Battista Dossi

Probably Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839), Rome (his label on the reverse - no. 98, as Mabuse);
Sterbini Collection, Rome;
Anonymous sale ('Dipinti provenienti dalla collezione Sterbini, proprietá di una famiglia romana'), Florence, Sotheby's, 21 October 1970, lot 16 (as Battista Dossi);
Private collection, Paris.

H. Mendelsohn, Das Werk Der Dossi, Munich 1914, p. 135 (as a copy of the Harck version);
F. Gibbons, Dosso and Battista Dossi, Court Painters at Ferrara, Princeton 1968, p. 237, mentioned under cat. no. 120 (as a copy of the Kress version);
A. Ugolino, 'Rivedendo la collezione Costabili di Ferrara', in Paragone, no. 24(489), November 1990, p. 59, no. L.110 (as another version of the Harck version);
A. Ballarin, Dosso Dossi, La Pittura a Ferrara negli anni del Ducato de Alfonso I, Cittadella 1995, vol. I, pp. 352–53, cat. no. 465 (as attributed to Battista Dossi), mentioned also under cat. no. 463, and p. 477, reproduced fig. 188;
R. Colby, 'Dosso's early artistic reputation and the origins of landscape painting', in Papers of the British School at Rome, vol. LXXVI, London 2008, p. 205, reproduced p. 359, plate 5, (as Dosso Dossi and Battista Dossi [?]).

The thick panel is constructed of two horizontal planks, the join between which is around 1 third from the bottom margin. The panel used to have two vertical supporting batons, tracks for which were cut into the reverse of the panel, these batons have now been removed. The panel is stable, the surface flat and the varnish is clear and even. There are no major damages visible to the naked eye, and only one fine hairline surface crack measuring 2 inches in length, at the centre left of the bottom margin. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals two campaigns of restoration. Older restoration, of which there are signs of scattered retouchings, is hard to make out as the varnish on top of them fluoresces opaque. The newer campaign of restoration consists of small scattered retouchings and strengthenings throughout the panel surface, the most concentrated areas of which are along the aforementioned surface crack at the bottom margin, and along the right quarter of the panel join, running just under the houses at the right of the composition. Other areas with more retouchings are around the top of the trunk of the palm tree, and in the cheek, forehead, neck and breast of the virgin, and in the darker tones of the immediate foreground. In otherwise sound overall condition. Analysis of an image of the present work at the time of its sale in 1970 confirms that there is now some over paint in the foreground, and that the red pigment at the summit of the trunk of the palm tree is a later addition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The composition is known in three versions. One was in the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and was given as a gift to the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami, Florida.¹ Marginally smaller, and also on panel, the Kress painting is comparable to the present work down to the smallest details. The third version was formerly in the collection of Fritz von Harck (1855-1917), at Schloß Seußlitz, Dresden.² The Harck painting differs from the other two in the construction of the right-hand side of the composition, where it depicts a small weir under the bridge before the Holy Family, and omits the posts delineating the edge of the path. The distance is also different, the Harck version shows a distant island, with a walled city at its shores, then another island in the middle distance upon which is another group of buildings, including a rotunda and a square tower, and a third spit of land with small figures and foliage only. The present picture, and the Kress version, depict a distant landscape sweeping from green fields, to coastal cities, to high rocky mountains and distant rolling hills.

In 1995 Ballarin published, along with the three versions, a related drawing attributed to Battista from collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris, of the same mounted figures of Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child, with the palm tree to the left of the group.³ In 1968 Felton Gibbons, in his catalogue entry for the Kress version, writes that this mounted figure group, with Joseph carrying the Christ Child seems to be unique, and that the style of the picture seems to hover between Dosso and his brother. All three versions of the present composition have at different times been attributed to both Dosso and Battista. This confusion in the attributions of the various versions can be seen as a result of the more general difficulty in distinguishing between the hands of the brothers in works on which they collaborated extensively.⁴ Peter Humfrey considers the Kress version and the present work to be autograph works by Battista and the attribution is certainly convincing when they are considered alongside other works by the artist dating from 1520 to 1530 such as the Holy Family, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice; the Holy Family, The Cleveland Museum of Art; and the Portomaggiore altarpiece of the Virgin and Child, in the Pinacoteca, Ferrara.⁵ These paintings share details such as the physiognomy of the Virgin and of Joseph, the rustic idyll of the setting, the knotting of the Virgin's veil, and in the case of the Cini painting, the similarly rigid outstretched arm of the Virgin. Humfrey dates the Kress version and the present work to 1520s, by which time Battista had moved away from his older brother’s background type and towards his own panoramic landscapes that became Battista’s hallmark, visible here in the fantastical vertical rocks and birds eye views of distant harbours, inspired by Flemish landscapes in the style of Patinir.⁶

Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839) was the half-brother of Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte (1750–1836), mother of the future Emperor Napoleon I. His private collection, of which the finest pieces were kept in the Palazzo Falconieri in the Via Giulia in Rome, apparently numbered over 16,000 works and was probably the largest of its day. As Ballarin notes, however, it is not possible to identify the present painting with absolute certainty with any paintings of this description in known inventories of the collection.

 

1. See A. Ballarin, Dosso Dossi, La Pittura a Ferrara negli anni del Ducato de Alfonso I, Cittadella 1995, vol. I, p. 352, cat. no. 463, reproduced vol. II, fig. 564.

2. See Ballarin 1995, vol. I, p. 352, cat. no. 464, reproduced vol. II, fig. 567.

3. See Ballarin 1995, vol. I, cat. no. 462, reproduced vol. II, fig. 563.

4. For a discussion of the working relationship between Dosso and Battista, and their stylistic differences by Peter Humfrey, see. P. Humfrey and M. Lucco, Dosso Dossi, Court Painter in Renaissance Ferrara, New York 1998, pp. 11-15.

5. For illustrations of these three see: P. Humfrey and M. Lucco 1998, p. 12, figs 12 and 13, and p. 104, fig. 64.

6. P. Humfrey and M. Lucco 1998, p. 13.