CHRISTIE'S
CHRISTIE'S
International Old Master & 19TH Century Art
Auctions
AUCTION CALENDAR 2013
TO INCLUDE YOUR PROPERTY IN THESE SALES PLEASE CONSIGN TEN WEEKS BEFORE THE SALE DATE.
CONTACT THE SPECIALISTS OR REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.
30 JANUARY
Old Master Paintings Part I
New York
30 JANUARY
Renaissance
New York
31 JANUARY
Old Master & British Drawings
and Watercolours
New York
31 JANUARY
Old Master Paintings Part II
New York
31 JANUARY
19th Century European Art
London, South Kensington
10 APRIL
Dessins Anciens et du XIXe Siecle
Paris
11 APRIL
Old Master & British Paintings
London, South Kensington
15 APRIL
Tableaux Anciens et du XIXe Siecle
Paris
29 APRIL
19th Century European Art
New York
7 MAY
Old Master & 19th Century Art
Amsterdam
31 MAY
19th Century European Art including
Orientalist Art
London, King Street
5 JUNE
Old Master Paintings
New York
6 JUNE
19th Century European Art
London, South Kensington
2 JULY
Old Master & British Paintings
Evening Sale
London, King Street
2 JULY
Old Master & British Drawings
and Watercolours
London, King Street
3 JULY
Old Master & British Paintings
Day Sale
London, King Street
5 JULY
Old Master & British Paintings
London, South Kensington
Subject to change
12/1 1/12
Renaissance
Wednesday 30 January 2013
PROPERTIES FROM
The Descendants of Victor Hugo
The Distinguished Private Collection
of Drs. Saul and Marcia Cohen
The Fritz (FBE) Gutmann Collection
AUCTION
Wednesday 30 January 2013
To commence immediately following the Part I auction (Lots 101-152)
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020
VIEWING
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
26 January
27 January
28 January
29 January
10.00 am - 5.00 pm
1.00 pm - 5.00 pm
10.00 am - 5.00 pm
10.00 am - 2.00 pm
COMPLIMENTARY SMALL-FORMAT GALLERY GUIDES WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE FRONT
COUNTER DURING THE SALE VIEW
AUCTIONEER
James Bruce-Gardyne (# 940126)
Laurence B. Kanter, Chief Curator
and Lionel Goldfrank III Curator
of European Art, Yale University
Art Gallery, will give the lecture
"Thoughts about Connoisseurship,
Scholarship, and the Art Market"
in the Woods Room at 5.00 pm on
Sunday 27 January 2013.
AUCTION CODE AND NUMBER
In sending absentee bids or making
enquiries, this sale should be referred
to as FELIX-2673
AUCTION RESULTS
UK: +44 (0)20 7627 2707
US: +1 212 703 8080
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CHRISTIE'S
CONDITIONS OF SALE
This auction is subject to
Important Notices,
Conditions of Sale and
to reserves.
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Contents
2 Calendar of Auctions
3 Auction Information
6 Christie's International Old Masters & 19th Century Art Department
8 Specialists and Services for this Auction
10 Property for Sale
172 Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice
173 Buying at Christie's
175 Handling and Collection
176 Conditions of Sale and Limited Warranty
178 Worldwide Salerooms and American Offices
180 Christie's Specialist Departments and Services
185 Absentee Bids Form
186 Catalogue Subscriptions
opposite:
Lot 148
FOLLOWING SPREAD!
Lot 151
introduction:
Lot 152
FRONT COVER:
Lot 128
back cover:
Lots 137, 123, 117 and 107 (details)
INSIDE FRONT COVER:
Lot 103
INSIDE BACK COVER:
Lot 113
christies.com
5
International Old Masters & 19™ Century
Art Department
CO-CHAIRMEN
Nicholas H.J. Hall
Tel: +1 212 636 2122
Richard Knight
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2159
HONORARY CHAIRMAN, UK
Noel Annesley
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2405
DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, UK
Francis Russell
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2075
DEPUTY CHAIRMEN
Paul Raison
(Old Master Paintings)
(London)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2086
Ben Hall
(Old Master Paintings)
(New York)
Tel: +1 212 636 2121
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORS
John Stainton
(British and Sporting Pictures)
Tel: +44 (0)2073892945
Henry Pettifer
(Old Master Paintings)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2084
Nicholas White (Chairman's Office)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2565
INTERNATIONAL HEADS OF DEPARTMENT
Alexandra McMorrow
(19th Century European Art)
Tel: +44 (0)207 3892538
Benjamin Peronnet
(Old Master and 19th Century Drawings)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2272
Etienne Hellman
(Orientalist Art)
Tel: +33 (0)1 40 76 8406
Harriet Drummond
(British Art on Paper)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2278
CONSULTANTS
Gregory Martin (Consultant, Old Master
Paintings)
Martin Beisly (Consultant, Victorian Art)
Everett Fahy (Consultant, Old Master
Paintings)
Clare McKeon (Consultant, Sporting Art)
INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE SALES DIRECTOR
James Bruce-Gardyne
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2505
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DIRECTOR
Daniel Gallen
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2590
BUSINESS MANAGERS
AMERICAS
Laryssa Zalisko
Tel: +1 212 974 4469
LONDON KING STREET
Alexandra Baker
Tel: +44 (0)20 77389 2521
LONDON SOUTH KENSINGTON
Nigel Shorthouse
Tel: +44 (0)20 7752 3221
FRANCE
Virginie Aubert
Tel: +33 (0)140 768593
WORLDWIDE
AMSTERDAM
Manja Rottink
Anke Charlotte Held
Sophie Bremers
Tel: +31 (0)20 575 5278
BRUSSELS
Roland de Lathuy
Tel: +32 (0)2 512 8830
LONDON KING STREET
Georgina Wilsenach
Laura Tayler
Sebastian Goetz
Rosie Jarvie
Sandra Romito
Arne Everwijn
Clementine Kerr
Alexis Ashot (Private Sales)
Freddie de Rougemont
Sarah Vowles
Assunta von Moy
Tel: +44 (0)20 7389 2541
LONDON SOUTH KENSINGTON
Claire Ahman
Max Andrews
Amparo Martinez-Russotto
Alastair Plumb
Eugene Pooley
Tel: +44 (0)20 7752 3252
MADRID
Juan Varez
Yolanda Munoz
Tel: +34 91 532 6626
MILAN
Marco Riccomini
Tel: +39 02 303 283 20
NEW YORK
Ann Guite
James Hastie
Alan Wintermute
Deborah Coy
Jennifer Wright
Diana Bramham
Joshua Glazer
Elizabeth Nogrady
Emma Kronman
Tel: +1 212 636 2126/9
PARIS
Cecile Bernard
Ketty Gottardo
Elvire de Maintenant
Olivier Lefeuvre
Helene Rihal
Tel: +33 (0)140 7683 56
Email. First initial followed by last name@christies.com
(eg. Paul Raison = praison@christies.com)
23/11/12
International Department
Old Master & British Paintings
Francis Russell
Deputy Chairman,
Christie's UK
James Bruce-Gardyne
International Director,
London
Head of Private Sales
II-'- \
Georgina Wilsenach
Head of Department,
London
Nicholas Hall
Co-Chairman,
New York
Paul Raison
Deputy Chairman,
London
John Stainton
International Director, London
Head of British Paintings
Ann Guite
Head of Department,
New York
Richard Knight
Co-Chairman,
London
Ben Hall
Deputy Chairman,
New York
Henry Pettifer
International Director,
London
n
Cecile Bernard
Head of Department,
Paris
Daniel Gallen
International Business
Director, London
Nicholas White
International Director,
Chairman's Office, UK
Elvire de Maintenant
Senior Specialist,
Paris
Marco Riccomini
Head of Department,
Italy
Manja Rottink
Head of Department,
Amsterdam
Claire Ahman
Head of Department,
South Kensington
New York Specialists for this Auction
Nicholas Hall
Co-Chairman,
New York
Ben Hall
Deputy Chairman,
New York
Ann Guite
Head of Department,
New York
Alan Wintermute
Head of Sale
Joshua Glazer
Specialist
William Russell
European Sculpture
Elizabeth Nogrady
Specialist
Richard Lloyd
Prints
Emma Kronman
Junior Specialist
Andrea Rico
Sale Coordinator
Stefan Kist
Tapestries
Jody Wilkie
Maiolica
Dominic Simpson
Maiolica
Jennifer Wright
Drawings
Services for this Auction
OLD MASTERS & 19TH CENTURY
PAINTINGS DEPARTMENT
SALE ADMINISTRATORS
Caroline Strumph
cstrumph@christies . com
Chloe Waddington
cwaddington@christies.com
Tel: +1 212 636 2120
Fax: +1 212 636 4925
BUSINESS MANAGER
Laryssa Zalisko
lzalisko@christies.com
Tel: +1 212 974 4469
EMAIL
For general enquiries about this auction,
emails should be addressed to the Auction
Administrator (s) .
SERVICES
ABSENTEE AND
TELEPHONE BIDS
Tel: +1 212 636 2437
Fax: +1 212 636 4938
AUCTION RESULTS
USA: +1 212 703 8080
UK: +44 (0)20 3219 6060
christies.com
LOSS & DAMAGE LIABILITY
Tel: +1 212 484 4879
Fax: +1 212 636 4957
PAYMENT
Buyers
Tel: +1 212 636 2495
Fax: +1 212 636 4939
Consignors
Tel: +1 212 636 2350
Fax: +1 212 492 5477
ART TRANSPORT
Tel: +1 212 636 2480
Fax: +1 212 636 4937
HANDLING AND COLLECTION
Tel: +1 212 636 2495
Fax: +1 212 636 4939
CHRISTIE'S FINE ART STORAGE SERVICES
London
+44 (0)20 7622 0609
cfassuk@christies.com
New York
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Singapore
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Some Observations on the Collecting
of Renaissance Art
ft v
This introduction is intended to shed some light on patterns in the collection of
what we broadly call Renaissance art. I will touch on some of the forces that drove
the extraordinary interest that this era has generated; why this area has long held such a
remarkable fascination for collectors; who were the collectors and what were the forces
that influenced their taste. Great old master paintings are somewhat like characters from a
Shakespearian comedy, caught up in violent storms and then tossed up on a remote land and
involved in love affairs, often through a series of misadventures, mistaken identities and the
intervention of a third party.
My observations will be limited to the collecting of painting from the eighteenth century
and will barely stray beyond the middle of the twentieth. Of course major Italian families
such as the Borghese, Giustiniani and Aldobrandini, and Dutch merchants such as Cornells
van der Gheest and Jan Reynst, amassed major holdings of Renaissance art in the seventeenth
century, and served as important exemplars and sources for succeeding generations of
collectors. Likewise, the French royal collections of Renaissance art were largely formed
then as well.
The collecting of Renaissance art was rarely pursued in isolation from other schools and
periods. Always most prized were works by those artists who were seated at the head of
Vasari's high table: Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo, and most subsequent appreciations
of Renaissance art placed these artists as the destination at the end of the road along which
all the great earlier painters, Giotto, Masaccio and Piero della Francesca had trod. In 1767
Horace Walpole fulminated: 'There is little to be said of the Florentine School as there was
so little variety in the masters; and except Andrea del Sarto and the two Zuccheros their
names are scarce known outside Tuscany. Their drawing was hard and their coloring gaudy
and gothic, in short all the qualities of a perfect painter never met but in Raphael, Guido
and Annibale Carracci'.
Fig. 1, Ugolino di Nerio, The Way to Calvary, predella panel from the Santa Croce
altarpiece, National Gallery, London.
In the National Gallery in London, are eleven panels by Ugolino di Nerio (fig. 1), an
important follower of Duccio. They form part of the altarpiece he painted for the high altar
of Santa Croce in Florence between 1325 and 1328. It was removed in the 16th century
and eventually moved into the Friar's upper dormitory. Sometime in the 1790's those parts
of the altarpiece thought worth preserving were bought by an English collector who was a
pioneering connoisseur of early Italian art, William Young Ottley (1771-1836). Ottley was
in Italy, in the 1790s, where he acquired many of the drawings which now form the core
of the Ashmolean Museum's holdings of Raphael and Michelangelo. He also took advantage
of the turmoil following the French invasion of Italy in 1796, buying pictures from the
Aldobrandini, Borghese, Colonna and Corsini families, including Botticelli's Mystic Nativity
(see fig. 6) and Raphael's Dream of a Knight, both now in the National Gallery, London. And
he was not alone: as Haskell remarked in his essential Rediscoveries in Art (1976):
That the nobility and gentry [of England] could now decorate their houses in
the same style as the aristocrats of Rome, Venice and Genoa on whom they
had called on their Grand Tours would have been unimaginable only ten years
earlier. Suddenly it became possible — almost easy if the money was available
— and as the meal was digested, the appetite grew. Floods of agents, dealers,
unsuccessful artists and adventurers of all kinds descended on Italy to take their
pickings from the resident nobility who were obligated to pay swingeing fines
imposed by the invading French armies. For more than a decade it seemed as if
the whole of Europe — from dukes and generals to monks and common thieves
— were involved in a single vast campaign of speculative art dealing. George III
noticed what was happening and commented sarcastically that 'all his noblemen
were now picture dealers.'
Upon his return to London in 1799, Ottley established himself as a marchand- amateur.
He advised major collectors, most notably the first Marquess of Stafford. He published a
series of plates engraved after the works of the most eminent masters of the early Florentine
school, which helped propagate an interest in the so-called Italian 'primitives', i.e., paintings
executed before 1500. He died in 1839 and his collection was sold after the death of his
younger brother, Warner. Of the eleven panels by Ugolino offered at auction none found a
buyer at the sale, an indication of the thin market for early paintings at the time. However
two important collectors later intervened and added them to their collections — both, by
chance, members of the cloth: the Rev. Walter Bromley Davenport (1787-1862) (fig. 2) and
the Rev. John Fuller Russell (1814-1888). The Rev. Walter Bromley Davenport assembled
an extraordinary group of over 180 Italian primitives which included a polyptych by Taddeo
Gaddi (sold Christies, London, 24 May 1991, lot 33) and the celebrated Journey of the Magi by
Sassetta (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), then attributed to Gentile da Fabriano.
There were other notable collectors in this field at the time, among them the Rev. John
Sanford (1777-1855), who following his scandalous marriage to the divorced Eliza Morgan,
2, Home of the Reverend Walter Bromley Davenport, Capethorne Hall, Chesire, with the Taddeo Gaddi polyptych visible on the
Fig. 3, Great Exhibition of Art, Manchester, 1857.
moved from his parish in Somerset to Florence in 1830. As with almost all buyers of
primitives at that time, his taste was not limited, and among his greatest paintings was
Poussin's Landscape with Orion, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. In Italy
he amassed a group of paintings purporting to be by Bronzino, Pontormo and Andrea
del Sarto. What remains of his collection now hangs at Corsham. Significant migrants
include the panels depicting of the Story of Joseph by Bachiacca at the National
Gallery, London and the exquisite St. John the Baptist by Piero di Cosimo, now in the
Metropolitan Museum, New York.
An equally interesting early collector of primitives was William Roscoe (1753-
1831). A banker from Liverpool of unspectacular means who never once went to
Italy, he assembled a group of some 200 paintings of which he said 'their value
chiefly depends on their authenticity, and the light they shed on the history of the
arts.' In other words, his was intended as a didactic collection, over a quarter of
which consisted of primitive paintings. Such an aspiration was to be expected in a
period which saw an explosion of public collections, notably in Florence, Vienna,
Paris, Berlin, Madrid and London. The idea of art as a popular, edifying experience
fueled interest in early art with such exhibitions as that at the British Institution in
1848 which was seen as a 'novelty bringing to the public a series of pictures from the
times of Giotto and Van Eyck'; it reached a peak in 1857 with the Great Exhibition
of Art held in Manchester (fig. 3). In four months, 1,500,000 people filed past a vast
array of works, including pictures by Bartolo di Fredi and Sano di Pietro — not to
mention the panels from the Santa Croce altarpiece lent by the Rev. J. Fuller Russell.
It was that exhibition which excited a new appetite for English swagger portraiture
of the eighteenth century, which along with great works from the Renaissance and
the Dutch Golden Age, was to be one of the key ingredients for a new paradigm of
collecting which would emerge later in the century.
Fig. 4, Portrait of John Addington Symonds.
Underpinning the revival of interest in Renaissance art
was an influential intellectual support. We have seen how
unpalatable Horace Walpole found the genius of the early
Renaissance, but others stepped in to play a critical role in
developing the dialogue which put the Renaissance at the
forefront of the educated person's consciousness. It can be
no coincidence that so many collectors of early Italian art in
England were members of the cloth. But one of the chief
conundrums facing devout Christian thinkers and critics was
how to reconcile the religious and pagan elements which had
co-existed happily in quattrocento Italy. Nearly four hundred
years later, John Addington Symonds (fig. 4) wrote, 'I am
bound to affirm my conviction that the spiritual purists of all
ages — the Jews, the iconoclasts of Byzantium, Savanarola,
and our Puritan ancestors — were justified in their mistrust of
plastic art. The spirit of Christianity and the spirit of figurative
art are opposed, not because such art is immoral, but because it
can not free itself from sensuous associations'. And though that
passage was written in the 1880's, the sentiment goes some way
to explain the interest in Gothic painting championed most
influentially by the critic Alfonse Rio, described by Haskell
as an 'enormously influential, extreme catholic reactionary'.
Rio's UArt Chretien, first published in 1830, spoke eloquently
for the virtues of Gothic art, always emphasizing the perfect
alignment of art and spiritual authenticity. His assessment of
Fra Bartolommeo provides a good example of his penchant for
moralizing opprobrium: 'Son premier aprentissage lui donna pour
condisciples Piero di Cosimo et Mariotto Albertinelli, c'est a dire un
fou et un debauche'.
14
Notwithstanding Rio's enormous influence, the enthusiasm
for collecting Renaissance art in France does not seem to have
been remotely comparable to that in England, or even Italy.
The main French collectors of note in this area were both
relatives of Napoleon: his uncle, Cardinal Fesch (a source for
many of Bromley Davenport's paintings and the owner of
Mantegna's Agony in the Garden, National Gallery, London)
and Lucien Bonaparte. Vivant Denon, a man of wide-ranging
and impeccable taste, earlier in the century was a tireless looter
and brought many important Italian and Northern Renaissance
paintings to the Louvre and the regional French museums. As
with other admirers of the Renaissance, he was charged with
the mission to obtain for the Musee Napoleon a small but
remarkable group of Italian Primitives in order to demonstrate
the developments that led to the glorious achievements of
the late 15th and early 16th centuries; to fill ( une lacune: les
plus anciens peintres italiens, ceux qu y on commengait alors a appeler
les 'primitifs' , n y y etaient pas represents commengant a Cimabue
et finissant a Raphael \ With the Napoleonic suppression of
the religious orders in 1810 and the subsequent dispersal of
religious works, the opportunity to fill this lacuna became
far easier. These would include the Coronation of the Virgin by
Fra Angelico (fig. 5), The Visitation by Domenico Ghirlandaio
and the Presentation in the Temple by Gentile da Fabriano. An
interesting postscript to this is that following Napoleon's fall
from power in 1815, while icons such as the horses of St
Mark's basilica in Venice were repatriated, some of the Italian
commissaires, especially the Tuscans, 'abandonment avec dedain
au musee du Louvre... les peintures primatives, qu y on ne goutait pas
encore chez eux'.
Fig. 5, Fra Angelico, Coronation of the Virgin, Musee du Louvre, Paris.
Fig. 6, Sandro Botticelli, Mystic Nativity, National Gallery, London.
The growth of interest in Italian primitives over the course
of the nineteenth century was driven by complex issues:
some political, some economic, some academic and some
even literary. William Blake as early as 1809 describes the
'knocking down and putting up' of artists. Any modern visitor
to the Uffizi will be struck not only by the lengthy queues to
gain admission but by the crowds admiring the masterpieces
of Sandro Botticelli — the Primavera, the Birth of Venus and
the Madonna of the Magnificat. But such was not always the
case. William Young Ottley was ahead of his time when he
acquired the Mystic Nativity by Botticelli in 1799 (fig. 6).
There are reasons for Botticelli's sudden fall into the abyss of
obscurity. His last years 1500-1510 saw a decline in his powers
which were overshadowed by the rising stars of Leonardo and
Michelangelo. His two most spectacular masterpieces 'remained
hidden and unknown in the grand ducal villa of Castello
outside Florence and could not be seen by the public until
1815'. Vasari did not do the artist justice and later treatises on
Italian painting such as Aglionby's Painting Illustrated in three
dialogues, 1685, decided that he was a painter in whose work
'there wanted a Spirit and Life and particularly an Easiness.'
But by the late 18th century notice was beginning to be taken.
The S. Barnaba Altarpiece was engraved in an Italian journal in
1791 and Luigi Lanzi praised Botticelli's frescoes in the Sistine
chapel in 1795. Ingres copied Moses and the daughters ofjethro in
1814. Once again, however it was Alfonse Rio who took up
the cause, and 'his rapturous discovery of Botticelli is in fact the
catalyst for British emotions about the painter'.
Meanwhile, French collectors (notably Cardinal Fesch, but
also Artaud de Montor) were starting to acquire what they
believed to be works by the artist and the German brothers
Riepenhausen, Nazarene painters as well as writers, also showed
an interest. In 1828 Von Rumohr had acquired for Berlin
Botticelli's great Santo Spirito altarpiece, the Madonna and Child
with the two SS John. English collectors as late as 1838 still lagged
behind, and excepting the portrait of a youth then attributed
to Masaccio, Ottley's picture was the only painting by the artist
in the country. Part of England's resistance lay in a Protestant
ambivalence about the decadence of both the Medicean court,
which promoted pagan values, and Botticelli's approach to
religious art which seemed to the Victorian audience to evoke
pain and sorrow rather than uplifting spirituality.
By the second half of the century, however, momentum was
gathering. Eastlake bought a tondo for the National Gallery and
tried to buy the Pucci pictures, encouraged by Sir Austen Henry
Layard (1817-1894). In 1868 an important collector Alexander
Barker bought the great Mars and Venus which six years later
was acquired by the National Gallery, London. By now, what
had once counted against Botticelli was in his favour. Aesthetes
of the ilk of Swinburne in 1868 and Pater in 1870 extolled the
swooning expression of his Madonnas. Of the Madonna of the
Magnificat Pater writes, the Madonna may be writing 'my soul
doth magnify the Lord but the pen almost drops from her hand,
and the high cold words have no meaning for her'. And of the
Birth of Venus, a chromolithograph of which was published that
year making it accessible to a wider public, Pater writes: 'what
is unmistakeable is the sadness with which he has conceived
the goddess of pleasure, as the depository of a great power over
men.' As Levey pointed out, Pater's significance is that through
this analysis 'his work has removed strict considerations of the
moral, and justified simply by being beautiful'.
This coincided with a revival in historical fantasies about
this now golden age. Lorenzo the Magnificent is reinstated as
great patron and statesman and every female figure is identified
with Simonetta Vespucci or some lover of the young Giuliano
de'Medici. It also coincided with a new aesthetic wherein the
demand for three-dimensional realism, often regarded as a
weakness of Botticelli, was replaced with a new emphasis on
line and pattern, such as one sees in the drawings of Aubrey
Beardsley. In 1893 the fi rst monograph (by Ulmann) appeared.
Between 1900 and 1920, more books were published on
Botticelli than any other great painter. It is sometimes easy
to forget that those whose importance we take for granted —
Fig. 7, Titian, The Rape ofEuropa, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
Piero della Francesca would be another example — have often
suffered centuries of neglect. When Henry Hugh Armstead was
commissioned to sculpt a tableau of the pantheon of great artists
for the base of the Albert Memorial in 1863, Botticelli, Piero
della Francesca and El Greco were all excluded.
As late as 1863 there persisted this imaginary pantheon
which to varying degrees was based on merit, critical approval
(beginning with Vasari) but also to market forces, the most
important being the confluence of availability and great wealth.
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars resulted in
an extraordinary flood onto the market of great masterpieces.
Until then, most had been secure in the great collections of the
rulers of Spain, Vienna, Florence and Rome. In 1792 Philippe
Egalite, Due D'Orleans, sold his entire collection to Jean-
Joseph de Laborde de Mereville who, in turn, had to sell it on
himself. The French and Italian paintings were bought in 1798
by a consortium: Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, his
nephew Earl Gower, later 1st Duke of Sutherland, and Thomas
Bewick. The number, quality and range was extraordinary.
It included Titian's Rape of Europa (fig. 7), Poussin's Seven
Sacraments, Rembrandt's The Mill, The Raising of Lazarus by
Sebastiano del Piombo, paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck,
Correggio, thirty-three by the Carracci and Raphael, to name
but a few. The collections were exhibited publicly in London
where they were seen by the writer William Hazlitt who went
on to say 'my first initiation into the mysteries of art was at the
Orleans gallery: it was there that I found my taste such as it is
so that I am irreclaimably of the old school in painting. A mist
passed from my sight. The scales came off. A new sense came
upon me, a new heaven and a new earth stood before me'.
What was so remarkable was not the taste, for many
Grand Tourists would have already been familiar with the
artists represented in the Orleans collection. Zoffany had
been commissioned by the English Royal family to paint the
Tribuna in the Uffizi, the exemplar of high taste. Among
those portrayed in that painting is George, 3rd Earl Cowper,
an expatriate who lived in Florence, where he acquired in the
1770s, among other things, two paintings by Raphael now in
the National Gallery, Washington and a Fra Bartolommeo
now in the Getty Museum (fig. 8). What was so remarkable
about the arrival of the Orleans collection in England was that
it spurred a passion for collecting grand art on the highest level
for the entire nineteenth century and beyond. This appetite
provided a handsome income for dealers such as William
Buchanan who found works of art for both the aristocracy
and a rising class of men of great wealth, among them the
Barings, Thomas Hope, John Julius Angerstein (1735-1823),
an immigrant from Russia whose collection formed the basis
of the National Gallery founded in 1824. Among Angerstein's
purchases were Raphael's Portrait of Pope Julius II, Correggio's
Christ Praying in the Garden and Titian's Ganymede as well as the
Raising of Lazarus by Sebastiano (fig. 9). Sir Abraham Hume
(1749-1838) was another of this generation of 'Orleans taste'
collectors. A connoisseur and director of the British Institution,
he wrote the first book in English on Titian, and among other
more optimistic attributions owned the great Death of Acteon, an
Orleans picture now in the National Gallery, London, happily
now reunited with the two other mythologies by Titian,
Fig. 8, Fra Bartolommeo, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los Angeles.
Fig. 9, Home of John Julius Angerstein, visible on the right is Sebastiano del Piombo's Raising of Lazarus.
bought by the Duke of Sutherland. Hume was unusual in his focus on the works by Titian,
but even he owned a great Rembrandt, Aristotle contemplating the bust of Homer, now in the
Metropolitan Museum. The Hopes and the Barings, as so many of this ilk, bought across
national boundaries, acquiring later Northern paintings with at least as much enthusiasm
as for Italian painting. Of course Thomas Hope acquired the great Veronese paintings, the
Choice between Virtue and Vice and Wisdom and Strength now in the Frick Collection. The
other great Titian from the Orleans collection, the Rape of Europa, was sold in 1824 by
Bewick to Earl Darnley, collector and fanatical cricketer, of Cobham Hall.
The pattern that emerges of these 'Orleans taste' collectors was that their interest chiefly
lay in trophy purchases and that their collections, while often varied, were not systematic
and were concerned with gathering easily identifiable masterpieces by the major painters in
the national schools. Dealers such as William Buchanan fed this frenzy, importing works
like Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne into England to sell to clients such as 'The old Earl Wemyss
[a] lecherous dog... [who] has a particular rage for naked beauties, and plenty of the ready to
pay for them with'. Theirs was an entirely different approach to the more academic method
discussed earlier, undertaken on an institutional basis by Vivant Denon and later by Charles
Eastlake, and in a more personal way by collectors such as Bromley Davenport. But the
Orleans paradigm would survive, and inform the collecting habits of the new rich of France
and America at the end of the nineteenth century and beyond.
A development of this expansion of collecting in Victorian England was the desire
of collectors to share their spoils with a wider public. Among those who exhibited their
collection publicly one of the most interesting was the eccentric Lord William Ward, 1st
Earl of Dudley (1817-1885). He showed his collection of
early Italian masters at the Egyptian Room in 1851 where
huge numbers admired his Crucifixion by Raphael (now
National Gallery, London), Crivelli Pieta (now Metropolitan
Museum of Art) and Perino del Vaga (Kress Foundation,
National Gallery of Art, Washington). A fellow collector of
this moment was Robert Holford (1808-1892) who amassed
an important collection of early illuminated manuscripts, early
Italian painting as well as some northern paintings, including
five attributed to Rembrandt. 'Living before the controversy
of 'art for art's sake', he rejected Nieuwenhuys's famous Titian
'Tarquin and Lucrece'. His collection ranged from works by
Romanino and Moretto da Brescia (artists to whom Charles
Eastlake was especially attached) as well as a number of
Florentine quattrocento works.
Holford was a founding member of the Burlington Club.
The original members included 'inheritors of treasures at
Hamilton Palace, Bowood, and Deepdene. Other members,
such as Sir Robert Peel, the English Rothschilds, Mr. Thomas
Baring, Mr. Gambier Parry, Mr. Ruskin and Mr. Holford
were forming collections for themselves. All agreed in wanting
a common meeting place to compare their treasures.' The
committee consisted of such luminaries as Robert Benson,
Prof. Tancred Borenius, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres,
Henry Harris and Sir Robert Witt. Sir Charles Robinson was
the secretary. The membership crossed social strata and brought
together a plethora of collectors. It even included living artists
such as James McNeill Whistler who was, however, struck
off for assaulting a fellow member in a tavern in Paris. The
Burlington club held regular exhibitions, largely chosen from
the collections of their members.
One collector, conspicuous by his absence, is Francis Cook
(1817-1901) who was advised by Sir John Charles Robinson,
secretary of the Burlington Club. After the death of his father
in 1869, Francis became one of the three richest men in
England. At about that time, he became close to the former
director of the South Kensington Museum (now the V & A),
Charles Robinson, who catalyzed Cook's interest in art. He
went on to form one of the most important collections of the
nineteenth century, and although his initial preference was for
the Italian school (he owned the great Adoration of the Magi
by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi (National Gallery of Art,
Washington) his taste broadened to embrace Van Eyck and
Velazquez. But as Cook's grandson put it, it was a point of
pride that the collection owed its strength to a good eye: 'Sir
Francis Cook never cared to buy "ten-thousand pounders".'
Robinson played a dual role as advisor and agent, which
anticipates that of Berenson some years later. Sir Francis's son,
Sir Herbert inherited Doughty House and his father's treasures
but continued to add to the collection with such notable works
as La Schiavona by Titian (National Gallery, London). He
supported the young Berenson and himself wrote a monograph
on Giorgione in which he correctly attributed the Allendale
Nativity to Giorgione. Sir Herbert was also instrumental in
founding The Burlington Magazine.
Fig. 10, Fra Bartolommeo, Madonna and Child with Four Angels,
Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
It is worth digressing briefly to consider how the vogue
for Renaissance art touched other Northern countries. We
have seen that German scholars were at the vanguard of the
study of Renaissance painting and also that the newly formed
museum in Berlin was an active purchaser of works of this
period, many bought from the important English collector
Edward Solly (1776-1844). Having made his fortune in
timber, he lived in Berlin during the Napoleonic wars, and
having started collecting in 1811, went on to purchase over
three thousand paintings by artists such as Raphael, Moroni,
Botticelli and Cranach. In 1821 he sold many of his finest
pictures to the Prussian State. However, in Dresden, the Elector
of Saxony, Augustus the Strong and his son Frederick Augustus,
formed one of the greatest European collections assembled in
the eighteenth century. The core of the collection was the
acquisition in 1746 en bloc of one hundred paintings from
Francesco d'Este III, Duke of Modena. In 1754 the purchase of
Fig. 11, Interior of the Stroganov Palace, St. Petersburg.
Fig. 12, Raphael, The Alba Madonna, National Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Raphael's Sistine Madonna ensured the enduring fame of a collection which already included
Giorgione's Sleeping Venus and Titian's Tribute Money. The collection at Dresden also houses
over 50 paintings by the local hero Lucas Cranach.
Collecting 'Great Art' also became a central interest further east at the Russian court
where Peter the Great and then Catherine began to form a significant collection which
would eventually be displayed at the Hermitage. Following the example of Peter the Great,
the Empress Catherine added substantially to the Imperial collections. This she did in part
with two massive purchases: the first was the collection of Pierre Crozat in 1772. This
collection of over 50 Italian Renaissance works was, besides that of the due d'Orleans, the
finest collection of Italian works in France in the eighteenth century. Among the highlights
was the Judith by Giorgione. In keeping with the century's taste for the High Renaissance, the
collection included paintings by artists such as Fra Bartolommeo (fig. 10) and Veronese but
there was nothing from the fourteenth century or before. Catherine's second great purchase
was the collection of Robert Walpole, bought at Christie's in 1779. This sale was primarily
of great paintings from the Dutch Golden Age though Italian works were also on the block.
The wealth of the aristocracy as well as the example set by Catherine the Great and
successive Tsars ensured that the collecting of old masters was almost de rigeur among members
of Russian society. A family like the Stroganovs might have had its origins mining salt, but by
the 18th century they were enobled and occupied the magnificent Stroganov Palace built by
Francesco Rastrelli (1752-1756) (fig. 11). The earliest member of the family to buy paintings
of real note was Count Alexander, whose taste was for the severely classical art of Poussin
(eg. Rest on the Flight to Egypt, Hermitage) as well as Venetian cinquecento art, an exquisite
St. Sebastian by Boltraffio (Pushkin Museum, Moscow) and a beautifully tender Holy Family
by Bronzino. The family continued to add to the collection
through the sons of Alexander's nephew and heir, Grigory and
Pavel. Grigory lived in Rome where he acquired the Duccio
Madonna and Child now in the Metropolitan Museum as well as
a Madonna and Child by Giampetrino, and works by Filippino
Lippi, Simone Martini, Fra Angelico and Andrea Vanni.
Next to the Stroganovs, perhaps the best known family of
Russian collectors were the Galitzins, remarkable for having
opened their collection to the public in purpose-built museums
no less than three times during the nineteenth century.
Alexander Mickailovich (1772-1821) was Ambassador to
Rome, where he purchased the superb Crucifixion by Perugino.
That painting was sold in 1886 at one of the various insolvency
sales forced on the family, where it was acquired for the
Hermitage. Sadly for Russia, it was one of the masterpieces
sold by the Soviet government in 1930, and now hangs in the
same room as Raphael's Alba Madonna at the National Gallery
in Washington (fig. 12). Other notable Russian collectors
include Dmitry Tatishchev who was a collector of Italian and
Northern Renaissance art. Again, one of the most brilliant
jewels of his collection, the Crucifixion and Last Judgment by
Jan van Eyck and studio, now hangs in an American museum,
the Metropolitan in New York. Perhaps the most colorful
of all the Russian collectors were the Demidovs of whom
generations lived in Tuscany at the Villa Donato which Nicolai
Nikitich built having secured a post as Russian ambassador to
the Tuscan court in 1824. Nicolai amassed a large collection,
seemingly of dubious merit, but his son Anatoly (1812-1870)
was the most exacting collector, buying such major works as
the Demidoff Altarpiece by Carlo Crivelli now in the National
Gallery, London.
A corollary of this association between status and high art,
as in every country, was the purchase of Old Masters to satisfy
social aspirations. An example were the Sapojnikovs, who had
made their fortune trading fish, bread and gold. With their
newfound wealth they started to acquire old masters, most
famously a Madonna and Child by Leonardo da Vinci. It was
given to the architect Leonti Benois on the occasion of his
marriage to their daughter, Maria. Thereafter it became known
as the Benois Madonna. In 1912, Joseph Duveen persuaded
the family to part with it for 500,000 francs. News of this
transaction leaked out, causing an uproar in St. Petersburg.
Public campaigns were launched to keep the picture in Russia
and eventually the family agreed to sell it to the Hermitage for
the relatively modest sum of 150,000 rubles. The outcry which
its proposed sale abroad in 1912 created speaks eloquently
to the passion for Renaissance art which existed in educated
centers such as St. Petersburg and Moscow among Russians,
even those not in a position to acquire Old Masters themselves.
I have touched on a few of the more prominent collectors, but
there were many more: almost half the collection of Italian
pictures painted between the 13 th and the 16th centuries now
in the Hermitage entered the collection after the October
Revolution in 1917.
Scholarship was to play a critical part in the development of
a taste for Renaissance art. While on the one hand 'tastemakers'
such as Ruskin, Swinburne and Pater played a crucial role in
opening the eyes of the public to new artists or new ways of
looking at familiar ones, a more formal, academic approach
to art history was to be a significant part of the landscape.
Early writers such as Vasari and Ridolfi were a starting point,
but in a world where the price of art was rapidly rising, the
reassurance of experts became of paramount importance.
Early work in a more systematic approach to laying out the
history of art had been undertaken by Luigi Lanzi and then
Domenico Fiorillo, who wrote in German. Indeed much of
the most serious art history was to be undertaken by Germans:
Von Rumohr, Passavant, Waagen and Gert Scharf all made
serious contributions. Their successor in the twentieth century
was the great Willem von Bode. In many cases, these scholars
were asked to give advice on specific purchases, and Von
Rumohr and Von Bode themselves made important purchases
for German museums. The development of connoisseurship
was advanced by Giovanni Morelli (1816-1891), a doctor by
training, who devised a system of attribution based solely on
recognizing the unique way a single artist might paint an eye,
an ear or a finger.
Morelli's approach was particularly influential for Bernard
Berenson, without doubt the most influential art historian/
advisor of all time. One of his earliest works was an essay
on Renaissance churches and he soon after published a
beautiful monograph on Lorenzo Lotto. The work on which
his reputation mainly stands are the volumes he produced,
divided into the three essential schools — Venetian, Florentine,
Northern and Central — in which he lists what he regarded as
authentic works by all the Renaissance artists from the regions.
This was an extraordinary undertaking given the poor lighting
in many of the sites he visited and the quality of photography
by which the paintings were recorded. Much has been made
in recent books about the art trade in the era of Colnaghi,
Knoedler and Duveen about the conflict of interest that existed
for someone who was an art historian, a trusted advisor and
an agent working closely with the trade. Of course Berenson
did benefit financially from this world, but that fact should
not overshadow his colossal achievement as an art historian
and connoisseur. Nor should it be overlooked that were it
not for the confidence which his genius inspired in collectors,
museums such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner and the National
Gallery, Washington would not have many of the major works
the public enjoys today.
Fig. 13, Antonio Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Deianira, Yale
University Art Gallery, New Haven.
Though of Lithuanian origin, Berenson grew up in Boston, where he rapidly impressed
the art historical establishment at Harvard, most importantly Charles Eliot Norton and
his friend Isabella Stewart Gardner. The milieu in which Berenson grew was one which
admired, almost to the exclusion of anything else, the achievements of the Renaissance. But
long before Berenson arrived in America, two major mid-century collectors had already
made their mark: Thomas Jefferson Bryan and James Jackson Jarves. The Bryan collection,
originally exhibited as the Bryan Gallery of Christian Art, consisted largely of early Italian
paintings such as the Medici Birthplate now at the Metropolitan Museum, New York. A
more focused group was the collection formed by Jarves, which was eventually bought by
Yale University for $22,000 in 1871. It included an exceptionally rare panel by Antonio
Pollaiuolo (fig. 13). Most of the early American collectors such as Benjamin Altman and
Isabella Stewart Gardner started with contemporary work by artists such as Corot or Millet.
But just as England at the turn of the nineteenth century was able to combine the new wealth
created by the canal-builder, the Earl of Bridgewater, with the upheavals in France and Italy
to form great collections, so too the suffering English economy produced a need for the
English to sell their own collections of great art to their newly wealthy American cousins.
A number of these new and neophyte American collectors realized that the opportunity
to acquire great art had arrived once more. And it is noteworthy that they tended to divide
between the Orleans camp (Frick, Huntington, Widener and Mellon) and those with a
more academic agenda. The Orleans taste had been modified over the century with the
addition of Turner, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Fragonard, Boucher, Hals and Vermeer
and the subtraction of the entire Italian seventeenth century. The more focused collectors
(Isabella Stewart Gardner, Johnson, Blumenthal, Friedsam, Davis, Altman and Lehman)
remained committed to the pursuit of Italian Renaissance art, even though some flirted
with standards of the Grand Style. Isabella Stewart Gardener, for example, tried desperately
to secure Gainsborough's Blue Boy from the Duke of Westminster as well as the Mill by
Rembrandt (an ex-Orleans picture) from Lord Landsdowne. The director of Colnaghi, Otto
Gutekunst, said 'neither you nor we have ever had such a windfall as Mrs. G before, nor
shall we in our lives have another.' This letter was addressed to the celebrated art historian
Bernard Berenson, who was her trusted advisor. Of the twenty-four paintings she bought
from Colnaghi, sixteen were painted before 1600 and of them, the vast majority were Italian.
The two Italian masterpieces she bought from Colnaghi were the Rape of Europa by Titian
(also ex-Orleans, see fig. 7) and the early Botticelli Madonna of the Eucharist. Another great
addition to her collection was the Death of Lucretia by Botticelli.
At one point Isabella Stewart Gardener remonstrated "woe is me! Why am I not Morgan
or Frick". She understood as early as 1892 that she could not be competitive with this new
generation of collectors led by Henry Clay Frick. Frick was, through business, a friend of
other wealthy collectors such as Andrew Mellon and Carnegie with whom he travelled
to Europe. There, they were most impressed by the collection of Lord Hartford which
combined Titian, Poussin, Rubens, Hals and Watteau. Impressed as Frick may have been by
this visit, his own collection was to be entirely different and emphatically protestant. The
template for collectors such as Frick was the also relatively recently formed collection of
Rodolphe Kann. It included major examples by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hals, Vermeer and
Rembrandt, all artists firmly at the center of any American's canon. Frick bought primarily
through the charismatic Charles Carstairs, with whom Colnaghi's Otto Gutekunst had a
close relationship. Nothing is known about Frick's motives when buying, but he assembled
what is arguably the finest focused collection in the world — and that was in the twentieth
century. Among the great Renaissance paintings he acquired were two portraits by Titian
(one of Pietro Aretino), The Ecstasy of St Francis by Giovanni Bellini, the Portrait of Thomas
More by Holbein and the two Allegories by Veronese formerly in the Orleans collection, sold
to him by the Hope family in 1910.
Of interest is the fact that both Henry Clay Frick and Mrs. Havemeyer both bought
portraits by Bronzino — Frick in 1915 (fig. 14) and Mrs Havemeyer in 1929. Bronzino was
not as celebrated as he is today, and although Frick paid $28,000
more for a double portrait of the Bligh sisters by John Hoppner,
bought in the same year, it is interesting that a Mannerist artist
would have been of such importance to collectors. Perhaps
their imaginations went back to the Tribuna in the Uffizi
where portraits by Bronzino were equally successful projections
of courtly elegance and power as the swagger portraits of Van
Dyck and Gainsborough for whom the robber barons had
so great an affection. The Frick Collection was to be further
enriched by Renaissance works owned by John D. Rockefeller,
Jr., whose Piero della Francesca and Verrocchio were both
donated. Henry Clay Frick died in 1919 and his collection was
endowed as a museum, today known as the Frick Collection.
Contrary to public perception, the endowment provided for
continued acquisitions, making it one of the richest buying
museums in the world; these included some of the great
treasures of the museum, among them Ingres' Portrait of comtesse
d'Haussonville, and the panels by Paolo Veneziano and Gentile
da Fabriano.
