Bartolomeo Schedoni

The canvas has a recent relining which is stable, if a little stiff. The painting has been recently restored and there are several areas of restored damages: of particualr significance is a large resotred damage on Saint Jerome's neck, some restored tears on his chest, with further restored damages on his hands and above, where Cupid peers out. There are two further restored tears on and below Jerome's ear and another area of restorations in the upper left background. The paint surface is clean and no further attention is required. Sold with a gilt wood frame, in goos condition.
"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."

This intimate portrayal of Saint Jerome is a second autograph version of Schedoni's painting of very similar dimensions (61 by 48 cm.) in the Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples.¹ This devotional work can be dated for stylistic reasons to shortly before 1610 when Schedoni had returned from Modena and was working at the court of the Duke of Parma, Ranuccio Farnese. Such was the Duke's passion for Schedoni's work that he forced the artist to sign a contract which forbade him from working for anyone else; he paid him a monthly salary of 20 scudi and presented him with a farm as a marriage gift in 1611.

The smooth brushstrokes and softness of handling also point to the period shortly before 1610. The figure of the angel to the right in particular suggests that at this stage of his development Schedoni was still influenced by the sweeter strand of Emilian painting which continued to look back to Correggio. The modelling and positioning of the angel's body as well as the saint's physiognomy recall the figures of Saint Joseph and the Christ Child in a Holy Family with an Angel which also dates from this period.²  In neither work has the handling of the drapery developed into the angular structure of Schedoni's later style which changes noticeably after Lanfranco's return to Parma, such as in The Entombment and The Three Maries at the Tomb in the Galleria Nazionale in Parma.³

A preparatory drawing of the saint's head is in the Witt Collection, London, inv. no. 1741 (see Fig. 1) .⁴

We are grateful to Dr. Emilio Negro and Dott.ssa Nicosetta Roio for endorsing the attribution to Schedoni on the basis of photographs.


1. See E. Negro and N. Roio, Bartolomeo Schedoni, Modena 2000, pp. 83-84, cat. no. 28.
2. Sold New York, Sotheby's, 30 January 1997, lot 71, for $1,300,000.
3. See L. Fornari Schianchi, Galleria Nazionale di Parma, Catalogo delle opere, Il Seicento, Milan 1999, pp. 42-48, cat. nos. 476 and 477 respectively.
4. The drawing used to be attributed to Agostino Carracci until it was recently re-assigned to Schedoni by Aidan Weston-Lewis. For a full discussion see D.C. Miller, "Drawings by Bartolomeo Schedoni: Addenda", in Old Master Drawings, vol. 31, number 4 (Essays in Memory of Jacob Bean, 1923-1992), 1993, pp. 421-25.