Bartolomeo Montagna

Recorded in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, 1626 ('La Testa di N.S. giovine in legno con cornice di legno dorata opera del Montagna', 20 June 1626 inventory, no. 16, and 'una testa bellissma del Salvatore del Montagna', when hanging in the sacristy of San Giorgio Maggiore between 1671 & 1696; see Cicogna 1853, pp. 349 and 274 respectively);

Moved to the Scuola della Misericordia on 28 July 1806 following the secularization of the monastery;

Acquired 1838 by the well-known book and art dealer Zelotti in exchange for a collection of drawings;

Angelo de Amici, Milan;

His sale, Milan, Giulio Sambon, 14 March 1889, lot 8, where acquired by a Swiss private collector;

Thence by descent.

E.A. Cicogna, Delle Iscrizioni Veneziane, IV, Venice 1853 (1834), pp. 274 and 349; 

M. Azzi Visentini, 'In margine a un dipinto inedito di Bartolomeo Montagna', in Antichità Viva, vol. XIX, no. 5, 1980, pp. 5–10, reproduced p. 6, fig. 1 and on the cover.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The artist's panel had been cradled. There are a number of vertical cracks which run through the length of the panel, some of which are very slightly open including one running parallel to, and approximately 2 cm in from, the left vertical framing edge. Paint Surface The paint surface has a reasonably even varnish layer and inspection under ultra violet light shows a number of retouchings including several vertical lines covering the cracks mentioned above. There are also retouchings on the left vertical framing edge, small retouchings in the landscape and only small retouchings on Christ's face. There is a thin horizontal line on Christ's neck which is approximately 2.5 cm in length. There are other small scattered retouchings and there may be other retouchings which are beneath older opaque varnish layers and are not identifiable under ultra violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good condition and the structural issues mentioned above should be noted.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This is the primary signed and dated version of three panels representing the young Christ which Montagna executed in or around 1507 when the artist was in Verona. Bartolomeo Montagna, an artist from Vicenza whose style is indebted to Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina, is first documented working in the 1470s. The present picture, dated 1507, is a mature work dating from the period after 1485 when the artist had returned from Venice to Vicenza.

The two other versions are a smaller panel in the Galleria Borghese, Rome,¹ and a panel signed 'Opus Bartolomei Montagnae', the present location of which is unknown.² These two works considerably simplify the composition of the present picture, omitting the background curtain, the Leonardesque mountainous landscape and curtailing the depiction of Christ's hand, and are dependent on the present more fully-worked composition. Another significant difference is the absence of the halo around Christ’s head in this painting. Visible in the two later versions, it was removed from the present work during restoration in the 1980s, when it was considered a later addition. A related painting of Christ Blessing, signed and dated 1507, also from San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice shows an older Christ in an identical red and gold robe.³ 

The iconography of representations of the young Christ was well established in the Veneto in the 16th Century and stems from the gospel of Luke (II, verses 41-52), which describes how the twelve-year-old Christ went to Jerusalem with his parents for the festival of the Passover and was lost for three days, only to be found disputing with the doctors in the temple. Whether inspiration for many of these representations of the young Christ ultimately depended on a lost prototype by Leonardo or on Albrecht Dürer’s Christ disputing with the Doctors (1506, Thyssen Collection, Madrid), which was in Venice in the early 16th century, is still a subject of art historical debate. However, whereas Correggio’s Young Christ (National Gallery of Art, Washington, circa 1513), also showing Jesus with ringlets in red against a green curtain, depicts Christ pointing to an open book, and a work attributed to Marco d’Oggiorno (Galleria Borghese, Rome) shows a youthful Christ raising his hand in benediction, Montagna’s composition differs in its sober simplicity. This gently contemplative image concentrates on conveying Christ’s humanity. The delicately observed hand hardly touching the drapery behind, leads the viewer’s gaze up towards the youthful face of Christ, poignantly aware of His forthcoming sacrifice.

A label on the reverse of the panel comes from the Fondazione Artistica Poldi-Pezzoli, Milan, with an inventory number '94812'. However, there is no record of the work having ever been part of the Poldi-Pezzoli collection, nor on loan to any exhibition at the museum.

1. Dimensions: 24 x 20 cm.; see L. Puppi, Bartolomeo Montagna, Venice 1962, p. 123, cat. no. 43a, reproduced fig. 111, where tentatively identified as the San Giorgio Maggiore picture.

2. Last noted in the collection of A. Walker, London in 1951.

3. Sold, New York, Christie’s, 27 January 2010, lot 170.