Girolamo da Santacroce

With Mortimer Brandt Galleries, New York;
Mr. Gabriel;
His sale, New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 15 November 1945, lot 7;
Where acquired by David Goldmann;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

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 work on panel has been thinned and cradled. The panel is flat, and the paint layer is more or less stable. There is a little instability through the center in the red gown of Christ and to the right of the figure of the female figure on the right. These areas of slight instability have attracted restoration in the past. There seems to be otherwise very little damage. The painting does appear to be quite dirty, and this is a work that would certainly respond well to cleaning and careful restoration.
"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 pupil of Gentile Bellini, Girolamo da Santacroce was likely employed in the workshop of Giovanni Bellini after his master’s death.  Born in Santacroce near Bergamo, the artist was active in Venice as early as 1503, when he was documented as witness in the will of Bellini’s wife.¹ Another version of Santacroce's Christ and the woman of Samaria, of almost identical dimensions, can be found in the Museo Borgogna, Vercelli along with a pendant, Noli me tangere, begging the question whether the present painting may also have initially formed part of a pair.²  The Vercelli paintings were attributed to Girolamo da Santacroce by both Federico Zeri and Bernard Berenson, though Fritz Heinemann lists them as the work of his son, Francesco III da Santacroce.³ The landscape in the Vercelli panel varies slightly from that of the present painting, showing more of the river valley and omitting the pathway with riders at the center of the composition and the figures and animals to the right of the woman of Samaria. 

At the time of its 1945 sale, the painting had been authenticated verbally by W. R. Valentiner and was accompanied by a letter from George Richter, dated New York, 28 June 1940, who considered the work to be from Santacroce's mature period and dated it between 1530 and 1540.

 

1.  F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice 1962, pp. 161-162.
2.  Ibid. pp. 167-168, nos. S.524 and S.532.
3.  F. Zeri, Fototeca archive, no. 39400; B. Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, vol. I, p.157.