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Need help in translating this text found on an oil painting. I believe it's medieval Latin but not sure if Christophorus and Lafranchini is the first and last name or two different people. Any help is appreciated.enter image description here

cmw
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John B
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3 Answers3

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There is such a name as Christophorus Lafranchini, though the years don't match, so they're not the same person.

Pinxit is the Latin for "painted," and An~ here is likely anno meaning "in the year." So he painted it in 1778 at Verona.

Tripehound in the comments points out the co could be an abbreviation for coniugi, which is the dative of coniunx, "spouse." However, on second glance there's a colon after Co, making that reading unlikely.

Edit: brianpck's answer has found the right person and solved the mystery of co.

cmw
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    Any ideas what "Co:" might mean? – jpa Aug 12 '22 at 09:37
  • This page lists potential meanings of "co", of which the most common is coniugi which Google tells me means "spouse". If the subject of the painting is a woman, could it be the wife of Christophorus? Perhaps painted (by someone unknown) in 1778? – TripeHound Aug 12 '22 at 11:16
  • @TripeHound Presumably then you'd need the genitive Christophori to give 'wife of Christopher', though. – dbmag9 Aug 12 '22 at 12:17
  • @Tripehound Good find. It's probably the dative instead. He painted it for his wife. – cmw Aug 12 '22 at 13:13
  • Except... the book you refer to was published in 1584 if I read it right, so they cant be the same person – angus crossley Aug 12 '22 at 10:44
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    @anguscrossley Sorry if I was unclear. I meant it more that the name is attested, not that the two were the same person. I edited my post for clarity. – cmw Aug 12 '22 at 13:18
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I think I've found the figure in question: Cristoforo Lafranchini is a pastellist with an article in Jeffares's Dictionary of pastellists before 1800. The linked entry says that he was active in Verona in 1773 (which corresponds well to the data and location in question) and--significantly--he has a title: Italian "conte"; Latin "comes"; English "count." In fact, the entire article seems to be based on the painting that the OP is asking about.

The full transcription is therefore:

Co[mes] Christophorus Lafranchini pinxit an[no] 1773 Veronae

Translated:

Count Cristoforo Lafranchini painted [me] in 1773 in Verona

Two other small changes:

  • I am pretty sure the last number of the year is "3," not "8"
  • It makes more grammatical sense for Verona to be in the locative, so I am assuming the loop under the "e" is intended to be a ligature for "ae," not just a flourish.
brianpck
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It is meant to be read:

Collectione: Christoforus Lafranchini pinxit Anno 1779 Verona

Which means, "From the collection of Christopher Laffranchini, painted in the year 1779 at Verona"

FYI: "Co" in the context of art, refers to a collection or a collector, not to a wife. Laffranchini was an important art collector in Verona. There are dozens, if not hundreds of paintings that are provenanced from his collection throughout museums in Italy.

Tyler Durden
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    I guess I'd expect the genitive, Christophori and not Christophorus. Also, what is the subject of pinxit if not Christophorus? – Figulus Aug 23 '22 at 00:09
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    @Figulus Laffranchini was a collector, not a painter. Maybe it would have been more grammatically correct to write "pictus est" or something like that, but you have to remember we are talking about very casual Latin here. – Tyler Durden Aug 23 '22 at 00:14
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    @TylerDurden Do you have sources for that? I couldn't find anything with an admittedly rudimentary Google search. – cmw Aug 23 '22 at 03:46
  • @TylerDurden What do you mean by this being very casual? Isn't a painting an expensive item with which one might want to be careful? I wouldn't dismiss such a discrepancy between the original and your translation so quickly. – Joonas Ilmavirta Aug 23 '22 at 05:43
  • @JoonasIlmavirta Look, if you want to believe that Laffranchini painted it for his wife, fine. I am just telling you that is totally wrong. – Tyler Durden Aug 23 '22 at 06:42
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    @TylerDurden I have no strong opinion. It's just that if you are telling that something is totally correct and something else is totally wrong, I would expect a stronger argument. If you can add some reasoning to your answer for why it has to be that way, that'd be great. – Joonas Ilmavirta Aug 23 '22 at 06:47
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    @TylerDurden, can you provide a name of one of those dozens of paintings in his collocation? I seem to be unable to find any information about this. – d_e Aug 23 '22 at 09:56
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    I didn't ask for a source because I think you're wrong, I asked for a source because, like @d_e, I cannot find anything about this online. A search on the name comes up empty. Can you point to a museum page, a book, some source from which we can gather more information? – cmw Aug 23 '22 at 12:30
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    @cmw "Atti e memorie dell'Accademia di Agricoltura Scienze e Lettere di Verona" v172 p. 417. "Istoria della vita e delle opere di Raffaello Sanzio de Urbino," p. 329. "Le fanciulle celebri e l'infanzia delle donne illustri d'Italia antiche e Moderne" p. 269. – Tyler Durden Aug 23 '22 at 13:59
  • @d_e "La Fornarina" (possibly) by Raphael which now hangs in the Borghese gallery originally came from the Laffranchini collection. That's one painting. – Tyler Durden Aug 23 '22 at 14:10
  • @TylerDurden Grazie molte. – cmw Aug 23 '22 at 14:19
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    I'm downvoting, not because I don't think "co." means "collectio[ne]" (in fact, that seems more probable than coniugi), but because "Christoforus" is clearly the grammatical subject of pinxit. The provided translation simply ignores the nominative. – brianpck Aug 23 '22 at 14:52
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    @brianpck, just was about to write something similar. despite the reference given, I still believe Christopher Laffranchini was the painter. In one reference I saw a ref of "heir of Laffranchini from 1829" also he was operating in Verona. I find it more probable that Laffranchini painted this in 1779 Verona. It is hard to find information about this man online; it might be he was a collector indeed (in which case his collected works were painted much earlier than 1772 Verona); + it is what written pinixt it is a known formula. why would C.L use this formula on a painting not his? – d_e Aug 23 '22 at 15:01