PIETRO BUONACCORSI, CALLED PERINO DEL VAGA FLORENCE 1501 - 1547 ROME JUPITER AND JUNO RECLINING IN AN ALCOVE ATTENDED BY AMORINI, TWO OTHERS HOLDING A HERALDIC SHIELD BELOW Pen and a dark shade of brown ink and brown and gray wash heightened with white (oxidized), squared with a stylus 435 by 404 mm; 17 1/8 by 15 7/8 in
Some original drawings by ancient and modern artists of various schools, remaining in the collection of J. P. H. [John Postle Heseltine], London 1917, no. 28, reproduced (as Gian. Francesco Penni, called Il Fattore); Tancred Borenius and Rudolf Wittkower, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings by the Old Masters formed by Sir Robert Mond, London 1937, p. 45, no. 183 (as Giovanni Francesco Penni, ' Mythological love scene', not reproduced); Bernice F. Davidson, 'I Furti di Giove' Tapestries Designed by Perino del Vaga for Andrea Doria', The Art Bulletin, vol. 70, no. 3, (1988), pp. 437- 439; p. 438 reproduced fig.13; p. 437, note 80; Perino del Vaga tra Raffaello e Michelangelo, exhib. cat., Mantua, Palazzo Te, 2001, p. 245, under no. 125 (entry by Dominique Cordellier), reproduced; Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence, exhib. cat., New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002, p. 352 and p. 355; p. 353, reproduced fig. 158
Provenance
Possibly Roberto Canonici, Ferrara; Sir Thomas Lawrence (L.2445); Samuel Woodburn, his sale, London, Christie's, Catalogue of...Drawings formerly in the Collection of the Late Sir Thomas Lawrence.., 4 June 1860, lot 604 (as Luca Penni), bought by Ripp; John Barnard (L.1419 on the mount and backing; L.1420 on the backing), his mount and attribution in pen and brown ink partly reinforced by another hand: Giovanni Francesco Penni.; on the backing in pen and brown ink his numbering 838 and the measurements 17 by 15 3/4, and his inscription: called il Fattore; of Florence, a Disciple of Raffaelle. He was in England in the time of Henry 8υth; W. Mayor (L.2799); J.P. Heseltine, his sale, London, Sotheby's, 28 May 1935, lot 146 (as G. F. Penni), bought by Prof. Tancred Borenius; Sir Robert Mond
Notes
This is a rediscovered preparatory modello, the only one known to have survived, for the important and renowned series of tapestries, the Furti di Giove, commissioned by Andrea Doria from Perino del Vaga. Doria (1466-1560) was a Genoese condottiero who in 1528 formed a fruitful and lasting relationship with Emperor Charles V, commanding several important expeditions for him, including the ones against the Turks. The Doria palace at Fassolo was begun in the 1520s on an existing nucleus of buildings just outside the perimeter of the city of Genoa. It was to become one of the most elaborate and sumptuous of the Italian Renaissance palaces, and totally unique in Genoa, conceived to display the power and lavish tastes of the Doria family. Andrea Doria devoted great efforts and attention to the building and embellishment of his palace. The design and decoration of both the interiors and exteriors were entrusted to Perino del Vaga, who according to Vasari arrived in Genoa in 1528 after the Sack of Rome, at the suggestion of Nicola Valentini.υ1 Perino, a pupil of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio in Florence and then one of the most gifted of Raphael's assistants, had been responsible in Rome for many important fresco decorations, starting with the Vatican Logge.
The purpose of the various decorations outside and inside the palace was to celebrate Andrea Doria's role in Genoa as its first citizen under the patronage of Emperor Charles V. No specific author for the iconographic program has yet been identified, but according to Vasari both Andrea Doria and Perino worked in developing the required scheme. Great attention was devoted to lavish furnishings especially in the two main saloni di rappresentanza: La Sala di Giove and La Sala di Nettuno. On two occasions, 1533 and 1536, Charles V visited and stayed at Fassolo. It seems that the majority of the interior decorations were finished in preparation for these two imperial visits, which are recorded in a number of contemporary sources, several of which praise above all the lavish tapestries and textile furnishings. Tapestries, often woven with silver and gold threads, were far more costly than paintings and thus became a status symbol that only princely families could afford.
