St Joseph with the Infant Jesus
Simone Cantarini, known as ‘Il Pesarese’ because of his origins in the coastal town of Pesaro, was one of the most talented figures in the Italian art world in the early 17th century.
He initially trained under Claudio Ridolfi before moving to Bologna to the highly sought-after studio of Guido Reni, the undisputed master of most classical Baroque art, who took him under his wing. However, Simone’s ambitions and Guido’s difficult nature led to a separating of the ways and Cantarini, after a short time in Rome, absorbed the naturalistic style of Guercino and his school (Negro, 1992; Ambrosini Massari, 2019).
The painting in Cervia is one of Cantarini’s mature works, in which the classicism of Reni (see the St Joseph and the Infant Jesus at the Museum of the City of Rimini) interacts with the naturalistic approach of the painters from the Guercino school, such as Centino, without excluding the influence of the contemporary Rimini painters (Cellini, 1985; Colombi Ferretti, 1986, 1992; Ambrosini Massari, 2019).
The saint, heavily built, holds the sleeping Infant Jesus in his arms, wearing a light white shirt which reveals the artist’s fanatical attention to rendering details, particularly in the folds of the material.
The rough strokes on the face and hands of Joseph, revealing his age and fatigue, do not detract from a paternal tenderness, an emotional charge which engages the observer who witnesses this silent exchange of affection between father and child, over and above the bond between saint and saviour. Foschi suggested that the original location of the painting may have been the chapel dedicated to St Joseph in the cathedral of Cervia Vecchia, at the time under the patronage of the Mazzolani family (Foschi, 1977).”