The traffic in Old Masters in America continued unabated
in the 1920s, in a world now increasingly dominated by Lord
Duveen, operating from his gallery on Fifth Avenue and
advised by Bernard Berenson. Among his most voracious clients
was Andrew Mellon, who acquired from him a number of
Great British portraits, among other works. But the supply of
'masterpieces' was beginning to dry up. Gutekunst, director at
Colnaghi, wrote to Robert Sterling Clark 'I find it is increasingly
difficult to get & find supreme things, old or new & notions of
value have become completely distorted through the disastrous
activities of a certain titled dealer!' Duveen's stranglehold was
strengthened by his propensity to buy entire collections en bloc,
as he did with that of R.H. Benson, which contained 114 early
Italian paintings, ranging from Duccio to Leandro Bassano.
Nevertheless, Colnaghi continued to find good early paintings
for their American clientele including the majestic Virgin and
Child by Piero della Francesca acquired by Robert Clark. Space
does not allow for much discussion of the plethora of collectors
of Renaissance paintings who competed for great things
between 1900 and 1929. But a stroll through the Metropolitan
Museum in New York gives a sense of the activities of magnates
such as J. P. Morgan (his Raphael, acquired for $450,000, was
then the most expensive painting ever sold), Benjamin Altman,
Michael Friedsam (who was mainly interested in the Northern
Renaissance), and George Blumenthal, to name a few.
However, it is worth singling out John Johnson, lawyer to
the plutocrats, who on a much smaller budget was a compulsive
shopper for early paintings, Northern and Italian. His collection,
which is now housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art,
includes great works by Fra Angelico, Masaccio and Rogier
van de Weyden. If Johnson had a hearty appetite for the works
of this period, it does not compare to that of Samuel Kress,
also a Pennsylvanian, who made a fortune with a chain of
'five and dime' stores spread all over America. Born in 1863,
his collecting began in earnest in the 1920s when he began
forming a collection which would have over 1000 Italian
paintings alone. The range went from the thirteenth century
to fine works from the eighteenth century and was intended
to be encyclopedic. The most important paintings, such as the
Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, were
donated to the National Gallery, Washington, while many
others were sent to cities where he had a store, to be housed in
the local museum. Thus, art lovers all over the country had in
their home town an opportunity to enjoy Old Master paintings
first-hand.
One of the most remarkable instances of the confluence of
dire circumstance, on the one side, and great wealth on the
other brought to America one of the greatest single troves
imaginable. In 1930 the Soviet government had a desperate
need to build up Russia's cash reserves and decided to sell a
group of paintings from the Hermitage Museum. A consortium
of dealers (Zatzenstein, Colnaghi and Knoedler) secured the
backing of Andrew Mellon to finance this transaction, with the
proviso that Mellon could choose what he wanted for his own
collection. This was like another Orleans sale, if on a smaller
scale. Among the greatest masterpieces of this group was the
Annunciation by Van Eyck, the Adoration of the Magi by Botticelli
Fig. 14, Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait ofLudovico Capponi , The Frick Collection, New York.
Fig. 15, Duccio di Buoninsegna, Madonna and Child, Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.
and the Alba Madonna by Raphael (see fig. 12), a sublime work painted in 1510 which had
belonged in the eighteenth century to the Spanish House of Alba, but in 1836 was acquired
by Tsar Nicholas I.
Notwithstanding these extraordinary purchases, the supply of Old Masters, and great
ones especially, was already declining. And since the middle of the last century, the market
internationally has grown significantly smaller in size. There will never be another dispersal
such as that of the Orleans collection. Nevertheless, great Renaissance paintings have been
added to private and public collections since the 1960s. Foremost among these was the
collection assembled by Norton Simon, which includes Raphael's Madonna and Child, a
major work by Dieric Bouts and one of the great masterpieces by Jacopo Bassano. The
National Gallery in Washington has added a transcendent portrait by Leonardo da Vinci and
the Metropolitan Museum has acquired masterpieces by Lorenzo Lotto, Pietro Lorenzetti
and, of course, the exquisite Madonna and Child by Duccio (fig. 15), a painting which passed
through the hands of Count Grigoriy Sergey evich Stroganov and Adolphe Stoclet, one of the
most discerning collectors of early Italian paintings of the twentieth century. In England too,
the enlightened tax laws, as well as the generosity of both individuals and the government,
have made it possible to acquire works of the calibre of Altdorfer's Christ taking leave of
his Mother, Holbein's Portrait of a woman with a squirrel and most recently, the two Orleans
mythologies by Titian bought in 1798 by the Duke of Sutherland. So too, a new generation
of private collectors from all over the world are buying major Renaissance works, and the
long lines to recent exhibitions such as Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan at the
National Gallery, London and The Renaissance Portrait at New York and Berlin, bear witness
to the enduring appeal to a broad public of this extraordinary period in the history of art.
Nicholas H.J. Hall
101
PAOLO VENEZIANO
(active Venice 1333/ 5 8 -before 1 3 62)
The Veil of Saint Veronica
tempera and gold on panel
8/4 in. (21.7 cm.), circular, in the original engaged frame
$300,000-500,000
£200,000-330,000
€230,000-370,000
PROVENANCE:
Henry Harris (circa 1870-1950), London; (|),
Sotheby's, London, 24-25 October 1950, lot 175, as
'Venetian School, 14th century', where acquired by
Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (1913-1994),
New York, and later, Florence, from whom acquired
by the present owner.
LITERATURE:
G. Fiocco, 'Le primizie di Maestro Paolo Veneziano',
Dedalo, XI, 1930-1931, p. 892.
S. Bettini, 'Aggiunte a Paolo Veneziano', Bollettino
d'arte, XXVIII, 1935, p. 476.
L. Coletti, 'Pittura veneta del tre al quattrocento',
Arte veneta, 1, 1947, pp. 5-19, as by the son of Paolo.
M. Meiss, Painting in Florence and Siena after the
Black Death, Princeton, 1951, pp. 36-37, note 94.
V. Lasareff, 'Maestro Paolo e la pittura veneziana
del suo tempo', Arte veneta, VII, 1954, p. 86.
R. Pallucchini, 'La pittura veneziana del trecento'
(outline of course taught at Universita di Bologna),
Bologna, 1955, pp. 124, 126.
B. Be re n son, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance:
Venetian School, London, 1957, 1, p. 128.
R. Pallucchini, La pittura veneziana del trecento,
Venice and Rome, 1964, pp. 45-48, fig. 152.
M. Muraro, Paolo da Venezia, Milan, 1969, pp. 68,
78, note 47, 121, 153, pi. 103.
M. Muraro, Paolo da Venezia, University Park,
Pennsylvania and London, 1970, pp. 63, 73 note 47,
pp. 90, 113, pi. 103.
J. Pope-Hennessy, Learning to Look, New York and
London, 1991, p. 89.
M. Lucco et al., La pittura nel Veneto: II Trecento,
Milan, 1992, 1, pp. 39-40, 82, note 46, fig. 28.
F. Pedrocco, Paolo Veneziano, Milan, 2003, p. 210,
no. A19, as by a follower of Paolo Veneziano on the
basis of photographs.
According to various apocryphal sources, a young woman named Veronica
encountered Christ as he carried the cross to Calvary, and gave him a cloth to
wipe the sweat from his brow. The cloth subsequently revealed a miraculous image
of Christ's face, and, according to legend, was transported by Veronica to Rome
where it was revered as an object with the power to heal and even raise the dead.
Like the Mandylion, the Byzantine version of this subject, the Veil of Veronica, also
known as the Sudarium, is an example of Acheiropoieta: images not made by hand but
miraculously created. Because such images of Christ were formed when a piece of
fabric was pressed against him, they became doubly significant as both miraculous
portraits and the rarest of relics: those bearing traces of the Redeemer's physical body.
The story of Veronica's veil appeared early on in the writings of Roger d'Argenteuil
in the 13 th century and became widespread through the Meditations on the Life of Christ
by the so-called Pseudo-Bonaventure, written about 1300.
Datable to circa 1354, the present panel is a mature work by Paolo Veneziano,
the most important Venetian painter of the 14th century. In its original carved and
gilded circular frame, the image of Veronica's veil is inscribed within a quatrefoil.
The blue and red striped cloth on which the Redeemer's image appears is set against
the gold leaf background, projecting his visage forward as a hypnotic and powerful
presence. According to Fiocco, an inscription on the verso, now no longer legible,
indicated that this picture was carried back from Constantinople by a sea captain.
Although Paolo Veneziano is not known to have traveled to the East, his awareness
of Byzantine art is here seen in Christ's rigid frontality, long hair, furrowed brow,
and the solemnity of his gaze. Like many of his Venetian contemporaries, Paolo
Veneziano took inspiration from the shimmering colors, decorative brilliance, and
deliberately archaizing iconography of Byzantine painting.
The present work was first published by Fiocco as a work of the Sienese school.
Although Coletti and Pedrocco ascribed it to 'a son of Paolo' and by a follower of
Paolo, respectively, Pallucchini, Berenson, Muraro, and Pope-Hennessy, among
others, have all given it in full to the master. Everett Fahy has also confirmed the
attribution to Paolo Veneziano based on firsthand inspection. The Veil of Saint Veronica
can be compared stylistically to Paolo's polyp tych of the Relic of the Cross at the church
of San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna, datable to about 1350, as well as to his Campana
polyptych in the Louvre, Paris, dated 1534 (inv. MI 396). Muraro has suggested that
this slightly later date is more likely (Muraro, op. cit., p. 113). Scholars have also agreed
that the roundel has been cut from a larger complex. It is possible that the Veil of Saint
Veronica was originally part of an altar front or tympanum, and thus would have been
an important object of veneration during the ceremony of Mass.
The picture was acquired in 1950 by Sir John Pope-Hennessy (1913-1994),
among the most eminent scholars of Italian art of his generation and Chairman of the
European Paintings Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
24
PROPERTY OF A LADY
102
LIPPO VANNI
(active Siena, c. 1340-1375)
The Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Nicholas
and Mary Magdalene and angels
tempera and gold ground on panel
10% x 7/4 in. (27 x 19 cm.)
$300,000-500,000
£200,000-330,000
€230,000-370,000
PROVENANCE:
Conte Mario Pinci, Paris.
Acquired by the family of the present owner in
1960.
LITERATURE:
B. Be re n son, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance:
Central Italian and North Italian Schools, London,
1968, 1, p. 443, as 'Madonna and Child enthroned
with Magdalen, S. Augustine and two Angels'.
C. de Benedictis, La Pittura Senese 1330-1370,
Florence, 1979, p. 99, as 'Madonna col Bambino
due angeli S.M. Maddelena e S. Agostino'.
S. Dale, Lippo Vanni: style and iconography, Ph.D.
dissertation, Rutgers University, New Brunswick,
1984, pp. 28-29 and 190-191, no. 17, as 'The Master
of the Friedsam Madonna'.
V.M. Schmidt, Painted Piety. Panel Paintings for
Personal Devotion in Tuscany, 1250-1400, Florence,
2005, pp. 210, 212, fig. 142.
This exquisite devotional panel was first identified by Bernard Berenson as a
work by Lippo Vanni when it was in the collection of Conte Mario Pinci in
Paris (op. cit.). Writing from the Villa I Tatti, Luisa Vertova confirmed the attribution
on behalf of Berenson (written communication, 3 September 1954). In that same
year, Roberto Longhi also endorsed the attribution (written communication, 26 May
1954).
One of the leading Sienese artists of the generation after Duccio, Simone Martini
and the Lorenzetti brothers, Lippo Vanni is first documented in 1344, working as a
manuscript illuminator for the Spedale della Santa Maria della Scala, for which he
painted five historiated initials of a Gradual (now conserved in the Museo dell' Opera
del Duomo in Siena, MS 98/4). Lippo's illuminations from this early period in his
career reveal that he was profoundly influenced by the innovations of Pietro and
Ambrogio Lorenzetti. In fact, it is likely that Lippo trained in Pietro's workshop
(C. Volpe, 'Sul Lippo Vanni da miniature a pittore', Paragone, XXVII, no. 321, 1976,
p. 55; G. Chelazzi Dini, 'Lippo Vanni', Encidopedia delVarte medievale, 1996, VII,
pp. 736-738). Lippo would continue to work in a style inspired by Lorenzetti
throughout his career. Lippo's name appears at the top of the list of matriculated
painters of 1356 in the Breve delVarte de' pittori senesi deVanno MCCCLV. A few years
earlier, he had won the prestigious commission to paint a Coronation of the Virgin for the
Sala della Biccherna in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Lippo's other major commissions
for his native city include the frescos of The Battle of the Val di Chiana and St. Paul
Surrounded by Virtues for the Sala del Mappamondo in 1363, and his celebrated fresco
cycle of the Eife of the Virgin in San Leonardo al Lago, located just outside of Siena.
The present panel is very close in style and format to Lippo's Madonna and Child
with Saints Peter and Paul and angels in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Friedsam Collection (inv. 32.100.100), which was catalogued by Federico Zeri and
Elizabeth Gardner as a characteristic, late painting by the artist (F. Zeri and E.E.
Gardner, Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Sienese and Central Italian Schools, New York, 1980, p. 98, pi. 20). A second
Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Paul and angels in the Stadel Museum, Frankfurt
(inv. 1470) can also be associated with this group. Curiously, in her 1984 dissertation,
Sharon Dale proposed that all three paintings were produced by a member of Lippo's
workshop, whom she named 'The Master of the Friedsam Madonna' (loc. cit.);
however, this theory has been rejected by subsequent scholars (see V.M. Schmidt, loc.
cit.). In all three works, the influence of the Lorenzetti is strongly felt, particularly in
the modeling of the figures and the definition of space. The lavishly-draped throne
in the present panel, with its sumptuous gilding and refined punchwork, appears in
several other paintings by Lippo, including the reliquary triptych of the Madonna and
Child with saints in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (inv. 37.750), and a panel in
the Pinacoteca of Lucignano, formerly in the Convent of San Francesco. Additionally,
the Virgin is remarkably close to the Madonna in one of Lippo's few signed and dated
works: a 1358 triptych for the Dominican convent of SS. Domenico e Sisto, today
housed in Pontificio Ateneo Angelicum, Rome.
26
27
103
TADDEO DI BARTOLO
(Siena ?i 362/3-1422)
Saints Cosmas and Damian awaiting decapitation
tempera on panel
liYi x 15 in. (29.2 x 38.1 cm.)
$600,000-800,000
£400,000-530,000
€450,000-600,000
PROVENANCE:
Annunciation altarpiece, San Michele al Poggio
San Donato (later Abbadia San Donato), Siena.
(Probably) Abbot Giuseppe Ciaccheri, Siena.
Private collection.
LITERATURE:
F. Chigi, 'L'elenco delle pitture, sculture e
architetture di Siena compilato nel 1625-26 da
Mons. Fabio Chigi poi Alessandro VII secondo il
ms. Chigiano l.l.n', 1625-26, in Bolletino Senese di
Storia Patria, n.s. XLVI (1939), c. 21 gr.
F. Montebuoni, Notizie de' pittori sanesi e statuarii
copiate dal Tomo 73 delle Mescolanze, 1717, ms. 1717
(BCS ms. LV.14), cc 30V-31, 68v.
G. Delia Valle, Lettere sanesi sopra le belle arti,
3 vols., Rome 1985, II, pp. 187, 196-197.
L. De'Angelis, Prospetto della Galleria dafarsi
in Siena, presentato da II "a b. Luigi de' Angel is
conservatore della pubblica Biblioteca e del Gabinetto
delle Belle Arti al. Sig. Marie ed a I Consiglio
municipale de detta citta, ms., 1812 (BCS ms. AVIII.5,
n. 8), no. 35.
L. De'Angelis, Ragguaglio del nuovo Istituto delle
Belle Arti stabilito in Siena con la descrizione della
sala nella quale sono distribuite cronologicamente i
quadri dell'antica scuola sanese, Siena, 1816, p. 24,
no. 1.
G. Solberg, Taddeo di Bartolo: His Life and Work,
Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, Ann Arbor,
1991, pp. 189-90, 1031-1052 (with complete prior
bibliography on the Annunciation altarpiece).
C. Barbieri, 'L'iconografia dell'Annunciazione a
Siena e San Bernardino', in Presenza del Passato:
Political Ideas e modelli cultural! nella storia e
nell 'arte senese, Siena, 2008, pp. 155-168; fig. 41.
G. Solberg, Taddeo di Bartolo, L'Annucio ai Pastori
e Adorazione dei Magi', in Apocrifi: Memorie e
leggende oltre i vangeli, exhibition catalogue, Milan,
2009, no. 24, pp. 214-216; figs. 143 a, b.
This handsome unpublished panel of unusual iconography completes a predella
of four elements and dual themes. The predella belonged to an almost intact
altarpiece, signed and dated 1409, by the foremost Sienese painter of the years around
1400, Taddeo di Bartolo. The superstructure was a triptych of the Annunciation with a
standing saint to each side, Cosmas and Damian. An attached gable and three detached
predella panels are housed with the Annunciation in the Siena Pinacoteca. The format
of the altarpiece — a narrative flanked by a pair of full-length patron saints — derives
from four landmark paintings in the Siena cathedral that sat on altars around the high
altar carrying Duccio's Maesta. Taddeo di Bartolo's subject is a rendition of the most
famous work of that group, Simone Martini's Annunciation (Uffizi, Florence, 1333).
However, Taddeo adopted a style reminiscent of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, author of
another of the cathedral paintings {Purification of the Virgin, Uffizi, Florence, 1342),
and clearly knew Ambrogio's Annunciation for the city tax office in the Siena town
hall (Pinacoteca, Siena, 1344).
Taddeo di Bartolo's Annunciation altarpiece came from the abbey church of San
Michele al Poggio San Donato, known as the Abbadia San Donato, a Vallombrosan
foundation of about 1100. Almost certainly the painting stood on the altar dedicated
to the Annunciation where the cryptic pastoral visitor Monsignor F. Bossio
recorded in 1575 an 'icona of the Annunziata'. F. Chigi's 1625-1626 list of Sienese
artworks includes 'la Tavola dell' Annunziata di Taddeo di Bartolo' at the Abbadia
of San Donato. After 1682/3 the church passed to the Discalced Carmelites and was
transformed. Two Taddeo di Bartolo paintings were listed there in 1717 [Bibiblioteca
Comunale, Siena Ms L.V.14], but the Annunciation had been removed by 1785, when
G.G. Della Valle wrote that Abbot G. Ciaccheri had acquired a 'tavola' by Taddeo
di Bartolo representing T Annunziata'. Della Valle recorded an inscription identical to
the one on the socle below the painting now in the Pinacoteca: '[Tha]deus Bartholi
de Senis pinxit hoc opus anno Domini mille quatrocento nove'. (The letters bracketed
are missing and 'deus' reads with difficulty.) About 1783, at the suppression of the
convents, Ciaccheri collected paintings from Sienese churches that became the core
collection of the Istituto di Belle Arti, now the Pinacoteca. An 1812 list of works for
the Istituto (L. De Angelis) records an additional, barely legible inscription on the
Annunciation altarpiece. In the dark ground under the Madonna and Gabriel is written:
'Fece fare Mariano di Pauolo de Rosso'.
28
Bossio indicated that the Annunciation altar was officiated by a
cathedral canon, a situation probably of historic date. This helps
explain why a cathedral painting format was adopted, though
the type was generally in vogue. Ideally Mariano di Paolo de
Rosso, patron of the painting, or some relative, would figure
among cathedral canons or chaplains around 1400, but this is
not the case. (Bossio names Faustus Milandronius as chaplain
in his period, and that patronymic figures among the canons in
the late sixteenth century.) Juspatronatus of a canonical altar
was often ceded, and apparently occurred here.
Below the Annunciation at the center of Taddeo's triptych
once stood two predella panels. Long detached, they entered
the Pinacoteca with the superstructure, were listed with it, and
are recognized in the literature as components of the altarpiece.
Presently they hang on another wall of the gallery, separate from
the Annunciation. They depict the Adoration of the Shepherds and
the Adoration of the Magi and are of identical measurements
(31 x 50.5 cm.). Thus their combined width is consonant with
the Annunciation at the center of the altarpiece (112/113 cm -
wide), once dividing borders or frames are considered. The two
moments of adoration of the Child form a pictorial postlude to
the main Annunciation scene, and the Marian narrative continues
and concludes at the top of the altarpiece in the Dormition
gable panel.
The brother saints Cosmas and Damian, standing respectively
to the left and right of the Annunciation, were doctors from
Arabia in the age of Diocletian. Willingly they gave themselves
up to the proconsul Lysias who persecuted and ultimately
martyred them. Jacobus de Voragine (d. 1298) included
their narrative of sequential tribulations in his Golden Legend,
which would have been the obvious source for Taddeo and
his patron. The saints' story, rarely recounted pictorially, is
unknown in Siena during Taddeo's period. Their inclusion on
Taddeo's altarpiece is therefore exceptional. The appearance
of the present, heretofore lost panel makes it clear that these
circumstances produced novel results in Taddeo's hands.
In the Siena Pinacoteca a third narrative described as
'La Crocefissione' and later as 'II Martirio dei Santi Cosimo
e Damiano' was listed from early with the two Adoration
stories. At 30 x 35 cm., the panel is of equivalent height with
the other narratives, and its width is consonant with the lateral
saints (44.5/45 cm.) when allowance is again made for framing
elements. Each of these panels appears to have been slightly
trimmed laterally.
After ordering that the doctors be tortured at their hands
and feet, thrown into the sea, placed in an oven, and tied to
the rack, Lysias had them crucified and stoned. Taddeo's Siena
panel, properly The Crucifixion and Lapidation of Cosmas and
Damian, shows the doctors sorely tried on their crosses, but
the stones launched at them were miraculously turned back
on their aggressors. Clearly the Pinacoteca panel took its place
under one of the two lateral saints, but until the new present
picture came to light it was not clear that it occupied the
left side of the predella, under 'Sanctus Chosme,' the name
inscribed in the socle below the standing saint.
The present, recently rediscovered panel (29.2 x 38.1 cm.)
ends speculation on the subject of the scene from the saints'
lives that would balance and complete the predella and so
reconstitute the 1409 altarpiece. As partner to the Crucifixion and
Lapidation, this end-piece to the predella concludes the saints'
prolonged martyrdom. Taddeo devised an unusual decapitation
scene, one as quiet and restrained as the opening event in the
doctors' persecution is loud and violent. This is the poignant
moment prior to the ultimate sacrifice by decapitation, and it
is rendered with compelling emotive force. The first man to
go to his death has dropped to his knees, his mantle has fallen
to the ground as he prays. His brother, sometimes (but not in
the Golden Legend) described as his twin, is robed identically in
rose and blue. Enfolded within the crowd that leads the men to
their doom, he gasps as he watches his brother prepare to meet
his fate. Foremost is the executioner who advances, sword at
his belt. This slender henchman walks light-footed, apparently
tentative about his gruesome task. Numerous witnesses, mostly
Roman soldiers, press in from the right, their lances in hand.
The bare-headed man with red hair, also with an anguished
expression, is probably another brother (they were five).
A pivotal figure is the agent in a brilliant carmine mantle who
pushes the doctor forward while he looks back to the directing
judge of De Voragine's story, robed in saffron and violet.
Progress to the left, and the orientation of the victim in that
direction, toward what was the center of the altarpiece, provide
a fitting compositional closure to the entire predella.
By rights the event shown here is the prelude to the
decapitation of Damian, the saint standing above at the right
side of the altarpiece. The inscription socle is lost, so the
saint's identity is deduced by exclusion. De Varagine notes
that Damian's name is 'from damum, which is sacrifice'. About
1460-1470 Sano di Pietro would dedicate a predella of six
scenes to the legend of Cosmas and Damian below figures of
the saints in the main register of his altarpiece for the Gesuati
at San Girolamo in Siena (Siena, Pinacoteca). Probably Sano
knew Taddeo's painting, yet by comparison his scenes are less
evocative of the violence of the brothers' trials, and, particularly
in the Decapitation, less conducive to meditative reflection. Sano
depicted a subsequent moment when the executioner is ready
to deliver his blow, but despite this his onlookers are placid.
Also, in a different vein, are Fra Angelico's series of the saints'
legend, including their crucifixion and decapitation, painted in
Florence for the Medici toward the middle of the quattrocento.
Taddeo's moving scene of the moments before the
decapitation bears many features common to the other elements
of the predella. The gently lit grey ground appears to be a
high plateau. It is bound at the front by a sharp edge and at
the horizon by the painter's trademark landscape. Across the
predella cliffs descend in sharp Vs to provide dark backgrounds
that throw his colors and the poses of his animated figures
into relief. Between adjacent scenes the mountains suggest a
continuous range and so reveal Taddeo's sense for spatial values.
Here in the denouement to the tale, the landscape opens. Efforts
at chromatic continuity are another binding element. For
example, the brilliant vermillion of a mantle in the Decapitation
reappears across the predella and in the upper compartments.
The open pose and the torsion of the red-robed agent are less
agitated, but suggestive of the same anatomical exploration
demonstrated in the stone- throwers. Here, the fervently praying
Damian has already won a special halo. It is worked with
punched circles in a stippled ground like the haloes on other
components of the predella, but this one is more elaborate. An
extra point-punch fills the circles in the main halo zone, and a
thin perimetral ring was added. The upper border of the present
panel has suffered somewhat (which explains its lesser height)
leaving the punched decoration less than fully intact. At tracts,
however, the principal punchmark is visible — a trilobed arch,
which appears on the other elements. Yet here four points
replace a single point at the tips of the arches. These minor but
distinguishing anomalies suggest that a separate hand executed
this final scene and lavished on it special care. Judging by the
intuitive sense for carefully cogitated pictorial narrative, the
fine drawing (note the brothers' expressions), and sensitivity to
chromatic values that vary between victims and perpetrators,
Taddeo di Bartolo, master of the shop, painted this particularly
fine and unusual narrative himself. Indeed, the panel's special
qualities within a uniformly high standard altarpiece, may
explain why the panel was separated from its group.
Taddeo di Bartolo returned to Siena about 1400 following a
decade of travels. He had been the prolific purveyor of Sienese
painting to Pisa, San Miniato, Genoa, Triora, Savona, Nice,
and perhaps Lucca and Padua. Once again in his native city, he
rapidly moved into the role of de facto official painter, working
under the auspices of the city fathers in the cathedral and the
town hall. He also made paintings for Montepulciano, Perugia,
San Gimignano, Volterra, Gubbio, and Orte, and toward the
end of his life, probably worked in Rome. His most refined
paintings were produced between 1395 and 1410, and are
characterized by the expressive drawing, engaging color, and
observed detail apparent in the Decapitation. For years a master
much in demand, Taddeo collaborated with seasoned assistants,
as was the practice of the time. Contemporary predellas of
equally high caliber include the Dominican subjects now
split between Northampton, Philadelphia, and San Antonio,
likewise infrequently depicted events where Taddeo himself
took charge.
The patron Mariano di Paolo de Rosso almost certainly
came from the noted Sienese Rossi family. Evidently they
privileged San Michele al Poggio San Donato which sits a
short distance off the Via dei Rossi from their palaces and
near their parish church of San Pietro Ovile. (They also had
altars in San Francesco.) Since Mariano di Paolo cannot be
found in cathedral records, reference in his painting to the tax
office Annunciation opens other possible associations. Perhaps
Mariano or someone of his line was a doctor to whom the
medical saints appealed. At present, a clear rationale for the
patron's focus on Cosmas and Damian remains unknown.
A tantalizing possibility is that the picture records a
historical event of the year it was signed. At noon on the feast
of the Annunciation in 1409 the council to end the schism in
Christendom opened at Pisa. One of the rival popes, Gregory
XII, had spent months with his court in Siena at the end of
1407 to organize a meeting with his antagonist Benedict XIII.
The Sienese labored to see their city become the venue. After
much delay, the Council finally opened at Pisa, but Mariano
di Paolo's painting may nonetheless record Sienese interest in
the conflicted situation and their hopes for its end. Across the
altarpiece various figures are painted over gold which is revealed
by sgrafitto to particularly luxurious and luminous effect. Note
on the present panel the executioner's armor, the soldiers'
helmets, and the folds of the carmine mantle, and elsewhere
in the altarpiece Gabriel's wings and the magis' tunics. Such a
costly technique is a testament to the stature of the patron and
to his commemorative effort with the painting.
The present predella panel would have been separated from
the other elements about the time Ciaccheri removed the
altarpiece from the abbey (1785) and before other components
were listed together by De Angelis (1812). Those years were a
florid period for foreign collectors of early Italian pictures. It
is a great satisfaction that this beautifully painted, novel, and
moving picture, so long outside of history, has come to light.
Now, if only in the mind's eye, an important documented
altarpiece from a key painter's best period can be almost
completely reconfigured (fig. 1).
Gail Solberg
Fig. 1, Taddeo di Bartolo, Annunciation with Saints Cosmas and Damian, Adoration
of Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi and Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian.
This reconstruction was provided by Gergely Buzas to the stipulations of
Gail Solberg.
PROPERTY OF A LADY
104
GIOVANNI BONSI
(Florence active 1351-d. before 1376)
Saint Leonard ofNoblac; and Saint Anthony
inscribed 'SCSLEONARdVSMART-' and 'SCS ANTONIVS ABAS-'
(the first and the second respectively, lower center, on the engaged frame)
tempera on gold ground, shaped top, in an engaged frame
18% x 8 5 /s in. (47.6 x 21.9 cm.); and 18H x 8 5 /s in. (46 x 21.9 cm.)
a pair (2)
$200,000-300,000
£140,000-200,000
€150,000-220,000
PROVENANCE:
Murnaghan Collection, Dublin, by 1975.
LITERATURE:
M. Boskovits, Pittura Fiorentinia alia vigilia del
Rinascimento, Florence, 1975, p. 320.
E. Skaug, Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico:
Attribution, Chronology, and Workshop Relationships
in Tuscan Panel Painting c. 1330-1430, Oslo,
1994, 1, p. 146, no. 62, 'Deleted works, studied in
photographs only and seemingly without motif
punches: DUBLIN, Murnaghan, 2 Saints, ps. pol...'.
S. Pasquinucci, Tradition and Innovation in
Florentine Trecento painting: Giovanni Bonsi -
Tommaso del Mazza' in M. Boskovits, ed.,A Critical
and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, sect. 4,
VIII, Florence, 2000, pp. 25, 38, 94, 95, pi. XV, as
'Giovanni Bonsi (close to)'.
These expressive, well-preserved panels have always been associated with
Giovanni Bonsi, who nourished between 1351 and the early 1370s. One of
the key Florentine painters who emerged under the influence of Andrea di Cione,
known as Orcagna (fl. 1344-1368) in the third quarter of the 14th century, Bonsi's
oeuvre has been reconstructed around his only signed and dated work, a polyptych
inscribed '1371' depicting the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Onofrius,
Nicholas, Bartholomew and John the Evangelist in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome
(inv. 9). Miklos Boskovits, to whom our understanding of the artist's oeuvre is
partly due, observed Bonsi's unique "soluzioni lineari" and "ritmi goticheggianti"
(M. Boskovits, op. cit., p. 319). Other scholars have also called attention to the
painter's recognizable, remarkably progressive works. Bonsi's style, later elaborated
upon by the greatest of the gothic painters in Florence, Lorenzo Monaco (c. 1370-
1425), establishes his historical importance amidst the great panorama of early
Florentine artists.
In 1975, Boskovits dated the present panels to 1360-1365. In a recent edition of the
Corpus of Florentine Painting, Simona Pasquinucci presented the panels as "Giovanni
Bonsi (close to)", with the caveat that their "delicacy of chiaroscural modeling" as
well as their "sobriety of composition" and "incisiveness of design" are decidedly
reminiscent of Bonsi's style. This led Pasquinucci to suggest that an attribution to
Bonsi himself may still be tenable. If this is the case, she writes, the present pinnacles
should be considered mature works of the mid- 1470s, between Bonsi's Saint James and
Saint John the Baptist in the Museo dell' Opera del Duomo in Prato and his Vatican
polyptych (S. Pascquinucci, op. cit., p. 25). Though the origin of the present panels is
unknown, they certainly once comprised the uppermost pinnacles of an altarpiece, as
yet unidentified. Old inventory numbers '4233' and '4234' on the versos of the present
panels, which appear to retain their original thickness, may shed some light on their
early provenance.
Saint Leonard ofNoblac was a 5th-century saint who converted Clovis I (c. 466-
511), first King of the Franks, to Christianity. King Clovis gave Leonard the right to
release any worthy prisoner who also converted; henceforth the Saint has often been
represented with chains or broken fetters in his hands, as here. He is the patron saint of
prisoners, captives, and slaves. Saint Anthony Abbot, sometimes called Saint Anthony
the Great, was a 3rd-century saint from Egypt, who seems to have been the first ascetic
to abandon communal life for the wilderness.
32
105
MASTER OF SAN MINIATO
(active Florence, c. 1460- 1480)
The Madonna and Child
tempera and gold on maroirflaged panel
24V4 x 16% in. (61.6 x 42.5 cm.)
$200,000-300,000
£140,000-200,000
€150,000-220,000
PROVENANCE:
Franklin Mott Gunther and Louisa Gunther
Farcasanu, Washington, D.C.; (|), Sotheby's,
New York, 12 June 1975, lot 83, as 'Florentine
School, 15th Century'.
with Colnaghi's, London, 1978, where acquired
by the family of the present owners.
EXHIBITED:
London, Colnaghi's, Paintings by Old Masters,
7 June-7 July 1978, no. 5, illustrated.
LITERATURE:
G. Hirschel, 'Old Master Paintings in London',
The Connoisseur, 198, June 1978, pp. 166-167.
The Master of San Miniato is a name created in the early 20th century by Bernard
Berenson for the anonymous Florentine artist who painted an altarpiece in
the church of San Domenico in San Miniato al Tedesco, a small town between
Florence and Pisa. Based on the style of that altarpiece, Berenson reconstructed the
artist's oeuvre in his seminal article, "Quadri senza casa: II Quattrocento Fiorentino
III," Dedalo, XII, 1932, pp. 819-831. In recent years, the Master of San Miniato has
received additional serious scholarly attention, as reflected most significantly in the
book // 'Maestro di San Miniato': lo stato degli studi, i problemi, le risposte della filologia,
ed. G. Dalli Regoli, Pisa, 1988.
The Master of San Miniato was active in Florence between about 1460 and 1490.
His art closely depends on the late paintings of Filippo Lippi and Pesellino, but also
reveals the influences of Benozzo Gozzoli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and the young
Botticelli. Comprised almost entirely of images of the Madonna and Child, his work
relates to that of the group of artists also inspired by Lippi and Pesellino in the second
half of the 1 5th century.
The present picture is characteristic of the master's most mature period, evincing
all the charm of his finest works. The floral pattern that enlivens the background is
often seen in his paintings, such as the Madonna and Child sold at Christie's, London,
25 April 2001, lot 104 (F. Zeri, op. ext., fig. 133). The rose hedge can symbolize
paradise or the purity of the Virgin, and adds to the sweetness of the picture's tone,
emphasizing the sense of tender devotion and grace so admired in late quattrocento
Florence. The facial types of the Madonna and Child and the general composition
are similar to those in a Madonna and Child with Angels, formerly in New York in the
W. R. Hearst Collection, and a Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Julian,
location unknown (see B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School,
1963, II, figs. 1050 and 1051).
Franklin Mott Gunther (1885-1941), who owned this picture in the 20th century,
was an American diplomat who served in London, Latin America, Portugal, The
Hague and Rome, and was later Minister to Egypt, Ecuador and Romania. He was
President of the American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology in New York
and an avid collector of art from myriad periods and cultures.
34
DAVIDE GHIRLANDAIO
(Florence 1452-1525)
The Madonna and Child
tempera, oil and gold on panel
30% x 21V2 in. (77.8 x 54.6 cm.)
$300,000-500,000
£200,000-330,000
€230,000-370,000
The younger brother of Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), Davide
Ghirlandaio was himself a gifted painter and mosaicist. His life is well-
documented, and we know that his work included the mosaic facades of the Orvieto
and Siena Cathedrals as well as stained glass for the tribune of the Pisa Cathedral,
all now destroyed. Davide's collaboration with his elder brother is recorded from
1480, and after Domenico's death Davide took over painting commissions from
the workshop, including the high altar for Santa Maria Novella in Florence and
the altarpiece depicting Saints Vincent Ferrer, Sebastian and Roch, commissioned by
Elisabetta da Rimini in 1493 (Rimini, Pinacoteca Comunale).
This charming depiction of the Madonna and Child records a composition
from Domenico Ghirlandaio's studio of which only one other version is known
(London, National Gallery, inv. NG 3937). That work, formerly assigned to the
workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, was ascribed in full to the master following
a conservation treatment in 1992-1993. A private devotional painting of unknown
origin, it is datable to the late 1470s and displays Ghirlandaio's dependence on the
work of Andrea Verrocchio (1435-1488). The general design, including the parapet
separating the Virgin from the viewer, the mountainous landscape beyond, and the
delicate cushion on which the Christ child stands, all derive from Verrocchio and
his studio. Other details, such as the carefully folded tunic of the Virgin and the
exceptionally fine highlights in her curly red hair reflect the influence of Leonardo da
Vinci, then perhaps still active in Verrocchio's shop. In our panel, Davide has made
a few innovations of his own relative to the compositional prototype. The gauzy,
translucent cloth falls about the Christ child's arm in a different direction, and the
pillow at his feet has a more elaborate, decorative shape.
The present, nearly life-size image is an important addition to the oeuvre of
Davide Ghirlandaio, whose work has traditionally been difficult to separate from
that of his brother. Recent studies have addressed Davide in greater depth, however,
enabling scholars to isolate his style more clearly. Jean Cadogan lists several autograph
works by Davide in her recent monograph on Domenico Ghirlandaio, including
the Virgin and Child with Saints Clare, Paul, Francis, and Catherine of Alexandria now
in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin (inv. 84), and the Saints Nicholas of Bari and Dominic,
now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. WA1850.12). She notes that Davide's
physiognomies are distinctive, and that his draperies have a slightly softer, more
curvilinear style than those of his brother (J. Cadogan, Domenico Ghirlandaio: Artist and
Artisan, New Haven, 2000, p. 159).
36
>
107
AN ITALIAN MAIOLICA BELLA DONNA FOOTED DISH
(COPPA)
CIRCA 1 530-40, URBINO OR CASTEL DURANTE
Painted with a young woman wearing a cut velvet turban and dress with scrolling ornament, a scrolling ribbon behind her
inscribed DIAN BRA B~ against a blue ground, the reverse with a short circular foot
8% in. (22.2 cm.) diameter
$12,000-18,000
-£8,000-12,000
€9,000-13,000
EXHIBITED:
ishes of this type painted with young women are thought to have been
Gubbio, Palazzo Ducale, La Via del la Cera mica tra
Umbria e Marche, 26 June 2010 - 30 January 2011,
no. 3-18.
1 y given as tokens of love or affection, or they may have been associated with
marriage. Bella donna pieces are frequently inscribed with the name of the woman
followed by bella, and some parts of the inscriptions were frequently abbreviated or
omitted. This coppa is painted with a young lady called Diana, and the inscription is
most probably Dian[2i] bra\v2. e] ^[ella], which translates as Diana, good and beautiful.
LITERATURE:
Ettore A. Sannipoli eta I., La Via Delia Ceramica
tra Umbria e Marche, Maioliche Rinascimentali da
Collezioni Private, exhibition catalogue, Gubbio,
2010, pp. 220-221.
io8
AN URBINO MAIOLICA ISTORIATO FOOTED DISH
(ALZATA)
CIRCA 1525, THE 'MILAN MARSYAS PAINTER'
Painted with the Assumption of the Virgin, the Virgin born by three cherub's in a golden Aureola, flanked by two
kneeling angels, a mountainous wooded landscape with lakes below, the foreground with the Virgin's tomb, Saint
Thomas kneeling nearby receiving a scapular, within a blue line and yellow band rim, the underside with two
concentric yellow bands, the shallow circular foot with a further two bands
10% in. (27.3 cm.) diameter
$30,000-50,000
-£20,000-33,000
€23,000-37,000
PROVENANCE:
WJ.H. Whittall Collection; Sotheby's, London,
18 April 1947, lot 39.
with Alfred Spero, London.
John Scott-Taggart Collection; Christie's, London,
14 April 1980, lot 16.
EXHIBITED:
Urbino, Palazzo Ducale, July-September 1987,
no. 23.
LITERATURE:
B. Rackham, Faenza XVIII, 1957, p. 99.
J. P. von Erd berg, Burlington Magazine, CI 1 1, 1961,
p. 299.
J. Scott-Taggart, Italian Maiolica, 1972, p. 48.
G. Gardelli, A Gran Fuoco, Mostra di Maioliche
Rinascimentali dello Stato di Urbino da Collezioni
Private, exhibition catalogue, Urbino, Palazzo
Ducale, 1987, pp. 68-69, no - 2 3-
J.V.G. Mallet, 'Xanto, i Suoi Compagni e Seguaci',
in G.B. Siviero, Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo,
Rovigo, 1988, fig. 9, where he attributes it to The
Milan Marsyas Painter.
The print source for this alzata is an engraving 'The Assumption of the Virgin
with St. Thomas', thought to be Florentine and possibly by Francesco Rosselli
(1448-after 1508). The composition seems to be related to an unattributed (circle of
Baldovinetti) fresco in the sacristy of S. Niccolo sopr'Arno in Florence.
This alzata was originally attributed by Rackham to Francesco Xanto Avelli, and
in a letter to J. Scott-Taggart he stated that Xanto's "later works seldom show the
restraint and carefulness of your dish which is evidently of exceptionally fine quality".
However, the quiet, more polished, treatment of the figures and scene suggests that this
piece is by the anonymous artist who has been dubbed "The Milan Marsyas Painter"
by John Mallet. Mallet identified a group of pieces which share similar stylistic traits to
the inscribed tondino (depicting Marsyas) in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan (inv. 133).
This anonymous artist's style is very similar to that of Nicola da Urbino's early work,
and it is highly probable that he worked in the same workshop as Nicola.
Reverse
Francesco Rosselli ?, The Assumption of the
Virgin with St. Thomas, engraving.
40
109
A DERUTA MAIOLICA GOLD-LUSTRE CHARGER
CIRCA 1530-50
Decorated in blue and enriched in gold lustre, the centre with the Virgin Mary seated on a chair on a chequered
floor reading a book to the Infant Christ, surrounded by a ribbon inscribed FACIES- OQVLIS- ISIDIOSA-
MEIS-, the a quartieri border with panels of scale ornament alternating with a candeliere foliage
16% in. (41.7 cm.) diameter
$20,000-30,000
£14,000-20,000
€15,000-22,000
PROVENANCE:
Ferdinand Adda Collection, France.
LITERATURE:
B. Rackham, Islamic Pottery and Italian Maiolica,
London, 1959, no. 351, pi. 148a.
The subject is derived from Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving of 'The Virgin
Reading with the Infant Christ' after the drawing by Raphael. The inscription,
FACIES OQULIS ISIDIOSA MEIS, a quotation from Letter XV of Ovid's Heroides,
was translated by Rackham as "a face insidious to my eyes", but "beauty treacherous
to my eyes" is more accurate.
For two chargers with decoration derived from the same engraving, see Jeanne
Giacomotti, Catalogue des majoliques des musees nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 186-187,
no. 602 (in the Musee Ceramique, Sevres) and no. 603 (in the Louvre, Paris).
