FEDE GALIZIA, NUNZIO GALIZIA | Double portrait of Jacopo Menochio and Margherita Candiani, in a trompe-l'oeil frame, decorated with allegories of Justice and Prudence

Alberigo XII D’Este, Principe di Barbiano e di Belgioioso (his label with crest on the the back of the panel);
Private Collection

A. Morandotti, "Inventare in famiglia. Un pezzo di bravura nella Milano di Federico Borromeo", in Nuovi Studi, vol. IX-X, no. 11, 2004-05, pp. 213-224.

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 painted on a good panel, which is missing its original vertical supports on the right and left. The elaborate incorporated, painted frame is beautifully preserved. The calligraphy and details of the frame are unabraded. There is a very thin crack in the framed element in the center of the left side. There is no further evidence of damage or retouching to the frame. The two portraits themselves are in beautiful state with hardly any retouches. This work is in excellent state and should be hung as is.
"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 product of a collaboration between Fede and her father Nunzio Galizia, this detailed double portrait in a trompe-l’oeil frame is the only known example of female portraiture by Fede. While celebrated as a portraitist in her lifetime, she is now better known for her still lifes (see previous lot). Nunzio, versatile painter of miniatures and illuminated manuscripts, completed the detailed frame, with many sophisticated allegorical and symbolic references to convey the moral rectitude of the sitters and the strength of the couple's marriage. The miniature portraits and their complex decorative framing device demonstrate the Galizia family’s awareness of the International Mannerist style, popular across Europe from their native Milan to the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. Jacopo Menochio came from Pavia and was a respected teacher, lawyer, and diplomat. In 1565, Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Savoia, asked Menochio to negotiate the repossession of the territory of Monferrato from the Gonzaga. As is noted in the inscription around his image, Menochio was elected a Senator of Milan in 1592. Menochio appears here to the left of his wife, following marital portrait convention, and both wear formal dark clothing and a white collar. Margherita Candiana’s unusual headdress features a black lace oval panel ringed with flowers that attaches to a veil. Interestingly, although they depict a married couple, Fede completed the two portraits separately. According to the inscription circling each figure, she painted Jacopo Menochio at age 74 in September 1605 and Margherita Candiana at age 64 in October 1606. Despite the small scale of the portraits, Fede captured realistic likenesses of her sitters and built three-dimensionality with shadows on their faces and fine strokes to indicate hair or the thin fabric of their white collars. This portrait of Menochio was engraved by Raphael Sadeler II in 1606, the year of this painting’s completion, which suggests that Fede’s skill as portraitist was known outside of Milan early in her career.

Until Alessandro Morandotti’s publication of this double portrait in 2005, the only evidence of Nunzio Galizia’s artistic production consisted of two documents and references to both Nunzio and Fede in 16th-century art literature. The elaborate symbolism and level of minute detail on the trompe-l’oeil frame suggest that Nunzio may have worked as a book illustrator and was familiar with contemporary engraving techniques, as the motifs he used recur in frontispieces and ephemera for civic celebrations. His framing device, in the shape of a building façade, is topped with two putti stringing garlands of fruit across the cornice, with the couple’s arms featuring a deer and eagle enshrined in the center. On a pedestal to the left of Menochio, the figure of Justice holds a sword and scale, and to the right of Margherita, Prudence gazes into a mirror while grasping a snake. A winged allegorical figure stands atop an orb between the portraits and holds onto the egg-and-dart oval frames.

Above Jacopo Menochio, in silver (now oxidized), is a crane signifying Vigilance, standing on a small pedestal inscribed VIGILAT UT IUVET. Above Margherita on a similar pedestal inscribed BONUM UNITATIS is a dog resting its paw on a fruit, signifying Fidelity. Below the portraits, Nunzio included two Biblical verses in Latin referring to marriage: Ecclesiastes 25:1 (“There are three things my soul delights in, and which are delightful to God and to all people: concord between brothers, love between neighbors, and a wife and husband who live happily together”) and Psalm 90:16 (“Let your work appear unto your servants, and your glory unto their children”). These erudite symbols and inscriptions not only reflect the positive character traits of each sitter, but also announce the couple as people of faith who will leave a positive legacy for their descendants.

This rare double portrait and trompe-l’oeil frame documents a collaboration between an important female artist and her lesser-known father, and reveals the inspiration for the detailed, precise style she developed.

This note is adapted from Alessandro Morandotti’s research on the present lot (see Literature).