BADALONI, PAOLO DI STEFANO known as PAOLO SCHIAVO (Florence 1397 - 1478 Pisa) Venus and Cupid. Circa 1440 - 45. Tempera on panel. 50.8 x 170 cm. Provenance: - Collection of L. Grassi, Florence, circa 1971. - J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1972-1992, Inv. No. 72.PB.9 (label verso). - Christie's, New York, 21.5.1992. - Museo Privato Bellini, Florencez (label verso Mr. Luigi Bellini). - European private collection. Exhibited: - Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 11.11.2008-16.2.2009, Nor. 58b (label verso). - Doni d'amore. Donne e rituali nel Rinascimento, Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst, Rancate (Mendrisio), 12.10.2014-11.1.2015, No. 31. Literature: - Callmann, Ellen: Un Apollonio di Giovanni per cassone nuziale, in: Burlington Magazine, Nr. 888, Vol. CXLX, March 1977, p. 178. - Boskovits, Miklos: Ancora su Paolo Schiavo. Una scheda biografica, in: Arte Cristiana, 1995, No. 770, pp. 332-340. - Bayer, Andre / Cartwright, Sarah: Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2009, No. 58b, pp. 134-136. - Lurati, Patricia: Doni d'amore. Donne e rituali nel Rinascimento, Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst, Rancate (Mendrisio), 12.10.2014-11.1.2015, No. 31, pp. 100-101. --------------- BADALONI, PAOLO DI STEFANO genannt PAOLO SCHIAVO (Florenz 1397 - 1478 Pisa) Venus und Amor. Um 1440-45. Tempera auf Holz. 50,8 x 170 cm. Provenienz: - Sammlung L. Grassi, Florenz, um 1971. - Sammlung J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1972-1992, Inv. Nr. 72.PB.9 (verso Etikette). - Auktion Christie's, New York, 21.5.1992. - Museo Privato Bellini, Florenz (verso Etikette Mr. Luigi Bellini). - Europäische Privatsammlung. Ausstellungen: - Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 11.11.2008-16.2.2009, Nr. 58b (verso Etikette). - Doni d'amore. Donne e rituali nel Rinascimento, Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst, Rancate (Mendrisio), 12.10.2014-11.1.2015, Nr. 31. Literatur: - Callmann, Ellen: Un Apollonio di Giovanni per cassone nuziale, in: Burlington Magazine, Nr. 888, Vol. CXLX, März 1977, S. 178. - Boskovits, Miklos: Ancora su Paolo Schiavo. Una scheda biografica, in: Arte Cristiana, 1995, Nr. 770, S. 332-340. - Bayer, Andre / Cartwright, Sarah: Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2009, Nr. 58b, S. 134-136. - Lurati, Patricia: Doni d'amore. Donne e rituali nel Rinascimento, Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst, Rancate (Mendrisio), 12.10.2014-11.1.2015, Nr. 31, S. 100-101. Diese seltene und prächtige Tafel mit der langgestreckten Gestalt der Venus in einer Landschaft und dem geflügelten Amorknaben, die sich ein Band aus Blüten reichen, war einst im Besitz des J. Paul Getty Museums in Los Angeles und zuletzt anlässlich der grossen Ausstellung Art and Love in Renaissance Italy im Metropolitan Museum in New York 2008/2009 in der Öffentlichkeit zu sehen. Nun gelangt diese eindrückliche Arbeit nach langer Zeit in Privatbesitz wieder auf den Markt. Sie kann in die Zeit um 1440-45, dem Beginn der italienischen Renaissance, datiert werden und fungierte einst als Innenseite einer Hochzeitstruhe (cassone), von denen heute nur noch wenige erhalten sind. Cassoni, in der die Braut ihre persönlichen Gegenstände in das Eheleben überführte, waren während der Renaissance nicht nur geschätzte Möbelstücke für die Aufbewahrung kostbarer Kleider und Textilien, sondern fungierten auch als wichtige Prestigeobjekte in den häuslichen Räumlichkeiten. Sie besassen auch einen symbolischen Charakter und sollten der Ehe als Glücksbringer dienen und vor allem Nachkommen garantieren. Dabei spielten die bemalten Deckelinnenseiten eine wichtige Rolle, denn diese enthüllten sich nur dem privaten Blick ihrer Besitzer beim Öffnen der Truhen und der Glaube, dass schöne Darstellungen einen Einfluss auf das