Francesco di Simone da Santa Croce

Binetti collection;
From which sold, Rome, Sangiorgi, 24 March 1892, lot 149 (as by Vincenzo Catena).

F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice 1959, vol. I, p. 184, cat. no. S. 668, Version II (as Francesco da Santa Croce il Giovane).

The following condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. Structural Condition The panel has three inserted vertical batons on the reverse and there is evidence of a horizontal split that runs in from the right edge when viewed from the reverse. There is also what would appear to be a repaired knot on the left edge when viewed from the reverse, and a few inactive old worm holes. Paint Surface The paint surface has a rather uneven and shiny varnish layer and a more even surface coating would be more beneficial. There are some fine lines of raised craquelure on the paint surface which are stable and secure. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a number of retouchings, the most significant of which cover the craquelure lines mentioned above. There are other small scattered retouchings, such as those on the hat and neck of the Magi in the centre of the composition. There may well be other retouchings beneath the discoloured varnish layers which do not fluoresce clearly under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition and while no further work is required for reasons of conservation, cleaning and revarnishing could certainly improve the overall appearance.
"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."

A group of painters known as 'the painters of Santa Croce' emerged at the beginning of the 16th century in Venice. Though not all members of a single family, they all came from Santa Croce, a hamlet on the hills beyond the river Brembo, before emigrating to Venice. The painters can generally be grouped into two factions and they appear to have set up in Venice under two different workshops: the first was headed by Francesco di Simone and the other by Girolamo (active 1503-1556).

Francesco di Simone is recorded in Venice on 31 July 1492, the year in which he married Lucia Trevisan, thus providing a terminus post quem for his presence in the Venetian lagoon. Very little is known of his activity though his signed and documented works all date from between 1504 and 1507.¹  His early works are heavily influenced by Andrea Mantegna and he often had recourse to the latter's compositions for his own, whilst his later works show the influence of Giovanni Bellini, particularly in his use of a colourful Venetian palette. Francesco di Simone went on to become the teacher of Palma Vecchio, Andrea Previtali and Francesco Rizzo; the last of these inheriting his workshop after his master's death.

This particular composition of The Adoration of the Magi was especially popular and two other versions of it are listed by Heinemann.²  Another variant of this composition, in which all but two figures are the same, is in the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice.³  The Querini Stampalia picture is of squarer format, has replaced the figure to the left of the Madonna with a young female martyr saint, and also differs in the inclusion of a much more extensive landscape, with a fortified castle, in the upper half of the painting. The present panel appears to be the only variant in which an additional figure has been inserted, between Joseph and the snub-nosed man in a turban, and judging from his particularised features it seems reasonable to assume that he may be a portrait, perhaps of the person who commissioned the picture. Another distinctive feature of the present panel is the presence of the trompe l'oeil fly, resting on the bald head of the magus in the foreground: this is very much a Bellini-esque motif and is absent from all other versions, indicating that this is unlikely to be just another workshop production.

Much confusion has arisen over the attribution of the Querini Stampalia panel: it is published in the 1979 catalogue as a work by Francesco Rizzo da Santa Croce (active 1504-after 1545) but has been variously attributed to Giovanni Bellini, Giovanni Mansueti, Francesco Bissolo, Francesco di Simone, Francesco Rizzo, and Francesco di Girolamo da Santa Croce. The last of these was Heinemann's suggestion; an attribution he also applied to the present work, though this is highly implausible given that the panels are unlikely to date from Francesco di Girolamo's lifetime (1516-1584). It is most likely that the Querini Stampalia painting – and therefore the present panel – are by Francesco di Simone da Santa Croce for they relate to the artist's signed painting formerly in Berlin, Kaiser Friedrich Museum (destroyed in 1945).⁴  Francesco di Simone's signed panel was inspired by the Mantegna formerly in the Marquess of Northampton's collection, today in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.⁵  In the Berlin panel Francesco di Simone introduced a landscape background which is absent from Mantegna's original but he replicated the poses of the Madonna, Child and three Magi with only minor differences.⁶

1.  For a list of Francesco di Simone's signed and documented works see B. Della Chiesa, "I pittori da Santa Croce", in I Pittori Bergamaschi, dal XIII al XIX Secolo. Il Cinquecento, vol. I, Bergamo 1980, p. 491.
2.  Other versions listed by Heinemann, see Literature, pp. 183-84, are version I (panel, 66 by 78 cm.; formerly M. Rossi collection, Venice; Joseph Spiridon, Paris; sale, Berlin, Cassirer, 31 May 1929, lot 64; location unknown) and version III (panel, 63 by 76 cm.; sale, Lucerne, Fischer, 20 October 1941, lot 1129; location unknown).
3.  Oil on panel, 112 by 141 cm.; Heinemann, op. cit., vol. I, p. 184, cat. no. S 670, reproduced vol. II, p. 580, fig. 667 (as Francesco da Santa Croce il Giovane) or more recently M. Dazzi & E. Merkel, Catalogo della Pinacoteca della Fondazione Scientifica Querini Stampalia, Venice 1979, p. 43, cat. no. 17, reproduced fig. 17 (as Francesco Rizzo da Santacroce).
4.  Inv. no. 22, oil on panel, 62 by 100 cm., signed 'Franciscus de Santa † F.'; see Heinemann, op. cit., vol. I, p. 151, cat. no. S. 142, reproduced vol. II, p. 556, fig. 629, and Della Chiesa, op. cit., p. 497, cat. no. 6, reproduced p. 505, fig. 1. A second version of the Berlin painting was sold, New York, Christie's, 11 January 1979, lot 279 (oil on panel, 57 by 83 cm.), for which see F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, vol. III, Supplemento e Ampliamenti, Hildesheim/ Zurich/ New York 1991, p. 55, cat. no. S. 412 bis; and a third version, probably from Francesco di Simone's workshop, is in the Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona, for which see Della Chiesa, op. cit., p. 498, cat. no. 16, reproduced p. 505, fig. 2.
5.  Mantegna's original was greatly copied: another workshop replica of it is in the John G. Johnson collection, Philadelphia (for which see John G. Johnson Collection. Catalogue of Italian Paintings, Philadelphia 1966, p. 47, cat. no. 213).
6.  Other variants of Mantegna's composition by Santa Croce or his circle attest to the composition's popularity in 16th-century Venice: one such example is in a private collection, Bergamo, where it is given to the circle of the Santa Croce (see B. della Chiesa & E. Baccheschi, "I pittori da Santacroce", in I Pittori Bergamaschi, dal XIII al XIX Secolo. Il Cinquecento, vol. II, Bergamo 1976, under 'Opere di incerta attribuzione', p. 48, under cat. no. 90, reproduced p. 80, fig. 7); and another was sold by the Albany County Historical Association, New York, Sotheby's, 1 June 1989, lot 40 (as Francesco di Simone da Santa Croce).