Description
THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
A 'SACRA CONVERSAZIONE': THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS JOHN THE BAPTIST AND A FEMALE SAINT (PROBABLY SAINT CATHERINE)
measurements note
25 by 35 1/2 in.; 63.5 by 90.2 cm.
oil on panel, the reverse with a drawing of a child (see Fig. 1)
PROVENANCE
Francis I (1708-1765) Grand Duke of Tuscany, then Holy Roman Emperor;
Thence by descent to his son-in-law Ferdinando I (1751-1825), King of the Two Sicilies, whose seal is affixed to the reverse (see Fig. 2);
William Dickinson, M.P. of Kingweston, Somerset (died in Naples, January 19, 1837), whose seal is affixed to the reverse (see Fig. 3);
Mons.e Falconet, Naples (according to an old label on the reverse);
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, July 3, 1991, lot 16, where acquired for £198,000 ($317,053) by Roy Fisher, New York;
Sold from the Estate of Roy Fisher, New York, through Silvano Lodi, to the present owner.
NOTE
Palma il Vecchio's premature death in 1528 cut short a promising artistic career which had barely spanned two decades but which established him as one of the leading artists of the High Renaissance in Venice. After the death of Giorgione in 1510 and of Giovanni Bellini in 1516, Palma's studio became the leading workshop in the city and demand for paintings in his style remained high even after his death, once his chief pupil Bonifacio de' Pitati had taken over his master's workshop. Palma's only competition in the 1510s was the younger Titian (only five years his junior) but whereas Palma's style was rooted in the Venetian Renaissance tradition, Titian soon came to be regarded as a great innovator, particularly after painting his Assumption in the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (1516-18).
A number of similarities can be drawn between the two artists' works, particularly those produced in the second decade of the 16th century, and they both turned to similar subjects during this period. Palma specialised in painting idealised and often provocative portraits of courtesans, either half-length or reclining, and indeed his Flora in the National Gallery, London, probably served as inspiration for Titian's painting of the same subject in the Uffizi, Florence. The genre in which Palma excelled, however, was that of the "sacra conversazione"; literally a "holy conversation" involving the Madonna and Christ Child with saints. These works were painted for wealthy patrons and were intended for private devotion in a domestic environment. The figures are normally shown half-length, the Madonna and Child painted on the same scale as the figures venerating them, and they all appear to co-exist in the same picture space, without the hierarchy so typical of Renaissance triptychs and polyptychs. Although Palma was a pioneer in the genre he often had recourse to Titian's works, as is the case here. The Madonna's pose and the overall composition, with four half-length figures set against a background and curtain, owe much to Titian's Sacra conversazione: the Madonna and Child with Saints George and Dorothy in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, which has been dated to circa 1515 (see H. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian. I. The Religious Paintings, London 1969, p. 109, cat. no. 65, reproduced plate 13). This concords with the opinion of Prof. Peter Humfrey who dates the present work to the second decade of the 16th century and has proposed a more specific date of execution of circa 1516-18 (see below). Indeed the painting may be compared to other "sacre conversazioni" by Palma dating from the period 1513-20: from his Madonna with Saints John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene of circa 1513, in which the Madonna and Child are centralised but which shares a similar cloudy sky (Accademia Carrara, Bergamo; see P. Rylands, Palma Vecchio, Cambridge 1992, p. 157, cat. no. 13, reproduced); to his Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Catherine of 1514-15 (Gemäldgalerie, Dresden; Rylands, op. cit., p. 163, cat. no. 20, reproduced) and Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian of 1516-18 (Muzeum Narodowe, Pozná; ibid., p. 172, cat. no. 31, reproduced), both of which include a similar John the Baptist. The female saint in the present work is probably to be identified with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, given her frequent association with John the Baptist and the inclusion of the martyr's palm, although the absence of her wheel makes the identification by no means certain.
X-radiographs reveal numerous pentimenti throughout the painting: the head of the Baptist, for example, was altered numerous times before reaching its final position in profile; the martyr's palm held by the female saint originally pointed to the right but its direction was changed in order to provide a visual link between the Baptist and the Christ Child.
The drawing on the reverse of the panel is mentioned by Dr. Peter Dreyer in an unpublished manuscript on Titian's drawings, as an autograph sketch by Palma il Vecchio (communication given to the owner in a letter, dated May 9, 2003). Since the drawing appears on the reverse of the panel it should be considered a preparatory sketch, and not an underdrawing for a painting that might have been planned on the verso (in which case the panel would also have been primed).
The painting boasts an illustrious provenance for it once belonged to Francis I (1708-1765), Grand Duke of Tuscany and then Holy Roman Emperor. Francis was brought to Vienna aged fifteen and succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine in 1729. At the end of the War of the Polish Succession Francis was persuaded by the Holy Roman Emperor to exchange Lorraine for the grand duchy of Tuscany, and so became Grand Duke. He married Maria Theresa of Austria on February 12, 1736, and she secured his election as Holy Roman Emperor, succeeding Charles VII, in 1745. They had sixteen children, their youngest daughter being the future queen consort of France, Marie Antoinette.
Ferdinand I (1751-1825) was the third son of King Charles VII of Naples and Sicily and was crowned King of the Two Sicilies in 1759: as Ferdinand III of Sicily (1759-1816) and Ferdinand IV of Naples (1759-99; 1799-1806; 1815-16), although his reign up until 1812 was mainly dominated by his wife Maria Carolina of Austria, daughter of Maria Theresa, whom he had married in 1768.
The attribution to Palma il Vecchio has been independently endorsed by both Prof. Peter Humfrey and Dr. Peter Dreyer (private communications to the owner). Humfrey dates it to circa 1513-20, and perhaps even more precisely to circa 1516-18. Dr. Philip Rylands, who knows knows the painting only from photographs, attributes it to the workshop of Palma. Keith Christiansen, who has seen the present painting firsthand, believes it to be an early work by Palma Vecchio.