Alio
ATTRIBUTED TO AGNOLO DI POLO
(1470-1528), late 15th century
Saint John the Baptist
Depicted bust length, with a cloak over his shoulder and his hands clasped at his waist
terracotta
$80,000-120,000
-£54,000-80,000
€60,000-90,000
gnolo di Polo was described by Vasari, in a now oft-repeated quote, as an
J- A^artist 'who worked quite proficiently in clay, filling the city [of Florence] with
works by his hand; and if he had wanted to apply himself properly to his art, he would
have made very beautiful things' (G. Vasari, Lives of the Artists, translated and reprinted
London, 1965, p. 238). Agnolo's reputation has been further obscured by the fact that
he appears to have only worked in terracotta, so his surviving works in this fragile
material are rare. It was Bruce Boucher's suggestion that the present terracotta is by
the hand of Agnolo di Polo — which coincides with a growing awareness of Agnolo's
small but interesting oeuvre.
Agnolo di Polo, the son of the Florentine painter Polo di Agnolo, seems to have
been an apprentice in Verrocchio's workshop. His most iconic — and most securely
attributed — terracotta is the life-size bust of Christ originally made for the Sapienza
of Pistoia in 1495 which is now in the Museo Civico in Pistoia.
Of impressive size but, at the same time, powerfully meditative and calm,
the present terracotta is close to another, smaller, bust of St. John the Baptist
also attributed to Agnolo, now in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts
(see A. Darr, Italian Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts, London, 2002, I, no. 62,
pp. 127-128). Both have serene, yet slightly expectant or questioning expressions,
emphasized by the lightly raised eyebrows. The heavy-lidded eyes also link their
physiognomies, although the Detroit St. John's expression is more animated. Some
of the same features are evident in another fine polychrome-terracotta by Agnolo
di Polo, the bust of a bishop saint which was offered at Sotheby's, New York,
26 January, 2012, lot 325.
44
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
111
HANS BALDUNG GRIEN AND STUDIO
(Schwabisch Gmiind? 1484/5-1545 Strassburg)
Lucretia
oil on panel, a fragment
g 3 A x qVi in. (24.7 x 19 cm.)
$200,000-300,000
£140,000-200,000
€150,000-220,000
PROVENANCE:
Anonymous sale; MaTtres Oger, de Cagni and
Dumont, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 20 March 1980,
lot 17, as 'Venus, Ecole de Hans Baldung Grien'.
with Galerie R. Pardo, Paris, 1980-1981.
with Colnaghi's, New York.
LITERATURE:
F. -G. Pariset, '"La femme insatisfaite" de I'ecole de
Baldung Grien', Cahiers alsaciens d'archeologie, d'art
et d'histoire, XXIII, 1980, pp. 71-72, illustrated.
G. Von der Osten, Hans Baldung Grien: Cemalde
und Dokemente, Berlin, 1983, p. 266, no. W104A,
as 'Werkstatt Hans Baldungs (?)', on the basis of
photographs.
After Venus, Lucretia was a favorite subject of both Renaissance artists and
their patrons. Celebrated for her beauty and virtue, this heroine of ancient
Rome provided a legitimate reason to represent a nude woman in a decorous, if not
entirely chaste, context. As recounted by several ancient authors, most notably Ovid
(Fasti 2:725-852) and Livy (The History of Rome 1:57-59), Lucretia was the wife of
a nobleman, who boasted of her chastity and honor. Indeed, while the wives of his
friends would feast and drink throughout the night, Lucretia's conduct was beyond
reproach. The tale took a tragic turn, however, when Sextus, the son of Tarquin the
Proud, became enamored by her virtue and beauty. One night when her husband was
away, Sextus entered Lucretia's room, waking her at swordpoint. Despite her fear,
Lucretia refused to yield. It was only after Sextus threatened to murder her and bring
dishonor upon her family that she finally surrendered to him. Overcome by grief and
shame, Lucretia took her life. Inspired by Lucretia's death, Tarquin's nephew, Brutus,
swore to avenge her and overthrow the tyrant. Soon after, Tarquin fled Rome and
the Republic was born.
Hans Baldung Grien chose to represent Lucretia at the moment in which she stabs
herself. He presumably painted her plunging the blade into her flesh, below her breast,
the nipple of which is preserved in this fragment. The eroticism of her depiction is
enhanced by the single strand of pearls around her neck, along with her intricately
braided hair that is secured with a brilliant, blue ribbon. We are grateful to Dr. Bodo
Brinkman of the Kunstmuseum, Basel, who on the basis of photographs has observed
that the facial type, the elaborate hairstyle, background details and the curtain, are
entirely characteristic of Baldung and his workshop (private communication, 2012).
In particular, he draws attention to the accomplished underdrawing - specifically the
sensitive hatching at the chin, and the outlines of the nose, mouth and inner arm,
which serve as approximate guidelines rather than strict boundaries for the painter
- as evidence that the Lucretia is "a fine fragment of an original from the Baldung
workshop". In his 1983 catalogue raisonne, Gert von der Osten tentatively dated the
present work to the third decade of the 16th century, citing similarities to Baldung's
panel of Mucius Scavola in the Gemaldegalerie, Dresden, of 153 1, which has a similarly
bright palette (loc. cit.). While the scholar listed the painting as 'Werkstatt Hans
Baldungs (?)', he noted that the masterful depiction of Lucretia's expression, which
simultaneously conveys her anguish, pain, and determination to meet her death, are
of high quality. The nuanced manner in which these passions are depicted led von der
Osten to conclude that Baldung himself must have played a direct role in the creation
of the painting (ibid.).
46
PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
112
LUCAS CRANACH II
(Wittenberg 1515-1586 Weimar)
Saint Paul in his study
signed with the artist's serpent device and dated '1547' (lower right)
oil on panel
8H x 5% in. (20.6 x 14.9 cm.)
$400,000-600,000
£270,000-400,000
€300,000-450,000
PROVENANCE:
Marquesa Margaret Rockefeller de Larrain;
Sotheby's, New York, 8 January 1981, lot 105,
as Lucas Cranach I.
The Ian Woodner Family Collection; Christie's,
New York, 25 May 1999, lot 113, where acquired by
the present owner.
Fig. 1, Lucas Cranach the Younger, Saint Paul, taken from
Luther's German Bible, N. Wolrab, Leipzig, 1541, vol. 2.
c. 1540, woodcut © The Trustees of the British Museum.
This beautifully preserved, richly colored and intimately sized panel ranks
amongst the finest religious works executed by Lucas Cranach the Younger.
Saint Paul, identified by the sword of his martyrdom, is seated at a stone pulpit, writing
his Epistles in a sparsely decorated room opening up on a fanciful rocky landscape.
The artist's characteristically elegant and graphic style is evinced in the confident
outline of the figure and the delicate serpentine strokes that make up the saint's curly
hair and beard. Contrasting with this fine handling, deft strokes of red suggest the
folds of the apostle's dress; the trees are painted in a free and spontaneous manner that
instills freshness to the landscape, recalling the Danube School. Exceptionally, this is
the only known treatment of this subject by Lucas Cranach the Younger, who, in line
with his father's practice, would commonly produce multiple variants of his religious
and historical themes.
The iconography of the divinely inspired scholar engrossed in his redaction derives
from manuscript traditions: in illuminated Bibles and Books of Hours, miniatures
of the Evangelists would frequently introduce their corresponding Gospels. This
imagery was further popularized in oil paintings by the large number of autonomous
depictions of Saint Jerome in his study produced in the 15th and 16th centuries. The
present panel, in both its small scale — no bigger than the page of a book — and
minute handling relates closely to this manuscript tradition. Indeed, Cranach the Elder
and his studio were involved in book illustration. They provided woodcuts for Martin
Luther's German Bible, published by Nicolas Wolrab in 1541, only six years before the
present painting was executed. Introducing Paul's Epistles to the Romans in this bible
was a woodcut of the Apostle at his desk, which bears close stylistic and compositional
similarities to the present picture (fig. 1).
Paul's writings were hugely influential in the elaboration of Luther's doctrine of
Sola Fide or justification through faith alone: the idea that salvation was only to be
accessed though faith, rather than through works of charity, as prevailed in the Roman
Church. In his preface to Paul's Epistles to the Romans, the reformer emphatically
stated: "This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is
purest Gospel". Friends of Luther's, Cranach and his son belonged to a close-knit
group of reformed humanists in Wittenberg that would have been familiar with the
theologian's insistence on Pauline thought. It is probably from this circle that the
demand for this iconography, unique in the artist's oeuvre and thus likely the result
of a special commission, emanated.
We are grateful to Ludwig Meyer, Archiv fur Kunstgeschichte, Munich, for
confirming the attribution to Lucas Cranach II. He compares the present painting
to the following works by the artist: The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist, dated 1543,
in the Gemaldegalerie, Dresden; The Altar of the Reformation in the town church of
Wittenberg, dated on the altar frame 1547; an Allegory of the Virtues, dated 1548, in the
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; and two versions of A reclining Water Nymph, in
the Hessisches Landesmueum, Kassel, and the Lehman Collection, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York (M.J. Friedlander and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas
Cranach, 1978, nos. 403 A and 403B).
48
actual size
PROPERTY FROM THE DESCENDANTS OF VICTOR HUGO
ii3
FOLLOWER OF HIERONYMUS BOSCH
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
oil on panel
31H x 44V2 in. (79.2 x 113 cm.)
$400,000-600,000
-£270,000-400,000
€300,000-450,000
PROVENANCE:
Acquired by Victor Hugo in Brussels in the 1860s,
and by descent to the present owners.
LITERATURE:
L. Daudet, Fantdmes et vivants, Souvenirs des milieux
litteraires, politiques, artistiques et medicaux de 1880
a 1905, 1, Paris, 1917, p. 307: 'au rez-de-chaussee
[...] une petite piece renfermant une peinture de
diableries flamandes, dans le genre de Breughel le
Vieux, qui nous frappait vivement, Georges et moi,
alors jeunes gens'.
The Temptation of Saint Anthony was a favorite subject of the great
Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450/1460-15 16), for whom the
saint's story represented victory over the Devil. He treated the episode in a number of
different versions, of which the most ambitious is that dated 1505 (Museu Nacional
de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, inv. 1498 Pint), a work much admired and copied by Bosch's
followers through the end of the 16th century. For Bosch, the saint's story was ideally
suited to the his personal belief that a blissful eternity in Heaven awaited those who
led an honorable life, while the torments of Hell would be retribution for a life of sin.
To convey this message, Bosch created a richly inventive repertoire of fantastical motifs
symbolic of the torments of hell. Lurid, bizarre and often dreamlike, Bosch's imagery
has fascinated and confounded viewers for centuries.
The present painting is replete with such imagery, much of it drawn from known
works by the master. The viewer is reminded of the terrors that await those who
succumb to worldly temptations: the barren, hollow tree at the center symbolizes
spiritual corruption, its dead branches evoking malignancy and death. Black birds, like
that pecking at a corpse dangling over one of the tree's upper branches, suggest death
and rotting flesh. Knives, carried by several figures in the picture, and spiked wheels,
like that next to the disembodied head at center left, represent the tortures of hell
awaiting earthly sinners.
For Bosch, punishable sins came in many forms. Drunkenness is represented by
the overturned jug, upon which is perched a spoonbill bird, a medieval symbol for a
drunkard. Figures in the boat at right also take part in drunken revelry, hoisting their
jugs in the air. Inside the canopied rotunda at left, demonic figures enjoy a gluttonous
feast, the eggs at left are hatching with tiny devilish beasts, the product of some sexual
perversion.
On top of the rotting tree at upper center, an unholy union takes place: a woman,
carrying the lute, a symbol of lust, seduces a priestly figure, a vignette reflecting the
anti-clerical views that Bosch is thought to have held. To this priest's right, a serpent-
tailed demon reads from a book, signifying the misreading of scripture that results from
the corruption of the Church. Owls, frequent medieval symbols for heresy, are depicted
throughout the painting, underscoring the theme.
Surrounded by worldly temptations and wickedness, the monumental figure of
Saint Anthony stands upright and calm, a model for achieving salvation through
the power of prayer. In Bosch's day Saint Anthony became a source of comfort and
salvation, especially when a terrifying disease, then known as 'Saint Anthony's Fire', was
eradicating the populations of entire villages. Now known to be ergot poisoning, a form
of chemically-induced psychosis produced by ingesting mold-contaminated grain, the
disease was named for the monks of the Order of Saint Anthony, who were particularly
effective at treating the ailment. For those suffering from Saint Anthony's Fire, the
hallucinations it caused must have produced vivid and fantastical demonic images much
like those in Bosch's paintings. The burning town in the background, frequently seen
in his work, may refer to this dreaded condition, which was understood at the time as
a punishment sent by God.
The blend of realism and visionary fantasy that characterizes Bosch's works reappeared
a few centuries later in the art of Victor Hugo (1802-1885). One of the great writers
of the Romantic period in France, Hugo was also a prolific visual artist whose work
was much admired by his contemporaries. While in political exile from France between
1851 and 1870, Hugo made blot-inspired pen and ink drawings — dreamlike and
fantastic images of shipwrecks, gallows, haunted landscapes, and monstrous creatures —
that were later greatly venerated by the Surrealists. It is not surprising, then, that Hugo
would have been attracted to the present painting, which he purchased in Brussels in
the 18 60s, at a time when the picture was thought to be by Bosch himself.
51
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
ii4
MARCELLO VENUSTI
(Como 1512/15-1579 Rome)
The Holy Family (II Silenzio)
oil on panel
18H x 1234 in. (46 x 31 cm.), including X A wooden frame on all sides
$40,000-60,000
£27,000-40,000
€30,000-45,000
PROVENANCE:
William Russell, London; (|), Christie's, London,
5 December 1884, lot 200.
with Colnaghi's, London.
Nikodem Caro (1871-1935), Berlin, and by descent
to the present owner.
The composition of this elegant and well-preserved panel is one which
Marcello Venusti repeated several times throughout his career. Other versions
exist in Leipzig, Museum der Bildenden Kiinste (inv. 271); Munich, Bayerische
Staatsgemaldesammlungen (inv. WLG 49); Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica,
Palazzo Corsini (inv. 255); and London, National Gallery (inv. 1227). The Leipzig
version, the artist's only signed and dated work (1563), forms the basis for attributing
the related paintings to Venusti.
The image, known traditionally as "II Silenzio", or, "The Silence", evokes
depictions of the Pieta, in which Christ's dead body rests on the Madonna's lap in
a similar position. The sands of the hourglass visible in the shadows of the bench at
lower right are beginning to run out, and the young Saint John the Baptist, finger
pressed gently to his lips, enjoins the viewer not to awaken the sleeping child.
The composition is based on a finished drawing, known as a 'presentation'
drawing, by Michelangelo (1475-1564), possibly made as a gift for Vittoria Colonna
(1490-1547) and now in the collection of the Duke of Portland, Welbeck Abbey (see
F. Hartt, Michelangelo Drawings, New York, 1970, no. 437). Though the drawing was
only rediscovered in 1951, an engraving by Giulio Bonasone (c. 1510-after 1576)
from the 1550s indicates that the image was well-known from the 16th century.
The substantial number of surviving paintings by Venusti after Michelangelo's
finished drawings, and the protection enjoyed by Venusti from Michelangelo's close
friend, Tommaso dei Cavalieri, suggest a close relationship between the two artists.
Venusti began his career in Mantua under Giulio Romano, but on 4 December
1541 he is listed as the best among the young artists studying Michelangelo's Last
Judgment in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, then just unveiled (J. Wilde, "Cartonetti
by Michelangelo", Burlington Magazine, CI, 1959, p. 373). Venusti later became an
assistant to Perino del Vaga, and in 1548 painted a large copy of Michelangelo's Last
Judgment for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. In the same year, he was commissioned to
prepare cartoons of Michelangelo's designs for the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican,
Rome, a responsibility with which he surely would not have been entrusted without
Michelangelo's approval. Though the project was never completed due to the Pope's
death, Venusti remained closely associated with Michelangelo for the rest of his career.
Some of the most engaging of Venusti's Michelangelesque compositions are
small images like the present panel, in which the artist added thoughtful details
and evocative domestic settings. Georg Kamp has noted several differences between
Michelangelo's II Silenzio and Venusti's versions of the composition. For example,
Venusti has eliminated the headdress worn by the Madonna as well as the lightly
sketched angels in the background. He has added the cross near Saint John and, in
the Leipzig painting, a view through a window to an obelisk and a building beyond.
In the latter work, the Madonna also draws a translucent gauzy veil over the sleeping
Christ child, a motif that appears to have once existed in the present painting. The
present work probably dates to between 1550 and 1560 (see G. Kamp, Marcello
Venusti: religiose Kunst im Umfeld Michelangelos, New York, 1993).
52
ii5
STUDIO OF ANDREA SOLARIO
(Milan c. 1465-before 1524)
Ecce Homo
oil on panel, unframed
11% x %Vi in. (30.4 x 21.6 cm.)
$80,000-120,000
£54,000-80,000
€60,000-90,000
PROVENANCE:
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 17 July 1981,
lot 54, as 'Andrea Solario' (£5,000).
he phrase Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man") is derived from the words uttered by
Pontius Pilate as he presented the scourged Christ to a hostile crowd shortly
before the Crucifixion, as recounted in the New Testament gospels. In Medieval
and Renaissance iconography, Christ is shown with a saddened expression and
downcast eyes, bearing the wounds of the flagellation, the crown of thorns and reed
staff bestowed upon him in mocking contempt. The theme was of special interest to
Andrea Solario, who explored it in a number of versions, several of which survive.
Along with his depictions of Christ Carrying the Cross (Rome, Galleria Borghese,
inv. 461) and the Head of Saint John the Baptist (Paris, Louvre, inv. M.I. 735), Solario's
Ecce Homo paintings played a decisive role in the development of devotional art in
northern Italy.
Three pictures of this subject by Solario are dated by David Alan Brown to the
years between 1505 and 1510 (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, inv. A817; Philadelphia,
John G. Johnson Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, inv. J. 274; and Lispia,
Museum der Bildenden Kiinste, inv. 1660) (see D. A. Brown, Andrea Solario, Milan,
1987, nos. 31, 50, 51). These are all of a similar type: Christ is seen three-quarter
length, wrists crossed over his abdomen, head inclined downwards slightly to the left.
His robe is draped over his shoulders but open at the center to reveal his wounded
chest, and a rope, with which he would soon be dragged toward Calvary, is tied
loosely around his neck. In the Oxford version, tormentors are included at the left
and right of the composition, but the figure of Christ remains nearly identical in all
three images. Brown notes that these works must have been extremely popular during
Solario's day, as numerous contemporary copies attest. However, he observes that
Solario's more accomplished interpretations of the theme are generally considered
to be the two earlier versions at Milan (Museo Poldi Pezzoli, inv. 1647/637) and
Bergamo (Accademia Carrara, inv. 716 [300]) (D. A. Brown, op. ext., p. 71).
It is to these earlier works that the present picture relates most closely. Brown
dates the Milan picture to circa 1495 and that in Bergamo to circa 1503-1507.
In these two images, the features of Christ's face reflect the influence of Antonello
da Messina (c. 1430-1479), whose art made a strong impression on Solario during
an early sojourn in Venice. The present painting, whose half-length format parallels
those of the pictures at Milan and Bergamo, reveals a very similar facial type as well.
The brilliant hue of Christ's robe in the present lot is characteristic of Solario, while
the expressive visage of Christ, with gentle sfumato enveloping the features, reflects the
influence of Leonardo da Vinci. It is therefore not surprising that the present work was
once attributed to Leonardo's follower, Bernardino Luini (c. 1475-1532). Though the
present work closely reflects the Milan and Bergamo versions, the tunic, position of
the hands and reed staff, and execution of the rope knot are unique.
54
PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
ii6
GIOVANNI PIETRO RIZZOLI, called IL GIAMPIETRINO
(active Milan c. 1495-1540)
The Penitent Magdalene
oil on panel
28 x 20% in. (71.1 x 53 cm.)
$600,000-800,000
£400,000-530,000
€450,000-600,000
PROVENANCE:
Count Karl Joseph Firmian (1716-1782), Austrian
Governor-General of Milan.
Johann Philipp Carl Joseph, Count Stadion-
Warthausen (1763-1824), from whom purchased by
Henry Howard (1757-1842), Corby Castle;
Anonymous Sale, Christie's, London, 29 May 1824,
lot 28, as 'Bernardino Luini': The Magdalen, by
Bernardino Luini, the able disciple of Leonardo
da Vinci, formerly in the gallery of Count Firmian,
governor of Lombardy. This Magdalen is the same
personage as is represented in the celebrated
Picture of the Crucifixion, by Luini, in the
Convent of the Capuchin Friars at Lugano, and its
originality is attested by Pelagi and Stambacchi,
two celebrated Painters at Milan, where it was
bought.' (unsold at 67 gns.); Reoffered, introduced
by permission in Lord Liverpool's (|) sale, [The
Property of a Man of Fashion who purchased them
some years ago in Italy], Christie's, London, 25 May
1829, lot 1A, as 'Bernardino Luini': A Magdalen; a
very exquisite and highly finished picture of this
distinguished pupil of L. da Vinci; purchased by the
proprietor from Count Stadion, at Millan — in high
preservation' (70 gns. to Maxwell, 6 Maddox Street
(?)).
Anonymous sale; Hotel Drouot, Paris, 23 June
2004, lot 42, as 'Attributed to Giovanni Pedrini
Ricci, called Gianpetrino'.
Private collection, Paris, by 2006.
Acquired by the present owner by 2009.
LITERATURE:
C. Geddo, 'Una Nuova Maddalena del Gianpietrino',
// piu dolce lavorare che sia, Melanges en I'honneur de
Mauro Natale, Milano, 2009, pp. 291-297.
C. Geddo, Giovan Pietro Rizzoli, il Gianpietrino.
L'opera completa, forthcoming.
Fig. 1, Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, called II Giampietrino,
Penitent Magdalene, The State Hermitage Museum,
St. Petersburg.
". i ' I- .Mi'.'l' ::i ftila/cu 5ff--« It> i U ill: i C-i-t ii| :l-.iio • ,V/ ( .vi
Fig. 2, Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, called II Giampietrino,
Penitent Magdalene, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Brera,
Milan.
58
Among the most faithful and celebrated disciples of Leonardo da Vinci,
Giampietrino has only recently been identified as Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, an
artist who appears in documents of Leonardo's Milanese workshop between 1497 and
1500 as 'gian petro'. A gifted painter of altarpieces and devotional works, Giampietrino
also became known for his depictions of classical and biblical heroines, which are
often imbued with erotic overtones. Giampietrino's pictures were renowned during
his lifetime, and would reverberate in the work of his contemporary, Correggio, and
in that of Giulio Cesare Procaccini and Daniele Crespi in the 17th century.
The present picture depicts the penitent prostitute Mary Magdalene in the
mountain grotto where, according to the Golden Legend, she spent the last years of
he life in spiritual contemplation. The dark Leonardesque background with rocky
outcroppings alludes to this setting, and the alabaster jar at lower right, an attribute of
the saint, refers to the ointment she used to cleanse Christ's feet during the dinner at
the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7: 36-50).
Unknown to scholars until 2006, this picture was first published by Cristina Geddo,
who has observed that the style, iconography, and "sublime" formal qualities of the
painting leave no doubt that this work should be added to the corpus of "beautiful
sinners" attributed to the artist (C. Geddo, op. ext., p. 291). Recent cleaning has
revealed Giampietrino's refined technique, in particular the delicacy with which the
Magdalene's softly illuminated, abundantly flowing hair has been executed, a virtuoso
pictorial effect unmatched by any of Leonardo's other followers. Infrared photographs
taken at the time also revealed several pentimenti, notably in the area of the figure's eyes
and in the curve of her nose, suggesting that the artist slightly adjusted the Magdalene's
gaze in the final composition. At the base of the Magdalene's neck, imprints of the
artist's own fingers were also discovered — a trademark of Giampietrino's technique
that, according to Geddo, he learned from Leonardo (C. Geddo, "La Madonna
di Castel Vitoni del Giampietrino", Achademia Leonardi Vinci, VII, 1994, p. 59
and n. 15).
The subject of the Penitent Magdalene is ideally suited to the seductive mixture of
the spiritual and erotic that underlies Giampietrino's depictions of historical heroines.
She was a favorite subject of the artist: Christina Geddo has identified around fifteen
autograph versions, of which the present picture is among the few remaining in private
hands (private communication, 23 September 2012). Giampietrino's depictions of the
theme must have met with enormous success, as numerous contemporary replicas and
variants, produced in part by his workshop, attest. Geddo has identified two principal
compositional types used by the artist. In the first type the saint is turned to the left,
her hands clasped in prayer, as exemplified by the Penitent Magdalene in the Hermitage,
St. Petersburg (fig. 1). The present picture belongs to the second type, in which the
Magdalene is turned to the right with her arms crossed over her chest. Two additional
autograph versions of this latter composition are known: one in the Pinacoteca di
Brera, Milan (fig. 2), and the second in the Cathedral of Burgos.
Geddo considers the Brera version datable to circa 1521 and the earliest of the
three, due to its greater reliance on Leonardo's example. The Magdalene's delicately
bent proper left hand, for instance, derives from Leonardo's Lady with the Ermine in
Wawel Castle, Krakow, which also seems to have inspired her gently modeled flesh
and the slight strabismus of her wide-set eyes. The present painting shows a number
of modifications relative to the Brera version, reflecting a more individual and fully
mature style and a greater emphasis on the figure's sensuous beauty.
Giampietrino has accentuated the physicality and expressiveness of the Magdalene,
who now conveys a more stirring sense of religious devotion. As Geddo notes,
the lowered perspective and torsion of the Magdalene's chest contribute to a sense
of dynamic upward movement, absent from the Brera version (C. Geddo, op. cit.,
p. 296). Her body is robust and strongly modeled, with the musculature of her arm
more clearly articulated. Her face is slightly more foreshortened as she turns further
in the direction of the viewer, her intense gaze and parted lips evoking both devotion
and sensuality. Perhaps most striking is the greater emphasis the Magdalene's artfully
arranged, sumptuously flowing hair, which is tied in a bow at
her hip serving to both hide and accentuate her nudity. The
shining, luxuriant curls are interwoven with golden highlights
drawn with the tip of the brush.
Geddo dates the present painting to the mid-to-late 1520s,
close in time to the stylistically comparable Adoration of the
Christ Child with St. Roch in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
(inv. 94). Geddo considers the painting in Burgos, perhaps
executed with workshop assistance, as the last of the three
versions of this compositional variant. Heavier and more
conventionally Leonardesque than our painting — attributed,
in fact, to Leonardo in the past — this latter picture shows the
stylistic regression characteristic of Giampietrino's late work.
Geddo considers the present picture the most beautiful of the
three autograph versions of this composition, created at the
"apex" of Giampietrino's "artistic parabola", and exemplifying
the "stupefying modernity" of the artist's most accomplished
works (C. Geddo, op. ext., p. 296).
Thanks to its prestigious public location, the Burgos version
became well-known via many replicas and variants, while the
present picture is, according to Geddo, a unique example. It
must therefore have been unknown in its day except, as she
notes, to Titian, whose celebrated Penitent Magdalene in the
Palazzo Pitti, Florence (fig. 3) perhaps not coincidentally recalls
it in the position of the arms, extravagant coiffure, and rapt
devotion of the saint.
Evidence on the verso of the panel allows us to trace the
present work to the middle of the 18th century. When the
painting was offered for sale in London in 1824, it was listed
as having come from the collection of Count Karl Joseph
von Firmian, the Austrian ambassador to Naples in 1753 and
Imperial Governor in Milan from 1759. He helped found the
Brera library in Milan and his impressive collection of prints
is now housed in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. The
picture was eventually sold to Count Johann Philipp Karl
Stadion, Austrian Governor General of Milan, Minister of the
Exterior (1805-1809) during the Napoleonic wars, and later
Minister of Finance (1815-1823). Sometime before 1824,
Henry Howard of Corby Castle purchased the picture from
Count Stadion and relocated it to England, where he eventually
sold it in 1829. The painting reappeared on the Paris art market
in 2004, having been lost to notice for seventy-five years.
We are grateful to Dottoressa Cristina Geddo, whose
forthcoming catalogue raisonne on Giampietrino will include
the present lot, and to Dr. Mauro Natale, who has also
endorsed the fully autograph status of the present painting
(private communication, 22 June 2012).
Fig. 3, Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, Mary Magdalene / Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy /
Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library.
59
PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
ii7
ANTONIO POLLAIUOLO
(Florence c. 1432-1498 Rome)
Battle of the Nudes
engraving, circa 1470-1475, on laid paper, without watermark, second, final state, a good, even
impression of this highly important and rare print, trimmed to or fractionally into the subject on three
sides and approximately 20 mm. into the subject at right, made-up areas at the lower left sheet edge
and the lower right corner, other smaller repaired paper splits and losses elsewhere, some pale staining
S. i6/i5 3 /8 x 22 1 /4/22 1 /4 in. (405/392 x 573/570 mm.)
$700,000-900,000
£470,000-600,000
€530,000-670,000
PROVENANCE:
Private European Collection
With Hill-Stone, Inc., New York
Acquired from above by present owner
LITERATURE:
S.R. Langdale, Battle of the Nudes: Pollaiuolo's
Renaissance Masterpiece, Cleveland Museum of Art,
2002, No. 29.
J.A. Levinson, K. Oberhuber, and J. Sheehan, Early
Italian Engravings from the National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C., 1973, no. 13 (another impression
illustrated).
M.J. Zucker, The Illustrated Bartsch - Early Italian
Masters, Abaris Books, New York, 1984, vol. 25,
p. 13, no. 1 (another impression illustrated).
K.L. Spangenberg, Six Centuries of Master Prints:
Treasures from the Herbert Greer French Collection,
Cincinnatti Art Museum, 1993, no. 16 (another
impression illustrated).
D. Landau and P. Parshall, The Rennaissance Print
14-70-1550, New Haven & London, 1994, pp. 74-75
(another impression illustrated).
E. Lincoln, The Invention of the Italian Renaissance
Printmaker, New Haven & London, 2000, pp. 30-31
(another impression illustrated).
Antonio Pollaiuolo, Florentine painter, sculptor, draftsman and goldsmith, has
long been considered a pioneer for his expressive portrayal of the human figure
in action. Today, a relatively small number of his works survive, and he is perhaps
most widely known for his sole venture in the field of printmaking, Battle of the Nudes.
A landmark in Italian renaissance art, this magnificent engraving is unusual in several
respects, being among the largest of all fifteenth century prints and one of the earliest to
be signed with the full name of the artist who designed and executed it.
Such was the Battle's reputation during the Renaissance that it is one of the few
prints to be mentioned by Vasari. In his Life of Pollaiuolo, Vasari explains: 'He had a
more modern grasp of the nude than the masters who preceded him, and he dissected
many bodies to study their anatomy; and he was the first to demonstrate the method of
searching out the muscles, in order that they might have their due form and place in his
figures; and of those [nude figures] he engraved on copper a battle.'
The source or sources on which Pollaiuolo based the composition has long intrigued
scholars, and to date no convincing explanation has been found. The lack of differentiation
between the figures and the absence of obvious heroes and villains amplifies the ambiguity
of the subject and suggests that Pollaiuolo did not intend to describe a specific historical
or mythological battle scene. Perhaps his goal was to demonstrate his command of the
male nude, both his understanding of its anatomy and his ability to render that knowledge
in a manner that would appeal to artists, admirers and patrons. All this was done while
exploring the potential of a new medium well adapted to his skills as a goldsmith.
During the 15th century, art portraying classical subjects executed in an alVantica
style was increasingly admired, both for aesthetic reasons and the implied connections
to a prestigious cultural past. The Renaissance fascination with classical models was
manifest not only in thematic and stylistic references, but in the revival of specific types
of antique objects as well. Battle of the Nudes is a prime example of this, with its frieze-
like arrangement and lunging poses of the combatants recalling the sculpted reliefs of
ancient sarcophagi. However, while Pollaiuolo may have been inspired by such sources,
he carefully introduced more space between the rows of figures, spreading them out in a
careful arrangement to reveal more of their individual contours, while retaining enough
overlap to suggest the frieze-like structure of antique reliefs.
This carefully calibrated spatial arrangement undoubtedly relates to Pollaiuolo's
contribution to the development of the bronze statuette, a revival of an antique sculpture
type initiated by Donatello. The portrayal of ten men, in a variety of active poses
including paired opposites, provides the viewer with multiple viewpoints of the human
form in action, as if rotating a statuette or moving around a sculptural form. The idea that
this engraving is, in effect, a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional object
is underlined by the striking similarity of the faces, suggesting a single model.
The popularity of Battle of the Nudes, and its influence on artists of Pollaiuolo's and
subsequent generations, is underlined by the fact sufficient numbers were printed to
necessitate the plate being re-engraved. Shelley R. Langdale's landmark study includes
a census of known impressions. The Cleveland Museum of Art possess the unique
impression of the first state. Of the forty five extant of the second state, the present
example, number 29 in Langdale's list, is one of only two remaining in private hands.
118
ALESSANDRO FILIPEPI, called SANDRO BOTTICELLI
(Florence 1444/5-1510)
The Madonna and Child with a pomegranate
inscribed 'VERGINE MADRE FIGLIA DEL TUO FIGLIO VMILE [ED] ALTA PIV CHE CRIAT..[URA]'
(lower center, on the base of the throne)
tempera and oil on panel
29 x 17 in. (73.7 x 43.2 cm.)
$3,000,000-5,000,000
£2,000,000-3,300,000
€2,300,000-3,700,000
PROVENANCE:
Sir Thomas David Gibson-Carmichael, 11th Baronet
(1859-1926), created, in 1912, 1st Baron Carmichael
of Skirling, Castle Craig, N.B.; Christie's, London,
12-13 May 1902, lot 262, as 'Filippo Lippi' (50 gns.
to Fitzhenry).
J.H. Fitzhenry, London; ("[), Christie's, London, 21
November 1913, lot 49, as 'Filippo Lippi' (215 gns.
toWallis).
with Wallis & Sons, London.
Baron von B., The Hague; sale, Frederick Muller &
Cie, Amsterdam, 30 November 1926, lot 1.
LITERATURE:
H.P. Home, Alessandro Filipepi, Commonly Called
Sandro Botticelli, Painter of Florence, London, 1908,
p. 118, as Botticelli's school, 'freely imitated' from
the San Barnaba altarpiece.
Y. Yashiro, Sandro Botticelli, London and Boston,
1925, 1, p. 235, as a contemporary version after the
San Barnaba altarpiece.
R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli, London, 1978, II, p.
123, under no. C15, as Botticelli's workshop.
H.P. Home, 'Catalogue of the Works of Sandro
Botticelli, and of His Disciples and Imitators. ..in
the Public and Private Collections of Europe and
America', in Alessandro Filipepi, Commonly Called
Sandro Botticelli, Painter of Florence, Appendix III,
Florence, 1987, pp. 58-59, as by an assistant of
Botticelli and datable to after the San Barnaba
altarpiece.
A.C. Blume, 'A Close Reading of Dante and
Botticelli's San Barnaba Altarpiece,' Arte Cristiana,
LXXXVII, no. 792, May-June 1999, p. 204, 208, note
20, as Botticelli's school.
Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child
with a pomegranate, Musee du Louvre,
Paris.
The Madonna and child with a pomegranate is an important
rediscovery and a significant addition to Botticelli's
corpus. It is an early work, perhaps painted while Sandro was
in the workshop of Filippo Lippi, to whom this painting was
formerly attributed. The Madonna and child with a pomegranate
presents an intriguing view into Botticelli's early career and
working practice. It was clearly prized by the artist, who
preserved its cartoon for re-use in at least two other pictures
(see below).
The first recorded owner of this little-known work,
Baron Carmichael of Skirling, was a politician and colonial
administrator. Born in Edinburgh and educated at St. John's
College, Cambridge, he served successive Secretaries for Scotland
before becoming the Liberal M.P. for Midlothian, succeeding
W.E. Gladstone, who had resigned as Prime Minister the year
before. According to the memoir of Lord Carmichael's wife,
nee The Hon. Mary Helen Elizabeth Nugent {Lord Carmichael
of Skirling, London, n.d. [1929], passim), he had formed his
considerable art collection with the help of the international
firm of Duveen Brothers, as well as that of Stefano Bardini, the
leading art dealer in Italy at the time.
In Lord Carmichael's time the painting was regarded as
a work by Fra Filippo Lippi (circa 1406-1469). It was first
associated with Botticelli by Herbert Home (pp. cit.), the
author of the best monograph ever published on Botticelli,
who believed it was made in Botticelli's workshop. Andrew
Blume, in his essay on Dante and the San Barnaba altarpiece
(op. cit.), called it a Botticelli school picture. Home proposed it
was painted by an assistant of Botticelli's — "some painter who
was Botticelli's disciple at that time" — and that it dated from
shortly after the San Barnaba altarpiece, which is to say in the
early 1480s, soon after Botticelli executed murals in the Sistine
Chapel. Home wrote that it was "reminiscent of the central
group in the altar-piece formerly in S. Barnaba". But the figures
in the altarpiece are couched in Botticelli's robust, mature
style, which emphasizes their three-dimensional character. All
they have in common is the same subject: the Madonna Eleusa,
also known as the Glykophilousa iconographic type. A motif
frequently repeated in Byzantine icons and in Italian art from
the 14th to the 18th century, it depicts the Virgin steadying
the Christ child who stands in her lap and nestles his head
affectionately against her cheek.
In style the Carmichael painting is earlier than the San
Barnaba altarpiece, earlier by as much as a decade. Vasari's
statement that the young Botticelli was trained by Fra Filippo
Lippi is born out by pictures such as the Madonna with Two
Angels in the Kress Collection of the National Gallery of Art,
which are based on his work. Lippi's influence, however, soon
gave way to the impact of Verrocchio's eloquent manner,
seen in Botticelli's first documented commission, the figure
of Temperance, painted in 1470 to complete the allegorical
figures created by the Pollaiuolo brothers for the Tribunale
della Mercanzia. The present author has suggested (verbally,
2012) that the Carmichael Madonna might predate these phases
of Botticelli's early development. It exhibits the loose, blousy
handling of Botticelli's Corsini Madonna in the National
Gallery of Art in Washington, a very early painting by Botticelli
sometimes ascribed to the young Filippino Lippi when he
worked in Botticelli's studio (Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth
Century, edited by Miklos Boskovits and David Alan Brown,
Washington, 2003, pp. 152-156).
At least two other versions of the composition exist: one
in the Louvre (R.F. 1961-9; see Dominique Thiebaut in
J. Habert, S. Loire, C. Scaillierez and D. Thiebaut, musee du
Louvre, Departement des peintures. Catalogue des peintures italiennes
du Musee du Louvre, Catalogue sommaire, Paris, 2007, p. 22, as
'Botticelli [atelier de]' and a painting that the present author has
suggested might be a work of Botticelli's youth) and a homeless
picture with Colnaghi's in 1925. The version in the Louvre
is almost exactly the same size and almost certainly was based
on the same cartoon. To judge from photographs, the Louvre
version is more elaborate than the Carmichael Madonna, with
garlands of golden leaves hanging down on either side of the
richly carved stone of the niche-like throne.
Blume says the Carmichael Madonna is one of three known
instances of 15th-century paintings with the same quotation
from Dante inscribed on them, the other two being Botticelli's
San Barnaba altarpiece — the inscription appears on a riser
of the steps beneath the Virgin's throne — and a painting
attributed to the Master of San Miniato (a.k.a., Lorenzo di
Giovanni) in the Pinacoteca at Livorno. The words, from the
first line of the last canto of the Paradiso (XXXIII, 1), are the
beginning of a long prayer addressed to the Virgin by Saint
Bernard, the patron saint of the church for which Botticelli
painted the altarpiece.
Everett Fahy
We are also grateful to Professor Laurence Kanter for
confirming the attribution to Botticelli based on firsthand
inspection.
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
ii9
GIAN GIACOMO D'ALLADIO, called MACRINO D'ALBA
(Alba, active circa 1495-before 1528)
The Madonna and Child enthroned, with Saints Michael, Bernardino of Siena, Clare and Stephen,
two angels holding a crown with lilies above
oil, tempera and gold on canvas, arched top, transferred from panel
86/4 x 55% in. (219.7 x 140.6 cm.)
$200,000-300,000
£140,000-200,000
€150,000-220,000
PROVENANCE:
Painted for the altar of San Bernardino in the
church of San Francesco, Alba, in 1507, possibly for
the Verri family.
Acquired by Henry Cabot Lodge while in Italy as a
wedding gift to his wife, circa 1870, and brought
back to Washington, and thence by descent to Mrs.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Boston; Sotheby's, New York,
14 January 1988, lot 66 ($253,000).
LITERATURE:
G. Delia Valle, 'Prefazione', in G. Vasari, Vita de' piu
eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti, Siena, 1793, X,
p. 9.
B. Be re n son, North Italian Painters of the
Renaissance, New York, 1907, p. 253, as signed and
dated 1507.
G. Bistolfi, Macrino d'Alba. Appuntisu la vita e le
opere di un pittore piemontese delsecolo XV, Turin,
1910, pp. 73-75.
S. Weber, 'Macrino d'Alba', in Thieme-Becker
Kunstlerlexikon, XXIII, Lipsia, 1929, p. 524.
B. Be re n son, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance,
Oxford, 1932, p. 320.
G.O. della Piana, Macrino d'Alba, Turin, 1935, p. 30.
B. Berenson, Pitture Italia ne del Rinascimento, 1936,
p. 275, as dated 1507.
A. M. Brizio, La pittura in Piemonte dall'eta romanica
a I Cinquecento, Turin, 1942, p. 241.
G.O. della Piana, Macrino d'Alba, Como, 1962, p. 39,
as painted in 1504 and neither signed nor dated,
and as acquired by Henry Cabot Lodge in 1880,
specifically in Ferrara.
F. Viglieno Cossalino, 'Contributo a Macrino d'Alba',
Critica d'Arte', XII, no. 73, pp. 32-33.
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance:
Central and North Italian Schools, 1968, 1, p. 236,
as signed and dated 1507.
G. Romano, Casalesi del Cinquecento: I'avvento del
manerismo in una citta padana, Turin, 1970, p. 4.
A.B. di Vesme, Schede Vesme: I'arte in Piemonte,
Turin, 1982, IV, p. 1458.
P. San Martino, 'Macrino d'Alba', in F. Zeri, ed.,
La pittura in Italia: II Quattrocento, Milan, 1987, II,
p. 648.
G. Della Valle, Notizie degli artefici piemontesi,
G.C. Sciolla, ed., Turin, 1990, p. 48.
E. Villata, 'Le principali committenze di Macrino
d'Alba', Alba Pompeia, XVI, no. 2, 1995, p. 48.
E. Villata, 'Per Macrino d'Alba', in G. Romano, ed.,
Primitivi piemontesi nel musei di Torino, Turin, p. 13.
E. Villata, Macrino d'Alba, Savigliano, Cuneo, 2000,
pp. 181-183, no - 1 7-
This stately altarpiece was painted in 1507 for the church of San Francesco
in Alba. It is Macrino's second known commission for this church: in the
previous year, he painted a multi-panel altarpiece for the high altar, which is now
dismantled and mostly preserved in the Galleria Sabuada in Turin. As Eduardo
Villata and other scholars have shown, the theory that the present painting was
commissioned for the Church of Santa Chiara, which was first proposed by Giovanni
Oreste della Piana (op. cit., 1935 and 1962), may be discredited as no church by that
name existed in Alba until 1610 (Villata, op. cit., 2000, p. 181). Likewise, there is no
archival evidence to support the theory that it was commissioned by Guglielmo IX,
the Marquess of Monferrato (1486-1518), despite the fact that Macrino was official
painter to the Paleologo court. Giuglielmo delle Valle (op. cit., 1990, note 52) was the
first to correctly link the present altarpiece with the painting cited in a 1793 inventory
of San Francesco ad Alba: 'Nell'anno sequent [1507] fece per la stessa Chiesa la tavola
dell'altare di S. Bernardino'. The painting was also described in greater detail at the
end of the 18th century by the Baron Giuseppe Vernazza, whose notes on Macrino
are preserved in a manuscript in Turin that records: 'Nella stessa chiesa [San Francesco
ad Alba] all'altare dei Verri conti della Bosia, al secondo altare che si trova a sinistra
di chi entra, un'altra pittura con la data dell'anno 1507. Rappresenta la Vergine (siede)
seduta sotto un trono, ed ha sulla ginocchia il bambino che dorme. Le stanno a
sinistra (santa) Chiara e Stefano protomartire, a destra Bernardino da Siena, e Michele
arcangelo. Anch'essa pittura di Macrino.' (Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, ms.
