Lot 31: Andrea Meldolla, called Schiavone Zara (?) (Zadar) circa 1510 (?) - 1563 Venice , The Judgement of Paris oil on panel, with carved reverse

oil on panel, with carved reverse

measurements 7 3/4 by 14 in. alternate measurements 19.7 by 35.5 cm.

Andrea Schiavone was trained in the studio of Bonifazio Veronese, an immigrant to Venice from Dalmatia, then a Venetian possession. He was a highly versatile artist, painting a wide variety of paintings: large scale history subjects, small mythological paintings, religious paintings, even portraiture. In fact, this small panel representing the Judgment of Paris is typical of his production, and it appears to have been made for a luxurious piece of furniture; the reverse of the painting is elaborately carved with an elaborate running guilloche design. This pattern, in fact, matches that found in the carved ceiling of the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, where Schiavone worked painting a ceiling roundel and two Philosophers, circa 1556-7 (see B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, vol. II, London 1957, illus. 1181-1182). The Marciana was fitted at one time with furniture, and it is tempting to think that the present panel may relate to Schiavone's work there.