Diotti received a commission from Casalmaggiore in 1811: the vestryman Ferdinando Cavalli asked for a painting, representing Madonna and Child with Saints Stephen and John the Baptist, to locate on the main altar of St Stephan Cathedral.
Although Diotti lived in Bergamo, he maintained relations with the city of origin before his definite repatriate, mainly through exchange of letters, in particular with his first patron Giovanni Vicenza Ponzone and with his friend Giovanni Montani, engineer and great collector of his works.
The altarpiece of St Stephan should have been located in a marble frame, as a replacement of Parmigianino board’s copy once preserved in the church, representing the same subject, which Marcantonio Ghislina realized in the eighteenth century. The negotiation between Diotti and the clients concerning the issue took long, but the result was respectful of Diotti’s starting project and the work was inaugurated with solemnity on 26th December 1815. It was accompanied by literary and encomiastic compositions by painter’s friends from Casalmaggiore (for example a sonnet written by the engineer Giovanni Tarozzi in which he imagines Parmigianino’s ghost proud of the artist’s work).
This small preparatory draw is ascribable to the painting which was later moved to the new Church of Saint Stephen (where it is located today). In this illustration there are: some modifications from the final result; some rubbing etching signs and numbers of chequering at the margins for the taking back of the presentation of the painting model. The paper, coming from Scuola Bottoli’s collection, was donated originally from the artist to his friend Tomaso Marcheselli.
Scuola di disegno "Bottoli" Fund