Vernazziano 1022, Schede e memorie per la vita del Macrino, fasc. 2, f. IV; transcribed in
Villata, op. cit., 2000, p. 183.). The Verri were an ancient and prominent family in
Alba, who are documented in the city as early as 1209.
For the Verri altarpiece, Macrino utilized the same cartoon that he had employed
for the Madonna and Child in his altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with Saints John
the Baptist, James, Augustine and Jerome, which was commissioned a few years earlier
by Gian Giacomo San Giorgio di Biandrate for the Santuario dell'Assunta in Crea.
It is possible that the Verri family knew this earlier work of 1503, and specifically
requested that the artist incorporate those figures into their own painting. Macrino
did not, however, copy his earlier work with absolute fidelity: the halos are different
and in the present picture, the Virgin wears a veil.
It is unclear when the present altarpiece was removed from the church of San
Francesco. Around 1871, it was acquired in Italy by the historian and United States
Senator, Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924), apparently as a wedding gift for his wife,
Anna "Nannie" Cabot Mills Davis (1850-1915). The painting appears in Bernard
Berenson's survey (loc. cit.), recorded as housed in Lodge's collection in Washington.
Macrino was born in Alba, probably into the Fava branch of the Alladio
family. His first signed and dated work is a triptych of 1495, now in the Museo
Civico di Torino (inv. 428 part. 448/D). His early works also reflect a Lombard
influence, particularly that of Ambrogio Bergognone. In 1496 he painted a
Virgin Enthroned between saints Hugh and Anselm to complete a polyptych that
had been begun by Bergognone in the Certosa of Pavia, and in that year created
frescoes for the Certosa of Asti (now destroyed). For most of his career, Macrino
worked as the Paleologo court painter in Casale Monferrato, where he also
enjoyed the patronage of the city's most prominent and wealthy families. He died
before 1528, the year he was commemorated by the Alban poet Paolo Cerrato
(c. 1485-c. 1540) in De Virginitate (Paris, 1528).
120
TADDEO DI BARTOLO
(Siena ?i 362/3-1422)
The Resurrection
tempera on gold ground panel
13V2 x lf/s in. (34.1 x 33.7 cm.)
$200,000-300,000
£140,000-200,000
€150,000-220,000
PROVENANCE:
Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839), Palazzo
Falconieri, Rome, inventory of 1841, no. 1577; (|),
sale, George, Rome, 17-18 March 1845, lot 1113.
The Conti Galotti di Alessio, Pavia.
Cavaliere Ludovico Spiridon, Rome; sale, Muller
and Mensing, Amsterdam, 19 June 1928, lot 11,
as Taddeo di Bartolo' where purchased by the
following.
with Jacques Goudstikker, inv. no. 2091.
Looted by the Nazi authorities, July 1940.
Anonymous sale; Hans W. Lange, Berlin,
3-4 December 1940, lot 1.
The present work is being offered for sale pursuant
to a settlement agreement between the consignor
and the heir of Jacques Goudstikker.
This settlement agreement resolves any dispute
over ownership of the work and title will pass to the
buyer.
EXHIBITED:
Amsterdam, Catalogue des Nouvelles Acquisitions de
la Collection Goudstikker, October- November 1928,
no. 3, illustrated.
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Italienische Kunst
im Nederlandsch Besitz, 1 July-i October 1934,
no. 354.
LITERATURE:
R. van Marie, The Development of the Italian Schools
of Painting, The Hague, V, 1925, p. 463, as by
Taddeo di Bartolo.
F.M. Perkins, in Thieme-Becker, Leipzig, 1938,
XXXII, p. 365.
S. Symoniades, Taddeo di Bartolo, Siena, 1965,
p. 223, pis. 53-54.
B. Be re n son, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance,
North Italian and Central Italian Schools, London,
1968, p. 419.
C. Lloyd, Italian Paintings before 1600 in The Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1993, pp. 233-234,
fig. 1, note 11.
Taddeo di Bartolo was among the most important Sienese masters of the late
trecento and early quattrocento. His early work reveals the influence of the
great artists of the preceding generation, notably Simone Martini and Pietro and
Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Over the course of his career, Taddeo traveled extensively and
was exposed to artistic influences in Padua, Genoa, Perugia, and Pisa. By 1399 he had
resettled in Siena and, as evidenced by numerous recorded commissions in and around
that city, presided over a large workshop. By the time of his death in 1422, Taddeo
had been the leading painter in Siena for two decades.
The Resurrection reveals both Taddeo's refined, subtle palette and charming sense for
narrative detail. Exhausted from their vigil, the four soldiers guarding Christ's tomb
slump on the ground, one propping his head on his hand while another rests his head
on his forearm, using his shield as a pillow. Unnoticed amidst them, Christ strides
forward forcefully, his mauve tunic and banner stirred by a sudden gust of wind and
highlighted by the golden rays of dawn. In his left hand he grasps an olive branch,
his intense gaze sharply contrasting with the peaceful expressions of the slumbering
guards.
This panel was first identified as a work by Taddeo di Bartolo in 1928, when sold
from the Cavaliere Ludovico Spiridon Collection in Rome. It was purchased by the
Dutch dealer Jacques Goudstikker, for whom Van Marie confirmed the attribution,
describing the picture as "a production of the early years of his activity, that is to
say his best period" (private communication, 14 October 1928). The attribution to
Taddeo di Bartolo has been accepted by all subsequent writers.
Several scholars have attempted to identify the original altarpiece from which
the present panel, surely once part of a predella, derives. It has been associated with
a Way to Calvary formerly with Captain Robert Langton Douglas, London, and a
Crucifixion in the Art Institute of Chicago (inv. 1933.1033), also once owned by
Captain Douglas. The three panels are comparable in height, stylistic character, and
punchwork, and could well have once been part of the same complex, possibly the
now-lost altarpiece executed by Taddeo between 1401 and 1404 for the chapel in the
Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. Although this remains hypothetical, the lavish use of gold,
plethora of fine detail, and splendid palette seen in all three panels would suggest an
important commission.
The first owner of the present work, Cardinal Joseph Fesch, was the half-brother of
Napoleon's mother, Letizia Bonaparte. He was a voracious collector, his posthumous
inventory recording some 16,000 items. Fesch accumulated an especially impressive
group of early Italian paintings, most of which he purchased after settling in Rome in
1815. Part of his collection now comprises the Musee Fesch, Ajaccio.
68
121
JACOPO DI CIONE
(Florence 1320-1 3 30-after 2 May 1398, before 1400)
The Madonna and Child with a Franciscan Saint commending a male donor
inscribed 'T VIRGO MARIA SIMMS P' (upper center, on the Virgin's halo)
tempera and gold on panel
46 x 26 in. (116.8 x 66 cm.)
$250,000-350,000
£170,000-230,000
€190,000-260,000
J<
PROVENANCE:
Ing. Arnaldo Corsi (1853-1919), Palazzo Mancini,
Florence.
Acquired by the present owner in 1956.
LITERATURE:
R. Offner, The Mostra del Tesoro di Firenze
Sacra-I', Burlington Magazine, LXIII, no. 365, August
1933, p. 84, note 60, as by the 'Master of the S.
Nicold Altarpiece'.
M. Meiss, Painting in Florence and Siena after the
Black Death, Princeton, 1951, p. 42, note 119, as by
a follower of the Cione brothers.
M. Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alia vigilia del
rinascimento, 1370-1400, Florence, 1975, p. 211,
note 55, as by the 'Master of the San Niccolo
Altarpiece'.
R. Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of
Florentine Paintings: The Fourteenth Century,
Supplement: A Legacy of Attributions, ed. by
H. B.J. Maginnis, Locust Valley, New York, 1981,
p. 47 (erroneously listed as in the Heinz Kisters
collection), as by the 'Master of the S. Niccolo
Sacristy'.
E.S. Skaug, Punchmarksfrom Ciotto to Fra Angelico:
Attribution, Chronology, and Workshop Relationships
in the Tuscan Panel Painting, with Particular
Consideration to Florence, c. 1330-1430, Oslo, 1994,
I, pp. 149-150, note 84; II, n.p. (punch chart no.
6.4) (erroneously listed as in the Heinz Kisters
collection), as by the 'Master of San Niccolo'.
M. Boskovits and A. Tartuferi, Soprintendenza
Speciale per il Polo Museale Fiorentino, Calleria
dell' Accademia: Dipinti, Florence and Milan, 2003,
I, p. 139, under no. 24 (erroneously listed as in
the Heinz Kisters collection), as by the 'Maestro
dell'Altare di San Niccolo'.
acopo di Cione was the younger brother of Andrea di Cione, known as Orcagna
c. 1315-1368), and Nardo di Cione (c. 1320-C.1366). No signed painting by
Jacopo survives. He is first recorded in 1368 as having completed the Saint Matthew
triptych at Orsanmichele (now Florence, Uffizi, inv. 3 163) begun by Andrea, who had
fallen ill. Other documented works around which his oeuvre has been reconstructed
are the majestic polyptych for the high altar of San Pier Maggiore, Florence of 1370-
1371 (now London, National Gallery; Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum; Milan,
Galleria Edmondo Sacerdoti; Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Providence,
Rhode Island School of Design; and Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana) and the Coronation of
the Virgin for the mint of Florence from 1372-1373 (Florence, Accademia, inv. 456).
Jacopo appears to have collaborated with a number of artists of his generation from
both Florence and Siena over the course his career, but these relationships remain to
be established.
The present full-length standing Madonna is a rare trecento composition. A
remarkable survival in its original engaged frame, this large panel has always been
associated with the 14th-century milieu of the Cione brothers, who often depicted
richly-embroidered, Persian-inspired textiles like the Madonna's robe, with its
unusually vibrant pattern. Formerly, the present work was attributed to the 'Master
of the San Niccolo Altarpiece', a minor Cionesque personality invented by Offner. It
is possible, however, that Offner never saw the painting in person: his first mention
of it in relation to the 'Master of San Niccolo' is in a footnote of his review of the
1933 Florence exhibition Mostra del Tesoro di Firenze Sacra, at which the picture was
not displayed. Later authors seem to have simply absorbed Offner's classification;
there is no evidence to suggest any of them had knowledge of the painting beyond
photographic reproductions. Laurence Kanter, however, having recently examined
the panel firsthand, has concluded that it is an early picture by Jacopo di Cione,
probably datable to circa 1365. It thus constitutes an important addition to a period
of the artist's career about which very little is understood.
In his discussion of Jacopo di Cione, Offner distinguished two distinct hands
within the artist's oeuvre, creating the so-called 'Master of the Infancy of Christ' and
'Master of the Prato Annunciation', whose works are now associated respectively, with
the early and late phases of Jacopo's career. Several paintings that have in the past been
attributed to the 'Master of the Infancy of Christ' bear strong similarities to the present
work, reinforcing both its attribution to Jacopo and early dating within his career.
Salient examples are the Madonna of Humility with two Donors, four Saints and Crucifixion
in Florence (Accademia, inv. 5887) and the Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels
in Budapest (Szepmiiveszeti Muzeum, inv. 2540).
The first recorded owner of this painting was Arnaldo Corsi (1853-1919), a
Florentine engineer, collector, and occasional dealer in paintings, who counted
among his friends the Italian Renaissance art scholar Frederick Mason Perkins (1874-
1955) and the formidable American collector Dan Fellows Piatt (1873-1938). Corsi
amassed an enormous group of pictures, which Federico Zeri described as among the
most extraordinary accumulated by a private collector in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries (F. Zeri in // Museo Nascosto: Capolavori dalla Galleria Corsi nel Museo Bardini,
exhibition catalogue, Florence, 1991, p. 11). Most of Corsi's collection was purchased
by the Museo Bardini in Florence in 1939.
We are grateful to Laurence Kanter for suggesting the attribution on the basis of
firsthand examination.
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
122
CORNEILLE DE LA HA YE, called CORNEILLE DE LYON
(The Hague 1500/ 10-1575 Lyon)
Portrait of a gentleman, aged 23, half-length
with date '~ 1557 ~' (upper right) and inscription '^ETATIS ~ 23 ~' (upper left)
oil on panel
hVa x 9 in. (28.5 x 22.8 cm.)
$30,000-50,000
£20,000-33,000
€23,000-37,000
fter the Clouets, Corneille de Lyon was the leading portraitist in mid- 16th
wears a stylish velvet cap and fine black coat, and sports a smartly- trimmed beard.
He holds his gloves in his left hand, which is cropped by the lower edge of the
panel: a compositional device frequently employed by the artist, as in his Portrait of
Jacques Bertaut of circa 1540-1545 (Louvre, Paris, inv. 3269) and the portrait of an
unidentified gentleman in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. 912), which
is dated 1555, just two years earlier than the date seen here (see A. Dubois de Groer,
Corneille de La Haye dit Corneille de Lyon (1500/10-1575), Paris, 1996, pp. 186-187,
no. 87, fig. 87). A master at capturing the personalities of his sitters, Corneille here
depicts the young man - aged 23 according on an old inscription - with a confident
expression. Of particular note is the sensitive handling of the light, which cascades
from the upper left and leaves a wry glint in the sitter's eye.
Jose Pedro Argul, the distinguished art connoisseur who discovered the present
portrait, served as a member of the jury of the third Paris Biennial in 1963. He was
awarded a gold medal by the Federal President of the Austrian Republic in 1959,
and given the title of Academico Correspondiente by the Realo Academia de Bellas
Artes de la Purisima Concepcion, de Valladolid in i960. In 1964, he was named an
Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French ministere de la Culture, and
in 1968, given the honoric title of Ufficiale by the President of the Repubblica e Capo
dell'Ordine in Italy.
Mr. Jose Pedro Argul, and by descent to the
present owner.
France. The gentleman in this previously unpublished portrait
72
123
A FRANCO-FLEMISH PASTORAL MILLE-FLEURS TAPESTRY
EARLY 16TH CENTURY
Depicting a flute-player to the left, a jester to the center and a dancing figure to the right,
later green guard borders, reduced in size, re -weaving
4 ft. 10 in. (147 cm.) high, 5 ft. 11 in. (180 cm.) wide
$60,000-90,000
£40,000-60,000
€45,000-67,000
he mille-fleurs design in tapestries evolved in circa 1450 -1460, one of the first
-L fully developed examples to survive being the Armorial Tapestry of Philip the
Good of Burgundy woven in Brussels in circa 14.66. This genre of tapestry, however,
remained popular until the mid- 16th century. The wide variations in quality, the
relatively short period in which they were produced and the number of pieces known
indicate that numerous workshops made this type of tapestries. The vast majority of
these ateliers are believed to have been in the Southern Netherlands.
74
PROPERTY OF A LADY
124
PSEUDO-PIER FRANCESCO FIORENTINO
(active second half of the 15th century)
The Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and an angel
dated '-AN-MCCCCLXXXVI-' (upper right)
tempera and gold on panel
33 Va x 21V2 (84.4 x 54.6 cm.), in the original engaged frame
$80,000-120,000
£54,000-80,000
€60,000-90,000
This composition relates to the central panel of an altarpiece that Giovanni di
Cosimo de' Medici commissioned from Fra Filippo Lippi as a gift for King
Alfonso of Naples around 1456. It was completed by 1458 and sent to Naples, where
it was received with great satisfaction (see J. Ruda, Fra Filippo Lippi, London, 1993,
pp. 194-199 and 442-444). The wings of Lippi's triptych, representing Saint Anthony
Abbot and Saint Michael, are preserved in the Cleveland Museum of Art, while the
central panel is lost and known only through a drawing by Lippi from 1457 (Archivio
di Stato, Florence; ibid., p. 39, pi. 15) and various copies, several of which were
painted by the Pseudo-Pier Francesco Fiorentino. The present panel most closely
corresponds to an anonymous drawing in the British Museum, London (no. 1860-6-
16-4; see ibid., p. 444, pi. 297) that is derived from Lippi's composition, in which the
kneeling Virgin similarly appears before a wooden stable.
In 1932, Bernard Berenson identified a core group of paintings that had previously
been given to Pier Francesco Fiorentino, a follower of Benozzo Gozzoli and Neri
di Bicci, arguing that they were in fact painted by an as yet unidentified artist whom
he named the Pseudo-Pier Francesco Fiorentino {Italian Pictures of the Renaissance.
Florentine School, London, 1963, I, p. 171). Subsequent scholarship has distanced
this anonymous artist from the oeuvre of Pier Francesco Fiorentino, clarifying that
his works owe a great deal more to Pesellino and Fra Filippo Lippi's paintings from
the 1450s, as the present example demonstrates. Noting the strong ties to these two
artists, Federico Zeri argued that the works of the Pseudo-Pier Francesco Fiorentino
were actually produced by a successful and prolific workshop, which he christened
the 'Lippi-Pesellino Imitators' (F. Zeri, Italian Paintings in the Walters Art Gallery,
Balitmore, 1976, I, pp. 80-85). The skilled and deliberate tooling of the gilded halos
in the present example is highly characteristic of the works produced by Pseudo-
Pier Francesco Fiorentino. Notably, the engaged frame appears to be original to the
painting, as is the faux-marble pattern on the reverse of the panel.
76
PROPERTY OF A SOUTH FLORIDA COLLECTOR
125
GIOVANNI ANTONIO SOGLIANI
(Florence 1492-1544)
The Madonna and Child before a landscape
oil, tempera and gold on marouflaged panel
31^ x 2i 5 /s in. (80 x 55 cm.)
$80,000-120,000
£54,000-80,000
€60,000-90,000
PROVENANCE:
The Earl of Wemyss and March, Gosford House and
Aberlady, Edinburgh, Scotland.
with Wildenstein, New York, 1968, as 'Lorenzo di
Credi'.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 13 January
1995, lot 81, where acquired by the present owner.
EXHIBITED:
London, Royal Academy of Art, Exhibitions of Works
by the Old Masters, 1886, no. 190, as 'Lorenzo di
Credi' (on loan from the Earl of Wemyss).
LITERATURE:
C. Phillips, 'Correspondance d'Angleterre', Gazette
des Beaux- Arts, February 1886, p. 161, as 'Lorenzo
di Credi'.
A. Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions, i8i3~igi2,
1913, 1, p. 230, as 'Lorenzo di Credi'.
R. van Marie, The Development of the Italian Schools
of Painting, 1931, XIII, p. 317, as 'School of Lorenzo
di Credi'.
G. Dalli Regoli, Lorenzo di Credi, 1966, p. 203, as an
untraced work listed by Van Marie.
This tender Madonna and Child is a characteristic work of Giovanni Antonio
Sogliani, one of Lorenzo di Credi's closest followers. Though he remained
close to his master until Lorenzo's death in 1 5 3 1 , Sogliani had an independent workshop
from 1515. He worked primarily in Florence, receiving important commissions for
the churches and religious communities of that city, but also executed altarpieces at
Santa Maria delle Grazie in Anghiari and in the Pisa Cathedral, where he completed
Andrea del Sarto's Virgin and Child with Saints (in situ). According to Vasari, Sogliani
was later influenced by Fra Bartolommeo and Mariotto Albertinelli, an assessment
that is confirmed by paintings such as his Allegory of the Immaculate Conception in the
Accademia, Florence (inv. 1890 n. 3203).
The present painting was long attributed to Lorenzo di Credi, under whose name it
was exhibited as early as 1886 at the Royal Academy of Art, London. Claude Phillips,
the English correspondent for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts at the time and later the first
Keeper of the Wallace Collection, noted the painting's high level of finish and pristine
state of conservation, observing that it was among Lorenzo di Credi's best works
(C. Phillips, loc. cit.). Bernard Berenson also assigned the present lot to Lorenzo, and it
was not until 1995 that Everett Fahy rightly recognized it as a fine work by Sogliani,
suggesting it was probably made in the early part of the artist's career when he was
working most closely with his teacher, circa 1510-1515.
This dating is supported by the close similarities between the present work and a
number of Madonna and Child pictures by Lorenzo di Credi, such as those at the
Musee Fesch, Ajaccio (inv. M.F.A. 8 52. 1. 703), the Musee de la Ville, Strasbourg
(inv. 272), and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. WA1850.4). The present
picture diverges slightly from this prototype of these paintings, though, particularly
in the sensitive motif of the Christ child clutching the Virgin's proper left hand, and
in the way that his swaddling clothes fall over her right hand. These delicate passages
recur in a work by Sogliani now in the Galleria Capitolina, Rome (inv. 10), as well as
in two works given to the workshop of Lorenzo di Credi, now at the Lowe Museum
of Art, Coral Gables (inv. 61.19) and the Galleria dell' Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
(inv. 936-1891). These versions may record a lost design by Lorenzo di Credi, or
might reflect Sogliani's own design, which was copied by artists in his circle.
When exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886, the present work belonged to
the Earl of Wemyss and March, whose chief seat from the 18th century was at
Gosford House in East Lothian, Scotland. By this time the collection at Gosford
House was growing into what would become one of the finest private collections
of paintings in Scotland, including pictures by Botticelli, Rubens, and Murillo, as
well as a splendid series of family portraits by Raeburn, Ramsey, Kneller, Reynolds,
and Romney. A number of the masterpieces that constitute the core of the European
paintings collection at the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, come from
the Wemyss collection, including Botticelli's Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child
(inv. NG 2709).
We are grateful to Everett Fahy for confirming his earlier attribution to Sogliani
and for reiterating his opinion regarding the dating of the present picture based on
firsthand examination.
78
3S
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
126
THE MASTER OF THE ANTWERP ADORATION
(active Antwerp, c. 1505-153 o)
A triptych: The Adoration of the Magi
oil on panel, shaped top
central panel: 42/4 x 30 in. (108 x 76.2 cm.); wings: 41/4 x 13 K in. (105.5 x 33-7 cm
$500,000-800,000
£340,000-530,000
€380,000-600,000
PROVENANCE:
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 6 July
1983, lot 2, as by The Master of the von Groote
Adoration.'
with Danny Katz, London, 1991.
LITERATURE:
L. Collobi Ragghianti, Dipinti Fiamminghi in Italia,
1420-1570, Bologna, 1990, pp. 191-192, fig. 192,
no discussion in text.
The main focus of this lavish triptych is the silent
conversation between the Christ child and the oldest
Magus, Melchior, who offers the Savior his gift of fragrant
myrrh. As suggested by his distinctive features, the figure
of Melchior may be a disguised portrait of the triptych's
original owner. By assuming the role of a biblical figure, the
patron could experience a deeper engagement with the story
depicted. In addition, such a portrait would identify the sitter
as a prosperous citizen of the cosmopolitan city of Antwerp, a
leader in the trade and production of the luxurious cloths and
gold vessels so carefully depicted here.
At the end of the 15th century, the port of Bruges silted
up, leading to the transfer of her foreign banking houses
to Antwerp, which soon emerged as Europe's preeminent
financial capital. Merchants and fmancers from all over Europe,
Africa and the East flocked there to capitalize on the commerce
of costly spices, metalwork, finished cloth and other luxurious
goods. Bustling with exotic foreigners, valuable wares and other
wonders, Antwerp offered a fertile ground for artists in search
of inspiration and a lucrative market for their creations.
By the early 16th century, Antwerp had a distinctive native
artistic tradition, led by the triumvirate of Quentin Metsys, Joos
van Cleve and the Master of Frankfurt, all of the generation
born in the 1460s and 1470s. These masters were joined by
artists from other Netherlandish centers, attracted to Antwerp
by its more liberal and meritocratic guild policies. It was Metsys
and his contemporaries who first achieved world renown for
the art of Antwerp, setting the stage for the Antwerp Mannerists
in the next generation.
Antwerp Mannerism, of which this triptych is a splendid
and well-preserved example, combines traditional Flemish
naturalism with exuberant decorative details — especially in
the form of exotic costumes — and capricious architectural
inventions, often Italianate in accent. As revealed in this
composition, the commitment to capturing realistic details is
allied with a heightened interest in movement, here conveyed
by active poses and lively drapery like the bearded Caspar's
billowing cape. The high degree of finish with which the faces
are painted would have been recognized as hallmarks of quality,
reflecting the exacting standards of the highly competitive
Antwerp art market.
Although formerly attributed to the Master of the van
Groote Adoration, the present work was identified by
Dr. Peter van den Brink, on the basis of photographs, as being
by the hand of the so-called Master of the Antwerp Adoration.
He has noted in particular the resemblance of the elder of the
three Kings to that in the Master's name-piece, the Adoration
triptych in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten,
Antwerp (see P. van den Brink et al., ExtravagAntl A Forgotten
Chapter of Antwerp Painting 1500-1530, Antwerp and Maastricht,
2005, cat. no. 68). The present triptych escaped the attention
of Max J. Friedlander, who laid the groundwork for the study
of early 16th-century Antwerp painting with his seminal article
'Die Antwerpner Manieristen von 1520' (Jahrbuch der Koniglich
Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, 1915, pp. 65-91), in which he
identified five anonymous artists who whould become central
to our understanding of painting in 16th-century Antwerp.
The Master of the Antwerp Adoration was among these
artists, a group that Friedfander later expanded to include nine
personalities. (M. Friedfander, Early Netherlandish Painting,
Leyden and Brussels, XI, 1974, The Antwerp Mannerists. Adriaen
Ysenhrandt) .
The Adoration of the Magi is the single most popular subject
for triptychs produced in Antwerp in the period 1505-30
(see P. van den Brink, op. cit., p. 212). The popularity of the
subject must have had a special significance, and Dan Ewing has
convincingly argued that the Three Magi — travelers bearing
luxurious gifts from distant lands — held a deep resonance for
the prosperous merchant traders of Antwerp, the mainstay of its
economic ascendancy and perhaps the most important group of
art patrons in the city (see D. Ewing, 'An Antwerp Triptych':
Three Examples of the Artistic and Economic Impact of the
Early Antwerp Art Market', in Antwerp: Artworks and Audiences,
Northampton, 1994; and D. Ewing, 'Magi and Merchants:
Civic Iconography and Local Culture in Antwerp Adorations,
1505-1609', Mobile, 2002). Amongst other evidence Ewing
brings forward is the striking fact that the traditional names of
the Three Magi - Balthasar, Casper and Melchior - occurred
frequently in Antwerp merchant families, giving the Magi the
status of patron saints.
Mistakenly illustrated in a 1990 publication on Flemish
paintings in Italy, the present triptych is not to be confused
with the Adoration given to a 'Collaborator di Pieter Coeck
van Aelst' in the Galleria Regionale di Sicilia, Palermo (inv.
71 or 72; L. Collobi Ragghianti, op. cit., no. 376 and under
no. 382; Delogu, 1977, p. 46; Marlier, 1969, p. 157). This
confusion arose partly from the popularity of the Adoration as
a subject, and the resultant number and variety of Adoration
triptychs that are to be found in European museums. It is to be
noted, however, that relatively few are of such high quality as
the present, superlative example of the type.
84
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
127
GIOVANNI DI SER GIOVANNI GUIDO, called LO SCHEGGIA
(San Giovanni Valdarno 1406-1486 Florence)
The Triumph of Alexander the Great: a cassone front
inscribed 'SPQR' (in several places)
tempera, gold and silver on panel
18% x 62 in. (47.9 x 157.4 cm.)
$700,000-1,000,000
£470,000-670,000
€530,000-750,000
PROVENANCE:
Philip A. de Laszlo, M.V.O. by 1929; Sotheby's,
London, 15 June 1938, lot 120, as 'Florentine school,
circa 1450', lot 119 (purchased by Berry).
Baron Cassel van Doom; sale, Filching Manor, 1954
(purchased by Spink).
with Spink and Son, Ltd., London.
Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Merton Collection, London,
by 1974.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 5 July 1985,
lot 67, as The Brucianesi Master',
with Colnaghi's, New York, from whom acquired by
the present owner.
EXHIBITED:
London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1929-1930,
no. 73.
New York, Colnaghi's, Gothic to Renaissance:
European Painting 1300-1600, 1988, no. 10,
as 'Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli'.
Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara Museum
of Art, Three Centuries of Old Masters, 13 May- 24
September, 1989, as 'Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli'.
LITERATURE:
E. Callmann, Apollonio di Giovanni, 1974, pp. 73-74,
no. 53, pis. 211 and 299, 'a comporatively late
work.. .from Apollonio's shop or by an artist familiar
with its idiom'.
E. Callmann, 'Botticelli's 'Life of Saint Zenobius',
The Art Bulletin, LXVI, September 1984, p. 493, fig. 5
(detail), as 'Workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni'.
Fig. 1, Piero del Massaio, View of Rome,
mid-i5th century, Paris, Bibliotheque
Nationale.
This panel and its former companion depicting The Battle of Issus and Alexander
with the Family of Darius (sold, Christie's, London, 5 July 1985, lot 68) first
came to light in 1929 when they were exhibited in London at the Burlington Fine
Arts Club. In 1985 Everett Fahy attributed the panels to the anonymous 'Brucianesi
Master, an artist to whom he had assigned a consistent body of work. In 1988,
Mr. Fahy identified the 'Brucianesi Master as Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli (1450-
1526). Having recently re-evaluated the present cassone panel firsthand, Mr. Fahy
believes that it is rather by Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guido, known as Scheggia.
Unlike his older brother Masaccio (1401-1428), Scheggia enjoyed a long and
prosperous career, specializing in the production of cassoni (marriage chests), deschi da
parto (birth trays), and designs for intarsie.
In Renaissance Italy, cassoni functioned as containers for clothes and objects of
value and, by virtue of the images painted on them, also served a decorative and
commemorative function in the domestic spaces in which they were installed. These
opulent chests were often commissioned in pairs to celebrate the matrimonial union
of powerful families. As was usually the case, a number of fanciful coats-of-arms are
depicted on the present panel. However, one included here may provide a clue to
the panel's origins: the side of the victor's car bears a distinctive black and silver shield
which may be that of the Capponi, one of Florence's wealthiest and most illustrious
families.
Because of the subject of its pendant, the triumphal procession depicted here can
be identified as that of Alexander the Great, who defeated Darius III of Persia at the
Battle of Issus in 333 B.C. The victor rides forward proudly, preceded by the spoils
of war - gleaming armor and objects of gold - as well as prisoners shown bound and
crouching in the cage in front of the triumphal car. The beggar sitting on the victor's
car is a reminder of the changing turns of Fortune. Similar panels, bearing emblems
of the Medici and Rucellai families, are preserved in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs,
Paris. Whatever their exact subjects, works like these reflect 15th-century Florentine
fascination with its own mythical Roman ancestry.
An interesting and often overlooked element of these cassone panels is their
topographical aspect. The representations of biblical and ancient history they
contain often take place among identifiable buildings of contemporary Florence or
imaginative reconstructions of Antique Rome: for example, in The Story of Esther hy
Apollonio di Giovanni in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv. 18.117.2),
knights and ladies are set before a backdrop which includes the Palazzo Rucellai, the
Duomo, and the Loggia della Signoria. The present panel is no exception: Florence
is seen in the distance as if from Fiesole, its skyline dominated by Brunelleschi's dome
and the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, while the procession moves rightward across
the foreground towards the gates of Rome. Though abbreviated and compressed, the
Campidoglio, Colosseum, and Pyramid of Caius Cestius can be recognized, oriented
in the medieval manner from a northerly position. This indicates that the artist was
familiar with contemporary maps of Rome based on traditional Mirabilia sources, such
as those of his fellow Florentine, Piero del Massaio (fig. 1).
Philip de Laszlo, who owned this painting in the early 20th century, was a
Hungarian painter known for his portraits of royal and aristocratic subjects. Born Laub
Fiilop Elek, he was ennobled in 1912 by King Franz Joseph of Hungary (1830-1916),
and given the surname "Laszlo de Lombos". It was under this name that he lent the
present work to the Burlington Fine Arts Exhibition in 1929.
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
128
BACCIO DELLA PORTA, called FRA BARTOLOMMEO
(Florence 1472-1517)
The Madonna and Child
oil on panel, a tondo in its original frame
25^2 in. (64.7 cm.) diameter
$10,000,000-15,000,000
£6,700,000-10,000,000
€7,500,000-11,000,000
PROVENANCE:
(Possibly) Francesco Vettori, Florence.
Igliori family, from whom purchased by the
following.
with Harari & Johns, Ltd., London, from whom
acquired by the present owner.
LITERATURE:
C. Fischer, "Fra Bartolommeo and Donatello - a
'New' Tondo", in M. Cammerer, ed., Kunstdes
Cinquecento in der Toskana, Munich, 1992, pp. 9-20.
F. Sabatelli, ed., La Cornice ita liana da I rinascimento
al neoclasso, Milan, 1992, pp. 42, 64 n. 104, fig. 46.
C. G. von Teuffel, 'Review: Kunst des Cinquecento in
der Toskana' , Burlington Magazine, CXXXVI, January
1994, no. 1090, p. 32.
Fig. i, Italian School, 16th Century, Savonarola Being Burnt at the Stake, Piazza della Fig. 2, Donatello, Madonna of the Clouds, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Signoria, Florence / Museo di San Marco dell'Angelico, Florence, Italy / Alinari / The
Bridgeman Art Library.
The artist known to posterity as Fra Bartolommeo was born and baptized in
Florence on 28 March 1472. His father, a muleteer and carter, moved the
family to a house outside the Porta San Pier Gattolini just a few years later, and the
young boy soon became known as 'Baccio' (an informal and affectionate Tuscan
diminutive for Bartolommeo) 'della Porta'. He went by this name until 1500
when he entered the convent of San Domenico di Prato and took the vows of the
Dominican Order, after which he was called 'Fra Bartolommeo' in reference to his
status as a member of the Dominican brotherhood.
Baccio probably began his apprenticeship in the workshop of the Florentine artist
Cosimo Rosselli soon after 1482, when Rosselli returned to Florence after working in
Rome on the Sistine Chapel; by 1485, Baccio was a well-established member of the
workshop. He developed a close friendship with the painter Mariotto Albertinelli,
and after leaving Rosselli's studio around 1491 established a joint workshop with
Albertinelli, probably around 1493. In the years that followed, the two drifted apart
for a time - while Albertinelli entered the service of the Medici, Baccio became an
ardent follower of Savonarola, the fiery Dominican preacher who gained prominence
for his blistering sermons condemning the moral decay of the Church. In 1494, as
support for Savonarola grew, the Medici fled Florence and Albertinelli, recognizing
the force of the political tide, renewed his old friendship with Baccio, collaborating
extensively with him thereafter.
In 1497, Savonarola orchestrated the now-infamous Bonfires of the Vanities, the
largest of which took place on 7 February. Baccio, along with other well-known
artists, participated in this public event - going so far as to throw his own works
onto the fire. Given his intense religious fervor, Baccio must have experienced
emotional turmoil when the tide subsequently turned against Savonarola in 1498, and
the controversial preacher was excommunicated, tortured, and finally burned at the
stake (fig. 1). This event may have been the catalyst for Baccio's decision to become
a formal member of the Dominican Order, whose vows he took in 1500. So strong
was his commitment to Savonarola's teachings that he even gave up painting at this
time, not to resume until 1504, and thereafter only selectively.
Brought to light in 1992 by Chris Fischer, the present tondo-shaped picture
represents an important addition to the artist's oeuvre. Noting its exceptionally
fine state of preservation, Fischer dates the panel to the mid- 1490s, comparing the
90
morphology of the figures, the handling of the drapery, the
"highly luminous quality" of the paint, the "strong glistering
impasto", and the atmospheric landscape to early works by
Baccio. He notes in particular the similarities to the Annunciation
in the Volterra cathedral, the artist's earliest dated work, and
also compares the rocks in the present picture to those in three
early drawings - two in the Louvre (inv. R.F. 5565 and inv.
R.F. 5567) and another that sold at Sotheby's in London on
20 November 1957. Fischer further observes that the waterfall
in the present painting reappears in Baccio's Saint Jerome in the
Wilderness, another picture datable to the 1490s (C. Fischer,
op. cit., p. 12). Autograph works from Fra Bartolommeo's early
period are rare. According to Vasari, images of the Madonna
and Child made up the bulk of Baccio's livelihood at this time,
so our picture constitutes an important piece of evidence from
a period in the artist's life about which we know comparatively
little.
In this context, the iconography of the tondo is especially
interesting. The motif of the child climbing up to receive a kiss
from his mother originates in a Byzantine Madonna-type called
the Glykophilousa, of which there was an example in Santa
Maria al Marocco, Tavernelle (now lost) which became the
prototype for numerous works by artists in the circles of Jacopo
della Quercia, Nanni di Bartolo, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and others
(C. Fischer, op. cit., p. 12). Here, the imagery is conceived
in especially tender terms - the child grasps his mother's veil
eagerly, scrambling upwards to be caressed, his right arm curled
against her breast and his little toes spread apart, emphasizing
the energy of his activity. His mother, leaning towards the child
and cradling his head in her hand, uses her gauzy veil to cover
the back of his head and pull him closer. She supports his body
protectively with her other hand, and her barely-separated lips
emphasize the kiss she is about to bestow.
Such maternal tenderness is captured in the contemporary
reliefs of Desiderio da Settignano and, especially, Donatello,
whose influence on Baccio's work is apparent here
(fig. 2). As Christa Gardner von Teuffel notes, "[t]he debt to
Donatello is manifest, but here is given a Michelangelesque
concentration" (loc. cit.). The shallow carved reliefs of Desiderio
and Donatello often showed figures in profile, a motif adopted
by Fra Bartolommeo as well as other High Renaissance artists
like Michelangelo and Raphael in order to give steadiness and
simplicity to the composition. This effect is underscored by
the lack of iconographical details such as the goldfinch and the
scroll, so often present in contemporary Tuscan depictions of
the Madonna and Child. Furthermore, Savonarola preached that
holy images "should be of the utmost simplicity" and should
inspire devotion and meditation in their viewers (C. Fischer,
op. cit., p. 18). The choice to render the figures in profile here
thus not only steadies and simplifies the composition but also
elevates the Madonna and Child to a sacred realm.
The decision to place a parapet behind the figural group
instead of in front (as was the case in most devotional images
of the period), serves to push the Madonna and Child to the
front of the picture plane, so that they immediately confront
the worshipper. At the same time, this arrangement sets the
figures apart in an elevated realm of their own, isolated from
the natural landscape behind, whose atmospheric detail and
spatial qualities are so beautifully rendered. In such a position
the figures occupy a sacred space that can be revered, but not
accessed, by ordinary human beings. Savonarola had attacked
contemporary artists for depicting the Madonna uncovered
"come meretrice", and in this image the artist has added the
ephemeral, gauzy veil to emphasize her purity and holiness
(C. Fischer, op. cit., p. 19).
Fig. 3, Sandro Botticelli, Madonna with Child and Three Angels, c.1493 / Biblioteca
Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy / The Bridgeman Art Library.
91
Fig. 4, Seal formerly on the verso of the
panel with the Vettori family crest.
This message is further underscored by the circular form of the tondo itself. In its
allusion to the halo, the traditional Christian symbol of holiness, the circle represents
sanctity, power, and salvation. Such connotations have even deeper roots in the
ancient world. The Greeks idealized the circle as the most perfect geometrical form,
regarding it as a symbol of divinity and eternity. In ancient Rome, round portraits
on shields and coins symbolized the apotheosis, or ascent to heaven, of the sitter. In
Renaissance Italy, the circular format came to be associated with the cycle of birth,
death, and resurrection at the center of the Christian faith. Painted tondi were mainly
produced in Florence, where they emerged in the early 15th century and remained
popular until around 1520, when the advent of Mannerism brought about a shift in
artistic tastes. The format probably originated with deschi daparto, or birth trays, which
were given as gifts to mothers after the birth of a child. Painted tondi were made in
especially large numbers in the workshop of Sandro Botticelli (fig. 3), which surely
in part reflects Botticelli's adherence to Savonarola's teachings. The holy connotations
of the circumscribed Madonna and Child would have been especially important to an
artist working in this context: as Roberta Olson has aptly noted, "[tjondi, intended for
the private or semi-public sphere and having a spiritual content that descends from the
traditional icon, may have avoided Savonarola's charges about the lack of spirituality
in art" (R. Olson, The Florentine Tondo, New York, 2000, p. 227).
Essential to the present tondo is its frame, which Dr. Monika Cammerer has
determined to be original to the picture (C. Fischer, op. ext., p. 19, n. 48). In and
of itself, this is a remarkable survival, but it also sheds further light on the intended
message of the work. The frame's unusually large width seems to have been calculated
in proportion to the painting, helping to lock the image in space and focus the
viewer's experience. Its design - which Franco Sabatelli has also related to that of the
framing element of Donatello's bronze Chellini Madonna (now in the Victoria & Albert
Museum, London, inv. A. 1-1976; F. Sabatelli, he. cit.) - has parallels in contemporary
architecture, such as the work of Benedetto da Maiano, who recommended Baccio
to Cosimo Rosselli, and whose door of the Sala dell'Udienza, executed with his
brother Giuliano between 1476 and 1480, epitomizes this simplified architectural
ideal. The work of II Cronaca, a favorite of Savonarola, could also have been an
influence - indeed II Cronaca surely met Baccio in 1497 when he too burned his own
work at the preacher's destructive bonfires. As Fischer notes, together the "design of
the painting and its frame seem to reflect the prevailing ideas of Fra Bartolommeo's
spiritual model" (op. cit., p. 19). Von Teuffel has also observed that, in its original
frame, the "artist's concept" is "complete," and "provides an instructive contrast to
the fragmentation of so many [of his] altarpieces" (he. cit.)
Later in the 1490s, Baccio came under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, who
had worked in Florence before his departure for Milan in 1482. The present tondo
presages Baccio's later work, which came to incorporate a deep understanding
of Leonardo's techniques for creating tonal unity and for modeling figures with
exceptionally subtle gradations of light and shadow. This ability eventually made him
the most important exponent of the Leonardesque idiom in Florence. After a later
trip to Venice, Fra Bartolommeo (as he was then known) combined this sensibility
with the bright and shimmering coloristic effects embraced by the artists from that
city, and became a profound influence on Andrea del Sarto, Beccafumi, and Rosso
Fiorentino, to name a few.
The early provenance of the tondo has yet to be established. Von Teuffel, calling
the work "a compelling devotional image for a secular setting," has suggested that it
might have been "executed for the open market" (he. cit.). A 19th- or 20th- century
lacquer seal recently identified on the back of the panel (fig. 4) included a crest that
has been associated with the Florentine Vettori family, whose 15th-century members
all played important roles in the Florentine political scene of the 1490s. It is not
impossible that the tondo was commissioned for them (C. Fischer, op. cit., p. 12).
We are grateful to Chris Fischer for his assistance in preparing this entry (private
communication, 12 November 2012).
92
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
129
SCIPIONE PULZONE, called IL GAETANO
(Gaeta 1544-1598)
Portrait ofjacopo Boncompagni, three-quarter length, in armor
signed, dated and inscribed 'Scipio. Caietano faciebat. 1 574/Ill m °. et. Ecc.s m S. or Jaco.'
(lower center, on the paper)
oil on canvas
48 x 39H in. (121.9 x 99-3 cm.)
