Giovanni Battista Franco, called il Semolei

Dr. Albert Freiherr von Schrenk-Notzing, Palais Schrenk-Notzing, Max-Joseph-Straße, München (until 1929);
Purchased from the widow of the above by the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), 1940;
Transferred to the Freistaat Bayern, January 9^th, 1949 (Munich Central Collecting Point number 7698);
Lodged with the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, April 27^th, 1959 (as Italian School, 16^th Century, inventory number 12933, de-accessioned March 7^th, 1966);
Gilberto Algranti, Milan (purchased from the above 1966 with a group of 13 other pictures);
With P&D Colnaghi, London, 1989/90, from whom purchased by the present collector.

London and New York, Colnaghi, Master Paintings 1350-1800, Winter 1989-90, pp. 28-31 (as by Lambert Sustris);
Saõ Paulo, Brazil, Pinacoteca do Estado di San Paolo del Brasile, March 28- April 25, 2006; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Paço Imperial, May 4-June 8, 2006, Luce e ombra nella pittura italiana tra Rinascimento e Barocco : da Tiziano a Bernini Luce e ombra nella pittura italiana tra Rinascimento e Barocco : da Tiziano a Bernini, p. 100, cat. no. 9 

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This large, heavy panel has been quite recently been restored and if the varnish were to be adjusted slightly, it should be hung as is. There is an original join in the panel running vertically through the center. There are retouches visible under ultraviolet light addressing the join in the panel, yet other than this there are hardly any restorations. There may perhaps be some other restorations that exist beneath a more recent varnish and it is more than likely that other vertical cracks to the panel have been retouched, particularly in the right side running through the tree trunk and perhaps between the two figures on the left. There are also some very small retouches around the dress of the female figure in the lower left. However, despite the fact that there may be other older retouches here and there, there is a conspicuous absence of any real damage or restoration. The paint layer is stable, even if the panel has shown some cracking in the past. It is unusual to have such a heavy and large panel from this period in such good condition. From a condition standpoint this painting can be recommended and the picture should be hung as is.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The exact subject of this large and elegantly conceived panel has puzzled scholars since it was first published in 1989 (see exhibited).  In a sweeping and rugged landscape, a couple is seated by a pathway; in the distance are the ruins of a pagan temple, beside a small town, and in the middle, a man coaxes a donkey forward.  The figure of the woman seems somewhat forlorn and tired and the man sympathetic, but there is no narrative detail to help clarify the subject.  As Mauro Lucco has quite rightly pointed out (see exhibited), landscape as a genre for landscape's sake was a foreign concept in 16^th Century Italy, and the painting must have had a specific subject.  He, in fact, has suggested that picture might represent the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, a rarer theme than the commonly portrayed Flight into Egypt.  Suggestive of this are the two figures in the foreground , and the donkey in the middle distance.  Arguing against this interpretation are the facts that the woman does not appear to be pregnant, and is dressed differently than the usual depiction of the Virgin, and that the male figure appears to be too young to be Saint Joseph.  For the moment the precise subject of the landscape remains elusive.

Stylistically, however, the painting is perhaps easier to interpret.  It clearly owes much to the great Venetian tradition of landscape, as promulgated by Giorgione and continued by Titian and Domenico Campagnola.  The lush tonality and the golden light of the composition are very Venetian in character; in fact, the painting had traditionally been attributed to Paris Bordon until it was reattributed to Lambert Sustris by Donald Garstang in 1989.¹  Mauro Lucco, however, has given this panel instead to Battista Franco, il Semolei.  Although Franco spend many years in Rome and in other parts of Italy (and was informed there by the monumental style of Michelangelo, amongst others) he returned to his native Venice circa 1552.  Lucco compares the handling of the buildings in the distance and the distinctive handling of the foliage in the trees as well as the atmostpheric treatment of the sun at the horizon with a signed and dated picture of 1552 by Franco depicting Christ on the Road to Calvary (Uffizi, Florence, inv. 9490).  Although the figures in that painting are much more substantial and clearly indebted to Michelangelo, Lucco notes that Franco was known to have painted some paintings with smaller figures, and dates the present panel in relation to the Uffizi picture, circa 1552 or a bit after.     

1  Garstang related the composition to several works of Sustris, such as the Virgin and Child with Saint Anthony Abbot in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich and the Jupiter and Io in the Hermitage.