Lot 42: CARLO PORTELLI DA LORO

CARLO PORTELLI DA LORO LORO CIUFFENNA BEFORE 1510 (?) - 1574 FLORENCE THE VIRGIN AND CHILD SEATED WITH A BOOK OF HOURS oil on panel 82 by 60.5 cm.; 32 1/4 by 23 3/4 in.

Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, Annual Collectors' Exhibition, 2008, pp. 2-5.

H. Milford, The Holford Collection. Dorchester House, vol. 1, Oxford 1927, pp. 5, 28, no. 46, plate XLII, (as Rosso Fiorentino).

Robert Staynor Holford (1808-1892), Dorchester House, London and Westonbirt, Gloucestershire;
Thence by descent to Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860-1926);
His deceased sale, London, Christie's, 15 July 1927, lot 95 (as Rosso Fiorentino);
Private collection, Ireland, 1999;
Private collection, Switzeland;
With Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne.

There are only twenty known works attributed to Carlo Portelli and the present work is an interesting addition to his early oeuvre. Much work has been done on his late output but there is yet to be a full exploration of Portelli's early influences and development as an artist.

The present picture clearly shows how formative the influences of his older contemporaries, Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino, were for the young Portelli and it is no surprise that when in the Holford collection this work was attributed to Rosso. Whilst the frontal position of the seated Madonna differs from Portelli's better-known three-quarter length and profile depictions (see, for example, the Madonna and Child with Saints Margaret and John the Baptist, Princeton University Art Museum) the sideways position of Christ and the treatment of his hair, his expression and the drapery are much more typical, as is Portelli's exquisite use of pastel shades.

Despite a later exposure to the work and techniques of Salviati amongst others, Portelli was to remain faithful to the legacy of Rosso throughout his career. We are grateful to Dott. Pierluigi Carofano for endorsing the attribution to Portelli on the basis of photographs, and for proposing a date execution circa 1535-40.