This is a study for the ceiling fresco of the choir in the destroyed church of San Domenico in Genoa. In 1766 (Ratti 1766, pp. 251–52) it was on display “in the third room” of Giovambattista and Carlo Cambiaso’s Palazzo in Strada Nuova (now Via Garibaldi). However, it was no longer there in 1818 (Anon. 1818, ed. 1969, p. 315). In 1824, it was in the collection of Marchese Marcello Durazzo, who offered it that year to the Accademia in place of the copy which had been requested “so that the population could enjoy such a beautiful painting”. It was initially refused since it was “so perfectly preserved” in the hands of Marchese Durazzo, an “intelligent connoisseur of the fine arts and of the heritage of the realm”, but later on it was indeed accepted. After 1846, it was mentioned in the guides to the “Gallerie di Quadri” of the Accademia. The study is one of the few existing works to give an idea of the frescoes the artist made for the choir of San Domenico. It was given on loan and exhibited at Palazzo Bianco from 1950 to 1980, while the fresco itself had been destroyed in 1820 along with the church and convent which were demolished in order to make way for the construction of the Carlo Felice theatre and the Accademia.

I.M.B.