$1,500,000-2,500,000
£1,000,000-1,700,000
€1,200,000-1,900,000
PROVENANCE:
(Possibly) Patrizi family, Florence (according to
the 1910 sale catalogue of the James Henry Smith
collection, see below).
with Haskard & Son, Florence, where acquired,
30 June 1898, by Agnew.
with Agnew's, London, where acquired, 4 July 1899,
by
William Collins Whitney, New York; (|), 1904, from
whom acquired by
James Henry Smith, New York; (|), American Art
Association, New York, 18-22 January 1910, lot 197.
Private collection, Mexico, by 1987, whence
acquired by the following
with Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York.
with Hazlitt Gooden & Fox, London, from whom
acquired circa 1989 by the family of the present
owner.
EXHIBITED:
London, Thos. Agnew & Sons, Twenty Selected
Pictures by Italian Masters on Exhibition at the
Galleries of Thos. Agnew & Sons, June-July, 1899,
no. 9, 'Nobleman in richly damascened Armour.
Signed and dated 1574'.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June
1989 - June 1994, on loan.
Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, From Raphael
to Carracci. The Art of Papal Rome, 29 May -
7 September 2009, no. 97.
LITERATURE:
A. Venturi, Storia dell' Arte ita liana IX. La Pittura del
Cinquecento VII, Milan, 1934, p. 780, note 1.
A. Vannugli, 'Giacomo Boncompagni duca di
Sora e il suo ritratto dipinto da Scipione Pulzone,'
Prospettiva, LXI, January 1991, pp. 54-66.
Z. Wazbinski, // Cardinale Francesco Maria Del Monte
(1549-1626), Florence, 1994, II, pp. 524, 525, fig. 19.
P. Leone De Castris, 'Le Cardinal Granvelle et
Scipione Pulzone,' in Les Granvelle etl'ltalie auXVl
siecle: Le mecenat d'unefamille: actes du colloque
international organise par la Section d'italien de
IVniversite de Franche-Comte, Besangon,
2-4 October, 1992, Besancon, 1996, p. 183, fig. 3.
A. Dern, Scipione Pulzone (ca. 1546-1598), Weimar,
2003, pp. 31-32, 110-111; fig. 20.
J. -A. Godoy et al., Parures Triomphales. Le
manierisme dans I' art de I'armure italienne,
exhibition catalogue, Geneva, Musee Rath, 2003,
pp. 19, 478, under no. 74; p. 18, fig. XIV (entry
by J. -A. Godoy).
M. Scalini, 'Parures Triomphales. Le manierisme
dans I'art de Narmure italienne,' exhibition review
in Kunstchronik, LVI, 6, June 2003, pp. 271-272.
Fig. 1, Portions of a Parade Armor, c. 1575, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Signed and dated in 1574, this superb picture of a
nobleman attired in richly decorated parade armor is
among the finest portraits painted by Scipione Pulzone, the
most celebrated portraitist of his generation in Italy. His portrait
style was influenced by that of Raphael, and was informed as
well by the international style of portraiture emanating from
the Hapsburg court, in particular as elaborated by the Fleming
Antonis Mor (circa 1517-1577), who had visited Rome in the
early 1550s. Pulzone was also inspired by Titian in his use
of a rich, vibrant palette and in the trenchant psychological
characterization of his sitters.
Pulzone's ability to create a lifelike sense of his sitters'
presence and extraordinary skill in recording the textures
and minute details of their costumes made him the most
sought-after portraitist in Rome. Writing in 1584, Raffaello
Borghini declared Pulzone 'very excellent in painting portraits
[which] seem to be alive' ('che paiono vivi'). Thus, Borghini
observes, his portraits were sought after by the 'most important
gentlemen of Rome and all of the beautiful women' ('Signori
principali di Roma, e tutte le belle donne'). (R. Borghini,
II riposo, Florence, 1584, p. 578). Though Pulzone worked
primarily in Rome, his fame as a portraitist spread throughout
Italy, and he was summoned in this capacity to the Aragonese
court in Naples in 1584 and later to the Medici court in
Florence. His sitters were among the most wealthy and eminent
individuals of the time, and included Popes Pius V and Gregory
XIII, Cardinals Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle and Alessandro
Farnese, Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and
Marie de' Medici, Queen of France.
In the present portrait, the sitter is shown three-quarter-
length, dressed in magnificent ceremonial armor of the latest
fashion. Above the gorget, a ruffle of delicate white lace sets
off the sitter's elegant features; his voluminous trunk-hose are
of satin embroidered with gold. His gauntlet and helmet are
arranged on a red velvet-covered table at lower left, which
is balanced at upper right by a gold-trimmed and tasseled
blue velvet drape, an illusionistic device which alludes to
the Renaissance custom of covering paintings with curtains.
He holds a cylindrical document case in his left hand, and
in his right, a letter. The inscription at the top of the letter,
which signifies 'Most illustrious and Excellent Signor Jacopo,'
identifies the sitter as Jacopo (or Giacomo) Boncompagni, the
natural son of Pope Gregory XIII and future Duke of Sora,
Aquino, and Marquess of Vignola.
Jacopo was born in Bologna in 1548 to Ugo Boncompagni
(then a simple cleric) and his mistress, Maddalena Fulchini.
Far from denying his paternity, Ugo legitimized Jacopo the
year he was born, and throughout his pontificate (1572-1585)
would advance his son's social, political, and financial interests
with surprising openness in post-Tri dentine Rome. Such
ambitions are reflected in Jacopo Zucchi's altarpiece, The Mass
of Saint Gregory the Great, painted in 1575 for the church of
the Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, Rome, in which Jacopo's
likeness appears among the congregants surrounding the
celebrating Pope, who bears the features of his father. Several
years earlier, the newly-elected Pope had appointed his son
keeper of the Castel Sant'Angelo and captain general of the
pontifical troops, sending him in 1573 to Ancona to fortify the
coastal areas against the Ottoman threat, and in the following
year to Ferrara to greet Henri de Valois, soon to be crowned
Henri III, King of France.
Around this time, King Philip II of Spain, an ally of Pope
Gregory, named Jacopo commander-in-chief of the Spanish
armies in Lombardy and Piedmont, and soon thereafter,
Knight of Calatrava and the order's Grand Chancellor. In 1576,
Gregory arranged for his son an advantageous marriage to the
beautiful Costanza Sforza, daughter of the Count of Santa
Fiora; the ceremony was attended by the entire College of
Cardinals. Subsequently Gregory financed Jacopo's acquisition
of the fiefdoms of Vignola, the Duchy of Sora, and the Duchy
of Aquino and Arpino, thus making him vastly wealthy. After
his father's death in 1585, Jacopo left the pontifical states, never
to return. Following a sojourn in Milan, where Philip II had
called him to service as general of the Spanish army, Jacopo
retired to Isola del Liri near Sora, where he died at the age of
64 in 1612.
Highly erudite in literature, philosophy and the arts,
Boncompagni was a patron and protector of the poet Torquato
Tasso, the philosopher Francesco Patrizi, and Pierluigi Palestrina,
the celebrated composer of sacred music. He also encouraged
the architect Jacopo Vignola, who dedicated his Due regole della
prospettiva pratica to Boncompagni, published in 1583. Andrea
Palladio's edition of the Commentaries of Julius Caesar, published
in Venice in 1575, was dedicated to him as well. From 1574,
Boncompagni assembled a vast scholarly library, among the
most important in Rome, which was greatly enriched by that
of his friend, the eminent Italian humanist Carlo Sigonio, after
the latter's death in 1584.
Fig. 2, Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, Portrait of Francesco Maria Delia Rovere, Duke of
Urbino / Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy / The Bridgeman Art Library.
In the present portrait, the handsome Boncompagni, aged 26, is shown in
splendid military armor, signaling not only his prodigious wealth, but also his role as
commander of the Papal army. His mission as defender of the Church is specifically
referenced by the figure of victorious St. Michael, leader of God's army, in the oval
at the center of the breastplate, and by the decoration on the helmet, which shows a
chained infidel seated below a figure of Mars. The cylindrical document case which
Boncompagni holds may refer to the ambassadorial mission on which he was sent by
his father in 1574, the very year the picture was painted, to greet Henri de Valois, the
future King of France, in Ferrara (Vannugli, op. ext., p. 58).
The armor is painted with the meticulous attention to minute detail and skill at
rendering textures for which Pulzone was renowned. Embossed, blued and exquisitely
gilded and damascened, it shows the love of lavish ornament, artistic sophistication, and
extraordinary technical virtuosity of late Renaissance armorers in Italy. Exceedingly
costly, such elaborately decorated armors were rare in the 16th century, as are the
portraits in which they appear. Although the armor cannot be attributed to a specific
master, its style relates to that of Lucio Marliani, called Piccinino (1538-1607), one
of the great armorers of the Renaissance, who was active in Milan in the last quarter
of the 16th century. The closest surviving armor to that in our portrait is preserved
in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv. 29.150; fig. 1). Produced in Milan
around 1575, the Metropolitan armor shows a very similar design on the breastplate,
consisting of symmetrical vertical bands of embossed ornament which narrow as they
converge in the lower center.
The decorative motifs on Boncompagni's armor are adapted from the classical
repertory, and reflect in particular the Renaissance fascination with grotesque ornament
alVantica. Arranged in vertical sequences en candelabra, the motifs include putti blowing
trumpets of fame or holding up crowns of Victory, Roman military trophies, fantastic
beasts and hybrid sea monsters, swags of fruit, mascarons, and anthropomorphic lions'
heads, symbolic of the military might of ancient Rome. In the Renaissance, such
Fig. 3, Siciolante da Sermoneta, Portrait
of Francesco II Colonna, Galleria Nazionale
d'Arte Antica, Rome.
is
armorial decoration alVantica was meant to associate its wearer
with the glories and virtues of the ancient Roman military
heroes, a nattering comparison which Boncompagni — as the
newly-appointed commander of the Papal troops — would
surely have welcomed.
Pulzone's Portrait of Jacopo Boncompagni builds on a tradition
of Renaissance three-quarter-length, three-quarter-view
military portraits which was established by Titian in the 1530s
as seen, for example, in his Portrait of Francesco Maria delta
Rovere, Duke of Urbino of 1536-38 (fig. 2; Florence, Galleria
degli Uffizi). Its most immediate model, however, was likely
Siciolante da Sermoneta's Portrait of Francesco II Colonna of
1561, which Pulzone would surely have seen in the collection
of the Colonna family in Rome (fig. 3; Rome, Galleria
Nazionale d'Arte Antica). While following the general format
of the Colonna portrait, Pulzone has eliminated the imposing
architectural setting, isolating the figure against a neutral dark
background. His head is set lower within the painted field,
which, in conjunction with his direct gaze at the viewer, makes
him seem more humanly accessible. While the almost uncanny
effect of a living, breathing presence inhabiting this portrait
reflects the influence of Titian, it is also surely due to the close
personal relationship between artist and sitter: in 1574, the very
year the portrait was painted, Pulzone named his first-born
son Giacomo, and Boncompagni became his godfather (Dern,
op. cit, p. 32).
This portrait first came to light in 1899, when exhibited
at the London gallery of Thos. Agnew & Sons, from whom
it was acquired in that year by the financier William C.
Whitney (1841-1904), founder of the New York branch of the
prominent Whitney family. A major investor in thoroughbred
horseracing, he was the breeder of twenty-six American stakes
winners, and helped establish the 'Winter Colony', an exclusive
equestrian community in Aiken, South Carolina. He was also
an important American political leader, serving as Secretary of
the Navy in the first Cleveland administration. In the mid-
1890s, Whitney commissioned McKim, Mead and White
to remodel his palatial mansion at 871 Fifth Avenue in the
Italian Renaissance style, and from 1899, the Portrait of Jacopo
Boncompagni was displayed there with Whitney's extensive
collection of early Italian pictures, portraits by Van Dyck,
tapestries, and architectural carvings from European palaces and
cathedrals. Upon Whitney's death in 1904, his mansion, along
with its furnishings and art, was purchased by James Henry
Smith, one of the most colorful figures on the New York social
scene at the turn of the 20th century. In 1899, Smith, a modest,
obscure Wall Street bachelor, inherited from an eccentric uncle
a fortune of $50,000,000. His rise within New York society
was meteoric. With Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish as his social mentor,
he held a constant series of grand dinners, concerts and balls at
his Tuxedo Park mansion and his New York residence at 871
Fifth Avenue. In 1907, while honeymooning in Japan with his
bride, the former Mrs. Rhinelander Stewart, Smith suddenly
died. The New York mansion and its contents, including the
Portrait of Jacopo Boncompagni, were auctioned by the American
Art Association three years later, after which the picture was lost
Fig. 4, Italian School, late 16th Century, Portrait ofAlessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, in
armor, Royal Armouries Collection, Leeds, HIP / Art Resource, NY.
to notice until the late 1980s, when it re-surfaced in a private
collection in Mexico. Shortly thereafter, it entered the private
collection where it has remained until the present day.
Two contemporary versions of this portrait are known: the
first, bust-length and now lost, was with the dealer Demotte
in Paris during the interwar period; the second, from the
collection of A.R. Dufty, is currently on display with the Royal
Armouries Collection in the Tower of London (fig. 4) . Not
attributable to the master himself, it shows the sitter with the
features ofAlessandro Farnese (1545-1592), Duke of Parma and
Piacenza, substituted for those of Boncompagni (Vannugli, op.
cit., figs. 4-5; p. 64, n. 1). Scalini has pointed to an anonymous
half-length portrait on slate of Ottavio Farnese (1525-1586),
father ofAlessandro, in which the sitter wears the same armor
as that in our portrait. Believing this portrait to pre-date the
present one, he has speculated that Ottavio, grandson of Pope
Paul III, may have given the armor to Boncompagni as a gift
(Scalini, op. cit., p. 272).
The present painting has been requested for the exhibition
being organized by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Storici
Artistici ed Etnoantropologici del Lazio, Scipione Pulzone da
Gaeta. Arte e Fede nel Mediterraneo del Cinquecento, Diocesan
Museum, Gaeta, 25 May- 15 September 2013.
130
A DERUTA MAIOLICA CHARGER
CIRCA 1535
Decorated in blue, yellow, turquoise and ochre and enriched in ruby and gold
lustre, the centre with a young couple standing in a stylised landscape, the
young woman holding a lustred heart, her companion with his arm around
her shoulder, the border with panels of scale ornament alternating with panels
of palmettes, divided by radiating bands of lustre and color, within a yellow
band rim, the reverse lead glazed, the footrim pierced for suspension.
15V4 in. (38.7 cm.) diameter
$30,000-50,000
£20,000-33,000
€23,000-37,000
This charger was possibly commissioned as a token of love and may have been
associated with a marriage. The subject and treatment of the figures and
flowers is very similar to those both on a dish formerly in the Scott-Taggart Collection
(Christie's London, 14 April 1980, lot 10) illustrated by Carmen Ravanelli Guidotti,
'Alcuni inediti per il III volume del Corpus delta maiolica italiana datata di Gaetano
Ballardini', Faenza, 2003, no. 1-6, pi. Ill, fig. a. and on a shallow footed bowl in
the Wallace Collection, London, illustrated by A.V.B. Norman, Wallace Collection,
Catalogue of Ceramics 1, Pottery, Maiolica, Faience, Stoneware, London, 1976, pp. 91-92,
no. C37. The Wallace Collection bowl bears a large letter S on the reverse, a mark
which is also found on the reverse of a plate in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, illustrated by Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, London, 1940,
II, pi. 119, no. 755.
100
131
AN ITALIAN MAIOLICA LUSTRED CIRCULAR PLAQUE
CIRCA 1530, PROBABLY GUBBIO
Convex and moulded with a two-handled vase with flowers enriched in ruby lustre,
against a blue ground with lustred scale ornament at the edges within a lustred band border
9% in. (24.8 cm.) diameter
$10,000-15,000
£6,700-10,000
€7,500-11,000
102
103
132
A FAENZA MAIOLICA CRESPINA
CIRCA 1545
The domed centre painted with a warrior holding a spear in a mountainous
landscape within radiating ochre, turquoise and blue-ground slender panels
reserved with scrolling foliage and enclosed by yellow bands, with further
small panels at the border reserved with palmettes within a scalloped blue band
rim, the exterior moulded with gadroons and flutes enriched in blue, yellow
and ochre above a spreading flared blue foot
11% in. (29.5 cm.) wide
$15,000-25,000
£10,000-17,000
€12,000-19,000
For a very similar crespina in Brunswick decorated with panels enclosing single
scrolling leaves, see J. Lessmann, Italienische Majolika, Katalog der Sammlung,
Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick, 1979, p. 105, no. 30.
Reverse
104
105
133
A CASTELLI MAIOLICA PHARMACY SYRUP-JAR OF
'ORSINI COLONNA' TYPE
CIRCA 1540-1550, ORAZIO POMPEI WORKSHOP
The front with an ochre and blue dragon's head spout moulded with scales and joined to the neck with a support,
flanked by two shaped yellow-ground panels, one painted with a bust-length profile portrait of a man facing to the
right, wearing an elephant headdress, the other with a bust-length portrait of a woman turning three-quarters to the
left, reserved against a blue ground with yellow, ochre and white sgraffito scrolling foliage, a yellow-edged label below
named for SY° • de • calamente in blue Gothic script, the reverse with blue scrolls around the strap handle
gY2 in. (24.1 cm.) high
$40,000-60,000
£27,000-40,000
€30,000-45,000
The present spouted syrup-jar is part of a group of
pharmacy bottles, albarelli and other vessels which
were originally thought to have come from one pharmacy in
Rome, but which are now thought to have come from more
than one pharmacy. Although the association of jars of this
type appears to be with the Orsini family, they have come to
be called 'Orsini-Colonna' type after Bernard Rackham used
the term in relation to the two-handled pharmacy bottle in the
British Museum which shows the emblem of the Orsini family,
a bear, embracing the Colonna family device of a column,
accompanied by the inscription ET SARRIMO BONI AMICI
('and we shall be good friends'). The Orsini family connection
is uncertain as the Orsinis were the feudal Lords of Castelli
until 1526, and there are persuasive reasons to believe that the
jars are a little later, but as a number of pieces bear the Orsini
arms and emblems it is 'entirely possible that at least part of the
production may have been under the patronage of members of
the Orsini family'.
It has only recently been discovered that these jars were
made at Castelli; having previously been attributed to most
of the great maiolica centres. Excavations at the site of the
Pompei workshop in Castelli in the 1980s uncovered a large
quantity of fragments of kiln waste which relate to the 'Orsini-
Colonna' type jars, and the findings were exhibited at Pescara
and published. Comparisons with ceiling tiles formerly in
the local church of San Donato showed further similarities,
and in combination it demonstrated that most, if not all, jars
of this type were made at Castelli. Vincenzo de Pompeis
proposed a stylistic chronology for the jars having made careful
detailed comparisons with the church tiles. The simple flat
yellow ground found on this syrup-jar, and the scrolling panel
which encloses it, are both characteristics of what de Pompeis
proposed are the first, and earliest, group.
Only Orazio Pompei's signature has been found on the
surviving jars, but not all of the jars are attributable specifically to
him. There were at least five members of the second generation
of the Pompei family who could have been involved, among
others. The features and handling of the woman's face on this
syrup-jar are remarkably close to a tile depicting the Virgin
Mary which was formerly in the church of San Donato, and it
is also very similar to the large two-handled bottle painted with
Lucretia against a similarly flat yellow ground.
Advances in pottery or maiolica making in 15th- and
16th-century Italy enabled potteries to supply pharmacies
with increasingly sophisticated drug-jars, and this trade was
also fuelled by advances in medicien. Physicians increasingly
questioned the received wisdom of ancient medical texts, and
there was a renewed interest to study and classify plant species
and increase understanding of their medicinal properties.
Different forms of jar were devised to store the various types
of medicinal mixtures. The most typical form was the albarello,
an innovation from the Islamic world. Albarelli are cylindrical
storage jars with a flange at the top, over which a parchment or
leather cover would be tied. Albarelli were used in apothecaries
and monasteries for storing medicinal mixtures, either solid or
viscous, and from about the middle of the 15 th century the idea
of decorating the albarello with a label, indicating the contents,
was introduced. At a later date some albarelli were still produced
without labels as the painted drug name restricted the freedom
of the apothecary to change the contents if needed. Other forms
of jars were made including bottle-shaped jars and 'syrup-jars'
with spouts, as is the case here. Potteries made sophisticated
designs and more 'basic' designs, depending on the prospertiy
of the pharmacy which required them. It has been suggested
that brilliant and sophisticated designs on drug-jars would have
been good for business, adding gravitas to the establishment and
indicating the trustworthiness of their medicines.
Visit www.christies.com for additional information on this lot.
PROPERTY FROM THE FRITZ (FBE) GUTMANN COLLECTION
134
AN ITALIAN MAIOLICA ARMORIAL ALBARELLO
CIRCA 1 560, CASTEL DURANTE, ALMOST CERTAINLY WORKSHOP OF ANGELO AND LUDOVICO PICCHI
Of waisted form, labeled for SY.DE.BISANCV.A. on a rectangular label beneath a continuous mountainous river landscape
with four figures and a dragon, the reverse with a coat-of-arms within an ochre escutcheon supported by winged putti with a
lion mask and foliage below between bands of winged masks, trophies and dragons
12 in. (30.5 cm.) high
$8,000-12,000
£5,400-8,000
€6,000-9,000
The albarello is perhaps labeled for Byzantine Syrup (Syropo Bisantino in Italian,
Syropus de Byzantiis in Latin), a syrup used in the treatment of liver disorders
and made of burgloss, endive, smallage, hops and sugar (R.E.A. Drey, Apothecary Jars,
London, 1978, p. 190).
The arms are almost certainly those of the Delia Torre family of Ravenna and the
Torelli family of Forli. See M. Mancini Delia Chiara and L. Fontebuoni, Maioliche
del Museo Civico di Pesaro, Bologna, 1979, nos. 181, 204 and 238 for three examples
with closely similar decoration perhaps from the same pharmacy, the last dated 1563;
also the example in the Bayer Collection signed by Ludovico Picchi and published
in I Vasi de Farmacia nella coll Bayer, 1997, no. 19. See also J. Giacomotti, Catalogue
des majoliques des musees nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 240-241, no. 793 for an earlier
albarello in the Louvre (inv. OA 1893) with the same previously unidentified arms,
and p. 240, no. 792 for another very similarly decorated documentary example, also
in the Louvre (inv. OA 1892), inscribed in Castello durante 1541.
Reverse
PROVENANCE:
Fritz B. Gutmann Collection, Heemstede, The
Netherlands, acquired in Amsterdam circa 1920.
Involuntary sale to the Munich dealer Julius Bonier,
11 February 1942.
Returned to the Netherlands, 1946 - the underside
with paper inventory labels for the Netherlands Art
Co 1 1 ecti o n (Nederlands Kunstbezit- Collectie),
no. NK605 and the Directory Of History
Netherlands (Repertorium Geschiedenis Nederland),
no. RGN Ph. 110.
Restituted to the Gutmann family, 2010.
EXHIBITED:
Leiden, The Netherlands, Boerhaave Museum
(Netherlands National Museum for the History of
Science and Medicine), 1946-2010.
109
135
BENEDETTO BUGLIONI
(Florence 1459/60-1521)
Madonna adoring the Christ child between two angels holding a scroll
glazed terracotta relief
31V2 x 22 in. (80 x 56 cm.)
$30,000-50,000
£20,000-33,000
€23,000-37,000
PROVENANCE:
with Julius Bohler, Munich, from whom acquired by
Oskar Mulert (1881-1951) in 1907.
with Julius Bohler, Munich, 1988.
Private collection, Europe.
This important, unpublished relief in glazed terracotta is distinguished both by
its relatively large dimensions, which suggest that it came from the chapel of
a noble residence, and by being a unique exemplar that was modeled directly by the
artist, rather than being cast in a mold. The latter point can be seen in fingerprints
and tool marks in the clay on the back of the relief. The work shows the Virgin
adoring the Christ child lying on a bed of hay (indicating the manger, which the
gospel of Luke records as the place of Christ's birth). He stretches out his arms towards
his Mother with loving gentleness, while from above the dove of the Holy Spirit
descends, fulfilling the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. In the sky are two
curly-haired angels dressed as deacons of the church; they float upon little clouds, and
unfurl a large scroll, on which at one time could have been an inscription in paint or
gold, alluding either to the Virgin Mary or the birth of Christ.
Formerly attributed to Andrea della Robbia, owing to its general similarity with
two well-known compositions produced in the Della Robbia workshop in numerous
examples (Florence, Museo del Bargello; Washington, National Gallery of Art; etc.),
this composition was not unique to the Della Robbia. In fact, it was relatively popular
in Florentine painting of the 15th century, beginning with the famous pictures of the
Nativity by Fra Filippo Lippi. In particular, one can compare the poses of the figures
in the present work with those found in Lippi' s altarpiece from the chapel in the
Medici Palace (Berlin, Gemaldegalerie) and his altarpiece from the Annalena convent
(Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi), both painted in the 1450s.
Buglioni's authorship of this relief is substantiated by its stylistic and technical
features. Among the characteristics specific to Buglioni are the rippling and vibrant
modeling of the garments of the angels; the more classical and simplified folds of the
mantle of the Virgin; the pictorial treatment of the bed of hay; the clouds enlivened
with touches of yellow; the subtle graphism which defines some details, like the
Virgin's eyebrows; and the lively expression of the Christ child. The painting and
glazing of the relief are also unique to Buglioni. Especially notable is the creamy
density of the glaze, which shows characteristic irregularities (a fine craquelure, and a
scattering of small marks left by the higher porosity of Buglioni's glazes), and the deep
cerulean tonality of the background.
Buglioni was, next to the Delia Robbia, the most important artist of glazed
terracotta reliefs in Florence and Tuscany at the end of the 15th and beginning of
the 16th century. Possibly trained by Andrea del Verrocchio, he worked for a time
in the Della Robbia bottega, and also was deeply influenced by Benedetto da Maiano
and Antonio Rossellino. His patrons included the Medici and other important
aristocratic families and government institutions. Buglioni's high standing is also
indicated by the fact that he served on the committee that decided upon the placement
of Michelangelo's David.
We are grateful to Giancarlo Gentilini for his assistance in preparing this
catalogue entry.
110
PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
136
JACOB CLAESZ. VAN UTRECHT
(? Utrecht c. 1480-after 1530 ? Liibeck)
Portrait ofMathias Mulich (1470-1528), Burgomaster of Liibeck, half-length
signed ' Q] ACOB/ [TR] AIENCTENSIS' (upper left) and with the sitter's coat-of-arms
oil on panel
16% x ii 5 /8 in. (42.4 x 29.6 cm.)
$250,000-350,000
£170,000-230,000
€190,000-260,000
PROVENANCE:
Dr. Wartensleben, The Hague.
Private collection, Vienna.
with A. S. Drey, Munich, 1919.
Collection Charles Stokvis; sale, Brussels, Palais des
Beaux-Arts, 17 November 1947, lot 101, illustrated
pi. IV.
Acquired by the father of the present owner on the
Brussels art market in 1968.
LITERATURE:
L. Baldass: 'Jacob van Utrecht' , Zeitsch rift fur
bildende Kunst, XXXI, 1920, pp. 241-242, no. 3,
illustrated.
M.J. Friedlander: 'Neues uber Jacob van Utrecht',
Oud-Holland, LVIII, 1941, p. 7, no. 6.
J.J. De Mesquita, 'Nog meerwerkvan Jacob van
Utrecht', Oud-Holland, LVIII, 1941, p. 62.
G. V. Scammell, The World Encompassed: The First
European Maritime Empires, c. 800-1650, London,
1987, p. 75.
P. Dollinger, The German Hansa, London, 1999,
p. 276.
(Probably) H. Vogeler, Das Triptychon des Hinrich
und der Katharina Kerckring von Jacob van Utrecht,
Lubeck, 1999, pp. 19, 35.
J. Barck, Das Kerkring -Triptych on von Jacob van
Utrecht oder Die burgerliche Sakularisierung
mittelalterlicher Bildraume, Frankfurt, 2001,
pp. 24-25.
First published in 1920 by Ludwig Baldass, this rare and beautifully preserved
panel is one of only seven signed portraits by Jacob van Utrecht, whose narrow
corpus, as established by Max J. Friedlander in 1941, comprises 37 works. A key work
in the artist's small surviving oeuvre, it also constitutes as a document about one of
Liibeck's most prominent 16th-century citizens.
Born in Utrecht where he probably trained, Jacob van Utrecht is recorded in 1506
as a master in Antwerp, then a busy artistic and trading center. The influx of artists into
the city generated a competitive environment, making it difficult for a young master to
attain immediate fame. Possibly for this reason Jacob van Utrecht moved to the Holy
Roman Empire, first Cologne, around 1515, where he painted two altarpiece wings
(Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum; Berchtesgaden, Schlossmuseum), and then to
the North German town of Lubeck, where he is documented from 1519 to 1530.
Lubeck was then the capital of the Hanseatic League, a federation of cities controlling
trade across the Baltic and North sea regions. Jacob soon established himself as the
leading painter there, carrying out religious commissions for local churches and
providing patricians with spirited portraits. His admittance in 1519 to the Leonhard
Brotherhood, a prestigious merchant confraternity, testifies to his success, and also
suggests that he may have been a picture dealer. It must further have gained him
portrait commissions; indeed, the present sitter was a member of the brotherhood.
Nicknamed the 'Liibeck Fugger', in reference to the great Augsburg banker Jacob
Fugger, Matthias Mulich was one of the most prominent Lubeck merchants of
his day. Originally from Nuremberg, he embodied a new generation of Hanseatic
tradesmen from Southern Germany. One of four brothers active in Lubeck, he was
the most successful, settling there in 1490. He bought thirteen houses in the town and
owned three estates in the region. A surviving account book, listing the purchases he
made at the Frankfurt Lent fair in 1495, provides a fascinating insight into his dealings:
consisting mostly of luxury goods, it records elaborate jewellery — pearls, brooches,
gold rings — drinking vessels, precious Northern Italian cloth, especially velvet,
weapons, spices and Lombard paper. Matthias supplied the noble and the powerful
with these precious items, from the dukes of Schleswig and Mecklembourg to the
King of Denmark himself, who bestowed on him an estate in Odesloe as a reward
for his services (for Matthias Mulich' s biography, see Dollinger, op. cit., pp. 178-179).
In the present portrait, the sitter's black velvet bonnet adorned with pearls, velvet
doublet, gold embroidered white chemise, richly brocaded fur-lined mantle, and gold
chain and elaborate pendant - all depicted with the utmost care by the artist - certainly
allude to his trade in such sumptuous products.
Mulich's social status in Lubeck was further enhanced by two advantageous
marriages: to Katharina von Stiten, whom he married in 1515, and Katharina Kortsack
in 1518. The griffon pendant prominently displayed on his chest refers to his second
wife's crest and may have been a way to advertise the transfer of wealth and prestige
linked to this union.
The sitter's identity was discussed by J.J. de Mesquita in 1941 when he recognized
the coat-of-arms. We are grateful to Jan van Helmont of Leuven for confirming this
identification as well as for identifying the crests underneath as those of Matthias
Mulich's wives.
112
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
137
LUCAS CRANACH II
(Wittenberg 1515-1586 Weimar)
The Virgin and Child with infant Saint John the Baptist sleeping
signed with the artist's device of a serpent with wings folded (center left)
oil on panel
34 x 22V2 in. (86.1 x 57 cm.)
$1,500,000-2,500,000
£1,000,000-1,700,000
€1,200,000-1,900,000
PROVENANCE:
Art market, Paris, 1926.
Nikodem Caro (1871-1935), Berlin in 1932 and by
descent to the present owner.
LITERATURE:
M.J. Friedlander and J. Rosenberg, Die Cemaide
von Lucas Cranach, Berlin, 1932, no. 311, as Lucas
Cranach I.
M.J. Friedlander and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of
Lucas Cranach, Ithaca, 1978, no. 386, pp. 146-147,
as Lucas Cranach I.
114
Although this panel has long been considered a refined late work of Lucas Cranach
the Elder (see Friedlander and Rosenberg, op. cit.), Werner Schade and Dieter
Kopplin have recently, on the basis of photographs, recognized the hand of the artist's
son in the distinctive treatment of key elements, such as the bold silhouettes and masterful
rendering of Christ's face (private communication, 2012). As such, this tender depiction
of the Virgin and Christ child with the sleeping infant Saint John the Baptist can now be
recognized as one of Lucas Cranach the Younger's most powerful private devotional panels.
It is simultaneously a poignant celebration of familial love between a mother, her son and
young cousin, and a dramatic image designed to stimulate religious devotion in the viewer
through the contemplation of the mystery of the Eucharist. The compositional arrangement
owes much to the High Renaissance innovations of Raphael and other masters from the
Italian peninsula, particularly the triangular structuring of the group, and the manner in
which the Christ child is shown standing in his mother's embrace, rather than recumbent in
her lap or on a cushion, as he appears in Cranach the Elder's earlier, well-known treatment
of this theme, the so-called Madonna under the firs, of circa 1510 (Muzeum Archidiecezjalne
Wroclaw, no. FR029).
Set against a dark background free from distracting landscape elements, the three figures
in the present painting are set close to the picture plane, fostering a more direct engagement
with the viewer. This pictorial immediacy is underscored by the illusionistic treatment of the
grapes that the Christ child offers with his left hand. With a deliberate control beyond the
capability of a mere infant, Jesus has plucked a single grape from the bunch and brought it to
his lips. As he begins to consume the fruit, he directs a wise yet imploring gaze toward the
viewer, calling to mind Christ's words 'this is my blood', which he spoke at the Last Supper
(Matthew 26:28). The allusion to the Eucharist is underscored by the second equilateral
triangle of the composition, evoking the Holy Trinity through the shape formed by the
grapes, Christ's right elbow, and the top of his head. Christ thus instructs the viewer that
the path to heaven lies through faith and the celebration of this sacrament: two fundamental
issues of Church doctrine that were fiercely debated in Reformation Europe.
At the same time, this image is made more meaningful through overtones of tender
compassion. The monumental figure of the Virgin Mary — whose long, flowing hair, full
face, and delicately-shaped lips conform to the Germanic ideal of beauty of the time —
envelops the Christ child in a protective embrace. She supports his body with her left hand,
her fingers pressing into his flesh, thereby drawing attention to his corporeality, that is, his
human nature. Their familial connection is emphasized by the Holy Mother's transparent
veil, which sweeps across the composition with its subtle whispers of white highlights,
linking all three figures. Presented in her role as intercessor — or Mediatrix — Mary tilts
her head to her right, resting her cheek on Jesus's head while meeting the viewer's gaze.
The Virgin's serene, beatific expression offers reassurance that the observer will be similarly
protected by her compassionate intervention. In perhaps the composition's most compelling
passage, Mary embraces the slumbering infant Saint John the Baptist, resting her hand on
his back. No direct biblical source is to be found for this imagery. In fact, it is likely that
the conceit comes from Cranach's own observation: children often fall asleep, and in this
vulnerable state, require a guardian's protection.
As the serpent device with folded wings suggests, this painting was created after 1537, at
a time when Lucas Cranach the Younger was dramatically affected by the death of his elder
brother Hans. Two years earlier, around 1535, their father appears to have given control
of his workshop to his firstborn son. Yet this leading role was to be short-lived, as Hans
soon departed for Italy and died unexpectedly while studying in Bologna. It was in these
tragic circumstances that Lucas Cranach the Younger seems to have assumed control of the
workshop. Bearing in mind that this work was painted just after this transformative event in
his life, the moving vignette of the sleeping child becomes all the more meaningful.
The success of this composition is evinced by several extant variations, all of which appear
to have been painted after 1537 (Friedlander and Rosenthal, nos. 387-389). Yet of this group,
the present painting is distinguished by its exceptional quality and warmth of feeling.
r
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
138
ATTRIBUTED TO THE MASTER OF THE VON GROOTE ADORATION
(active Antwerp, c. 1515-1520)
A triptych:The central panel: The Adoration of the Magi;The wings:The Nativity at Night,
with the Annunciation to the Shepherds ; and The Flight into Egypt
oil on panel, in an engaged frame
central panel: 31% x 21% in. (79.5 x 54 cm.); the wings 32^4 x 9% in. (82 x 25 cm.)
$400,000-600,000
-£270,000-400,000
€300,000-450,000
PROVENANCE:
(Possibly) with Charles Mori, Paris, by 1926.
Leonard Lewisohn (1847-1902), Hamburg-born
American financier and philanthropist, 14 East 57th
Street, New York, by whom acquired in the 1920s,
and by descent to his daughter,
Florine Lewisohn Henry (1878-1903), wife of
Philip S. Henry (d. 1933), British coffee merchant,
at Zealandia, Asheville, North Carolina, and by
descent to their daughter,
Violet Rosalie Henry Maconochie (d. 1976), wife
of Brigadier Hartley Alfred Maconochie, CBE, DSO
(1889-1974), at Zealandia, and subsequently at
Bagatelle, Bermuda, and by descent.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 30 March
1979, lot 11, as 'J. de Beer' (withdrawn).
Private collection.
LITERATURE:
(Possibly) D. Ewing, The Paintings and Drawings of
Jan de Beer, Ann Arbor, 1978, 1, appendix A, p. 175,
nos. 24-25.
D. Ewing, Jan de Beer: Gothic Renewal in Renaissance
Antwerp (forthcoming), chapter 5 and no. 10.1;
(possibly) nos. 10.15-6.
118
Along with a triptych in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, which it closely resembles,
this is the finest and most complete example of what has been described as "far and
away the most popular composition" painted in Antwerp between circa 1518 and 1528. As
such, it belongs to the moment of Antwerp's first ascendancy as the preeminent artistic and
financial center in Nothern Europe, a position which it had acquired following the decline
of Bruges, and which it would maintain for much of the following century.
Professor Dan Ewing has identified the present painting as an exceptionally fine variant of
a lost prototype by the Antwerp painter Jan de Beer (circa 1475-circa 1528). Ewing proposes
that the prototype must have been one of Jan de Beer's masterpieces, the "first work to show
the characteristics of his late style" (Ewing, op. cit., p. 118), but which is lost. Its success is
demonstrated by the large number of copies — Ewing lists as many as fifty completely or
partially extant copies and variations of the triptych (forthcoming, op. cit., nos. 10-10.49)
— of which three are singled out for their superiority and ostensible proximity to the lost
prototype: the triptych in Munich (Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek,
inv. I43ia-c; Ewing 10); a single panel of the central Adoration in the Hyde Collection,
Glens Falls, New York (inv. no. 1971.2; Ewing 10.3); and the present work, which has long
been attributed to the Master of the von Groote Adoration.
Although Ewing places the Munich version first on his list, the high quality of the present
work and its close proximity to the Munich version suggests that further technical analysis is
needed to establish primacy between them. What is clear is that both the present triptych and
that in Munich are precious records of what must have been one of the great achievements
of Antwerp Mannerist painting.
Since the notion of an Antwerp Mannerist style was first formulated by Friedlander in
1915 (in the seminal article "Die Antwerpener Manieristen von 1520", Jahrbuch der Koniglich
Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, pp. 65-91), Jan de Beer has been regarded as one of its central
figures. First mentioned as a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1490, he
became a master in 1504 and subsequently served as alderman and dean. Initially classified
by Friedlander as the Master of the Milan Adoration, his identity was established on the
basis of an exquisite signed drawing, Nine Male Heads, in the British Museum (Department
of Prints and Drawings, inv. no. 1892.8.4.15). Ewing dates the lost prototype of the present
triptych to circa 1518-1519 (op. cit., chapter 5), based on similarities to Jan de Beer's triptych
in Milan (Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera, inv. no. 620), for which the terminus post quern is
believed to be 1518, and on the date '1519' which appears twice in the central panel of a
version in Karlsruhe (Kunsthalle, inv. no. 145; Ewing 10.19). Both the present triptych and
that in Munich were probably painted around this same time. Friedlander's attribution of
the composition to The Master of the von Groote Adoration, one of the key figures of the
Antwerp Mannerist school as he defined it, is not irrelevant; the von Groote master may have
been a close collaborator of de Beer's (perhaps even an unidentified pupil); Ewing himself
pointed out that Friedlander's attribution only lends support to his subsequent relocation of
the type into the de Beer corpus (1978, op. cit., p. 120).
For Ewing, the terms 'Munich Adoration' and 'Munich design' are shorthand for what is
known of the lost de Beer original, exemplified not only by the triptych in Munich, but also
by the present work. "Aside from being the single most-copied painted design in Antwerp
art during the teens and 1520s, the Munich Adoration composition is equally remarkable
as the most scrupulously planned and aligned of all the artist's extant figural arrangements"
(Ewing, forthcoming, op. cit., under no. 10). Professor Ewing's assessment of the 'Munich
design' applies fully to the present triptych, which he holds to be an "especially faithful"
performance of the winning composition.
The provenance of the present triptych can be traced back by family repute to the 1920s,
when it belonged to Leonard Lewisohn, one of three brothers from a prominent Hamburg
merchant family who traveled to the United States, founding the firm Lewisohn Brothers in
1866. The firm would soon come to specialize in the metal trade, dealing in lead and copper.
The triptych passed by inheritance to one of Leonard Lewisohn's daughters, Florine, whose
husband Philip S. Henry was himself an avid collector. For many years the triptych hung
in the neo-Tudor mansion built by Henry on his estate of Zealandia, near Asheville, North
Carolina, named to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
We are grateful to Professor Dan Ewing (Barry University, Florida) for his assistance in
cataloguing this previously unpublished work.
120
THE PROCEEDS FROM THIS LOT WILL BE DONATED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EUROPEAN SCULPTURE AND
DECORATIVE ARTS, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, TO FUND FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
FLORENTINE, 16TH CENTURY
WITH SOME LATER ADDITIONS
A polychrome marble tempietto
The domed superstructure above a single arched opening, now filled, and flanked
by two recessed alcoves, each later-inlaid with the Strozzi coat-of-arms, the back
unfinished and open, probably formerly a tabernacle or reliquary stand
39% in. (101 cm.) high, 21/4 in. (54.5 cm.) wide, 15 in. (38 cm.) deep
$10,000-15,000
-£6,700-10,000
€7,500-11,000
PROVENANCE:
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 3 July 2007,
lot 1.
Rich in color and of noble and classic proportions, this tempietto is emblematic
of the dazzling achievements in Renaissance Florence of marble and hardstone
inlay as well as of architecture. Although Florentine stone carvers were producing
such sophisticated work throughout the 16th century, it was not until 1588, under
Ferdinando de' Medici, that their workshops were unified into the state Grand Ducal
workshops known as the Galleria dei Lavori. These are still active today as the Opijicio
delle Pietre Dure.
While the Strozzi coat-of-arms applied to the sides are almost certainly 19th
century additions, they nevertheless point to the Florentine origins of this piece.
I
PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
140
TIZIANO VECELLIO, called TITIAN
(Pieve di Cadore c. 1485/90-1576 Venice)
The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea
the complete woodcut printed from 12 blocks, circa 1514-1515, on 12 sheets of laid paper, without watermarks, a very
good, strong impression of this extremely rare and highly important monumental woodcut, printing with much relief,
with narrow margins, trimmed to or just into the borderline in places, various repairs and touches of pen and ink, framed
B. 44% x 87% in. (1125 x 2215 mm.)
S. 47% x 87% in. (1211 x 2214 mm.)
$250,000-350,000
-£170,000-230,000
€190,000-260,000
PROVENANCE:
Franz Ritter von Hauslab (1798-1883), Vienna,
with his stamp on the verso (Lugti247), from
whom acquired by
Princes of Liechtenstein.
with Richard Zinser (circa 1883-1983), Forest Hills,
New York.
with Nicholas G. Stogdon, Middle Chinnock,
Somerset, from whom acquired by the present
owner.
LITERATURE:
D. Rosand and M. Muraro, Titian and the Venetian
Woodcut, Washington, 1976, no. 4 (another
impression illustrated).
