Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Philip Neri

This Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Philip Neri is an unpublished sketch, specifically, a preliminary study for an altarpiece on the same subject, painted by Corrado Giaquinto. It displays a light and lively painting style, with impasto brushstrokes used to highlight the light. It is a small work brimming with rococo lightness and restrained emotion. 

It depicts a chapel with its altar. Saint Philip Neri, founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, gazes in ecstasy, filled with wonder, at the Virgin Mary, who, seated on a cloud amidst a halo of glory, bestows her blessing upon him and the congregation.  On the altar, to the left, an episcopal miter is painted on a red cushion, and on the floor, next to a smoking censer, there is a crosier. Symbols and objects of episcopal vestments, the placement of the crosier on the floor would signify that the saint had refused the Pope’s offer of a bishopric in order to continue his mission of establishing the Congregation of the Oratory, which he had founded.