Bonifazio de' Pitati called Bonifazio Veronese

Robert Napier (1791-1876), London, Glasgow and West Shandon Strathclyde, Scotland, by 1865;
His deceased sale, London, Christie's, April 13, 1877, lot 401 (as Palma Vecchio), where purchased by Martin Henry Colnaghi;
William Graham, Grosvenor Place, London;
His deceased sale, London, Christie's April 9, 1886, lot 276 (as J. Palma il Giovane);
Purchased at the above sale by Charles Butler, London, for £765;
His deceased sale, London, Christie's, May 25, 1911, lot 103 (as Bonifazio Veronese), where purchased by R. Wertheimer, London;
H. W. Henderson;
From whose estate sold , London, Christie's, June 25, 1948, lot 65, to Mallett and Son (buying for Hearst);
William Randolph Hearst, New York and Los Angeles;
Gift of William Randolph Hearst to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1949 (acc. no. 49.17.10).

London, Royal Academy, 1887, no. 162 (as Bonifazio Veneziano, lent by Charles Butler);
Pasadena, CA, Pasadena Art Institute, on loan, December 6, 1949-January 8, 1950;
Los Angeles, Municipal Art Gallery, on loan, December 8, 1950-January 10, 1951;
Pomona College Art Gallery, on loan, November 21, 1963 - 26 October 1964.

J.C. Robinson, Catalogue of the Works of Art forming the collection of Robert Napier..., London 1865, no. 312 (as Palma Vecchio);
B. Berenson, The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, New York/ London 1897, p. 85;
Los Angeles County Museum, Bulletin of the Art Division, Summer 1952, p. 9;
W.R. Valentiner, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue of the Italian, French and Spanish Paintings, XIV-XVIII Century, Los Angeles 1954, p. 25, cat. no. 20, reproduced;
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, vol. I, New York 1957, p. 43 (as a late work);
B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Campbridge, MA 1972, pp. 31, 592;
S. Simonetti, "Profilo di Bonifacio de' Pitati", in Saggi e Memorie, vol. XV, 1986, pp. 98-99, reproduced fig. 8;
S. Schaefer et al, European Painting and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 1987, p. 21, reproduced;
J.L. Williams, Dutch Art and Scotland. A Reflection of Taste, Edinburgh 1992, p. 169;
P. Humfrey, in The Age of Titian, Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh 2004, p. 18, reproduced fig. 18.

A central horizontal panel join has been reinforced on the reverse with wood battens; three vertical battens have also been affixed along the lower part of the panel. the panel join and some other cracks are visible from the front, but not too distracting. an old area of retouching is visible to the naked eye on the drapery of the infant St. John and scattered here and there on some of the other figures. the paint surface is generally well retained, with nice thick impasto, and colors remain strong. ultraviolet light reveals scattered retouches here and there throughout the composition; this includes some on the face of the Virgin, the face and body of the Christ Child, the face and drapery (mentioned above) of the young St. John, a large area on the drapery of the Virgin and others scattered on figures and in background. the painting does not appear to have been attended to in some time and some of these old restorations could be improved. the painting still presents an impressive image. In an elaborately carved and gilt wood frame with some losses to the gilding.
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.

This is a beautiful example of Bonifazio's "sacre conversazioni" that were so popular in Venice in the 16th century and that were inspired by those of his teacher, Palma Vecchio (to whom, indeed, this panel has previously been attributed). Ultimately, however, it is to the examples of Titian, Giorgione and Giovanni Bellini that Bonifazio's works owe the greatest debt and, from these predecessors of his, Bonifazio appropriated the compositional symmetry and quiet, contemplative tone that characterise his mature works. His conversazioni are almost all built along the same compositional lines, with the holy family set before a tree or stone temple, flanked by saints and with an extensive Giorgionesque landscape diminishing into the distance on either side. In this way the present lot may be compared with the example in the collection of the Marquess of Lansdowne at Bowood¹ or that in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence.² Simonetti, who published the painting in her 1986 article on Bonifazio, in which she compiled a list of all his extant works, dated the picture to circa 1525-30.

PROVENANCE
During the 19th century this work was in the great 'Shandon' collection, put together by the Scottish marine engineer Robert Napier (1791-1876) at West Shandon, Garloch, Dumbartonshire. Napier began his career in Robert Stevenson's workshop, where Stevenson's 'Rocket' was built but it was in the development of marine engineering that he truly made his fame and fortune. He began collecting in the 1830s, acquiring a large amount of porcelain and delftware, silver, glass, bronzes, sculpture, watches, clocks, furniture and of course old and modern paintings. He lent generously to the great Art Treasures exhibition in Manchester in 1857 (including Rembrandt's Portrait of a young man in a turban) and amongst his other old masters were Philips Koninck's View over flat country (Ashmolean, Oxford) and Ercole de Roberti's Wife of Hasdrubal (Washington, National Gallery). His collection was sold the year after his death at Christie's for the astonishing sum of £49,778.

1. Berenson, op. cit., 1957, reproduced vol. II, fig, 1139.
2. Ibid., fig. 1137.