J. Martineau and C. Hope (eds.), The Genius of
Venice 1500-1600, London, 1983, no. P19 (another
impression illustrated).
D. Landau and P. Parshall, The Rennaissance Print
14JO-1550, New Haven and London, 1994, pp. 74,
75 (another impression illustrated.)
'Arguably the most audacious print ever made.'
{Grand Scale: Monumental Prints in the Age of Durer and Titian, ed. L. Silver and
E. Wyckoff, Dallas Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, 2008.)
124
Inspired by central Italian battle designs, especially the
equestrian conflict of Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari, Titian's
Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red Sea, with its great sweep
of figures around a central void, powerfully develops aspects of
the Venetian tradition. In the woodcut the sea itself, in a very
real sense the major protagonist, appropriately dominates the
center of the design; for all its figural dynamics, the Red Sea is
in effect a monumental stormy seascape - a pictorial theme of
obvious interest in Venice.
The Red Sea reveals in its monumental conception and in
every detail as well the imagination of the master in full and
searching control. Titian took the Biblical text, Exodus 14,
and gave full pictorial realization to its dramatic narrative.
The divisions between the individual blocks have been used
as coordinates against which to plot the narrative action. The
drowning army of Pharaoh and the distant city, representing
Egypt, are contained within the left half of the composition;
horizontally extended across that field, their rhythms are
measured by the vertical accents of the towers and spires, and
their agitation is further commented on by the great cloud
moving over the sky - the divine presence that had protected
the Israelites who, safely landed and turning back in relieved
celebration, are confined to a single vertical strip of blocks at
the extreme right. Between the opposing figural groups lies
the sea, and the third vertical strip of blocks is reserved almost
exclusively for those waters, here in transition from destructive
turbulence at the left to their gentle lapping at the shore on
their right.
At the bottom of this zone only a few, very select details
intrude. Most significantly, the arm of Moses thrusts out over
the waters; his hand, holding its rod and set in calculated
isolation against the sea, performs the crucial act of the drama:
'And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over
the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians,
upon the chariots and upon their horsemen.' [Exodus 14:26].
Below the outstretched arm of the Hebrew leader is a defecting
dog, a motif probably without precedent in Italian Renaissance
art, startling in its crudity as well as in its central placement
and apparently violating, to say the least, any sense of classical
ideality or decorum. Yet it can hardly be merely a whimsical
joke for it is set in such pointed juxtaposition to the divinely
inspired gesture of Moses. Indeed, it can only be interpreted as
a complimentary sign of disdain towards the Egyptians. It may
comprise, moreover, a contemporary reference. When Titan
was designing the woodcut, Venice was barely surviving one of
the most terrible crises of its history, the war with the League
of Cambrai. One anecdote tells of the retreat of imperial troops
through the mountains of the Valsugana: to show their scorn
for the foreign invaders the inhabitants were said to have bared
their buttocks to the fleeing German soldiers. Thus it might
be that the Egyptians in the Red Sea, dressed in contemporary
armor, were intended to recall the invading mercenaries from
the north and that the subject was read in allusion to the
recent survival of the of the Venetian's themselves against
overwhelming odds.
The fundamental distinctions of separate areas within the
design notwithstanding, Titan's Red Sea impresses above all by
its remarkable unity; while appreciating the special qualities
and meanings of the various details, we are always aware of
the totality of the image. And that large unity is essentially a
function of Titian's drawing. The giant sweep of the forms
across the several blocks, especially the 'rolling pillar of the
cloud' and the sea itself, establish the narrative impulse of the
composition, and as the darkness of the left yields to brightness,
that movement culminates at the extreme right, in the solid
gravity of the magnificent cliff that overhangs the shore.
As one would expect of Titian, light and dark patterns provide
the basic organizational element, on a large scale in the sky
and on a more minutely differentiated level below. Titian's
drawing, inventing new formal combinations for diverse
mimetic functions, creates truly impressive effects of tidal
movement in the waters, of tonal distance in the architecture,
of granite mass in the rock; and the whole space is filled with
wind-swept atmosphere.
Although always keenly aware of Diirer's example, Titan
forged for himself a new kind of graphic vocabulary. He seems
to have drawn across the entire surface himself, either in a
full-size cartoon or, more probably, on the block itself, this is
most clearly suggested by the great pen strokes of which the
cloud is constructed. His use of cross-hatching, literally fluid
in in its effects in the rendering of rippling waves, achieves an
extraordinarily abstract richness in the synthetic structures of
the great rock.
We are extremely grateful to Professor David Rosand for his
assistance in cataloguing this lot, and for permission to quote
extensively from Titian and the Venetian Woodcut, International
Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1976, co-authored
with Michelangelo Muraro.
126
141
ATTRIBUTED TO GIOVANNI BELLINI
(Venice ? 1431/6-1516 Venice)
Portrait of a young man, bust-length
signed TOANNES BELLINVS' (lower center)
oil on canvas laid down on panel
16% x n 3 /8 in. (42.5 x 28.9 cm.)
$100,000-150,000
-£67,000-100,000
€75,000-110,000
PROVENANCE:
Victor Martin Le Roy (1842-1918) and by descent;
sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 4 December 1956,
lot 13, as 'Ecole Venitienne'.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 7 July 2004,
lot 7 (£274,050).
LITERATURE:
G. Migeon, 'la Collection de Martin Le Roy', LesArts,
X, November 1902, pp. 7-8, illustrated,
as by Basaiti.
A. Perate, in Catalogue raisonne de la collection
Martin Le Roy, V, Paris, 1909, pp. 43-44, no. 13,
pi. XI, as by Marco Basaiti.
G. Lorenzetti, 'Catalogue raisonne de la collection
Martin Le Roy', L'Arte, XIII, 1910, p. 236, as by
Basaiti.
S. Reinach, Repertoire de peintures du moyen age et
de la Renaissance (1280-1580), IV, Paris, 1918,
p. 689, no. 1, illustrated, as by Basaiti.
G. Gronau, Giovanni Bellini, Stuttgart, 1930, p.
216, no. 165, illustrated, as a late work by Giovanni
Bellini.
R. Van Marie, The Development of the Italian Schools
of Painting, XVII, The Hague, 1935, p. 497, as by
Basaiti.
B. Berenson, Pitture italiane del rinascimento, Milan,
1936, p. 62, as a late work by Giovanni Bellini.
C. Gamba, Giovanni Bellini, Milan, 1937, p. 173.
L. Dussler, Giovanni Bellini, Vienna, 1949, pp. 73-4.
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance:
Venetian School, London, 1957, 1, p. 33, as a late
work by Giovanni Bellini.
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice,
1962, 1, p. 231, no. V.94, II, fig. 591, as by Giovanni
Cariani.
This portrait is of a young man, probably a poet, dressed alVantica. Despite
former attributions to both Basaiti and Cariani, Keith Christiansen believes
that the picture may well be by Bellini himself, as the quality of the better preserved
passages suggests. Peter Humfrey, who has also examined the picture firsthand, concurs
with this assessment, as does Professor Mauro Lucco on the basis of photographs.
For comparisons of style, Christiansen cites the Infant Bacchus in the National
Gallery of Art, Washington, The Feast of the Gods, in that same museum; and the
Toilette of Venus (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). These point to a late date and
suggest the artist's response to the portraiture of Giorgione and the sculpture of Tullio
Lombardo.
While the majority of Bellini's portraits use the device of a frontal parapet and some
are signed in a very similar way (i.e., those in the Uffizi, Florence, no. 354, in the
Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome, no. 47, and in Washington, no. 365), none is precisely
comparable in alVantica presentation, which presumably reflects a whim of the young
sitter. A parallel is offered by the so-called Portrait of a Humanist, formerly attributed
to Bellini, in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan, no. 248 (Heinemann, op. cit., fig. 850).
128
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
142
BARTOLOMEO VENETO
(active 1502-1531)
Madonna and Child
signed and dated '1502 9 / ap. bartolamio mezo ven / izian e mezo
cremonexe' (lower left, on the cartolino)
oil on panel
25 V% x 22 5 /s in. (64 x 57.5 cm.)
$800,000-1,200,000
£540,000-800,000
€600,000-000,000
PROVENANCE:
Marcantonio Michiel (d. 1834), Palazzo Michiel delle
Colonne, Venice; and by descent to his grandson,
Count Leopardo Martinengo da Barco (1804-1884),
Palazzo Michiel delle Colonne, Venice; by descent
to his nephew,
Count Antonio Dona dalle Rose, Palazzo Dona
dalle Rose, Venice (formerly Palazzo Michiel delle
Colonne), 1896.
with Adolfo Loewi, Venice, by 1938.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 9 December,
1959, lot 59.
Private collection.
EXHIBITED:
Venice, Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista, 1908.
Cremona, II Fiera Nazionale d'arte antica, 1938,
no. 367.
Venice, Pittura veneta. Prima mostra d'arte antica,
1947, no. 15.
LITERATURE:
J. Lermolieff and G. Morelli, Le opera del maestri
italiani nelle Callerie di Monaco, Dresda e Berlino,
Bologna, 1886, p. 140.
J. Lermolieff and G. Morelli, Kunstkritische Studien
uber Italienische Malerei. Die Galerien zu Munchen
und Dresden, Leipzig, 1891, p. 221.
A. Venturi, 'Bartolomeo Veneto', L'Arte, 1899, II,
pp. 432-436.
A. Venturi, La Galleria Crespi di Milano, Milan, 1900,
p. 86.
J. Burckhardt, Der Cicerone, Eine Anleitug zum
Genuss der Kunstwerke Ita liens, Leipzig, 1900-1901,
8th ed., eds. W. Bode and C. von Fabriczy, p. 732.
S. Reinach, Repertoire de Peintures du Moyen Age et
de la Renaissance (1280-1580), 1905-1923, II, p. 132,
no. 1.
L'Arte, XI, 1908, review of the exhibition Scuola di
San Giovanni Evangelista, Venice, p. 390.
P. d'Achiardi, Bartolomeo Veneto, in U. Thieme and
F. Becker, Allgemines Lexikon der Bildenden Kunstler,
II, Leipzig, 1908, p. 578.
F. Schottmuller, 'Ein unbekanntes Bildnis des
Bartolomeo Veneto', in Jahrbuch derKdniglich
Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, XXXII, 1911, p. 19.
J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of
Painting in North Italy, London, 1912, ed. T.
Borenius, I, p. 299, no. 4.
A. Venturi, Storia dell' Arte Italiana, Milan, VII, 1915,
p. 694.
B. Berenson, Venetian Painting in America,
New York, 1916, p. 257.
M. Salmi 'Una mostra di antica pittura lombarda',
L'Arte, XXVI, 1923, p. 160.
E. Michalski, 'Zur Problematick des Bartolommeo
Veneto' in Zeitsch rift fur Bildende Kunst, 1927-28,
LXI, pp. 280-81.
G. Fogolari, 'Bartolomeo Veneto' in Enciclopedia
Italiana, VI, Rome, 1930, p. 255.
A. de Hevesy, 'Urn Bartolomeo Veneto', Pantheon,
VII, 1931, p. 225.
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance,
1932, p. 52.
G. Lorenzetti and L. Planiscig, La collezione Dona
delle Rose a Venezia, Venice, 1934, pp. VII, 3-4,
pi. II, fig. 2.
C. Gamba, Giovanni Bellini, Milan, 1937, p. 148.
A. de Hevesy, 'Bartolomeo Veneto et les portraits
de Lucrezia Borgia', The Art Quarterly, II, 1939,
p. 233, fig. 1a, p. 235.
Pittura veneta. Prima mostra d'arte antica, exhibition
catalogue, Venice, 1947, pp. 10, 21-22, no. 15, pi. 11.
R. Palucchini, 'La mostra delle collezioni private di
Venezia', Arte Veneta, 1, 1947, p. 149.
R. Marin i, Bartolomeo Veneto e un eminente inedito,
Venice, 1951, pp. 12, 15, notes 4-5.
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance.
Venetian School, II, London, 1957, p. 13.
R. Palucchini, Giovanni Bellini, Milan, 1959, p. 151.
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i belliniani, Venice,
1962, p. 19, no. 58H.
E. Bassi, 'Bartolomeo Veneto', in Dizionario
Biografico degli Italian! , VI, Rome, 1964, p. 782.
F. Gibbons, 'Practices in Giovanni Bellini's
Workshop', Pantheon, XXIII, 1965, p. 153, note 7.
C. Gilbert, 'Bartolomeo Veneto and his Portrait of
a Lady', Bulletin of the National Gallery of Canada,
1973, pp. 5-6, 13, note 9.
P. Hendy, European and American Paintings in the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1974,
p. 14.
M. Boskovits, The Martello Collection. Paintings,
Drawings and Miniatures from the XlVth to the
XVII Ith Centuries, Florence, 1985, p. 40.
E. Rama, 'Bartolomeo Veneto', in Storia della Pittura
in Italia. II Cinquecento, XXVI, 1987, II, p. 637.
A. Gentili, 'Giovanni Bellini, la bottega, I quadri di
devozione', in Venezia Cinquecento, 1, 1991, p. 32.
L. Pagnotta, 'Bartolomeo Veneto', in Saur.
Allgemeines Kunstler Lexikon a Her Zeiten und Volker,
VII, Munich and Leipzig, 1993, p. 297.
L. Pagnotta, Bartolomeo Veneto, L' Opera Completa,
Florence, 1997, pp. 156-57, no. 3, pp. 21-28.
130
This beautiful, quintessentially Venetian Madonna and
Child is the earliest known picture by Bartolomeo
Veneto, an important painter of devotional works and
fashionable portraits in Venice, the Veneto and Lombardy in
the first decades of the 16th century. The cartellino at lower
left bears the date 1502 and is signed, curiously, 'Bartolamio
mezo ven/izian e mezo cremonexe' [Bartolomeo half-Venetian
and half-Cremonese], which suggests that he may have been born
in Cremona and moved with his family to Venice at a young
age, or that he was born of Cremonese parents in Venice.
The precise date of his birth is not known, but the presence
of the signature and date — as well as the remarkable technical
refinement which the painting reveals — indicates that by this
time, Bartolomeo was already an independent master with
considerable prior experience (Pagnotta, op. cit., p. 157).
Although many scholars have thought Bartolomeo to have
been a pupil of the great Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini
(c. 1430-1516), Laura Pagnotta, author of the definitive
catalogue raisonne on the artist, has shown that early in his
career, he most likely frequented the workshop not only of
Giovanni, but also that of his brother, Gentile Bellini (c.1429-
1507). She points to the precise, linear manner of drawing and
the emphatically graphic silhouetting of the figures against the
background as evidence of Gentile's influence. The typologies
of the Madonna and Child, the morphology of drapery folds,
and the panoramic landscape view which unfolds behind the
Madonna's shoulders, on the other hand, depend more closely
on Giovanni, as seen, for example, in his so-called Madonna
of the Meadow of circa 1500 (London National Gallery; fig. 1)
(Pagnotta, op. cit., pp. 22-23).
In the present picture, the Madonna wears a rich red dress
and deep blue mantle, edged with delicate gold embroidery
and lined with glowing yellow fabric. Covered by a white
headdress, symbol of her purity, the Madonna's head towers
over the horizon, set high against the limpid blue sky in which
clouds float serenely, evoking the heavenly kingdom on earth.
She holds the Christ child in her lap, her downcast eyes and
solemn expression suggesting foreknowledge of the coming
Passion. The lively Christ child seems to wriggle away from his
mother, his attention focused off to the right. She in turn holds
his small foot as if to gently restrain him, perhaps in an effort to
protect him from his fate. Nestled within the verdant landscape
behind and to the left of the Madonna is a careful rendering
of the Basilica of San Antonio in Padua, with its cupole and
campanile described in minute detail. While this has led some
scholars to conclude that the present picture was painted in
Padua, it is also quite possible it was executed in Venice for a
patron with Paduan origins, or for one with a special personal
devotion to St. Anthony (Pagnotta, op. cit., p. 24).
Most scholars believe that the compositional scheme, which
shows the Madonna in a three-quarter view with the infant
Christ in her lap as she holds his right foot in her hand, derives
from a now-lost Bellini prototype, which some hold to have
been the invention of Gentile, but which Pagnotta suggests
was more likely to have been Giovanni's, perhaps in the form
of a drawing made for use by his pupils (Pagnotta, op. cit.,
p. 23). Although deeply indebted to both Gentile and Giovanni
Bellini, the present painting also reveals Bartolomeo's awareness
of other trends within Venetian art of the early cinquecento.
The strongly modeled, plastic forms and accentuated roundness
of the figure's heads reflect the influence of Antonello da
Messina, while the clear, bright luminosity through which the
details of the background can be perfectly perceived calls to
mind the contemporary work of Marco Basaiti and Vincenzo
Catena (Pagnotta, op. tit., p. 157).
The Madonna and Child also reflects Bartolomeo's fascination
with the polish of Flemish painting, which was much admired
at this time in Venice. This is seen in the depiction of the
landscape background, in which the minute particulars of
architecture and foliage are rendered with a miniaturist
precision. Motifs such as the rounded tree-tops sprinkled with
delicate highlights, and the inclusion of tiny figures engaged
in everyday tasks — such as the oarsman steering a boat filled
with oxen at right — point to the Flemish tradition as well,
in particular, the work of Hans Memling and Joachim Patinir,
many of whose pictures were then in Venetian collections.
Three other autograph versions of the present composition
are known: in the Musee du Petit Palais, Avignon (inv. 20419;
Pagnotta, op. ext., p. 154, no. 1), thought by Pagnotta to be the
earliest; formerly in the Crespi Collection, Milan (Pagnotta, op.
ext., p. 158, no. 3); and another, signed and dated in 1505, in
the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo (inv. 723; Pagnotta, op. ext.,
p. 162, cat. no. 5). The composition was extremely popular
in early 16th-century Venice, as evidenced by the numerous
copies and variants by artists from the Bellini school and circle,
such as that attributed to Francesco Bissolo in the Accademia,
Venice, or that now in the John G. Johnson Collection in
the Philadelphia Museum of Art (inv. 183), which Pagnotta
tentatively ascribes to Pietro Duia (Pagnotta, op. ext., p. 22).
The present Madonna and Child has a most illustrious
Venetian provenance. Its first certain owner was Marcantonio
Michiel (d. 1834), whose collection in the Palazzo Michiel
delle Colonne on the Grand Canal in Venice also included
pictures by Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Schiavone, and sculptures
by Jacopo Sansovino and II Riccio. The last of the ancient
patrician Michiel family line, Marcantonio had inherited not
only his family's important art collection, but also those of the
Zane, the Corner of San Cassiano, and the Barbarigo of Santa
Maria Zobenigo, noble Venetian families of which he was the
sole surviving relative (Lorenzetti, op. cit., pp. V, VII). After
Michiel's death in 1834, the palace and its collection passed
to his daughter's son, Count Leopardo Martinengo, a man of
great culture and learning, among whose beneficiaries were
the Museo Correr, Venice; the Biblioteca Civica Queriniana,
Brescia; and the town of Brescia, to which he left a portion
of his paintings collection, today housed in the Museo Tosio
Martinengo, Brescia. Bartolomeo Veneto's Madonna and Child
remained in Martinengo's collection, however, and after his
death in 1884 was inherited, along with the palazzo, by his
nephew, Count Antonio Dona dalle Rose. It remained in the
picture gallery in the palazzo on the Grand Canal until the mid-
193 os, when the collection was dispersed.
143
JACOPO ROBUSTI, called JACOPO TINTORETTO
(Venice 1519-1594)
Portrait of Nicolo Doria
inscribed and dated 'NICOLAI DORIA / IACOBI ■ ANN-XX / MDXXXXV-' (center right, on the pier)
oil on canvas
76 x 45K in. (193 x 114.9 cm.)
$300,000-500,000
£200,000-330,000
€230,000-370,000
PROVENANCE:
(Probably) Giovanni Carlo Doria (1576-1625), the
sitter's nephew, Palazzo Doria di Vico di Gelsomino,
Genoa, from whom inherited by his brother,
Marc'Antonio Doria (1572-1651), Principe d'Angri
(as of 1636), Genoa, from whom inherited by his
son,
Giovanni Francesco Doria (1601-1653).
Giuseppe Finetti, Milan, by circa 1830.
Algernon Eustace Hugh Heber-Percy (b. 1944),
Hodnet Hall, Hodnet, Market Drayton, Shropshire;
Christie's, London, 24 November 1967, lot 62
(16,000 gns. to J. Lewis).
EXHIBITED:
Genoa, Palazzo Ducale, El Siglo de los Genoveses e
una lunga storia di arte e splendori nel Palazzo del
Dogi, 4 December 1999-28 May 2000, no. XI. 8 and
p. 326, under no. XI. 9 (entries by P. Boccardo).
Genoa, Palazzo Ducale, L'Eta di Rubens: Dimore,
committenti e collezionisti genovesi, 20 March-11
July 2004, no. 25 (entry by P. Boccardo) and p. 200,
under no. 26 (entry by M. Priarone), illustrated,
p.199.
LITERATURE:
P. Rossi, Jacopo Tintoretto, I ritratti, Venice, 1974,
I, pp. 21, 25, 110, fig. 3.
F.R. Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings,
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1979,
I, pp. 462-463, under no. 209 and 464, note 8.
R. Palucchini and P. Rossi, Tintoretto, le opera sacre
e profane, Milan, 1982, 1, pp. 37, 125, 236, under
no. R6.
V. Pacelli, 'II testamento di Marcantonio Doria:
un avvio per la migliore conoscenza dei rapporti
artistici fra Napoli e Genova', in Ricerchesul '600
napoletano, Milan, 1985, p. 84.
P. Boccardo, 'Ritratti di genovesi di Rubens e di
Van Dyck: Conteso ed identifkazioni', Studies in the
History of Art, XLVI, 1994, pp. 81-82, fig. 4.
Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Jacopo Tintoretto:
ritratti, 1994, p. 167 (chronology by P. Rossi).
P. Boccardo, 'Ritratti di Marc'Antonio Doria e
di suoi famigliari', in F. Abbate and F. Sricchia
Santoro, eds., Napoli, I'Europa: ricerche di storia
dell' arte in onore di Ferdinando Bologna, Catanzaro,
1 995> PP- 1 94 ar| d 195, note 10.
F. Polleross, 'Delia Bellezza & della Misura & della
Convenevolezza: Bemerkungen zur venezianischen
Portratmalerei anlasslich derTintoretto-
Ausstellung in Venedig und Wien', Pantheon, LIN,
1995. P- 35-
W.R. Rearick, 'Reflections on Tintoretto as a
Portraitist', Artibus etHistoriae, XXXI, 1995, pp. 55,
66, note 8, fig. 3.
P. Boccardo, 'Ritratti di collezionisti e committenti',
in S. Barnes et al., eds., Van Dyck a Genova: grande
pittura e collezionismo, exhibition catalogue, Milan,
1997. PP- 34-35 ? 42, fig- 7.
T. Nicholas, Tintoretto: Tradition and Identity,
London, 1999, p. 6.
P. Boccardo, 'II collezionismo delle classe dirigente
Genovese nel Seicento,' in 0. Bonfait et al., eds.,
Geografia del collezionismo: Italia e Francia tra HXVI
e i I XVIII secolo. Atti delle giornate di studio dedicate
a Giuliano Briganti (Roma, ig-2i settembre igg6),
Rome, 2001, p. 131 and note 5, pi. I (with incorrect
caption as Domenico Tintoretto).
V. Farina, Giovan Carlo Doria, promotore delle arti a
Genova nel primo Seicento, Florence, 2002,
pp. 125-126.
V. Farina, 'Gio. Carlo Doria (1576-1625)', in
P. Boccardo, ed., L'Eta di Rubens: dimore,
committenti e collezionisti genovesi, exhibition
catalogue, Milan, 2004, pp. 190, 194, item 525.
M. Falomir, 'Tintoretto's Portraiture', in M. Falomir,
ed., Tintoretto, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, 2007,
pp. 96, 100, and 113, note 33, p. 220, under no. 8
(entry by M. Falomir), and pp. 278, 280, under
no. 28 (entry by M. Falomir), fig. 148.
134
135
Fig. 1, Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, Portrait of Giacomo Doha / Ashmolean Museum, Fig. 2, Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, Portrait of Diego Hurtado de
University of Oxford, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library. Mendoza / Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy / The Bridgeman Art Library.
Painted in 1545, this striking portrait of the young
Genoese aristocrat, Nicolo Doria, is among Jacopo
Tintoretto's earliest known essays in the genre and a rare
example of his use of the full-length format. Born circa 1525,
Nicolo belonged to the ancient, noble Doria family, the most
powerful in 16th-century Genoa. A direct descendant of the
celebrated naval commander, Lamba Doria (1245-1323),
Nicolo was the first-born son of Giacomo (or Jacopo) Doria
and Bettina De' Mari. As was the case with his brothers and
sisters, Nicolo made an advantageous marriage, taking as his
bride a member of the Genoese patriciate, Aurelia Grimaldi,
daughter of Nicolo Grimaldi, the banker to King Philip II of
Spain. The marriage took place during the civil strife in Genoa
of 1575-1576 that pitted the old nobility, such as the Dorias,
against the new nobility, as represented by the Grimaldis.
Nonetheless, the union resulted in nine children, of which the
two sons eventually married into the illustrious Spinola family.
By the time of his marriage, Nicolo had become one of the
wealthiest men in Genoa.
Doria's distinguished political career began some ten years
after Tintoretto painted this portrait. With the support of his
paternal uncle, the Doge Giovanni Battista Doria (c.1470-
1554), he was appointed a member of Genoa's main legislative
body, the Maggior Consiglio, in 1555. In 1566, he was among
the Genoese representatives sent to Rome to witness Pius V's
ascension to the papal throne, and in the later 1550s and 1560s,
held numerous other important diplomatic and administrative
posts. His political career culminated in 1579, when he was
elected Doge of the Republic, receiving the largest majority
of votes recorded to date. Nicolo died on 13 October 1592,
and was buried in the family church of San Matteo, where his
brother Agostino, also Doge, (1534-1608) was later laid to rest.
As Tintoretto is not known to have visited Genoa, Nicolo
must have posed for the artist on a visit to Venice, where his
father had lived from 1529-1541, and where the family still
had many close ties. In the early 1530s, Nicolo's father had
commissioned Titian to paint his portrait, now preserved in the
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (fig. 1). It is not surprising that
for his own portrait, the twenty-year-old Nicolo would turn to
Tintoretto — a less established but promising artist of his own
generation, who, like him, was then coming into his own. As
in other of Tintoretto's early portraits, Titian's influence is here
seen in the restrained palette and strong light which focuses on
the sitter's relatively firmly defined facial features and hands.
While Nicolo's intense and penetrating gaze echoes that of his
father in Titian's portrait, he is here presented life-size and full
length, a grander, more imposing format which may signal his
youthful ambitions. While unusual at this time, the use of this
format was likely inspired by Titian's so-called Portrait of Diego
Hurtado de Mendoza of circa 1541, now in the Palazzo Pitti,
Florence (fig. 2), which Tintoretto surely knew.
In the present portrait, the sitter is turned at a three-quarter
angle, with his right arm akimbo and his left hand poised on
the hilt of his sword, suggesting energy and decisiveness. The
Detail of the present lot.
sweeping curve of the curtain at left, with its zig-zag pattern of folds, underscores the
figure's vitality, as does the strong diagonal accent of the sword. Set close to the picture
plane and gazing resolutely at the viewer, Nicolo projects a commanding, forceful
presence. While the monumental stone pier on the right augments this impression,
it also identifies Nicolo as a member of Genoa's ancient ruling elite, who since the
early 13 th century had built churches and palaces faced with similar alternating bands
of dark and light stone. The painted pier may specifically allude to the facade of San
Matteo, the Doria family church since its founding in 1125, which is still faced with
such stone coursings today (L'Eta di Rubens, op. cit., p. 198).
As Boccardo has shown, this picture is probably identifiable with 'uno ritrato
in piedi mano del Tintoretto' [a portrait, full-length, by the hand of Tintoretto] listed
in the inventory of the sitter's nephew, Giovanni Carlo Doria (1576-1625), drawn
up by late 1621 (L'Eta di Rubens, op. cit., pp. 194, 198). It subsequently passed to
his brother, Marc'Antonio Doria (1572-1651), in whose inventory of 1651 it was
erroneously given to Titian: 'Del quondam Illustrissimo Nicolo Doria zio paterno
quando era giovine per mano di Titiano' [sic]. [Of the late most worthy Nicolo Doria,
paternal uncle, when he was young, by the hand of Titian.] (Pacelli, op. cit., p. 84). The
picture then passed, along with other of the most important family portraits, to
Marc' Antonio's son, Giovanni Francesco Doria (1601-1653), after which it was lost to
notice until circa 1830, when recorded in the collection of Giuseppe Finetti in Milan.
The Portrait of Nicolo Doria resurfaced in the mid-20th century in the collection of
Algernon Heber-Percy at Hodnet Hall, Shropshire. He may have inherited it from the
descendants of Algernon Percy, nephew of the 5th Duke of Northumberland, who
had married Emily Heber, daughter of Bishop Heber, in 1839. Sold by Heber-Percy
at Christie's, London, in 1967, the Portrait of Nicolo Doria has remained in the same
collection until the present day.
137
144
PAUWELS FRANCK, called PAOLO FIAMMINGO
(Antwerp? c. 1540-1596 Venice)
The Judgment of Paris
oil on canvas
14V4 x 45% in. (36.2 x 116.5 cm.)
$120,000-180,000
^73,000-110,000
€90,000-135,000
PROVENANCE:
Sir Otto Beit (1865-1930), Bt, K.C.M.G.,and
by descent to
Mrs. Arthur Bull; Christie's, London, 25 October
1946, lot 37, as 'Andrea Schiavone' (140 gns.
toWallraf).
LITERATURE:
W. von Bode, Catalogue of the collection of the
Pictures and Bronzes in the Possession of Mr. Otto
Beit, London, 1913, p. 99, no. 138, as 'Andrea
Schiavone'.
Probably born in Antwerp, Pauwels Franck was registered in the city's Guild
of St. Luke in 1561. In the early 1570s, he travelled south to Italy, perhaps
spending time in Florence. By 1573, he seems to have settled in Venice, where in
addition to his own private commissions, he became a valued collaborator of Jacopo
Tintoretto, assisting him with the landscape backgrounds of paintings such as the
Saint Roch in the Desert, of around 1580, for the church of San Rocco (in situ).
At that same time, Pauwels began working on several series of paintings for his most
important patron, Hans Fugger (1533-1598), which were installed in the German
banker's Kircheim castle in Bavaria. He eventually opened his own studio in Venice,
where he was known as Paolo Fiammingo, and alongside religious commissions such
as his series of paintings for the Oratorio of San Nicolo della Lattuga (circa 1582),
he excelled in Giorgionesque landscapes populated with mythological figures, such
as the present composition. Throughout his career, Pauwels continued to work in a
Mannerist style reflecting the influence of Tintoretto, Veronese, and Bassano.
Executed in Pauwels' typically lively brushwork, this horizontal canvas may
originally have been set into a piece of furniture, or installed as a frieze running along
the entablature below the ceiling of a Venetian home. It is likely to have been part of
a series of mythological scenes, all of identical format, although other paintings from
this group have yet to be identified.
In the early 20th century, this picture was in the collection of the great connoisseur,
Otto Beit at Russborough, where it was catalogued by Wilhelm von Bode as a work
of Andrea Schiavone (loc. cit.). In 1958, Bernard Berenson attributed the painting to
Lambert Sustris, a Dutch painter who was likely active in Titian's studio in Venice
(written communication). We are grateful to Professor Peter Humfrey for suggesting
the attribution to Paolo Fiammingo on the basis of firsthand study, and to Professor
Mauro Lucco, for confirming this ascription on the basis of photographs (private
communication, 14 December 2012).
As von Bode noted, the principle figures in this composition are based on
Marcantonio Raimondi's celebrated print after a now-lost drawing by Raphael of The
Judgment of Paris. It is not surprising that Pauwels, primarily a landscape painter, would
turn to this well-known print for his staffage. Notably, the figures appear in reverse
of the print, suggesting that Pauwels was either working from Raphael's drawing, or
more likely, from a print after Marcantonio's engraving. Professor Lucco has observed
that the figures also show an awareness of Roman sculpture, perhaps reflecting an early
visit to the Eternal City, and on this basis he suggests that the present painting may be
one of Pauwels' earliest known works, painted circa 1575-1580.
138
i
1
PROPERTY FROM THE DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION OF DRS. SAUL AND MARCIA COHEN
145
STUDIO OF LAVINIA FONTANA
(Bologna 1552-1614 Rome)
Self-portrait at the keyboard with a maidservant
with signature and inscription 'LAVINIA VIRGO PROSPERI FONTANAE / FILIA
EX SPECVLO IMAGINEM / ORIS SVI EXPRESIT' ANNO / MDLXXV (upper left)
oil on metal
1034 x 9 in. (26 x 22.8 cm.)
$30,000-50,000
£20,000-33,000
€23,000-37,000
PROVENANCE:
George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower,
5th Duke of Sutherland, K.T., P.C. (1888-1963);
Christie's, London, 2 May 1958, lot 10, (280 gns.
to Appleby, as Lavinia Fontana).
with Julius Weitzner.
Acquired by the father of the present owner,
probably in the late 1950s.
The present picture is a fine studio replica of the earliest known self-portrait
by Lavinia Fontana, painted in 1575 and now preserved in a private
Roman collection (M.T. Cantaro, Lavinia Fontana Bolognese 'pittora singolare' 1552-
1614, Rome, 1989, no. 4a. 7, p. 64). Created as a marriage portrait for her future
husband and his family, the picture shows Lavinia attired in an elaborate costume,
fine jewelry and attended by a servant, thus emphasizing her wealth and status.
The clavichord and painter's easel refer to her accomplishments as an artist and
a gentlewoman by birth and breeding, while the Latin inscription at upper left
alludes to her virginal state, a key factor in marriage bargains at the time: 'Lavinia
the Virgin Daughter of Prospero Fontana depicted herself from a mirror in the year
1575.' Two later versions of the composition, both dated 1577, are known: the
first, considered autograph, is in the Accademia San Luca, Rome, and the other,
a copy, is in the Uffizi, Florence (ibid., no. 4a. 12, pp. 72-74). The present picture
is a fine workshop replica of the earliest known Self-Portrait by Lavinia Fontana,
painted in 1575 and now preserved in a private Roman collection (M.T. Cantaro,
Lavinia Fontana Bolognese 'pittora singolare' 1332-1614, Rome, 1989, no. 4a.7, p. 64).
Created as a marriage portrait for her future husband and his family, the picture
shows Lavinia attired in an elaborate costume, fine jewelry and attended by a servant,
thus emphasizing her wealth and status. The clavichord and painter's easel refer
to her accomplishments as a gentlewoman by birth and breeding, while the Latin
inscription at upper left alludes to her virginal state, a key factor in marriage bargains
at the time: 'Lavinia the Virgin Daughter of Prospero Fontana depicted herself from
a mirror in the year 1575.' Two later versions of the composition, both dated 1577,
are known: the first, considered autograph, is in the Accademia San Luca, Rome,
and the other, a copy, is in the Uffizi, Florence (ibid., no. 4a. 12, pp. 72-74).
140
142
146
BERNARDINO DE' CONTI
(circa 1470-after 1523)
Portrait a lady from the Trivulzio family, three-quarter-length
inscribed with symbols and ' ANO 3 7' (lower edge)
oil on panel
4.2V2 x 30 in. (108 x 76.2 cm.)
$400,000-600,000
£270,000-400,000
€300,000-450,000
PROVENANCE:
Princess Mathilde Bonaparte (1820-1904), Paris.
Private collection, Frankfurt, by 1949.
(Possibly) with T. P. Grange, London, 1955.
with French & Co., New York, 1957.
Private collection.
LITERATURE:
W. Suida in Leonardo da Vinci Loan Exhibition,
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum, 3 June-
17 July 1949, p. 93 under no. 44.
Interior Design, September, 1957, p. 201, illustrated.
P. Trutty-Coohill, Studies in the School of Leonardo
da Vinci: Paintings in Public Collections in the United
States with a Chronology of the Activity of Leonardo
and his Pupils and a Catalogue of Auction Sales,
Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University,
August, 1982, pp. 136, 139, n. 6.
M. T. Fiorio, "Per il ritratto lombardo: Bernardino
de' Conti", Arte Lombarda, LXVIII/LXIX, 1984, p. 51,
under n. 45.
Fig. 1, Bernardino de' Conti, Gentleman of the
Trivulzio family, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit.
Bernardino dei Conti was among the leading portrait painters in late
quattrocento and early cinquecento Milan, where he worked for the
city's preeminent families. Influenced by the portraits of Leonardo da Vinci and
Ambrogio de Predis (c. 1455-after 1508), Bernardino was also inspired by the work
of Bartolomeo Veneto, who, in turn, drew from the art of Giorgione. Bernardino's
earliest portrait, completed 15 June 1496, depicts the child duke Francesco Sforza
(Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana, inv. 40446). Among the many portraits he painted for
the Visconti-Sforza court was a likeness of Francesco's mother, Isabella of Aragon,
Princess of Naples (1470-1524), the wife of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, the 6th Duke of
Milan (whereabouts unknown).
Between 1508 and 1522 Bernardino was likely in France, where he painted several
portraits of Charles II d'Amboise, governor of Milan under Louis XII. There he also
came in contact with members of the Milanese Trivulzio family, a number of whom
fought on behalf of the French Kings. The present three-quarter-length portrait
of an elegant woman in sumptuous costume and elaborate zazara (headdress) has
traditionally been identified as a lady from the Trivulzio family and as a pendant to a
painting in the Detroit Institute of Arts (inv. 38.80), entitled Gentleman of the Trivulzio
Family. This latter identification is based on a third picture by Bernardino, a Portrait
of Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (ex-Trivulzio collection, untraced), which is inscribed with
the sitter's name and repeats the same unusual background that is found in the two
pendants.
The Detroit sitter has sometimes been identified as Camillo Trivulzio
(see F. Malaguzzi Valeri, La Corte di Lodovico il Mow, Milan, 1915-1929, III, p. 56,
fig. 39), the natural son of Giangiacomo who was legitimized by a certificate of the
Conte Palatino, confirmed by Pope Maximilian I. Camillo was a military general
for the French and conducted Francis I on his triumphal entry into Milan after the
Battle of Marignano in 1515. The striking background may represent the colors of
the French Royal house (see P. Trutty-Coohill, op. ext., p. 136). Camillo married
Cecilia di Ambrogio del Maino who bore two children, Giangiacomo and Camillo.
If the identification of the Detroit picture as Camillo is confirmed, it may be assumed
that the present portrait represents his bride Cecilia, the pair of portraits perhaps
commissioned on the occasion of their marriage.
Whatever the circumstances of their origin, both the present and Detroit pictures
are characteristic works of Bernardino's mature period. The hairstyle of the sitter in
the present painting points to a date in the first decade of the 16th century, which
is also suggested by the costume of the male sitter. This dating is further supported
by the three-quarter-view format of both works, which was generally eschewed by
Milanese artists after 1500 in favor of a new model inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's
extraordinarily influential Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani (Cracow, Czartoryski Museum,
inv. XII-209), painted in the 1490s.
The present painting and its companion panel in Detroit were once in the collection
of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte (1820-1904), daughter of Jerome Bonaparte, King of
Westphalia, and niece of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was the former wife of Prince
Anatole Demidoff and a cousin of Emperor Napoleon III. Nicknamed "le plus beau
decollete d'Europe". Princesse Mathilde, herself a talented artist, was celebrated for
presiding over one of the most fashionable salons in Paris.
143
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
147
RAFFAELLO SANZIO, called RAPHAEL
(Urbino 1483-1520 Rome)
Saint Benedict receiving Maurus and Placidus
black and red chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, squared in black chalk,
partially indented with stylus, an added section of paper at the left of the sheet
14^2 x 1634 in. (36.8 x 41.3 cm.)
$1,000,000-1,500,000
£670,000-1,000,000
€750,000-1,100,000
PROVENANCE:
From a collection formed in Tuscany in the
18th century.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 19 April 1988,
lot 27, as 'Attributed to Raphael'.
Private collection, New York; on loan to the Fogg
Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
LITERATURE:
G. V.G. Shepherd, A monument to Pope Pius II:
Pinturicchio and Raphael in the Piccolomini Library
in Siena i4g4~iso8, Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard
University, 1993.
W. Andersen, 'A Wonderful Early Drawing by
Raphael', Drawing, XVI, no. 3, 1994, pp. 49-52,
illustrated.
T. Clifford and J. Dick, Raphael: The Pursuit of
Perfection, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, 1994,
under no. 30, fig. 53.
L. Kanter in G. Testa ed., La Cappella Nova, Milan,
1996, p. 95, note 2.
H. Chapman, T. Henry and C. Plazzotta, Raphael:
From Urbino to Rome, exhibition catalogue, London,
2004, p. 62, note 61.
T. Henry, 'Raphael and Siena', Apollo, October
2004, pp. 52-53, illustrated fig. 3.
T. Henry, 'Nuove prospettive per Raffaello prima
di Roma', Accademia Raffaello. Atti e Studi, 1, 2006,
pp. 89-110.
144
A remarkable early drawing by Raphael, this sheet can
be dated to circa 1503, at which time the young artist
was collaborating with Pinturicchio on the fresco cycle in the
Piccolomini Library, Siena. The composition later exerted a
significant influence on two frescoes in the Benedictine cycle at
the monastery of Monteoliveto Maggiore: that of Saint Benedict
receiving Maurus and Placidus by Sodoma (circa 1505), and that
of Saint Benedict sending Maurus to France and Placidus to Sicily by
Bartolommeo Neroni (1534).
Raphael's modellifor the Piccolomini Library
In 1503 the twenty-year-old Raphael was an independent
master, already recognized for his skill as a draftsman. According
to Vasari, he was invited to Siena by Pinturicchio (circa 1454-
1513), who had been commissioned in 1502, by Cardinal
Francesco Piccolomini (1439-1503), to decorate a new library
the cardinal had built beside the Duomo. The frescoes were to
show events from the life of the cardinal's uncle, Aeneas Silvius
Piccolomini, Pope Pius II (1405-1464). It is likely that Raphael
was only involved in the earlier stages of the commission,
executing compositional drawings for Pinturicchio but not
assisting with the actual execution of the frescoes. That would
date his involvement in the project to 1502-1503. Two of
his highly-finished drawings for the library are known: the
modello for The Departure of Aeneas Silvius for the Council of
Basel (Florence, Uffizi, inv. 520E; P. Joannides, The Drawings
of Raphael, Oxford, 1983, no. 56) and that for The Presentation
of Eleanora of Portugal to the Emperor Frederick III (New York,
Pierpont Morgan Library; Joannides 59).
The Morgan drawing (fig. 1) is especially important in
comparison to the present drawing, very close in style and
technique, with its compact, weighty figures and delicate
shading. In composition it also serves as an important prototype
for the present Saint Benedict. Both drawings utilize a striking
semi-circular arrangement of figures, in which the groups rising
at the outer edges of the scene draw the eye inwards and down
to focus on the serene encounter at the center. The present
sheet also shares with the Morgan drawing the framing device
of the horses' heads which terminate the composition on each
side. The most significant link between the two drawings,
however, is the figure of the Emperor at the lower center of
the Morgan sheet, which was virtually replicated in the form
of the man who presents his kneeling son on the left of the
Saint Benedict. In both drawings, this figure serves the same
compositional function: the strong diagonal acts as a bulwark
between the jostling crowds of the entourage and the calm at
the center of the composition.