Empfinden der Braut und ihres ungeborenen Kindes hatten, war weit verbreitet (siehe Gombrich, Ernst H.: Apollonio di Giovanni. A Florentine Cassone Workshop Seen through the Eyes of a Humanist Poet, in: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute 18, Nr. 1-2, Januar-Juni 1955, S. 27). Dementsprechend wurden Motive gewählt, die auf die Liebe und die Fruchtbarkeit des Hochzeitspaares anspielten, wie etwa Putti, Amoretten sowie leicht bekleidete oder entblösste langgestreckte männliche und weibliche Figuren, wie das hier angebotene Gemälde exemplarisch vor Augen führt. Unserer Tafel wird von einer mit einem durchsichtigen Schleier leicht bekleideten Venus vor einem tiefblauen, von Wolken durchzogenen Himmelsband bestimmt. Venus stützt sich auf drei mit Stoff überzogenen Kissen und greift das Ende einer Blütengirlande, welche am anderen Ende von einem geflügelten Amor gehalten wird und sich in seiner Form wie ein Hochzeitsgürtel anmuten lässt. Vergleichbare Kissen, sogenannte intimelle, finden sich in einer Miniatur von Apollonio di Giovanni (1415-1465) wieder (siehe Thornton, Peter: The Italian Renaissance Interior 1400-1600, New York 1991, S. 195, Abb. 219) und suggerieren eine Anspielung auf Häuslichkeit, in Kontrast zu dem pastoralen Hintergrund der Szenerie. Sowohl das Motiv wie auch die längliche, schmale Form der Holztafel belegen ihre ursprüngliche Funktion als Innenseite des Deckels einer Hochzeitstruhe. Motivisch kann unsere Tafel mit den Innenseiten zweier casssoni von Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Guidi, genannt Lo Scheggia (1406-1486) in Verbindung gebracht werden, welche sich heute im Statens Museum für Kunst in Kopenhagen befinden (Inv. Nr. KMS4785 und KMS4786) und ebenfalls eine vergleichbare langgestreckte, unbekleidete Figur thematisieren (Abb. 1). 1971 untersuchte Federico Zeri das hier angebotene Gemälde und brachte es mit einer Tafel in Verbindung, die sich heute im Springfield Museum of Fine Arts befindet und die Geschichte der Callisto darstellt (siehe Springfield, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, Manuale delle Collezioni Americane ed Europee, 1979, S. 117, Nr. 202). Dabei vermutete er, dass diese zwei Tafeln dieselbe Truhe ausschmückten. Die Zuschreibung an Paolo Schiavo wurde zudem von Prof. Everett Fahy bestätigt, als das Gemälde aus der Sammlung des J. Paul Getty Museums verkauft wurde. Der Maler Paolo di Stefano Badaloni, genannt Paolo Schiavo, war ein versierter und vielseitig ausgebildeter Meister der Renaissance, der 1429 in der florentinischen Malergilde aufgenommen wurde und nebst Altarwerken, Fresken und cassoni auch zahlreiche Buchmalereien und Vorzeichnungen für Tapisserien und Glasfenster schuf. Das Gemälde ist im Archiv der Fondazione Zeri unter der Nr. 11839 als eigenhändiges Werk von Paolo Badaloni, genannt Paolo Schiavo, registriert. BADALONI, PAOLO DI STEFANO known as PAOLO SCHIAVO (Florence 1397 - 1478 Pisa) Venus and Cupid. ca. 1440-45. Tempera on wood. 50.8 x 170 cm. Provenence: - Collection of L. Grassi, Florence, ca. 1971. - Collection of J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1972-1992, inv. no. 72.PB.9 (label verso). - Auction Christies, New York, 21.5.1992. - Museo Privato Bellini, Florence (label verso Mr. Luigi Bellini). - European private collection. Exhibitions: - Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 11.11.2008-16.2.2009, no. 58b (label verso). - Doni damore. Donne e rituali nel Rinascimento, Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst, Rancate (Mendrisio), 12.10.2014-11.1.2015, no. 31. Literature: - Callmann, Ellen: Un Apollonio di Giovanni per cassone nuziale, in: Burlington Magazine, no. 888, Vol. CXLX, March 1977, p. 178. - Boskovits, Miklos: Ancora su Paolo Schiavo. Una scheda biografica, in: Arte Cristiana, 1995, no. 770, pp. 332-340. - Bayer, Andre / Cartwright, Sarah: