Madonna with Child, Saint Bartholomew and Two Sainted Bishops in Glory in the Town of Cervia

The painting was donated by the Saporetti family to the cathedral and was considered a votive offering for its “naive folk language” which Viroli considered to be of a “fairly poor quality”, attributing the painting to an “illiterate rural painter”.

According to the writer, the painting is comparable, albeit more naive and lower in quality, to a reinterpretation of the style of Cesare Pronti, an artist originally from Cattolica who was a disciple of Guercino and Carlo Cignani, present in Cervia in the church of Sant’Antonio da Padova with the Franciscan altarpiece (Viroli, 1991).

Fairly modest in terms of its formal qualities, the painting remains a valuable work of art “for the presence of the clear representation of the town of Cervia [...]” and for the strong religious theme (Gori, 2001).