children of this Holy Family clearly recall the style of this Florentine master, the walnut support suggests, in the absence of any chronological evidence, that this panel was more likely painted in France. The numerous similarities that can be drawn with the panels of the Tournon triptych, particularly regarding the coloring and the rendering of the figures, seem to confirm this hypothesis. The Capassini panel is one of the surprises revealed by the study of Robert Gower's collection, which included numerous acquisitions in southeastern France.