The Furti di Giove were designed to hang in the main room of the palace, complementing the stucco decorations and Perino's ceiling fresco Jupiter Expelling the Giants, the subject of which was seen to reflect the role of Charles V in defeating the enemies of the Church. That fresco had an enormous influence on generations of Genoese artists and can still be admired today. Bernice Davidson, in her elegant and informative article on the tapestries,υ2 explains that there were six representing scenes of the seductions by Jupiter of Alcmene, Juno, Semele, Io, Danae and Callisto. A seventh, which hung on the south wall of the room, was composed of five sections, two sovrafinestre and three allegorical figures.υ3 The tapestries were probably woven in Brussels and seem to have been completed in time for the second visit of Charles V in 1536. Although much praised, the tapestries apparently eventually fell out of fashion as they vanish from the palace inventories in 1681 and have not been traced since. It seems that Andrea Doria valued Perino's cartoons and most unusually had them returned to Genoa from the Flemish weavers. They are listed in Doria inventories of 1606 and 1620, although it seems likely that the fragments of paper had been reassembled into only five cartoons, without the Jupiter and Juno. They were probably sold to the Earl of Arundel and then passed to Queen Christina of Sweden. They appear in an inventory of her collection made at her death in 1689 as five framed cartoons by Giulio Romano. From her they passed to the Odescalchi and then were bought by the duc d'Orléans around 1722. At this point engravings were made after them, which provide the evidence for the appearance of the tapestries, although the one representing Jupiter and Callisto was mistakenly called Jupiter and Juno. Davidson did not know what happened to the cartoons after the Orléans collection, but since her publication, the one for Jupiter and Danae has come to light in the Louvre.υ4
The present modello is the only complete surviving image which demonstrates that each tapestry was designed as scene staged on a theatrical proscenium. This device of an architectural framework of columns framing an alcove, with a coffered ceiling and garlands, was totally innovative in tapestries of the period. Perino's offer of two alternatives in the decoration of the columns and the vertical hanging sections of the festoons reinforces the idea that this drawing is a modello to be shown to the patron. Below the central scene is a socle decorated with figural reliefs, with at the center two winged putti flanking an armorial shield. This is left blank and surmounted by a plain circlet which suggests that it was drawn before before December 1531, when Charles the V gave Andrea Doria the city of Melfi and the title of prince of Melfi. Even if the tapestries were being designed that early, Davidson believes that they were unlikely to have been woven and hung before the second visit of Charles V in 1536.υ7
Davidson suggests that the choice of subject matter for the tapestries offers a contrasting message to that of the ceiling with its scene of punishment: here '...mortals who seek union with God through love of him and obedience to his commands would be rewarded by honor and fame in this world and immortality in the next.' υ8 While most of the scenes show Jupiter ravishing a mortal, whose progeny then achieve fame, Davidson suggests that this scene represents the marriage of Jupiter and Juno, a more decorous ritual.υ9
Three other drawings by Perino related to the tapestries have survived: Jupiter and Semele in the Metropolitan Museum (inv. no. 1983.56) and two fragments of the same drawing preparatory for Jupiter and Alcmene in the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (inv. nos. 4734-4735).υ10 These studies are very close to each other in technique and they seem to belong to the same moment in the evolution of this elaborate commission. They are executed in a bold and broad manner in pen and brown ink and wash, one with yellow heightening, the others with white heightening, on paper washed light brown. These must be working studies and, as explained by Davidson, were executed in a manner unusual for Perino but understandable in the process of the preparation of large figures for adaptation to cartoons. T hey are very different from the detailed and refined finish of the present modello. This, although a working drawing as shown by the squaring with a stylus, is executed with a fluent and elaborate use of the pen and the same great degree of finish as a presentation drawing, which it most probably was.
To the historic and impressive provenance of the present drawing recorded by the collectors' marks, Davidson added the fascinating possibility that it could be identified with one listed in 1632 in the inventory of the collection of the Ferrarese Roberto Canonici: 'Giove, Giunone nudi nel letto, con molti amorini intorno, e duoi che tengono un'arma di Pirino del Vago'.υ11 Now the more recent ownership can be established. Knowing that Borenius bought the drawing in the Heseltine sale, and that he assisted Sir Robert Mond with his collection, we found the work in the Mond collection catalogue where the attribution to Giovanni Francesco Penni, first found in the Heseltine catalogue, is maintained, together with the ingenious suggestion that this modello, described as a 'Mythological LoveScene', must have been a design for a tapestry.
The importance of this drawing can hardly be overestimated. Not only is it an exceptionally beautiful and complete example of Perino's draughtsmanship, but it is also a major document in the history of one of his most significant commissions, the decoration of Andrea Doria's palace undertaken with the intention of honoring and impressing Emperor Charles V.
1. Valentini, a ricamatore from Venice, supervised the entire production of the extravagant textiles used to furnish and embellish the Doria palace. A number of letters to his friend Roberto de Pauli have survived and provide some information about his work at Fassolo. Valentini must have served as an advisor to Doria as he knew many artists working both in Venice and Rome. Vasari credited Valentini with enticing Perino to Genoa (see ed. Milanesi 1906, vol. V, p. 612) 2. See Literature 3. Two cartoons representing allegorical figures of Liguria and Vigilance are in the Museo dell'Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti, Genoa. These have been associated with the Furti di Giove first by Davidson (op. cit., p. 443, note 103) and then by Parma Armani (see Literature, exhib. cat., Mantua, p. 255, no. 133, both reproduced after restoration) 4. For a good image of the five engravings, see Literature: exhib. cat., Mantua, pp. 248-9 5. Ibid., p. 242, no. 125 6. Davidson, op. cit., p. 437 7. Ibid., p. 442 8. Ibid., p. 447 9. Ibid., p. 439 10. Respectively, ibid., p. 440, fig. 15 and p. 441, figs. 16-17 11. Ibid., p. 439
