Attributed to Vittore Carpaccio

Private collection.

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. More resilient passages in this painting, such as the delicate edging on Mary's dress and the folds of her dark wimple, hint at the original quality of the painting. Strong past cleaning has led to thinning of the paint overall, and the picture is further disadvantaged by a weak restoration. In general, the picture displays a mottled appearance, especially in the lighter passages. The glazes used in the blue-green garment have suffered and appear uneven while abrasion has undermined the illusion of volume in the flesh passages. Scattered flake losses are found in the child's body and face. Where restoration has been applied it is overly broad and does not address issues of unevenness. Much of the Madonna's face has been overpainted. The wood panel support exhibits very slight lateral convex warp. Two cross battens on the reverse may be original but are held in place from the back with modern screws. A restoration that focuses on pulling together the uneven flesh tones and glazes would improve the appearance and lessen the raw look of the picture.
"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 composition of this rediscovered panel parallels that of a lost, signed panel ascribed to Carpaccio which was last recorded in the Eisler collection, Vienna (fig. 1).¹ That panel is signed VICTORIS CARPAT..., though is not universally accepted as an autograph work.² While the disposition of the figures is remarkably similar in both works, the backgrounds are different, most noticeably in the direction of the mounted rider.

Analysis of the under-drawing of the present work (fig. 2) strongly suggests the design derives from a cartoon, which is now lost. The success and popularity of the cartoon must have been significant for at least two works derive from it, beside the aforementioned Eisler picture: an anonymous Madonna and Child, now lost, which was formerly associated with Cima da Conegliano and whose background landscape differs considerably from the present work;³ a smaller panel in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge Mass., which shows a different window on to the landscape, which Heinemann attributes to Lattanzio da Rimini.⁴  Neither of these works matches the quality of the present panel, however, which despite its current appearance, appears at least as close to the work of Carpaccio as the lost Vienna panel. 

1. V. Sgarbi, Carpaccio, New York 1995, p. 234, cat. no. 54, reproduced.  
2. G. Perocco, L'opera completa del Carpaccio, Milan 1966, p. 94, cat. no. 21, reproduced.
3. P. Humfrey, Cima da Conegliano, Cambridge 1983, pp. 193-94, cat. no. 238, reproduced plate 201a. 
4. F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i belliniani, Venice 1962, vol. I, p. 112, cat. no. S.162, reproduced vol. II, fig. 299.