- 150
Circle of Annibale Carracci
Description
- Annibale Carracci
- Portrait of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese (1583-1626), three-quarter length, seated in the Camerino degli Eremiti in Palazzetto Farnese, before a window, with the court entertainer "Hairy Harry" and his dog, the river Tiber and the Farnesina beyond
- oil on canvas, in its original walnut gilt cassetta frame
Provenance
By descent to his nephew Odoardo I Farnese;
By descent to his son Ranuccio II Farnese, Palazzo del Giardino, Parma;
Private collection, Genoa, since 1930.
Literature
Also recorded in the 1644 inventory, as cat. no. 3082 (op. cit.);
"Quadri di Palazzo del Giardino di Parma nel 1680 c." (Naples, Archivio Farnesiano, Casa e Corte Farnesiana, s. VIII, b.54), in G. Bertini, La Galleria del duca di Parma, Storia di una collezione, Bologna 1987, p. 257 (in the Appartamento del Ser.mo Principe Odoardo - Camera vicina alla Galleria di S. A. S.sma: "514. Un quardo alto braccia due, oncie una, e mezza, largo braccia uno oncie sette, e mezza. Un ritratto del Sig.r Cardinale Odoardo con rocchetto, tiene nella destra un breviario posto sopra di una tavola coperta di scarlato, e nella sinistra un memoriale, di...n. 646."
Condition
"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."
Catalogue Note
From the window the Villa Farnesina can be seen, where Raphael's frescoes can be found, with Gianicolo Hill. This is the view from the Palazzetto Farnese, built by Odoardo in 1602 on the bank of the Tiber, which is linked to the main Palazzo Farnese by a covered corridor over the Via Giulia. In the Palazzetto Odoardo created the Camerino degli Eremiti, a private hideaway for his circle of intellectuals to meet, which was conceived by Annibale Carracci and frescoed by Lanfranco and Domenichino.
All the aforementioned artists working in Odoardo's milieu were pupils of Annibale Carracci but the present portrait comes closest in style to the work of Domenichino. Richard Spear does not feel that the work can be attributed to Domenichino while Francesco Petrucci does feel that it is a typical work by the artist from circa 1600-02.