Art and Love in Renaissance Italy, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2009, no. 58b, pp. 134-136. - Lurati, Patricia: Doni d'amore. Donne e rituali nel Rinascimento, Pinacoteca cantonale Giovanni Züst, Rancate (Mendrisio), 12.10.2014-11.1.2015, no. 31, pp. 100-101. This rare and magnificent panel with the elongated figure of Venus and the winged Cupid in a landscape, holding a band of flowers, was once owned by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and was last seen by the public on the occasion of the major exhibition Art and Love in Renaissance Italy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2008/2009. Now, after a long time in private hands, this remarkable work has arrived on the market once again. It can be dated to the period ca. 1440-45, at the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, and served once as the interior of a wedding chest (cassoni), of which only a few are preserved today. Cassoni, in which the bride brought her personal belongings into married life, were not only treasured pieces of furniture for the storage of valuable clothes and textiles during the Renaissance, but also functioned as important prestige items in domestic spaces. They had a symbolic character as well, for they were meant to serve an auspicious function and guarantee the fruitfulness of a marriage. The painted interiors of the covers played an important role because they were revealed only to their owners in private, when the chests were opened, and reflected the widespread belief that beautiful images had an influence on the feelings of the bride and her unborn children (see Gombrich, Ernst H.: Apollonio di Giovanni. A Florentine Cassone Workshop Seen through the Eyes of a Humanist Poet, in: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute 18, nos. 1-2, January-June 1955, p. 27). Accordingly, motifs were chosen that alluded to the love and fecundity of the married couple, such as putti and amoretti, as well as lightly clad or nude elongated male and female figures, as the painting offered here demonstrates very clearly. Our panel shows Venus lightly clad in a transparent veil before a deep-blue band of sky dotted with clouds. Venus is supported by three fabric-covered cushions and grasps the end of a flower garland, which is held at the other end by winged Cupid and resembles a marriage belt. Similar pillows, so-called intimelle, are also found in a miniature by Apollonio di Giovanni (1415-1465) (see Thornton, Peter: The Italian Renaissance Interior 1400-1600, New York 1991, p. 195, ill. 219), and suggest a reference to domesticity, in contrast to the pastoral background of the scenery. Both the design and the long, narrow form of the wooden panel evidence its original function as the inner-lid of a marriage chest. Our panel can be compared thematically with the interiors of two cassoni by Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Guidi, known as Lo Scheggia (1406-1486), which are found today in the National Gallery of Art, Copenhagen (inv. nos. KMS4785 and KMS4786) and thematize comparable elongated nude figures (fig. 1). In 1971 Federico Zeri researched the painting offered here and associated it with a panel today in the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, which depicts the story of Callisto (see Springfield, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, Manuale delle Collezioni Americane ed Europee, 1979, p. 117, no. 202). He suggested that these two panels embellished the same chest. The attribution to Paolo Schiavo was moreover confirmed by Prof. Everett Fahy when the painting was sold from the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The painter Paolo di Stefano Badaloni, known as Paolo Schiavo, was a versatile and variously proficient Renaissance master, who was admitted to the Florentine painters guild in 1429 and, in addition to altarpieces, frescoes and cassoni, created numerous book illustrations and preparatory drawings for tapestries and stained-glass windows. The painting is in the archive of the Fondazione Zeri, registered under the no. 11839 as an autograph work by Paolo Badaloni, known as Paolo Schiavo.
