sht. 1

Luigi Valadier, Silver relief with theAscension of the Blessed Virgin; ormolu, silver and lapis lazuli frame; ornamental knotted ribbon motif topped with a patera, c. 1765-70, graphite, pen, brown ink, grey ink, brown, yellow, blue and grey wash on paper, 600 x 470 mm.

Luigi Valadier’s ormolu, silver and lapis lazuli frame inspired by this design, albeit square in shape and with a number of variations in the decoration, is now in the Art Institute of Chicago and encloses a silver relief, also by Luigi Valadier, with a Crucifixion of St. Peter after Guido Reni (Honour 1971, pp. 208-210; Wardropper 2000, pp. 79-84; González-Palacios 2018, pp. 328-329).

The design of the relief with the Ascension of the Blessed Virginis identical to one of the round silver reliefs set in ormolu frames with stories from the life of the Virgin on the high altar of Monreale Cathedral (1768-73). This may be the preparatory drawing for the relief.

Bibliography: Leone 2019a, p. 82; Wardropper 2000, p. 80, fig. 2; Winter 1992, p. 95, fig. 10.