Paolo Emilio Besenzi

Anonymous sale, Replica Shoes 's, New York, 27 May 2004, lot 60;
There acquired. 

The Emilian painter, sculptor, and architect Besenzi first trained under Francesco Albani and was also associated with Lionello Spada, though little is known of his career.  His earliest dated picture, of 1641, is the Martyrdom of Saints Placido and Flavio in the Church of Ss. Pietro e Prospero, Reggio.  It is thought that he traveled to France where he worked at the court of Louis XII, though most of his known work remains in the Reggio Emilia.  We are grateful to Daniele Benati for reconfirming the attribution to Besenzi based on photographs.  At the time of the 2004 sale, it was Benati who first suggested the attribution.