Paolo di Stefano Badaloni, called Paolo Schiavo (Florence 1397-1478 Pisa) Christ before Caiaphas, and The Denial of Saint Peter oil on linen laid on panel 14¼ x 12 1/8 in. (36.2 x 30.8 cm.)
THE RETURN OF JUDITH TO BETHULIA, AND THE ROUTE OF THE JEWS DEFEATING THE ASSYRIANS: A CASSONE PANEL measurements note 18 1/8 by 62 3/4 in.; 46.4 by 159.5 cm. Inscribed on the rampart at left BETVLIA tempera and gilt on panel NOTE This cassone depicts the rarely illustrated story of Judith as she comes to the gates of Bethulia. The episode is told in the apocryphal book of Judith, and occurs after the heroine has beheaded the enemy general Holofernes (13.10-11): "And she put it [the head of Holofernes] in her bag of meat: so they twain went together according to their custom unto prayer: and when they passed the camp, they compassed the valley, and went up the mountain of Bethulia, and came to the gates thereof. Then said Judith afar off, to the watchmen at the gate, 'Open, open now the gate: God, even our God, is with us, to shew his power yet in Jerusalem, and his forces against the enemy, as he hath even done this day.'" The soldiers of the garrison are astonished as they open the gates to the city (which the artist has kindly labeled "Betulia" to make the subject absolutely unmistakable), and the final route of the Assyrian army is shown to the right. As cassoni were generally commissioned in pairs to commemorate a marriage, the choice of subject may seem somewhat odd. Indeed, as noted, the story of Judith is rarely portrayed, but it is not unique; there was another panel in the collection of Artaud de Montorυ1. The depiction of Old Testament and Apocryphal heroines, however, was not uncommon, and clearly their stories were meant to remind the viewer of their virtues: the stories of Susanna, the Queen of Sheba and Esther were all paintedυ2. Paolo Schiavo enrolled in the painter's guild in Florence, the Arte dei Medici e Speziali, in 1429, when he was already over thirty years of age. He was a relatively versatile artist, painting not only the usual altarpieces, devotional works, and frescoes, but he was also a miniaturist and even a designer of embroideries.υ3 Stylistically he was a follower of Masolino, and continued his style into his later years, although with waning strength. Schiavo painted deschi and other cassoni, including one depicting the Story of Callisto (Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA) and the interior lid of a cassone, formerly in the collection of the Getty Museum, Malibu. A cassone of a Battle before a Walled City is still in the collection of the Getty (inv. 70.PB.27), and this has been recently attributed by Everett Fahy to Schiavo. The present panel would appear to date to the 1450's. We are grateful to Everett Fahy who has seen the present work first hand and has suggested the attribution to the artist. 1 See P. Schubring, Cassoni, Leipzig 1923, illus., plate C. 2 A well preserved cassone by the Sienese artist Giovanni di Paolo depicting the Story of Esther was sold in these rooms on January 5, 2001, lot 21 (sold for $885,750). 3 See A. Padoa Rizzo, "Pittori e miniatori a Firenze nel Quattrocento," Antichità viva, 25 1986, fasc. 5-6 and A. Padoa Rizzo & M.C. Improta "Paolo Schiavo fornitore di disegni per ricami," Rivista dell'Arte, 4th series, V, 1988, pp. 26-56; for a fuller biography as well as a preliminary catalogue of the artist's works, see M. Boskovits, "Ancora su Paolo Schiavo: una scheda biografica e una proposta di catalogo," Arte Cristiana, lxxxiii/770 (1995), pp. 333-40.