The function and subject of the present drawing have
been debated. When it was sold in 1988, it was identified as a
preparatory design for the Piccolomini Library, showing The
Anti-Pope Felix V blessing his Sons. Although this subject did
not appear in the final decorative scheme, Raphael may have
provided designs for a range of episodes taken from Aeneas
Silvius's autobiographical Commentaries, allowing the patron to
select those that he wished to be included in the fresco cycle.
There is insufficient evidence to prove or disprove this theory:
the size and type of the paper is the same as that used for the
Piccolomini modelli, although the present sheet has been
trimmed at the top. Yet this could simply indicate that Raphael
used paper from the same source for various projects at this
time. However, if the drawing had initially been conceived for
the Piccolomini Library and then adapted for another purpose,
this would explain the presence of some reworking and the
highly unusual feature of an added piece of paper, obliterating
the artist's first idea for the man in the left foreground of the
drawing. The amended figure, on the added paper, is the one
which makes such a striking visual link with the Emperor
in the Presentation modello. Having recast the unused Felix
V composition as a different subject, for a different patron,
Raphael may have decided to introduce this imposing and
familiar figure. He was evidently fond of the pose, because he
would return to it again some ten years later in his Study for the
Madonna of the Fish (circa 1513; Florence, Uffizi, inv. 524E;
fig. 2; Clifford and Dick, loc. ext.). In this late drawing, which
again shows the man supporting a young boy, the relationship
between the figures is more complex, and reflects the greater
experience of the artist, and yet suggests the enduring appeal
that this pose held for Raphael.
The connection with Monteoliveto Maggiore
Whether or not the genesis of this drawing can be linked
to a lost scene of Felix V in the Piccolomini Library, there is
no doubt that it can be linked to the Benedictine monastic
community at Monteoliveto Maggiore. The central group of
the elderly bearded man and the kneeling young boys was used
by Sodoma (1477-1549) in his fresco of Saint Benedict receiving
Maurus and Placidus, executed for the monastery in about 1505
(fig. 3). There has been some debate over how Sodoma could
have known Raphael's drawing, as there is no documentation
that the two artists knew each other before their work in the
Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican in 1508. It is of course
possible that they could have met in Siena, but Tom Henry
proposed another hypothesis in his 2004 Apollo article: he
suggested that Raphael may have been invited to supply a
drawing to the community at Monteoliveto, prior to Sodoma's
commission, with a view to continuing Luca Signorelli's work
on the fresco cycle representing the Life of Saint Benedict.
Signorelli had executed a number of frescoes for the
monastery's cloister in 1498-1499, and by 1502-1503 it must
have become clear to the community that he would not
complete the entire cycle. It would therefore have become
necessary to find another artist to finish the frescoes and
Raphael, who had an established reputation and was known
to be working on another fresco project in nearby Siena,
would have been a natural choice. He might already have
been known to the monks, as there is evidence that he had
studied Signorelli's frescoes at the time he was preparing
designs for the Piccolomini Library. Contemporary copies of
Raphael's early drawings, in the Libretto in Venice, include a
Standing Man and a Study of Heads which show his awareness
of Signorelli's Monteoliveto frescoes (see Henry, 2004,
op. cit. y p. 53). Similarly, a drawing of Four standing Soldiers
at the Ashmolean (inv. WA1846.154) appears to copy figures
from Signorelli's frescoes of Benedict discovering Totila's Deceit and
Benedict recognizes and receives Totila. The Oxford drawing helps
to establish the date of Raphael's likely visit to Monteoliveto,
because it is a preparatory study for the Piccolomini fresco of
Aeneas Silvius crowned Poet Laureate by Frederick 111. This supports
the idea that the young artist visited the monastery on at least
one occasion around 1503, and it may have been while he was
copying Signorelli's frescoes for his own studies that he was
approached by the monks to complete the work that Signorelli
had left unfinished.
The present drawing, whether or not it was adapted from an
earlier composition, could have been presented by Raphael to
the community as a test-piece: a modello for one of the scenes
not yet painted by Signorelli. Even though Raphael did not take
on the Monteoliveto commission, returning instead to Perugia
and a commission for The Oddi Altarpiece, his drawing would
presumably have remained in the possession of the monastery
archives among other documents relating to the cloister
frescoes. This theory helps to explain how Sodoma could
have been familiar with the composition without necessarily
knowing Raphael in person. When he was contracted to paint
the remaining frescoes in 1505, he would have been shown
any pre-existing designs for the cycle and he may either have
been required to follow Raphael's design for the Saint Benedict
or have chosen to do so. More importantly, this would explain
how, twenty years later, Bartolommeo Neroni (circa 1505-
1571) could use Raphael's composition, far more extensively
than had Sodoma, for his fresco in the same cloister of Saint
Benedict sending Maurus to France and Placidus to Sicily (fig. 4).
In this fresco Neroni borrows the central three figures used
by Sodoma, transforming the kneeling boys into their adult
selves in the process, and also copies the monks who are
glimpsed directly behind Saint Benedict in the present drawing
— who do not appear in Sodoma's fresco. This must indicate
that Neroni had independent access to Raphael's drawing of
the composition, which in turn suggests that the sheet had
remained at Monteoliveto.
Style and Attribution
The sheet shows Raphael's draftsmanship at a moment of
transition, between the legacy he inherited from his Umbrian
forebears and the increasing fluidity and confidence of his
artistic maturity. As already noted, the formal arrangement of
figures and the plasticity of forms can be linked stylistically
to the Piccolomini Library modelli and to Raphael's earlier
works. However, the use of the brown wash is already
freer and more impressionistic than in the modello for The
Presentation, foreshadowing drawings of the Florentine period
such as the Studies for a Virgin and Child with Saint John (Oxford,
Ashmolean Museum, inv. WA1846.161; fig. 5; Joannides 112)
or the Modello for the Washington D.C. Saint George and the
Dragon (Washington, National Gallery of Art, B. 3 3, 667; fig. 6;
Joannides 119).
Since its sale in 1988, the leading scholars of Raphael's
drawings have unanimously accepted this sheet as an important
Fig. 1, Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael, Cardinal Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini Presents
Eleanor of Portugal to Emperor Frederick III, 1502-1504, The Pierpont Morgan Library,
New York / Art Resource, NY.
Fig. 2, Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael, Four figures (study for The Madonna of the Fish),
Uffizi, Florence / Scala / Art Resource, NY.
Fig. 3, Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, il Sodoma, Saint Benedict receiving Maurus and Placidus,
Monastery of Monteoliveto Maggiore, Siena, Marka / SuperStock.
Fig. 4, Bartolommeo Neroni, il Riccio, Saint Benedict sending Maurus to France and
Placidus to Sicily, 1534, Monastery of Monteoliveto Maggiore, Siena, De Agostini /
SuperStock.
Fig. 5, Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael, Studies for a Virgin and
Child with Saint John, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
addition to the young artist's oeuvre. John Shearman is
recorded as having endorsed the attribution on 11 January
1989, while Konrad Oberhuber wrote to the present owner on
10 September 1990 that he was convinced it was from the hand
of Raphael, later adding that he would include the drawing
in the next edition of his book on the artist's drawings. Paul
Joannides also confirmed his belief in the attribution in a letter
to the present owner dated 24 August 1990 (letters in the Fogg
Museum Archives; Andersen, op. cit., pp. 51-2). Tom Henry,
in his recent papers, has also concurred with the attribution
to Raphael and, in reassessing the evidence, explored how the
drawing can be connected to the artist's activity at this date.
The Subject
As Laurence Kanter was the first to recognize (Andersen,
op. cit., p. 50), Raphael's drawing represents one of the key
episodes in the history of the Benedictine Order: the moment
when Saint Benedict receives his first disciples. The Roman
youths Maurus and Placidus were given into Benedict's
protection by their respective fathers, Equitius and Tertullus,
who thereby showed their veneration and respect for the saint.
Maurus and Placidus usually appear together in Benedictine
legend and they share a feast day, 5 October. Entering Benedict's
community at Subiaco as children, they feature in one of the
earliest miracles of the order. Having been sent to draw water
from the lake near the monastery, the young Placidus lost
his footing and fell in. From within the monastery, Benedict
became aware of the danger and sent Maurus to find him.
Maurus saved his friend from drowning, but only afterwards
realized that he had walked on the water in order to do so; this
was explained as a miracle of Saint Benedict working through
Maurus. Placidus' father, Tertullus, later gave Saint Benedict
the lands on which the monastery of Monte Cassino was built
and the two young monks accompanied their founder to the
new mother-house. As grown men, they were significant for
their role in spreading the Benedictine rule to other dominions.
As shown in Neroni' s fresco, Maurus was sent to France, while
Placidus went to Sicily, where he is traditionally thought to
have been martyred by corsairs. He is now co-patron of the
city of Messina, while Saint Maurus is invoked for fever,
rheumatism, epilepsy and gout.
Despite the significance of the scene represented in the
present drawing, it is very rare in artistic representations
and Raphael's work was instrumental in establishing a new
iconography for these Benedictine saints, which later artists
could follow. However, the drawing is important for far more
than its subject. It provides an insight into artistic collaboration
during the Italian Renaissance and, more specifically, into
Raphael's role as a draftsman and designer at this early,
formative stage of his career. Furthermore, it testifies to the
respect and admiration which his contemporaries already felt
for his work. They were not only the much older Pinturicchio,
who recognized the young man's extraordinary talent and
invited Raphael to provide designs for the Piccolomini Library
in direct contravention of the terms of his contract, but also the
artists of Raphael's own generation — Sodoma and the younger
Neroni — who would acknowledge the continuing force and
power of this modello, up to thirty years after it was executed.
m
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
148
ALESSANDRO FILIPEPI, called SANDRO BOTTICELLI
(Florence 1444/45-1510)
'The Rockefeller Madonna' : Madonna and Child withYoung Saint John the Baptist
tempera, oil and gold on panel
1834 x 14^2 in. (46.3 x 36.8 cm.)
$5,000,000-7,000,000
£3 ,400,000-4,700,000
€3,800,000-5,200,000
PROVENANCE:
Charles Graham Somerwell, Baberton House,
Juniper Green; Christie's, London, 23 April 1887,
lot 149 (480 gns. to Noseda).
John Postle Heseltine, London.
with Lord Duveen, New York, 1925.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874-1960), by 1931, and
by descent to
Winthrop Paul Rockefeller (1912-1973), Morrilton,
Arkansas; Sotheby's, New York, 8 January 1981,
lot 101.
Gerald P. Gutterman, Bedford, New York.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 15 January
1987, lot 11.
Ishizuka Collection, Tokyo, 1987.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 21 May
1992, lot 38, where acquired by the present owner.
Private collection, New York.
EXHIBITED:
Edinburgh, Scottish Royal Academy, Loan Exhibition
of Works by Old Masters and Scottish National
Portraits, 1881, no. 511, as Botticelli.
London, Royal Academy, Exhibitions of Works by
The Old Masters, 1894, no. 169, as Botticelli.
London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1912,
no. 40, as Botticelli.
Mexico City, Connoisseur Art Gallery, A Botticelli
Masterpiece, May 1994, as Botticelli.
Santiago, Chile, Museo de Bellas Artes, Sandro
Botticelli, May 1995, as Botticelli.
Paris, Musee du Luxembourg, Botticelli. De Laurent
le Magnifique a Savonarole, 1 October 2003-22
February 2004, pp. 130-133, no. 13, as Botticelli.
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, Botticelli and Filippino,
Passion and Grace in Fifteenth-Century Florentine
Painting, 11 March-11 July 2004, pp. 206-209,
no. 30, as Botticelli.
LITERATURE:
H. Ulmann, Sandro Botticelli, Munich, 1893, p. 127,
as Botticelli.
H. P. Home, Alessandro Filipepi commonly called
Sandro Botticelli, Painter of Florence, London, 1908
(reprinted and Italian translation with addenda
edited by C. Caneva and G. Giusti) in H.P. Home,
Botticelli, Florence, 1986, p. 265, as Botticelli and
workshop.
W. von Bode, Sandro Botticelli, Berlin, 1921, p. 135
(English translation, London, 1926), as Botticelli
and workshop.
A. Venturi, Botticelli, Rome, 1925, p. 118, as
Botticelli's workshop.
W. von Bode, Botticelli: des Meisters Werke in 155
Abbildungen, Klassiker der Kunst, Berlin-Leipzig,
1926, p. 124, repeats 1908 attribution.
Y. Yashiro, Sandro Botticelli and the Florentine
Renaissance, revised ed., London, 1929, p. 224,
as Botticelli.
R. van Marie, The Development of the Italian Schools
of Painting, XII, The Hague, 1931, pp. 170-171, 222,
as Botticelli.
B. Berenson, The Italian Painters of the Renaissance,
London, 1932, p. 105, as Botticelli.
C. Gamba, Botticelli, Milan, 1936, p. 168, as
Botticelli.
J. Mesnil, Botticelli, Paris, 1938, p. 225, as Botticelli
and workshop.
R. Salvini, Tutta la pittura del Botticelli, 1485-1510,
Milan, 1958, II, p. 75, as Botticelli and workshop.
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance:
Florentine School, 1963, 1, p. 37, as Botticelli.
G. Mandel, L'opera completa di Botticelli, 1967,
p. 103, no. 116, as Botticelli.
R. Olson, Studies in the Later Works of Sandro
Botticelli, Ph. D dissertation, Princeton University,
1975, 1, pp. 210-211; II, fig. 200, as Botticelli's
school.
R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli, Berkeley, 1978, 1,
p. 155; II, pp. 84-85, no. B76, as Botticelli.
R. de Angel is, Todas las Pinturas de Botticelli, 1980,
p. 72, fig. 127A, as Botticelli.
R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli: life and work
(English edition), Milan, 1989, pp. 223-224, pi. 90,
as Botticelli.
R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli: life and work (Italian
edition), New York, 1989, pp. 223-224, pi. 90,
as Botticelli.
R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli: life and work (French
edition), Paris, 1990, 1, pp. 223-24; II, pp. 90, 381-
382, no. B76, as Botticelli.
B. Deimling, Sandro Botticelli 1444/45-1510,
Cologne, 1994, p. 67, as Botticelli.
'Botticelli L'hymne a la Grace', Paris Match, official
guide to the exhibition Botticelli. De Laurent le
Magnifique a Savonarole, Paris, September 2003,
pp. 6-7, as Botticelli.
'Botticelli L'hymne a la Grace', Paris Match,
September 2003, no. 2834, pp. 64-65, as Botticelli.
A. Yacob, 'La Vierge et L'Enfant adores par saint
Jean', L'Oeil - hors-serie, Botticelli. De Laurent le
Magnifique a Savonarole, April/June 2003, Paris,
p. 40, as Botticelli.
I. Schmitz, 'Botticelli. De Florence a Paris.
L'Automne du Quattrocento', Le Figaro, L'Oeil
- hors serie, Botticelli. De Laurent le Magnifique a
Savonarole, 2003, p. 108, as Botticelli.
M. Lacas, 'Visions Sacrees, reves poetiques.
Madoneau pavilion', Con naissa nee des Arts, Paris,
2003, p. 58, as Botticelli.
'L' exposition a la lupe, etude de quelques tableaux:
La Vierge et L'Enfant adores par saint Jean',
Le Spectacle du Monde, from the Botticelli series,
no. 14, Paris, 2003, pp. 50-51, as Botticelli.
C. Castandet, 'De Madone en Madone, les visages
s'intensifient', Beaux Arts collection , hors-serie
Botticelli, Paris, p. 36, as Botticelli.
A. Elorza, 'Botticelli: armomay turbacion', El Pais,
Madrid, 15 November 2003, p. 20, as Botticelli.
G. Cornini, 'Sandro Botticelli' in Botticelli e Filippino.
L'inquietudine e la grazia nella pittura fiorentin a del
Quattrocento, eds. D. Arasse, P. De Vecchi, and
J.K. Nelson, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Strozzi,
Florence, 11 March-11 July 2004, pp. 206-209,
no. 30, as Botticelli.
M. Boskovits, 'Una mostra su Botticelli e Filippino'
in Arte Cristiana, XCII, no. 825, November-
December 2004, pp. 418-419.
I, p. 74, as Botticelli.
E. Fahy, 'Botticelli' in Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. Dipinti
dal Medioevo alia meta del Cinquecento, Milan, 2005,
I, p. 74, as Botticelli.
H. Korner, Botticelli, Koln, 2006, p. 160, fig. 205,
p. 305, illustrated as Botticelli.
This charming picture shows the Virgin and Child seated
outdoors on a parapet decorated with a gilded relief.
Facing to the left, the Virgin holds the nude Christ child who
bends forward toward his cousin, the young Saint John the
Baptist. The latter — the patron saint of the city of Florence
— kneels on bended knee and clasps his hands in adoration; his
mantle is the same reddish purple as the Virgin's dress and his
belt echoes the color of her blue cloak. Beyond the parapet is
a sunny landscape with jagged rocks in the middle ground and
a winding river in the distance. The dimensions of the panel
suggest that it was intended for private devotional use. The
depiction of maternal and filial love made it eminently suitable
for the domestic market.
Some early writers such as Herbert Home (1908), Wilhelm
von Bode (1921), Adolfo Venturi (1925), and Jacques Mesnil
(1938) believed the painting involved some studio participation.
More recently Miklos Boskovits (2004) was uncertain of
the picture's status, but the attribution is generally accepted
by other scholars including Herman Ulmann (1893), Yukio
Yashiro (1925), Raimond van Marie (1931), Bernard Berenson
(1932), and Carlo Gamba (1936). After some initial doubts,
Richard Lightbown (1989) confirmed the attribution in the
second edition of his monograph, and in the new catalogue
of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the present author (2005)
concluded that it is "a late autograph work." Keith Christiansen
(verbally, 2009) and Laurence Kanter (verbally, 2009) agree.
For the dating there is a consensus favoring the early
1490s. The Virgin is comparable to the Virgin in the Cestello
Annunciation (c. 1489-1491) in the Uffizi. Her drapery has a
fluidity unlike the dry rigidity found in later works such as
the Mystic Nativity (dated 1500/ 1501) in the National Gallery,
London. Drawing attention to the relief panel, Kanter dates
the painting to about 1493. Christiansen, who notes that the
stylized rocky landscape is typical of Botticelli and not his
studio, dates it a few years later. The diaphanous veil that holds
back the Virgin's blonde tresses is a particularly Botticellian
detail that accentuates the sinuous grace of the picture. The
closest analogy for the figure type occurs in Botticelli's exquisite
tondo in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the so-called
Madonna del Padiglione, which most scholars date 1493 (fig. 1).
With regard to the relief, Lightbown (1989) wrote, "This is
one of the few direct quotations from the antique in Botticelli's
work, and its vigorous rendering of the densely moving forms
shows that Botticelli was as sensitive as any of his contemporaries
to the character and style of classical sculpture". The nude
horsemen and other details in the relief are picked out with
gold highlights, a technique he first used in his monumental
murals in the Sistine Chapel, especially for the reliefs on the
large triumphal arch in the Punishment of the Rebels (1481-1482).
The artist used the same gold for the striated haloes, the folds of
the Baptist's mantle, and the pattern on the Virgin's mantle (a
motif associated with the picture's first owner?). The relief has
been seen as a symbol of the world ante and extra Revelationem
(Cornini, 2004). Such an erudite interpretation may be valid;
but the relief may simply reflect late 15th-century interest in
antiquity, represented at exactly the same time by the Battle
of the Centaurs, carved by the sixteen-year-old Michelangelo
during the brief period from around 1491 to 1492 which he
spent with Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Everett Fahy
Fig. 1, Alessandro Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli, Madonna with Child and Three Angels,
c.1493 / Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan / The Bridgeman Art Library.
152
PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
149
BIAGIO DALLE LAME, called BIAGIO PUPINI
(Bologna, active 1511-1551)
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine
oil on panel
30% x 24% in. (76.5 x 62.9 cm.)
$40,000-60,000
£27,000-40,000
€30,000-45,000
PROVENANCE:
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 7 July 2000,
lot 74, as 'Girolamo da Carpi'.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York,
30 September 2005, lot 24.
According to Malvasia and other early sources, the Bolognese artist Biagio
Pupini was a pupil of Francesco Francia. Known to have been a gifted
musician, he is first recorded as a painter in 1511, when he collaborated with
Bartolomeo Ramenghi, called Bagnacavallo, on the now-lost fresco decorations in
the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Faenza. In 1525-1526, Pupini worked alongside
the Ferrarese artist Girolamo da Carpi on the fresco decorations in the sacristy of San
Michele a Bosco, Bologna, executing the figures of the Evangelists in the octagons on
the ceiling and Old Testament scenes in the lunettes. Painted in monochrome, these
latter scenes contain clear echoes of Polidoro da Caravaggio, likely reflecting a prior
visit by Pupini to Rome (A.M. Fioravanti Baraldi, 'Biagio Pupini detto dalle Lame,'
in V. Fortunati Pietrantonio (ed.), Pittura bolognese del '500, I, Bologna, 1986, p. 187).
From the mid- 1520s, Pupini's style was much inspired by that of Girolamo da Carpi,
and also reveals his awareness of Parmigianino, whose pictures painted in Bologna
between 1527-1530 had a major impact on artists in the city. Both influences are
reflected in the altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with Saints Cecilia, Stephen, John the
Baptist and Lucia of circa 1535 (Bologna, San Giuliano). In 1536, Pupini collaborated
with Girolamo da Carpi, Garofalo, Battista Dossi and others on the decorations in the
Villa d'Este at Belriguardo. In 1539, he was again in Bologna, where, around 1545,
he painted St. Ursula and her Companions for a chapel in the church of San Giacomo.
Perhaps Pupini's last known work, this altarpiece shows a cold, academic Raphaelism
with archaizing echoes of late quattrocento models of Bagnacavallo and Francia. In
1551, Pupini signed a codicil to his will, after which no further documents pertaining
to him are known (ibid., p. 189).
In an exceptionally good state of preservation, this lovely devotional panel
depicting the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine exemplifies Pupini's finest work of the
mid-l 530s. The morphology of drapery folds and the posture and typology of the
Christ child closely recall his above-mentioned Madonna and Child with Saints of circa
1535 in the church of San Giuliano, Bologna. The elegant features of the Madonna,
based on the models of Parmigianino as filtered through Girolamo da Carpi, are quite
similar as well. The classicizing profile of St. Catherine also depends on Girolamo's
interpretation of Parmigianino's female ideal, as seen, for example, in his pendentive
fresco of St. Ursula in the church of San Francesco in Ferrara of 1530, which Pupini
surely knew (see A.M. Fioravanti Baraldi, 'Girolamo Sellari detto da Carpi,' in
V. Fortunati Pietrantonio, op. cit., p. 221). The physiognomy of Joseph, on the other
hand, finds its closest parallel in that of the priest in Pupini's Marriage of the Virgin, also
datable to the mid- 1530s (Florence, Palazzo Pitti).
We are grateful to Professoressa Mina Gregori and to the late Dr. Mario di
Giampaolo for having independently confirmed the attribution to Pupini on the basis
of photographs.
154
155
150
GIROLAMO DA CARPI
(Ferrara circa 1501-1556?)
The Assumption of the Virgin
oil on panel, unframed
2l 5 /s x 16% in. (55 x 42.5 cm.)
$40,000-60,000
£27,000-40,000
€30,000-45,000
PROVENANCE:
(Possibly) Este family, Ferrara.
(Possibly) Margherita Gonzaga, duchess of Ferrara
(recorded in a 1586 inventory).
S. Pollack; Christie's, London, 29 June 1945, lot 150,
as 'Correggio'.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 9 March 1983,
lot 37 (£ 4,800).
LITERATURE:
(Possibly) Libro di debitor/, ecc. segnato B. Delia
munizione dellefabbriche, 1 586-1 sgi, A c 13, in A.
Venturi, Archivio Storico dell'Arte, Rome, 1888, 1,
p. 425 'Nela S da faciata verso il Corille uno quadro
dela Sensione de la Madona de m. GEROLAMO DA
CARPI...'.
This charming panel by Girolamo da Carpi, painter and decorator at the Este
court in Ferrara, depicts the Assumption of the Virgin. At lower left, the
diminutive figure of Saint Joseph raises his hands to receive Mary's girdle. Borne aloft
in a flurry of angels, Mary is an image of serenity as she gazes down towards earth. Her
vibrant robes and the warm light radiating behind her, in which ephemeral visages
of cherubim and seraphim materialize, underscore the otherworldliness of the scene.
Trained in the workshop of Garofalo (1481-1559) and exposed from an early stage
to the art of other Ferrarese painters like Dosso Dossi (c. 1486-1541/2), Girolamo was
also influenced by Raphael, whose work he saw in Bologna and in Rome. In Bologna
he also met Parmigianino, whose work was thereafter a strong influence, especially
his portraiture. According to Vasari, Girolamo studied the art of Titian and Giulio
Romano, as well as the monumental frescoes of Correggio in Modena and Parma.
The present panel was, in fact, once attributed to the latter master.
Girolamo was primarily active in Emilia, where his name first appears in the account
books of the Este court in 1537. He was much patronized by the Este in Ferrara. He
decorated the Palazzo della 'Montagna di Sotto', worked on the construction of the
Palazzo Naselli Crispi and on renovations to the Castello Estense, the ducal palace. In
the 1540s he also painted several works with allegorical and mythological themes for
Ercole II d'Este (1508-1559), Duke of Ferrara from 1534 until 1559.
The present lot may provide further evidence of Girolamo's relationship with
the Este family. An inventory from 1586 of the collections of Margherita Gonzaga
(1564-1618), Duchess of Ferrara after her marriage to Alfonso II d'Este (1533-1597)
in 1579, lists an Assumption of the Virgin by Girolamo da Carpi as in the room
facing the courtyard ('Nela Sda faciata verso il Cortille uno quadro dela Sensione de la
Madona de m. GEROLAMO DA CARPI') (see "Libro di debitori, segnato B, Della
munizione delle fabbriche", 1586-1591, in A. Venturi, Archivio storico dell'Arte, Rome,
1888, I, pp. 425-426). If identifiable as this picture, the present lot may have been
made for a member of the Este court and subsequently descended within the family
to Margherita' s husband.
Our thanks to Keith Christiansen for pointing out the possible reference in the
Gonzaga inventory.
156
157
PROPERTY OF AN IMPORTANT NEW YORK COLLECTOR
151
ANTONIO D'UBERTINO VERDI, called BACHIACCA
(Florence 1499-1572)
Portrait of a young lady holding a cat
oil on panel
21 H x 17% in. (53.6 x 43.8 cm.)
$500,000-800,000
£340,000-530,000
€380,000-600,000
PROVENANCE:
Charles Loeser, Florence.
Private collection, Florence (possibly Benedetti).
with French & Co., New York, 1981.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 12 January
1996, lot 187 ($442,500).
LITERATURE:
Le Triomphe du Manierisme Europeen de Michelange
au Greco, exhibition catalogue, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, 1955, p. 49, under no. 15,
as Francesco.
L. Nikolenko, Francesco Ubertini Called II Bacchiacca,
Locust Valley, New York, 1966, pp. 19, 52, fig. 50,
as Francesco.
G. Rosenthal, ed., Italian Paintings, XIV-XVIII th
centuries from the Collection of the Baltimore Museum
of Art, Baltimore, 1981, p. 94, as Francesco.
C. Nordenfalk, The five senses in late medieval
and Renaissance art' Journal of the Warburg and
Courtauld Institutes, XLVIII, 1985, p. 17,
as Francesco.
C. Colbert, Bacchiacca in the Context of Florentine art,
Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1978, pp. 77,
113, as 'possibly Carlo'.
S. Ferino Pagden, / cinque sensi nell'arte 'immagini
delsentire', Venice, 1996, p. 92, as Francesco.
R. La France, 'Franceso d'Ubertino Verdi, il
Bachiacca, 1494-1557: "Diligente Dipintore'",
Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York
University, 2002, no. 109, as 'possibly Antonio'.
R. La France, Bachiacca, Artist of the Medici Court,
Florence, 2008, pp. 286-287, no. 128, as 'Verdi
studio'.
Since this striking picture was last offered at Christie's in 1996, scholarship on
Bachiacca has been transformed by the pioneering work of Robert La France,
who in 2008 published an updated catalogue raisonne on the artist. One of his major
discoveries is that many works traditionally attributed to the artist known as Bachiacca
were in reality painted by numerous hands, all within a single family. The principal
figure within this group remains Francesco d'Ubertino Verdi, who first adopted the
nickname Bachiacca. In addition to Francesco, La France introduces the painter's
siblings, Bartolomeo, known as Baccio, and the younger brother Antonio, along with
the numerous children of all three brothers, all of whom worked as painters. Of these
Florentine artists, without question it was Francesco and Antonio who enjoyed the
most success, and thanks to La France's research, Antonio can now be recognized as
a true master of Renaissance Florence.
Antonio was born on 6 February 1499, the third son of the goldsmith Ubertino di
Bartolomeo and his wife Francesca di Benedetto di Niccolo, a manuscript illuminator.
Following in his elder brothers' footsteps, Antonio joined the painter's guild (Arte de'
Medici e Speziali) in 1532. By 1542 he was working in the Medici court of Cosimo
I and Eleonora of Toledo alongside his brother, Francesco, who had already entered
into the ducal service two years earlier. While Antonio is documented as primarily
working as an embroiderer, designing collars, capes, pillows adorned with gold and
pearls, and other luxurious objects for the duchess, the two brothers received identical
salaries and both are recorded in the account books under the moniker 'Bachiacca'
(La France, op. ext., 2008, pp. 34 and 78). In fact, Antonio was so renowned and his talents
so admired that Benedetto Varchi (1503-1565), the celebrated Florentine humanist
and poet, lauded him in a sonnet, declaring Antonio's embroideries so beautiful and
many that 'after you [Antonio], the major [artists] would be minor' (for the complete
poem, see La France, op. ext., 2008, p. 34). At the end of his poem, Varchi lists
Antonio along with the sculptors and painters Cellini, Michelangelo, and Bronzino,
as among the great artists who have embellished Florence with their varied creations.
Giorgio Vasari similarly praised Antonio's talents as an embroiderer, yet Antonio also
described himself as a painter on numerous occasions, including the ducal census
of 1562, indicating that he, like so many of his contemporaries, worked in diverse
media. Antonio and Francesco married sisters, Dorotea and Tommasa, the daughters
of an apothecary, and their many children continued the Bachiacca workshop for
several decades after Francesco's death, apparently also using the nickname Bachiacca
(La France, op. cit., 2008, pp. 36-38).
In the 19th century, the present painting was owned by the great connoisseur
and expatriate Charles Alexander Loeser (1864-1928), a friend and fellow Harvard
graduate of Bernard Berenson, much of whose collection is now housed in the Palazzo
Vecchio in Florence. Associated with Bachiacca by Millard Meiss around 1932 (see La
France, op. cit., 2008, p. 286), the picture was first published as by Francesco in 1955
(Le Triomphe du Manierisme Europeen, op. cit.). Since the 1950s, it has been consistently
published as an autograph painting by Francesco, with two notable exceptions: in his
1978 dissertation on the artist, Charles Colbert suggested the portrait may have been
painted by Francesco's son, Carlo and, more recently, La France proposed Antonio as
its author (see below).
158
159
The present portrait owes a great deal to Leonardo da Vinci's
celebrated Lady with an Ermine of circa 1490 (fig. 1). In both,
a beautiful young woman cradles a domesticated animal while
turning to look over her left shoulder. Leonardo's portrait
almost certainly represents Cecilia Gallerani, the famed mistress
of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. The ermine may thus
refer to the sitter's surname, while alluding to Sforza's receiving
the Order of the Ermine in the year the portrait may have been
painted. Cecilia's reserved and dignified gaze toward her unseen
lord is mirrored by that of the faithful and pure ermine in her
hands, as would befit a lady of the court. Bachiacca's model,
conversely, directly engages her viewer with a coquettish and
confident glance, which is delightfully echoed by her cat.
Unlike the ermine, which Renaissance authors associated with
virginity, purity and moderation, the female cat was understood
to be an overtly libidinous animal (see P.H. Jolly, 'Antonello
da Messina's Saint Jerome in His Study: An Iconographic
Analysis', The Art Bulletin, LXV, no. 2, June 1983, pp. 245-
246, esp. note 36). This erotic overtone is underscored by the
sensual manner in which Bachiacca's woman caresses her pet.
Read as an object of sexual temptation, Bachiacca's model,
with her seductive expression, elaborate jewelry, and perhaps
most importantly, her bright yellow dress, has been thought
by some scholars to represent a courtesan. This theory was first
advanced by Luisa Marcucci (op. cit.), who suggested that she
was none other than Pantasilea, the notorious Roman courtesan
with whom, according to Benvenuto Cellini, Francesco
Bachiacca became hopelessly smitten. In Renaissance Italy,
most cities enacted sumptuary laws requiring prostitutes to wear
yellow, often in the form of scarves or veils. Pearls were also
Fig. 1, Leonardo da Vinci, The Lady with the Ermine (Cecilia Gallerani), 1496
/ © Czartoryski Museum, Cracow / The Bridgeman Art Library.
linked with courtesans as they were often given to them in lieu
of payment (see L. Wolk-Simon, 'Rapture to the Greedy Eyes':
Profane Love in the Renaissance', in A. Bayer ed., The Art of
Love in Renaissance Italy, exhibition catalogue, New Haven and
London, 2003, p. 47). Similarly conspicuous displays of jewelry
can be seen in contemporary portraits of courtesans, such as
the erotically-charged picture in the Worcester Art Museum,
which was likely painted by Domenico Tintoretto and is often
identified as a portrait of the Venetian poet and courtesan
Veronica Franco (see P. Rossi, Jacopo Tintoretto: V opera completa,
I, i ritratti, Venice, [1974], p. 154). However, the mere presence
of pearls does not necessarily transmit an obvious intent. Indeed,
much of the ornamentation that the sitter wears, particularly the
delicate gold embroidery of the collar and its exquisite, pearl-
encrusted brooch, likely reflects the kind of precious objects
that Antonio designed for the ladies of the Medici court.
Marcucci's theory was advanced by Lada Nikolenko (op. cit.),
who dated the painting to 1525-1530, and further observed that
the facial type is common in Bachiacca's work. Indeed, the
sitter's features are remarkably similar to those of Francesco
Bachiacca's Mary Magdalene in the Pitti Palace, Florence and
his Allegorical Portrait of a Woman and Child, in the Fisher Art
Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, often
thought to represent a courtesan. Further similarities in the
pose and physiognomy may be found in Francesco's Portrait
of a woman with a lynx (Gemaldegalerie, Berlin) and perhaps
even more to his Virgin with Child in the Baltimore Museum of
Art. As La France has observed, the elaborate coiffure, fanciful
headdress and braided lock of hair which falls in front of the
sitter's ear in the present painting seem to have been inspired
by Michelangelo's so-called Divine head (GDSU, Florence, n.
598E r), a drawing depicting a bare-breasted woman in profile.
He has therefore suggested that our sitter's physiognomy is
based on the drawing - perhaps with additional inspiration
from northern models, such as those of Ambrosius Benson and
the Master of the Female Half-lengths — rather than being a
portrait of a specific individual (op. cit., 2008, pp. 209-210).
In his 2008 monograph, La France describes this painting as
"a high quality work" produced by an artist who was intimately
familiar with the style of, and perhaps even supervised by,
Francesco; namely his younger brother Antonio (Joe. cit.).
While citing similarities to Francesco's Pitti Magdalene and his
Los Angeles Allegorical Portrait, La France argues that the Portrait
of a young lady with a cat is stylistically closer to the Virgin
and Child with St. John the Baptist in the Gemaldegalerie Alte
Meister, Dresden and the Annunciation with Saints Sebastian,
Nicholas of Bari and Roch altarpiece in Colle di Val d'Elsa. Both
of these latter paintings, La France suggests, should now be
given to Antonio and not, as they have in the past, to Francesco
(op. cit., 2008, pp. 286-287). Noting a similar treatment of the
facial features and profiles, the articulation of the networks of
braids and curls in the figures' hair and other details, La France
proposes that all three works should serve as the foundation for
assembling the oeuvre of Antonio Bachiacca.
We are grateful to Robert La France for his assistance with
the cataloguing of this picture.
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
152
AGNOLO BRONZINO
(Florence 1503-1572)
Portrait of a young man with a book
oil on panel
37 x 30% in. (94 x 78 cm.)
$12,000,000-18,000,000
£8,000,000-12,000,000
€9,000,000-13,000,000
PROVENANCE:
Corsini Collection, Palazzo Corsini, Florence,
by 1842.
Private collection.
LITERATURE:
F. Fantozzi, Nuova guida, ovvero descrizione storico-
artistico-critica della citta e contorni di Firenze,
Florence, 1842, p. 556: 'Uomo che scrive. di A. del
Sarto'.
G. Francois, Nuova guida della citta di Firenze ossia
descrizione di tutte le cose che vi si trovano degne
d'osservazione con pianta e vedute, Florence, 1853,
p. 150: 'Uomo che scrive, di A. Del Sarto'.
U. Medici, Catalogo della galleria del Principi Corsini
in Firenze, Florence, 1886, p. 17, no. 17: 'CARRUCCI
JACOPO (detto il Pontormo) - Ritratto di uomo in
costume fiorentino del Secolo XVI. - mez. fig. gra.
nat. Tav. al. m. 0,94, lar. m. 0,78'.
F.M. Qappjacopo Carucci da Pontormo, New Haven
and London, 1916, pp. 202-203, no. 17, as not by
Pontormo.
C. Gamba, // Pontormo. Piccola Collezione D'Arte N.
15, Florence, 1921, pi. 45, as Pontormo.
J. Alazard, Le portrait Florentin de Botticelli a
Bronzino, Paris, 1924, p. 177, n. 2, as school of
Pontormo.
C. Gamba, Contributo alia conoscenza del Pontormo,
Florence, 1956, p. 16, as Pontormo.
Fifty Treasures of the Dayton Art Institute, Dayton,
1969, p. 70, under no. 21; p. 133, fig. 5, as not by
Pontormo.
P. Costamagna, Pontormo, Milan, 1994,
pp. 310, 311, no. A91.1 as a copy or replica of the
ex-Lanfranconi picture.
The present portrait will be published in a
forthcoming article by Dr. Carlo Falciani, curator of
the exhibition, Bronzino. Artist and Poet at the Court
of the Medici, held at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
2010-2011.
This arresting Portrait of a young man with a book constitutes a remarkable new
addition to the oeuvre of Agnolo Bronzino, considered one of the greatest
portrait painters of the Italian Renaissance. Bronzino's first biographer, Giorgio Vasari,
singled out his portraits of Florentine citizens and the Medici family for particular
praise, writing in 1568 that "they were all very natural, executed with incredible
diligence, and finished so well that nothing more could be desired" (G. Vasari, Le vite
de'piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, et architettori, eds. R. Bettarini and P. Barocchi, Florence,
1966-1987, VI, p. 232). Bronzino's portraits were much sought after from early in
his career, and by the beginning of the 1540s he had become the leading portraitist in
Florence. In 1540, Cosimo de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, appointed Bronzino
official court painter, a post he held for most of the rest of his career. Among the
best-known works painted for the Duke and his wife, the Duchess Eleonora, are the
decorations of the Eleonora chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, with scenes from
the Old and New Testament (1540-1545), and the great allegory, Venus, Cupid, Folly
and Time, (c. 1544-1545), now preserved in the National Gallery, London. However,
it is Bronzino's cool, stylized, and technically dazzling portraits of the Duke, Duchess,
and members of the court that are most celebrated, and, indeed, exerted a profound
influence on European court portraiture for over a century. His classic formulations
held a special fascination for later famed practitioners of portraiture as well, including
Ingres and David in the 19th century, and Frida Kahlo, Picasso and Matisse in
the 20th.
Recently rediscovered, the Portrait of a young man with a book is among Bronzino's
earliest known portraits, datable to the time he was most closely associated with his
teacher, Jacopo Pontormo, (1494-1557). Much inspired by the muted elegance of
Pontormo's private portraiture but already highly accomplished in its own right, the
Portrait of a young man with a book testifies not only to the close relationship between
two great masters of the Florentine Renaissance, but also serves as an eloquent prelude
to Bronzino's brilliant career in this genre. Quintessentially Florentine, this rare
survival from the early cinquecento is among the most important Renaissance portraits
remaining in private hands.
162
Fig. 1, Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait of Lorenzo Lenzi, Castello Sforzesco,
Milan.
This Portrait of a Young Man with a Book is mentioned in 19th-century guides
to the Corsini Gallery in Florence, beginning with that of Federigo Fantozzi,
who in 1842 listed it as by Andrea del Sarto, an attribution repeated by Giuseppe
Francois in his 1853 guide to the city. Ulderico Medici was the first to ascribe the
portrait to Pontormo in his catalogue of the Corsini Gallery of 1886. But apart from
these brief references, intended for visitors to the only private art gallery in Florence
capable of vying with the famed Medici Collections, the portrait enjoyed little critical
acclaim, and art historians only heard of it again recently. All of this is confirmed by
the fact that no critics, among the few who studied the work after Gamba in 1921,
report having physically seen the painting. They only knew a black and white picture
taken by Alinari at the beginning of the 20th century and used in a few ensuing
publications. The only explanation for such oblivion is that maybe, some time after
1921, when Bernard Berenson discovered a second version of the painting, the
original left the Galleria Corsini and disappeared into other private collections, where
it was considered relatively unimportant.
Clapp was the first critic to study the painting. However, he rejected the
traditional attribution to Pontormo and, in his 1916 monograph on the artist, it is
"ascribed to Pontormo, but neither the colouring, nor the modelling, nor yet the
morphology of the figure are his. A copy of this portrait, identical in size, passed
from the Lanfranconi Collection, which was sold in Cologne in 1895, into the
Sedelmeyer Collection". In the catalogue entry there is a reference to Alinari picture
no. 4198. According to Clapp, the second panel, which was previously in the
Lanfranconi Collection, was "a late sixteenth century copy of the portrait erroneously
ascribed to Pontormo in the Corsini Collection in Florence". (Clapp, op. ext.,
pp. 202-203; for the ex-Lanfranconi painting, see the catalogue of the Dayton Art
Institute, Fifty Treasures of The Dayton Art Institute, op. at., p. 168).
As mentioned above, the Florentine panel was published by Carlo Gamba in 1921
in his brief monograph on Pontormo in Alinari's Piccola collezione d'arte (illustration n.
45). However, Gamba does not mention the painting in his brief introductory essay,
and the attribution is confirmed only by the presence of the picture in the plates; in
addition, there are no notes explaining the reasons which led the critic to accept the
traditional attribution to Pontormo. In the Alinari picture published by Gamba, we
can see that the panel is split right down the middle: the crack, previously reported
164
by Clapp, is clearly visible as it runs from top to bottom through the left cheekbone.
This crack, along with certain formal differences, distinguishes this panel beyond all
reasonable doubt from that of Lanfranconi version, where the man has a rounder face
and the rendering of his eyes is softer.
Jean Alazard discussed the painting in the Corsini Collection in his book Le portrait
Florentin de Botticelli a Bronzino, of 1924. He rejected the attribution to Pontormo
and highlighted the fact that, in his opinion, the "faiblesse du modele de la figure et
des mains et le coloris disgracieux du visage semblent indiquer une oeuvre d'ecole"
(Alazard, op. cit., p. 177. n. 2). By general consent, the painting was no longer
attributed to Pontormo and art history seemed to forget about it until the 1950s, when
Carlo Gamba wrote about it again, although he did not publish a new picture of the
painting because he preferred the Lanfranconi version, which in the meantime had
passed into an American collection. Gamba wrote:
In the Piccola collezione d'Arte I ascribed to Pontormo a portrait in the
Corsini Collection generally not accepted as his by art critics. Many
scholars say that it is in the tradition of the northern school: they
mention different portraits relying on the same stylistic features as
examples. Nevertheless, the rendering of the eyes, the mouth and the
folds in the clothing are compatible with Jacopo's style around 1535,
Fig. 2, Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait ofGuidobaldo delta Rovere, Duke ofUrbino / Palazzo Pitti, Florence /
The Bridgeman Art Library.
and in particular with his style in the beautiful portrait of a young man
that passed from Rinuccini to Trivulzio and which can be now admired
in the Castello Sforzesco [the reference is to the Portrait of Lorenzo Lenzi,
now attributed to Bronzino; fig. l]. Here too, the uniform greenish
background shows how Pontormo's portraiture had been inspired by
models from northern Europe. I reproduce here a second version of it,
which is to be found in the Booth Tarkington Collection, Indianapolis.
