Oil on canvas, 140cm by 113cm. Signed l.r.: HYAO GIMIGNANVS. PISTORIE 1641.
The painting was purchased for 15 crowns by John, 5th Earl of Exeter (1648-1700) with another (see PIC325), from a Mr. Talbot in Rome in about 1684, whilst he was on his second Grand Tour.
Mr. Talbot was a recusant priest who fled to Rome, where he found work as an agent and dealer for visiting Englishmen.
Gimignani was born in Pistoia, but spent most of his working life in Rome, where he is said to have worked for some time under Nicholas Poussin (1594-1665), the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style.
