Giovanni de' Busi, called Cariani

M. Nierwenhump, 1833;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 10 May 1833, lot 33 (as by Giorgione, to Norton);
Captain E. Spencer-Churchill, Northwick Park;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 28 May 1965, lot 20 (to Brod);
With Brod Gallery, London, 1965;
With Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 1967.

A Catalogue of the pictures, works of art, etc. at Northwick Park, Blockley 1864, cat. no. 61 (as Nicolo Casa);
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian Schools, London 1957, p. 55;
B. Berenson, Pitture italiani del Rinascimento, La scuola veneta, Florence 1958, p. 57;
P. Dessy, Giovanni Busi detto Cariani, University of Padua thesis, Padua 1960-61, p.158;
A. Ballarin, "Pittura veneziana nei musei di Budapest, Dresda, Praga, Varsavia", in Arte Veneta, 22, 1968, p. 57;
G. Bolaffi et al., "Cariani Giovanni", in Dizionario enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani, Turin 1972, p. 60;
R. Pallucchini, F. Rossi, Giovanni Cariani, p. 133, cat. no. 60, reproduced fig. 4.

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 has recently been varnished and has a few adjusted retouches in the forehead, to the right of the nose, and in the right background. Old discolored retouches were altered in these areas. This work should ultimately be cleaned and retouched properly. The condition is quite good. While thinness and damage as expected from a work of this period in the hair and around the edges would become apparent, the work would respond well to restoration, given its impressive quality and good lining.
"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."

The attribution of this portrait to Cariani was first put forward by Bernard Berenson in 1957 and Alessandro Ballarin later concurred, proposing a date of 1510-1515 (see Literature).  Ballarin cited the painting’s distinctly Giorgionesque character as evidence of it being a very early work by the artist.  The female portrait likely depicts the sitter’s wife.  As Rodolpho Pallucchini and Francesco Rossi assert, the profile portrait has a hardness to it that, by the time the present portrait was painted, was outdated, suggesting it was in fact a copy of an actual existing portrait, perhaps by Francesco Bissolo (see Literature).