Apollonio di Giovanni

Giovanni P. Morosini, Riverdale-on-Hudson, until 1932;
By descent to his daughter, Miss Giulia Morosini, Riverdale-on-Hudson;
By whom bequethed to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York;
By whom de-accessioned, New York, Christie's, 15 October 1992, lot 13, where acquired by a private collector.

E.S. King, "The Legend of Paris and Helen," in Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, ii, 1939, pp. 61 ff (as Apollonio di Giovanni);
H.B. Wehle, "The Bequest of Giulia P. Morosini; Paintings and Miniatures", in Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, xxxiv, 1939, pp. 19-20 (as Apollonio di Giovanni);
H.B. Wehle and M. Salinger, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings, New York 1940, p. 39 (as an unknown Florentine painter, third quarter of the 15th century);
N.B. Rodney, "The Judgement of Paris," in Metropolitan Museum Bulletin, XI, 1952, reproduced p. 59 (as Apollonio di Giovanni);
F. Zeri and E. Gardner, Italian Paintings: Florentine School, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1971, pp. 103-05, reproduced (as Apollonio di Giovanni);
B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, New York 1972, p. 12 (as a studio work);
E. Callmann, Apollonio di Giovanni, Oxford 1974, pp. 66-67, cat. no. 32, reproduced fig. 176 and a detail fig. 248 (as Apollonio di Giovanni);
K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1980, vol. I, p. 115, reproduced vol. II, p. 19 (as Apollonio di Giovanni).

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This cassone panel is in an excellent state of preservation, particularly given its having come from a functional setting. Retouching addresses small flake losses scattered across the picture, including a concentration of losses in the clothing of the figures on the far right and losses in the upper portion of the body of water. Restoration also includes strengthening of some contours, particularly around feet and faces. A constellation of long scratches is concentrated on the group of three goddesses on the left, with other, more seemingly random, scratches scattered across the surface. The varnish is even and adequately saturates the paints. The horizontally grained wood panel support appears stable. This painting looks to have been recently restored and is in no need of further intervention.
"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."

When the panel was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art it was attached to a nineteenth-century chest, along with two damaged end panels by a different hand, possibly by Marco del Buono (1402-1489), which was taken apart in 1938. When this cassone was in the Morsini collection (see Provenance), it used to hang alongside Apollonio di Giovanni's Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (lot 404 in this sale) but there is not indication that they are a natural pair. Despite their comparable dimensions, the subjects have little in common.

The story of Paris was rarely depicted in Apollonio's extensive catalogue. The scenes depicted here are those of the Judgement of Paris; Menelaus and Agamemnon sailing away; Helen sailing to the Isle of Cythera; the feast of Aphrodite; the meeting of Helen and Paris.