NORTH ITALIAN SCHOOL, 16TH OR 17TH CENTURY | PORTRAIT OF A MAN-AT-ARMS, SAID TO BE GJERGJ KASTRIOTI, CALLED SKANDERBEG (1405-1466), HALF-LENGTH, IN ARMOUR, HOLDING A SWORD

Field Marshal Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (acquired on April 23, 1738);

Thence bequeathed to his nephew, Christian Günther von der Schulenburg, Berlin;

Thence by descent until sold, London, Christie's, 9 July 2008, lot 146;

There acquired by the present owner. 

Schulenburg libri-cassa. Hanover, Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv, MS, entry for 23 April 1738, recording 'Contati per un quadro di Giorgion, che rapresenta il ritratto del Scanderbeg, cecchini vinti cinque, giusto ricevua in libero';

Inventario Generale della Galleria di S: Eccelza Felt Marescial Conte di Sculembourgh ... La qual Galleria pincipiò a formarsi dal 1724, e Fino al presente 1738 30 Maggio. Hanover, Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv, MS, Dep. 82, Abt. III, N. 37 (as the 'Quadro con cornice dorata rappresenta Scanderbeco' by Giorgione, purchased for 75 ducats and subsequently valued at 300 ducats by the Professori of Venice);

Specificazione de Quadri spediti in Germania, Settima Spedizione, Fatta in [between March 1739 and 17 January 1740]. Hanover, Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv, MS, Dep. 82, Abt. III, N. 37 (as 'Scanderbecco, over il ritratto del famoso Guener' by 'Giorgion, o Olben', purchased for 75 ducats);

1741, 30 Giugno Venezia, Inventario Generale della Galleria di S.E. Maresciallo Co: di Schulemberg ... La qual Galleria pricipio à formarsi l'anno 1724 ripartita coll'ordine che segue. Hanover, Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv, MS, Dep. 82, Abt. III, N. 37 (as the 'Quadro Cornice dorata in Tella rapresenta il famoso Scanderbec 7ma spne' by 'Giorgione overo Olben', valued at 400 ducats by the Professori of Venice);

Inventaire de la Gallerie de Feu S. e. Mgr. Le Feldmarechal Comte de Schulenburg, annotated copy. Hanover, Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv, Dep. 82, Abt. III, N. 95. No. 113 (as the 'Tableau en planche, représ. le fameux Schanderb' by 'Giorgione ou Olbein');

A. Binion, La Galleria scomparsa del maresciallo von der Schulenburg, Milan, 1990, pp. 159, 200, 226, 270 and 277.

This intriguing portrait, whose attribution continues to elude scholars, was first recorded in the collection of Field Marshal Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg, who carefully put together a highly important collection of Italian paintings when he retired to Venice after serving in both the German and Venetian armies. As a war hero and savior of the city after defending La Serenissima from the invading Ottoman turks, Schulenberg was at the center of the uppermost echelons of Venetian society, celebrated with a prominent statue and given a large pension from the city. He patronized contemporary Venetian artists as well as collected many works by the Old Masters, in particular sixteenth and seventeenth century Italian paintings. 

When Schulenberg acquired the portrait here, the sitter was thought to be Scanderbeg, the leader of the Christian Albanian army who fought against the Ottomans, a shared enemy that surely would have appealed to Schulenburg.