B. Berenson was so kind as to give me the picture of it. We should
see the two paintings side by side in order to choose the best version
(Gamba, 1956, op. ext., p. 16).
Gamba emphatically uses the 'past' and 'conditional' tenses — 'I ascribed',
'we should see them' — as though the comparison he yearned to make was no
longer possible owing to the fact that one of the paintings was nowhere to be found.
(Costamagna, on p. 311 of his monograph on Pontormo, says that the painting under
discussion was no longer in the Corsini Collection after the Second World War.)
And sure enough, Gamba publishes only the picture of the (formerly Lanfranconi,
subsequently) Tarkington panel. In addition, he does not say if the portrait is still to
be found in the Corsini Collection; he only says that he published this work in 1921
when it was in the collection. This statement should be intrepreted also in the light
of the absence of the painting or any mention of it in subsequent monographs and
exhibitions devoted to Pontormo, particularly the exhibition, Pontormo del primo
manierismo fiorentino, curated by Luciano Berti in 1956, where numerous works from
Florentine private collections were put on public display, but the Corsini painting
was neither exhibited nor mentioned. Nor, indeed, was the painting among those
chosen to represent the 16th-century Tuscan school in the famous exhibition held at
the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence in 1940, Mostra del Cinquecento Toscano. We can only
presume once again that the reasons underlying its obscurity are to be found in its
fate at the hands of unknown collectors; the painting had lost its appeal and so it
was assigned less importance and downgraded to the rank of a work by a member of
Pontormo's workshop. No other study on Pontormo mentions the portrait until the
monograph by Philippe Costamagna in 1994. Like Gamba, he admits that he could
not see the painting. The only trace we can find of it, and then only as a reminder
of its troubled attribution, is in the catalogue of the collection of the Dayton Art
Institute, which had acquired the other version of the painting (the Lanfranconi-
Tarkington version). The author of the entry rejects the attribution of the Corsini
painting to Pontormo, confining himself to reproducing the Alinari picture and the
same information as that published by Gamba in 1921 {Fifty Treasures, op. cit., p. 70).
Philippe Costamagna chronicled the many different phases of the painting's critical
history in his study on Pontormo in 1994. He agreed with what Gamba had previously
said and, once again, published only the Lanfranconi version as he considered it to
be of higher quality than the Corsini painting. However, Costamagna rejected the
attribution of both paintings to Pontormo and ascribed the Lanfranconi version to
Bronzino, while writing that the Corsini panel is not only lost, but a copy of the
Lanfranconi version (Costamagna, op. cit., pp. 310-311). In any event, Costamagna
draws attention to the fact that he could not see the two paintings physically because
all trace of them had been lost (the Lanfranconi version had entered the Dayton Art
Institute in 1949 and had been downgraded in the meantime to the status of a work
by an apprentice; it was auctioned by Christie's on 18 January 1984).
Between 2010 and 2011, I had the opportunity to examine the painting under
discussion on fully three separate occasions. I saw it in New York and again while
it was being cleaned in a conservation laboratory in Figline Valdarno in December
2010. I also had the good fortune to compare it with other works by Pontormo and
Bronzino while I was arranging the exhibition Bronzino. Artist and Poet at the Court
of the Medici. This series of coincidences helped me to analyze the painting in some
166
depth. It also led me to draw different conclusions from those of the critics who had
only studied the painting in the old photograph, without having had a chance see it.
The painting depicts a young man dressed in black secular garb, sitting at a
worktable covered with a green cloth. The fingers of his left hand are leafing through
the pages of a hand-written book while he holds a quill in his right hand, his pose
appearing to suggest that he has just finished writing. The pages of the book are
written in ink as though it were a notebook of some kind, but they are quite unusual:
some sentences seem to be crossed out while others appear to have been rewritten,
and there are words written crossways on the page as though to suggest a gloss added
as an afterthought. In portraits with books, the painter usually depicts printed books
or headed writing paper but in this case, since we cannot read the individual words,
the book probably hints at his profession: a man of letters or a civil servant versed in
the use of coded writing. The short, reddish beard of his young face suggests that he
is probably aged between 20 and 30, and even if it is not possible to establish his true
identity, we may assume that he is a Florentine intellectual of the same period as the
painter who portrayed him, a conjecture suggested both by the friendly tone of his
pose and gaze, and by the rapid brushwork. The paintwork, still in perfect condition,
was originally applied in a very thin layer with a firm and rapid hand. The only
visible sign of deterioration is the vertical crack that caused the panel to divide into
two pieces. The crack has been successfully restored by simply repairing the wood
and making good the painted surface. The sitter's eyes are truly alive and the painting
is both of exceptionally high quality and, at the same time, surprisingly severe in its
reduced palette. The artist's choices are very clearly in evidence and the style is of such
a high standard that the painting cannot be attributed to a mere follower of Pontormo.
In fact, it is possible to identify its author with greater certainty.
The first obvious stylistic reference is to Pontormo, as we can see in the structure
of the portrait, in the influence of the northern European school and in the ovoid
silhouette of the face with the wide-open, sparkling, rounded eyes that are another
of the characteristic features of Pontormo's style. One has but to compare it with
the faces in the fresco in Poggio a Caiano or with the tondi painted for the Capponi
Chapel in Santa Felicita. The depiction of the soft, tapering hands with their small,
oval nails also echoes Pontormo's style, as does the manner in which the black
tunic is rendered, the differences in the grain of the fabric being portrayed with
small black-on-black brushstrokes with tiny variations of shade reminiscent of the
coat worn by Alessandro de' Medici in Pontormo's portrait of him in the John G.
Johnson Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art. The elegantly tapering hands recur
in such works as the Visitation in Carmignano, or again in the Philadelphia Portrait of
Alessandro de } Medici, where we can also detect a similar tendency to cause the figure
to emerge from an almost monochrome black background, an expedient invented by
Leonardo to which Pontormo resorted in many of his works, the most representative
of which is the double portrait now in the Fondazione Cini in Venice.
Yet in this Portrait of a Young Man with a Book there are other elements which
are unknown in Pontormo's work and which point us in the direction of his most
famous pupil, Agnolo Bronzino, whose style, Giorgio Vasari tells us, was not easy to
distinguish from that of Jacopo Pontormo in the years when master and pupil were
working together on the Evangelist tondi for the Capponi Chapel in Santa Felicita.
Vasari was writing about the years between 1525 and 1528, before Bronzino's
departure for Pesaro in 1530. Sure enough, while it is difficult to tell the two
artists' styles apart in the Capponi Evangelists, Bronzino's painting tended thereafter
to become increasingly polished and compact, the artist focusing increasingly on
rendering the tactile evidence of nature as revealed to the senses. The Portrait of
Lorenzo Lenzi (fig. 1), a young poet who was a friend and pupil of Benedetto Varchi,
is generally dated to shortly before Bronzino's journey to Pesaro, although it has been
attributed to Pontormo in the past, and even Gamba himself, believing it to be by
Pontormo, compared it to the portrait under discussion here in 1956. In his Portrait
of Lorenzo Lenzi, Bronzino embarks on a style of painting capable of rendering the
168
Fig. 3, Agnolo Bronzino, The Holy Family, Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Fig. 4, Agnolo Bronzino, The Dead Christ with the Virgin and St. Mary Magdalene / Galleria
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. degli Uffizi, Florence / The Bridgeman Art Library.
tactile nature of the tunic's fabric and a clarity in the modelling of the face, the most
direct precedent for which is to be found in this Portrait of a Young Man with a Book.
In this panel too, the face is defined, albeit more rapidly, with a style of painting that
imparts solid and luminous volume to it — a feature that most readily distinguishes
Bronzino's painting from that of Pontormo. Also the tapering and supple hands with
their soft, wavering, cylindrical fingers, while based on Pontormo's style, are almost
identical with the hands of the sitter in the Portrait of Guidobaldo delta Rovere in the
Galleria Palatina di Palazzo Pitti in Florence, which Bronzino painted at the end of
his stay in Pesaro in 1532 (fig. 2).
Yet the comparison with two earlier works by Bronzino is necessary to approach
the dating of this portrait. Specific similarities both in the rapid yet soft brushwork and
in the way the faces are drawn are also to be found in the Holy Family with St. Elisabeth
and the Infant St. John the Baptist of c. 1526-1 528 in the National Gallery of Art in
Washington (fig. 3). In particular, the Infant St. John's face is painted with the same
confidence as we see in this portrait, with the same determination to impart fleshy
brilliance to the surface of the eyelids and to the sitter's lineaments. Also identical are
the vibrant, liquid brushstrokes defining the pages of the book — as soft as wax — in
this portrait and St. Elisabeth's lined skin in the Washington Holy Family.
Further comparisons may be made with the Lamentation over the Dead Christ in the
Uffizi (fig. 4), which Bronzino painted around 1529, where the Magdalene's oval face
has the same polished surface over which the light flows with intense clarity, defining
the purity and fullness of her cheeks and eyes.
In conclusion, all of the above features come together to suggest the attribution
of this outstanding portrait, which has finally come to light again after decades
of oblivion, to take up its rightful place at the heart of the study of Florentine
16th-century painting, to the hand of Agnolo Bronzino, who must have painted it in
strict adherence to Pontormo's style between 1525 and 1527.
Carlo Falciani
Florence, 20 May 2012 159
End of Sale
To be offered in the Old Master & British Drawings & Watercolors Sale on 31 January 2013
FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
GIROLAMO FRANCESCO MAZZOLA, IL PARMIGIANINO
(Parma 1503-15 40 Casalmaggiore)
Head of a bearded man in profile facing left, possibly a self-portrait
with number '238-845' (on the mount)
traces of black chalk, pen and brown ink
6V2 x 4 3 A in. (16.8 x 12.3 cm.)
$300,000-500,000
£200,000-330,000
€230,000-370,000
PROVENANCE:
Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel.
William, 2nd Duke of Devonshire (L.718), and by
descent to
The Duke of Devonshire and the Trustees of the
Chatsworth Settlement; Christie's, London, 3 July
1984, lot 32, where purchased by Richard Day for a
New York private collection.
EXHIBITED:
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, and
elsewhere (International Exhibitions Foundation),
Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth, 1969-70,
catalogue ed. J. Byam Shaw, no. 51.
London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Old Master
Drawings from Chatsworth, 1973-4, no - 5 1 -
London, British Museum, and New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Correggio and
Parmigianino: Master Draughtsmen of the
Renaissance, 2000-1, no. 96.
LITERATURE:
A.E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of
Parmigianino, London, 1971, no. 723, pi. 296.
J. Wood, 'Inigo Jones, Italian Art and the Practice of
Drawing', The Art Bulletin, LXXIV, no. 3, June 1992,
p. 253, fig. 23.
M. Jaffe, The Devonshire Collection of Italian
Drawings: Bolognese and Emilian Schools, London,
1994, p. 264, no. 705.
A. Gnann, Parmigianino: die Zeichnungen,
Petersberg, 2008, 1, p. 444, no. 591; II, p. 467
(where the location is incorrectly given as
Chatsworth).
ENGRAVED:
Etched by L. Vorsterman, in reverse (fig. 2;
Hollstein 40).
170
Important Notices and Explanation of
Cataloguing Practice
IMPORTANT NOTICES
CHRISTIE'S INTEREST IN PROPERTY
CONSIGNED FOR AUCTION
From time to time, Christie's may offer a lot which
it owns in whole or in part. Such property is
identified in the catalogue with the symbol A next to
its lot number.
On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial
interest in lots consigned for sale, which may
include guaranteeing a minimum price or making
an advance to the consignor that is secured solely
by consigned property. Such property is identified
in the catalogue with the symbol ° next to the lot
number. This symbol will be used both in cases
where Christie's holds the financial interest on its
own, and in cases where Christie's has financed all
or part of such interest through third parties. When
a third party agrees to finance all or part of Christie's
interest in a lot, it takes on all or part of the risk of
the lot not being sold, and will be remunerated in
exchange for accepting this risk. The third party
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against the final purchase price. If the lot is not sold,
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number, Christie's guarantee of a minimum price
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ALL DIMENSIONS ARE APPROXIMATE
CONDITION REPORTS
Christie's catalogues include references to condition
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Condition reports are provided as a service to
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PROPERTY INCORPORATING MATERIALS
FROM ENDANGERED AND OTHER
PROTECTED SPECIES
Property made of or incorporating (irrespective
of percentage) endangered and other protected
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EXPLANATION OF
CATALOGUING PRACTICE
FOR PICTURES, DRAWINGS, PRINTS
AND MINIATURES
1. FRANCESCO GUARDI
In Christie's opinion a work by the artist.
2. Attributed to FRANCESCO GUARDI*
In Christie's qualified opinion a work of the period of
the artist which may be in whole or part the work of
the artist.
3. Circle of FRANCESCO GUARDI*
In Christie's qualified opinion a work of the period of
the artist and closely related in his style.
4. Studio of . . .
Workshop of FRANCESCO GUARDI*
In Christie's qualified opinion a work possibly
executed under the supervision of the artist.
5. School of FRANCESCO GUARDI*
In Christie's qualified opinion a work by a pupil or
follower of the artist.
6. Manner of FRANCESCO GUARDI*
In Christie's qualified opinion a work in the style of
the artist, possibly of a later period.
7. After FRANCESCO GUARDI*
In Christie's qualified opinion a copy of the work of
the artist.
8. 'signed'
Has a signature which in Christie's qualified opinion is
the signature of the artist.
9. 'bears signature'
Has a signature which in Christie's qualified opinion
might be the signature of the artist.
10. 'dated'
Is so dated and in Christie's qualified opinion was
executed at about that date.
1 1 . 'bears date'
Is so dated and in Christie's qualified opinion may have
been executed at about that date.
*This term and its definition in this Explanation of
Cataloguing Practice are a qualified statement as to
Authorship. While the use of this term is based upon
careful study and represents the opinion of experts,
Christie's and the consignor assume no risk, liability
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FOR SCULPTURE
Terms used in this catalogue have the meanings
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LIMITED WARRANTY.
1. AUGUSTE RODIN
(artist's first name or names and his last name)
In Christie's opinion a work by the artist. In the case
of a bronze or other multiple, the work has been cast
with the artist's consent or that of his estate either
during his lifetime or shortly thereafter. In the case of a
marble, wood or other hand carved medium, the work
has been carved by the artist or by his studio under his
supervision.
2. Attributed to AUGUSTE RODIN*
In Christie's qualified opinion, a work of the period
of the artist which may be the work of the artist as
described previously.
3. After AUGUSTE RODIN*
In Christie's qualified opinion, a later unauthorized
copy after a work by the artist and not directly con-
nected in any way with the artist, his studio or estate.
*This term and its definition in this Explanation of
Cataloguing Practice are a qualified statement as to
Authorship. While the use of this term is based upon
careful study and represents the opinion of experts,
Christie's and the consignor assume no risk, liability
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any lot in this catalogue described by this term.
EUROPEAN CERAMICS
A piece catalogued with the name of a factory, place
or region without further qualification was, in our
opinion, made in that factory, place or region (e.g. "A
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Buyers are recommended to inspect the property
themselves. Written condition reports are usually avail-
able on request.
"A plate in the Worcester style"
In our opinion a copy or imitation of pieces made in
the named factory, place or region.
"A Sevres-pattern plate"
In our opinion not made in the factory, place or region
named but using decoration inspired by pieces made
therein.
"A Pratt- ware plate"
In our opinion not made in the factory, place or region
named but near in the style or period to pieces made
therein.
"A Meissen cup and saucer"
In our opinion both were made at the factory named
and match.
"A Meissen cup and a saucer"
In our opinion both pieces were made at the factory
named but do not necessarily match.
"Modelled by..."
In our opinion made from the original master mould
made by the modeller and under his supervision.
"After the model by. . . "
In our opinion made from the original master mould
made by that modeller but from a later mould based on
the original.
"Painted by..."
In our opinion can properly be attributed to that
decorator on stylistic grounds.
172
Buying at Christie's
CONDITIONS OF SALE
Christie's Conditions of Sale and Limited Warranty
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Estimates are based upon prices recently paid at
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Christie's charges a premium to the buyer on the
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The denial of any license or any delay in obtaining
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Upon request, Christie's will assist the buyer in
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AML 05/10/1 1
It has endured for
hundreds of years.
Ensure it endures for
hundreds more.
Christie's Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS) is the world's premier storage
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CHRISTIE'S
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STREET MAP OF CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK LOCATIONS
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175
Conditions of Sale
These Conditions of Sale and the Important Notices
and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice contain all
the terms on which Christie's and the seller contract
with the buyer. They may be amended by posted
notices or oral announcements made during the
sale. By bidding at auction you agree to be bound
by these terms.
1. CHRISTIE'S AS AGENT
Except as otherwise stated Christie's acts as agent for
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therefore made between the seller and the buyer.
2. BEFORE THE SALE
(a) Examination of property
Prospective buyers are strongly advised to examine
personally any property in which they are interested,
before the auction takes place. Condition reports
are usually available on request. Neither Christie's
nor the seller provides any guarantee in relation to
the nature of the property apart from the Limited
Warranty in paragraph 6 below. The property is
otherwise sold "as is."
Our cataloguing practice is explained in the
Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing
Practice after the catalogue entries. All statements
by us in the catalogue entry for the property or in
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at which the item will sell or its value for any other
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(c) Buyer's responsibility
Except as stated in the Limited Warranty in
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catalogue entry.
3. AT THE SALE
(a) Refusal of admission
Christie's has the right, at our complete discretion,
to refuse admission to the premises or participation
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(b) Registration before bidding
Prospective buyers who wish to bid in the saleroom
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production of bank or other financial references.
(c) Bidding as principal
When making a bid, a bidder is accepting personal
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buyer's premium and all applicable taxes, plus
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acceptable to Christie's, and that Christie's will only
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(d) Absentee bids
We will use reasonable efforts to carry out written
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lot for identical amounts, and at the auction these
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the person whose written bid was received and
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(e) Telephone bids
Telephone bids will be accepted for lots with low-
end estimates of $1,500 and above, no later than 24
hours prior to the sale and only if the capacity of our
pool of staff phone bidders allows. Arrangements to
bid in languages other than English must be made
well in advance of the sale date.
Telephone bids may be recorded. By bidding on
the telephone, prospective purchasers consent to the
recording of their conversations.
Christie's offers all absentee and telephone bidding
services as a convenience to our clients, but will not
be responsible for errors or failures to execute bids.
(f) Currency converter
At some auctions a currency converter may be
operated. Errors may occur in the operation of the
currency converter and we do not accept liability to
bidders who follow the currency converter rather
than the actual bidding in the saleroom.
(g) Video or digital images
At some auctions there may be a video or digital
screen. Errors may occur in its operation and in the
quality of the image and we do not accept liability
for such errors.
(h) Reserves
Unless otherwise indicated, all lots are offered
subject to a reserve, which is the confidential
minimum price below which the lot will not be
sold. The reserve will not exceed the low estimate
printed in the catalogue. If any lots are not subject
to a reserve, they will be identified with the symbol
• next to the lot number. The auctioneer may
open the bidding on any lot below the reserve by
placing a bid on behalf of the seller. The auctioneer
may continue to bid on behalf of the seller up
to the amount of the reserve, either by placing
consecutive bids or by placing bids in response to
other bidders. With respect to lots that are offered
without reserve, unless there are already competing
bids, the auctioneer, in his or her discretion, will
generally open the bidding at 50% of the low pre-
sale estimate for the lot. In the absence of a bid at
that level, the auctioneer will proceed backwards at
his or her discretion until a bid is recognized, and
then continue up from that amount. Absentee bids
will, in the absence of a higher bid, be executed at
approximately 50% of the low pre-sale estimate or at
the amount of the bid if it is less than 50% of the low
pre-sale estimate. In the event that there is no bid on
a lot, the auctioneer may deem such lot unsold.
(i) Auctioneer's discretion
The auctioneer has the right at his absolute and sole
discretion to refuse any bid, to advance the bidding
in such a manner as he may decide, to withdraw or
divide any lot, to combine any two or more lots and,
in the case of error or dispute, and whether during
or after the sale, to determine the successful bidder,
to continue the bidding, to cancel the sale or to
reoffer and resell the item in dispute. If any dispute
arises after the sale, our sale record is conclusive.
(j) Successful bid and passing of risk
Subject to the auctioneer's discretion, the highest
bidder accepted by the auctioneer will be the buyer
and the striking of his hammer marks the acceptance
of the highest bid and the conclusion of a contract
for sale between the seller and the buyer. Risk and
responsibility for the lot (including frames or glass
where relevant) passes to the buyer at the expiration
of seven calendar days from the date of the sale or on
collection by the buyer if earlier.
4. AFTER THE SALE
(a) Buyer's premium
In addition to the hammer price, the buyer agrees
to pay to us the buyer's premium together with any
applicable value added tax, sales or compensating
use tax or equivalent tax in the place of sale. The
buyer's premium is 25% of the final bid price of each
lot up to and including $50,000, 20% of the excess
of the hammer price above $50,000 and up to and
including $1,000,000 and 12% of the excess of the
hammer price above $1,000,000.
(b) Payment and passing of title
Immediately following the sale, the buyer must
provide us with his or her name and permanent
address and, if so requested, details of the bank from
which payment will be made. The buyer must pay
the full amount due (comprising the hammer price,
buyer's premium and any applicable taxes) not later
than 4.30pm on the seventh calendar day following
the sale. This applies even if the buyer wishes to
export the lot and an export license is, or may be,
required. The buyer will not acquire title to the
lot until all amounts due to us from the buyer have
been received by us in good cleared funds even in
circumstances where we have released the lot to the
buyer.
(c) Collection of purchases
We shall be entitled to retain items sold until all
amounts due to us, or to Christie's International
pic, or to any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or parent
companies worldwide, have been received in full in
good cleared funds or until the buyer has satisfied
such other terms as we, at our sole discretion, shall
require, including, for the avoidance of doubt,
completing any anti-money laundering or anti-
terrorism financing checks we may require to our
satisfaction. In the event a buyer fails to complete
any anti-money laundering or anti-terrorism
financing checks to our satisfaction, Christie's
shall be entitled to cancel the sale and to take any
other actions that are required or permitted under
applicable law. Subject to this, the buyer shall collect
purchased lots within seven calendar days from the
date of the sale unless otherwise agreed between us
and the buyer.
(d) Packing, handling and shipping
Although we shall use reasonable efforts to take care
when handling, packing and shipping a purchased
lot, we are not responsible for the acts or omissions
of third parties whom we might retain for these
purposes. Similarly, where we may suggest other
handlers, packers or carriers if so requested, we do
not accept responsibility or liability for their acts or
omissions.
I76
(e) Export licence
Unless otherwise agreed by us in writing, the
fact that the buyer wishes to apply for an export
license does not affect his or her obligation to make
payment within seven days nor our right to charge
interest or storage charges on late payment. If the
buyer requests us to apply for an export license on
his or her behalf, we shall be entitled to make a
charge for this service. We shall not be obliged to
rescind a sale nor to refund any interest or other
expenses incurred by the buyer where payment is
made by the buyer in circumstances where an export
license is required.
(f) Remedies for non payment
If the buyer fails to make payment in full in good
cleared funds within the time required by paragraph
4(b) above, we shall be entitled in our absolute
discretion to exercise one or more of the following
rights or remedies (in addition to asserting any other
rights or remedies available to us by law) :
(i) to charge interest at such rate as we shall
reasonably decide;
(ii) to hold the defaulting buyer liable for the
total amount due and to commence legal
proceedings for its recovery together with
interest, legal fees and costs to the fullest
extent permitted under applicable law;
(hi) to cancel the sale;
(iv) to resell the property publicly or privately on
such terms as we shall think fit;
(v) to pay the seller an amount up to the net
proceeds payable in respect of the amount bid
by the defaulting buyer;
(vi) to set off against any amounts which we,
or Christie's International pic, or any of its
affiliates, subsidiaries or parent companies
worldwide, may owe the buyer in any
other transactions, the outstanding amount
remaining unpaid by the buyer;
(vii) where several amounts are owed by the buyer
to us, or to Christie's International pic, or
to any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or parent
companies worldwide, in respect of different
transactions, to apply any amount paid to
discharge any amount owed in respect of any
particular transaction, whether or not the
buyer so directs;
(viii) to reject at any future auction any bids made
by or on behalf of the buyer or to obtain a
deposit from the buyer before accepting any
bids;
(ix) to exercise all the rights and remedies of a
person holding security over any property in
our possession owned by the buyer, whether
by way of pledge, security interest or in any
other way, to the fullest extent permitted by
the law of the place where such property is
located. The buyer will be deemed to have
granted such security to us and we may retain
such property as collateral security for such
buyer's obligations to us;
(x) to take such other action as we deem necessary
or appropriate.
If we resell the property under paragraph (iv) above,
the defaulting buyer shall be liable for payment of
any deficiency between the total amount originally
due to us and the price obtained upon resale as well
as for all costs, expenses, damages, legal fees and
commissions and premiums of whatever kind
associated with both sales or otherwise arising from
the default. If we pay any amount to the seller under
paragraph (v) above, the buyer acknowledges that
Christie's shall have all of the rights of the seller,
however arising, to pursue the buyer for such amount.
(g) Failure to collect purchases
Where purchases are not collected within 3 5
calendar days from the date of the sale, whether or
not payment has been made, we shall be permitted
to transfer the property to our Long Island City
facility at the buyer's expense, and only release
the items after payment in full has been made of
transportation, administration, handling, insurance
and any other costs incurred, together with payment
of all other amounts due to us or our affiliates.
(h) Selling Property at Christie's
In addition to expenses such as transport and
insurance, all consignors pay a commission
according to a fixed scale of charges based upon
the value of the property sold by the consignor
at Christie's in a calendar year. Commissions are
charged on a sale by sale basis.
5. EXTENT OF CHRISTIE'S LIABILITY
We agree to refund the purchase price in the
circumstances of the Limited Warranty set out in
paragraph 6 below. Apart from that, neither the
seller nor we, nor any of our officers, employees
or agents, are responsible for the correctness of any
statement of whatever kind concerning any lot,
whether written or oral, nor for any other errors or
omissions in description or for any faults or defects
in any lot. Except as stated in paragraph 6 below,
neither the seller, ourselves, our officers, employees
or agents, give any representation, warranty or
guarantee or assume any liability of any kind in
respect of any lot with regard to merchantability,
fitness for a particular purpose, description, size,
quality, condition, attribution, authenticity, rarity,
importance, medium, provenance, exhibition
history, literature or historical relevance. Except
as required by local law any warranty of any kind
whatsoever is excluded by this paragraph.
6. LIMITED WARRANTY
Subject to the terms and conditions of this
paragraph, Christie's warrants for a period of five
years from the date of the sale that any property
described in headings printed in UPPER CASE
TYPE (i.e. headings having all capital-letter type) in
this catalogue (as such description may be amended
by any saleroom notice or announcement) which
is stated without qualification to be the work of a
named author or authorship, is authentic and not a
forgery. The term "author" or "authorship" refers
to the creator of the property or to the period,
culture, source or origin, as the case may be, with
which the creation of such property is identified in
the UPPER CASE description of the property in
this catalogue. Only UPPER CASE TYPE headings
of lots in this catalogue indicate what is being
warranted by Christie's. Christie's warranty does
not apply to supplemental material which appears
below the UPPER CASE TYPE headings of each
lot and Christie's is not responsible for any errors or
omissions in such material. The terms used in the
headings are further explained in Important Notices
and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice. The
warranty does not apply to any heading which is
stated to represent a qualified opinion. The warranty
is subject to the following:
(i) It does not apply where (a) the catalogue
description or saleroom notice corresponded
to the generally accepted opinion of scholars
or experts at the date of the sale or fairly
indicated that there was a conflict of opinions;
or (b) correct identification of a lot can be
demonstrated only by means of either a
scientific process not generally accepted for
use until after publication of the catalogue or
a process which at the date of publication of
the catalogue was unreasonably expensive or
impractical or likely to have caused damage to
the property.
(ii) The benefits of the warranty are not assignable
and shall apply only to the original buyer of
the lot as shown on the invoice originally
issued by Christie's when the lot was sold at
auction.
(iii) The original buyer must have remained the
owner of the lot without disposing of any
interest in it to any third party.
(iv) The buyer's sole and exclusive remedy against
Christie's and the seller, in place of any
other remedy which might be available, is
the cancellation of the sale and the refund of
the original purchase price paid for the lot.
Neither Christie's nor the seller will be liable
for any special, incidental or consequential
damages including, without limitation, loss of
profits nor for interest.
(v) The buyer must give written notice of claim
to us within five years from the date of the
auction. It is Christie's general policy, and
Christie's shall have the right, to require the
buyer to obtain the written opinions of two
recognized experts in the field, mutually
acceptable to Christie's and the buyer, before
Christie's decides whether or not to cancel the
sale under the warranty.
(vi) The buyer must return the lot to the Christie's
saleroom at which it was purchased in the
same condition as at the time of the sale.
7. COPYRIGHT
The copyright in all images, illustrations and written
material produced by or for Christie's relating to a
lot including the contents of this catalogue, is and
shall remain at all times the property of Christie's
and shall not be used by the buyer, nor by anyone
else, without our prior written consent. Christie's
and the seller make no representation or warranty
that the buyer of a property will acquire any
copyright or other reproduction rights in it.
8. SEVERABILITY
If any part of these Conditions of Sale is found by
any court to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable,
that part shall be discounted and the rest of the
conditions shall continue to be valid to the fullest
extent permitted by law.
9. LAW AND JURISDICTION
The rights and obligations of the parties with respect
to these Conditions of Sale, the conduct of the
auction and any matters connected with any of the
foregoing shall be governed and interpreted by the
laws of the jurisdiction in which the auction is held.
By bidding at auction, whether present in person or
by agent, by written bid, telephone or other means,
the buyer shall be deemed to have submitted, for the
benefit of Christie's, to the exclusive jurisdiction of
the courts of that country, state, county or province,
and (if applicable) of the federal courts sitting in
such state.
AML 9/9/08
Worldwide Salerooms and Offices
ARGENTINA
BUENOS AIRES
+ 54 11 43 93 42 22
Cristina Carlisle
AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY
+61 (0)2 9326 1422
Ronan Sulich
AUSTRIA
VIENNA
+43 (0)1 533 8812
Angela Baillou
BELGIUM
BRUSSELS
+32 (0)2 512 88 30
Roland de Lathuy
BERMUDA
BERMUDA
+ 1 401 849 9222
Betsy Ray
BRAZIL
RIO DE JANEIRO
+5521 2225 6553
Candida Sodre
SAO PAULO
+5511 3061 2576
Nathalie Lenci
CANADA
TORONTO
+ 1 416 960 2063
Brett Sherlock
CHILE
SANTIAGO
+56 2 2 2631642
Denise Ratinoff
de Lira
COLOMBIA
BOGOTA
+57 312 421 1509
Juanita Madrinan
DENMARK
COPENHAGEN
+45 39622377
Birgitta Hillingso
(Consultant)
+ 45 2612 0092
Rikke Juel Brandt
(Consultant)
FINLAND AND THE
BALTIC STATES
HELSINKI
+358 (0)9 608 212
Barbro Schauman
(Consultant)
FRANCE
BRITTANY AND THE
LOIRE VALLEY
+33 (0)609 44 90 78
Virginie Greggory
(Consultant)
GREATER EASTERN
FRANCE
+33 (0)607 163425
Jean-Louis Janin Daviet
(Consultant)
NORD-PAS DE CALAIS
+33 (0)60963 21 02
Jean-Louis Bremilts
(Consultant)
■ PARIS
+33 (0)1 40 7685 85
POITOU-CHARENTE
AQUITAINE
+33 (0)5 5681 65 47
Marie-Cecile Moueix
PROVENCE - ALPES
COTE D'AZUR
+33 (0)608 09 6025
Fabienne Albertini-Cohen
RHONE ALPES
+33(0)661818253
Dominique Pierron
(Consultant)
GERMANY
DUSSELDORF
+49(0)21 1491 5930
Roman Plutschow
FRANKFURT
+49 (0)61 74 20 94 85
Anja Schaller
HAMBURG
+49 (0)40 27 94 073
Christiane Grafin
zu Rantzau
MUNICH
+49 (0)89 24 20 96 80
Marie Christine Grafin
Huyn
STUTTGART
+49 (0)71 12 26 96 99
Eva Susanne
Schweizer
INDIA
MUMBAI
+91 (22) 2280 7905
Menaka Kumari-Shah
Sonal Singh
INDONESIA
JAKARTA
+62 (0)21 7278 6268
Penny Binarwati
ISRAEL
TEL AVIV
+972 (0)3 695 0695
Roni Gilat-Baharaff
ITALY
> MILAN
+3902 303 2831
ROME
+39066863333
JAPAN
TOKYO
+81 (0)3 6267 1766
Ryutaro Katayama
MALAYSIA
KUALA LUMPUR
+60 3 6207 9230
Lim Meng Hong
MEXICO
MEXICO CITY
+52 55 5281 5503
Gabriela Lobo
MONACO
+377 97 97 11 00
Nancy Dotta
THE NETHERLANDS
• AMSTERDAM
+31 (0)20 57 55 255
PEOPLES REPUBLIC
OF CHINA
BEIJING
+86 (0)10 6500 6517
Jinqing Cai
• HONG KONG
+852 2760 1766
SHANGHAI
+86 (0)21 6279 8773
PORTUGAL
LISBON
+35i 919 317233
Mafalda Pereira Coutinho
(Independent Consultant)
• DENOTES SALEROOM
ENQUIRIES? — Call the Saleroom or Office EMAIL — info@christies.com
29/ n/12
178
RUSSIA
MOSCOW
+7 495 937 6364
+44 20 7389 2318
Katya Vinokurova
SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE
+65 6235 3828
Wen Li Tang
SOUTH AFRICA
CAPE TOWN
+27 (21) 761 2676
Juliet Lomberg
(Independent
Consultant)
DURBAN &
JOHANNESBURG
+27 (31) 207 8247
Gillian Scott-Berning
(Independent
Consultant)
WESTERN CAPE
+27 (44) 533 5178
Annabelle Conyngham
(Independent
Consultant)
SOUTH KOREA
SEOUL
+82 2 720 5266
Hye-KyungBae
SPAIN
BARCELONA
+34(0)93 4878259
Carmen Schjaer
MADRID
+34 (0)91 532 6626
Juan Varez
Dalia Padilla
SWITZERLAND
» GENEVA
+41 (0)22 319 1766
Eveline de Proyart
» ZURICH
+41 (0)44 268 1010
Dr. Dirk Boll
TAIWAN
TAIPEI
+8862 2736 3356
Ada Ong
THAILAND
BANGKOK
+66 (0)2 652 1097
Yaovanee Nirandara
Punchalee Phenjati
TURKEY
ISTANBUL
+90 (532) 558 7514
Eda Kehale Argun
(Consultant)
UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES
> DUBAI
+971 (0)4 425 5647
Chaden Khoury
UNITED KINGDOM
► LONDON
+44 (0)20 7839 9060
LONDON,
► SOUTH KENSINGTON
+44 (0)20 7930 6074
NORTH
+44 (0)20 7752 3004
Thomas Scott
SOUTH
+44 (0)1730 814 300
Mark Wrey
EAST
+44(0)20 77523310
Simon Reynolds
Mark Newstead
Thomas Scott
NORTHWEST
AND WALES
+44(0)20 7752 3376
Mark Newstead
Jane Blood
SCOTLAND
+44 (0)1312254756
Bernard Williams
Robert Lagneau
David Bowes-Lyon
(Consultant)
ISLE OF MAN
+44 1624 814502
Mark Newstead
(Consultant)
CHANNEL ISLANDS
+44 (0)1534485988
Melissa Bonn
IRELAND
+353 (o)59 8624996
Christine Ryall
UNITED STATES
BOSTON
+ 1 617 536 6000
Elizabeth M. Chapin
CHICAGO
+ 1 312 787 2765
Lisa Cavanaugh
DALLAS
+ 1 214 599 0735
Cap era Ryan
HOUSTON
+ 1 713 802 0191
Jessica Phifer
LOS ANGELES
+ 1 310 385 2600
Andrea Fiuczynski
MIAMI
+ 1 305 445 1487
Vivian Pfeiffer
NEWPORT
+ 1 401 849 9222
Betsy D. Ray
» NEW YORK
+ 1 212 636 2000
PALM BEACH
+ 1 561 833 6952
Maura Smith
PHILADELPHIA
+ 1 610 520 1590
Alexis McCarthy
SAN FRANCISCO
+ 1 415 982 0982
Ellanor Notides
For a complete salerooms & offices listing go to christies.com
29/11/ 12
Christie's Specialist Departments and Services
DEPARTMENTS
AFRICAN AND OCEANIC
ART
PAR: +33 (0)140 768 386
NY: +1 212 4844898
AMERICAN DECORATIVE
ARTS
NY: +1 212 636 2230
AMERICAN FURNITURE
NY: +1 212 636 2230
AMERICAN PICTURES
NY: +1 212 636 2140
ANGLO-INDIAN ART
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2570
ANTIQUITIES
NY: +1 212 636 2245
ASIAN 20TH CENTURY
AND CONTEMPORARY
ART
NY: +1 212 468 7133
AUSTRALIAN PICTURES
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2040
BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
NY: +1 212 6362665
BRITISH & IRISH ART
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2682
NY: +1 212 636 2120
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3257
BRITISH ART ON PAPER
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2278
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3293
NY: +1 212 636 2120
BRITISH PICTURES
1500-1850
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2945
CARPETS
NY: +1 212 636 2217
CERAMICS AND GLASS
NY: +1 212 636 2215
CHINESE PAINTINGS
NY: +1 212 636 2195
CHINESE WORKS OF ART
NY: +1 212 636 2180
CLOCKS
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2357
COLLECTIBLES
NY: +1 212 636 2272
CORKSCREWS
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3263
COSTUME, TEXTILES AND
FANS
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3215
ENTERTAINMENT
MEMORABILIA
NY: +1 212 636 2272
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3281
FOLK ART
NY: +1 212 636 2230
FURNITURE
NY: +1 212 636 2200
HOUSE SALES
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3260
ICONS
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3261
IMPRESSIONIST AND
MODERN ART
NY: +1 212 636 2050
INDIAN AND SOUTHEAST
ASIAN ART
NY: +1 212 636 2190
INDIAN CONTEMPORARY
ART
NY: +1 212 636 2190
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2700
INTERIORS
NY: +1 212 636 2032
SK: +44 (0)20 7389 2236
ISLAMIC WORKS OF ART
KS: +44 (0)20 73892370
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3239
JAPANESE ART
NY: +1 212 636 2160
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2595
JEWELLERY
NY: +1 212 636 2300
KOREAN ART
NY: +1 212 636 2165
LATIN AMERICAN ART
NY: +1 212 636 2150
MINIATURES
NY: +1 212 636 2250
MODERN DESIGN
SK: +44 (0)20 7389 2142
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
NY: +1 212 707 5974
NINETEENTH CENTURY
FURNITURE AND
SCULPTURE
NY: +1 212 707 5910
OBJECTS OF VERTU
NY: +1 212 636 2250
OLD MASTER DRAWINGS
NY: +1 212 636 2115
OLD MASTER PAINTINGS
AND 19TH CENTURY
EUROPEAN ART
NY: +1 212 636 2120
PHOTOGRAPHS
NY: +1 212 636 2330
PICTURE FRAMES
SK: +44 (0)20 73892763
POST WAR AND
CONTEMPORARY ART
NY: +1 212 636 2100
POSTERS
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3208
PRINTS
NY: +1 212 636 2290
RUSSIAN
WORKS OF ART
NY: +1 212 636 2260
SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS
SK +44 (0)20 7752 3286
SCULPTURE
KS: +44 (0)20 73892331
SK: +44 (0)20 7389 2794
SILVER
NY: +1 212 636 2250
TOPOGRAPHICAL
PICTURES
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2040
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3291
TWENTIETH CENTURY
DECORATIVE ART
AND DESIGN
NY: +1 212 636 2240
VICTORIAN PICTURES
KS: +44 (0)20 7389 2468
SK: +44 (0)20 7752 3257
WATCHES
NY: +1 212 636 2320
WINE
NY: +1 212 636 2270
AUCTION SERVICES
CHRISTIE'S AUCTION
ESTIMATES
Tel: +1 212 492 5485
Fax: +1 212 636 4954
www. christies .com
CORPORATE
COLLECTIONS
Tel: +1 212 636 2901
Fax: +1 212 636 4929
Email: celkies@christies.com
ESTATES AND
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Tel: +1 212 636 2400
Fax: +1 212 636 2370
Email: info@christies.com
MUSEUM SERVICES
Tel: +1 212 636 2620
Fax: +1 212 636 4931
Email: awhiting@christies.com
OTHER SERVICES
CHRISTIE'S EDUCATION
New York
Tel: +1 212 355 1501
Fax: +1 212 355 7370
Email: christieseducation@
christies.edu
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2978 6747
Fax: +852 2525 3856
Email: hkcourse@christies.com
London
Tel: +44 (0)20 7665 4350
Fax: +44 (0)20 7665 4351
Email:
education@christies.com
Paris
Tel: +33 (0)1 42 25 10 90
Fax: +33 (0)1 42 25 10 91
Email:
ChristiesEducationParis@
christies.com
CHRISTIE'S
INTERNATIONAL
REAL ESTATE
New York
Tel: +1 212 468 7182
Fax: +1 212 468 7141
Email:
info@christiesrealestate.com
London
Tel: +44 (0)20 73892551
Fax: +44 (0)20 7389 2168
Email:
info @christiesrealestate .com
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2978 6788
Fax: +852 2845 2646
Email:
info@christiesrealestate.com
CHRISTIE'S FINE ART
STORAGE SERVICES
London
+44 (0)20 7622 0609
london@cfass.com
New York
+ 1 212 974 4579
newyork@cfass.com
Singapore
Tel: +65 6543 5252
Email: singapore@cfass.com
CHRISTIE'S REDSTONE
Tel: +1 212 974 4500
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS:
KS: London, King Street
NY: New York,
Rockefeller Plaza
PAR: Paris
SK: London,
South Kensington
26/03/12
180
A DIAMOND BRACELET
£10,000-12,000
ALBRECHT DURER
Saint Jerome in his Study (B. 60; M., Holl. 59; S.M.S. 70) • engraving, 1514, without watermark, a very fine, bright Meder a impression, printing with remarkable clarity, with margins, in excellent condition
P. 9% x jYi in. (249 x 190 mm.) ■ S. i0 3 /s x 7% in. (264 x 200 mm.) ■ $300,000-500,000
Albrecht Durer - Masterpieces from a Private Collection
New York* 29 January 2013
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22-28 January Richard Lloyd
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Adoration of the Magi • oil on panel
28 x 35V2 in. x (71 x 90 cm.) ■ €50,000-80,000
Tableaux Anciens et du XlXeme siecle
Paris' 15 April 2013
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FSC? C013013
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© Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd. (2013)
Catalogue photo credits: Douglas Ho
'0426'7300'
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