Gaspare Diziani

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 is in beautiful condition, but it is noticeably dirty. The canvas has an old lining, which is still well supporting the paint layer. There is still good texture to the paint layer. The work will respond very well to cleaning. Under ultraviolet light and to the naked eye, it does not seem that any restorations have been applied. There is a small scratch in the sky above the white plume to the helmet on the left side and another small loss in the white standards in the upper left. When the picture is cleaned, it is doubtful that any old retouches of any note will be revealed.
"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."

Unpublished until now, this Alexander and Diogenes is one of three paintings of this subject by Gaspare Diziani, others being in the dall’Agnese collection, Maron di Brugnera and in the de Balkany collection, Paris.¹  The Balkany canvas is part of a series of six paintings by the artist, depicting scenes from the life of Alexander the Great and it is possible the present painting once formed part of a larger group.²  Lino Moretti dates the present canvas between 1740 and 1750, contemporary with the Balkany series which Anna Paola Zugni-Tauro places between 1740 and 1747.³

The present painting differs from the Balkany and Agnese canvases in the orientation of its composition; Diogenese here is shown at right and Alexander at left.  The pose of Diogenese here is close to that in the Agnese canvas, though shown facing the opposite direction.  As Moretti indicates, the overall composition of the present canvas relates most closely to Diziani’s drawing of the same period, now in the Stiftung Ratjen, Veduz.⁴

We are grateful to Lino Moretti for endorsing the attribution and suggesting a date between 1740 and 1750.

 

1.  A.P. Zugni-Tauro, Gaspare Diziani,Venice 1971, pp. 77 and 82, reproduced figs.  59 and 176 respectively.
2.  For the full series see ibid., p. 82, reproduced figs. 57-62.
3.  Private written communication with Lino Moretti, dated 5 October 2014; A.P Zugni-Tauro, op. cit., p. 82.
4. Stiftung Ratjen, Italienische Zeichnungen des 16. – 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1977, pp. 204-205.