Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries

Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 7. The Head of Saint John the Evangelist with the profile of the Head of Saint Peter to the left (after Leonardo da Vinci).

Property from a Distinguished New York Collection

Attributed to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio

The Head of Saint John the Evangelist with the profile of the Head of Saint Peter to the left (after Leonardo da Vinci)

Auction Closed

July 6, 10:38 AM GMT

Estimate

80,000 - 120,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Distinguished New York Collection

Attributed to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio

Milan 1467/8 - 1516

The Head of Saint John the Evangelist with the profile of the Head of Saint Peter to the left (after Leonardo da Vinci)


Black chalk, coloured chalks and pastel, on paper prepared light grey;

Slight indications of incision along the right contour of the face of St. John

635 by 470mm

Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Baronet (1772-1848);
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830),
his sale, London, Christie's, 17-19 June 1830, lot 430 (purchased by Samuel Woodburn for 92 guineas; the Heads were offered individually lots 426 to 435 'Cartoons of the Heads in the Celebrated Last Supper'),
With Samuel Woodburn (1783-1853), London, Woodburn Gallery, Fifth Exhibition, A Catalogue of 100 Original Drawings by J. Romano, F. Primaticcio, L. da Vinci, and P. del Vaga, collected by Sir Thomas Lawrence, late president of the Royal Academy, 1836, part of no. 75 (as Leonardo da Vinci),
purchased by the Prince of Orange, later King William II of Holland,
his sale, The Hague, De Vries, Roos, Brondgeest, 12-20 August 1850, lot 13 (as Leonardo da Vinci, sold together with seven other heads from the series for 8,000 florins to 'Weimar');
Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1818-1901), and by descent,
his sale and others, London, Sotheby's, 28 June 1962, lot 77 (as Andrea Solario), 
purchased by David Griffiths,
his sale and others, London, Sotheby's, 28 March 1968, lot 5 (as Andrea Solario) purchased by Dr. Bernard Breslauer,
sold by his estate, New York, Christie's, 25 January 2005, lot 25 (as Attributed to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio)
J. Sighart, The Lord's Supper, Christ and His Twelve Disciples. From the Original Crayon-Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci in the Possession of Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar by John Niessen, London 1868, both reproduced (as Leonardo da Vinci);
J. Sighart, Das Abendmahl des Herrn. Christus und die zwölf Apostel. Nach den im Besitze Ihrer Königlichen Hoheit der Frau Grossherzogin von Sachsen Weimar befindlichen Original-Pastellbildern von Leonardo gezeichet von Johannes Niessen, Munich 1874, both reproduced (as Leonardo da Vinci);
G. Frizzoni, 'I disegni delle teste degli apostoli nel Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci', Archivio storico dell'arte 7, no. I, 1894, pp. 41-49, reproduced fig. 2 (Saint John) (as Andrea Solario?);
G. Dehio, 'Zu den Kopien nach Lionardos Abendmahl', Jahrbuch der Königlich preussischen Kunstsammlungen, 17, 1896, pp. 181-85, reproduced pls.15-19 (later works after Leonardo da Vinci);
E. Müntz, Leonardo da Vinci: Artist, Thinker and Man of Science, New York and London 1898, vol. I, p.191 no. 1, reproduced plate X (Saint John) (as after Leonardo da Vinci);
B. Berenson, The Drawings of the Florentine Painters (New York, 1903), vol. I, p. 254 note 1 (as Andrea Solario);
O. Hoerth, Das Abendmahl des Leonardo da Vinci: Ein Beitrag zur Frage seiner künstlerischen Rekonstruktion, Leipzig 1907, pp. 198-222, reproduced fig. 24 (Saint John) (as after Leonardo da Vinci);
K. Badt, Andrea Solario: Sein Leben und seine Werke, Leipzig 1914, p.188 (as after Andrea Solario);
F. Malaguzzi Valeri, La corte di Lodovico il Moro, II: Bramante e Leonardo da Vinci, Milan 1915, pp. 534-36, 544, reproduced fig. 592 (Saint John) (as Andrea Solario);
F. Lugt, Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d'Estampes, Amsterdam 1921, p. 456;
C. Horst, 'L'Ultima Cena di Leonardo nel riflesso delle copie e delle imitazioni', Raccolta Vinciana, no. 14, 1930-34, pp. 172-76 (as after Leonardo da Vinci);
W. von Seidlitz, Leonardo da Vinci, Vienna 1935, p. 169 (as after Leonardo da Vinci);
B. Berenson, The Drawings of the Florentine Painters, Amplified Edition (Chicago, 1938), vol. I, p. 174, no.1 (as Andrea Solario);
K. Clark, Leonardo da Vinci: An Account of His Development as an Artist, Cambridge 1939, p. 94 (as after Leonardo da Vinci);
E. Möller, Das Abendmahl des Lionardo da Vinci, Baden-Baden 1952, pp. 103-8, reproduced fig. 64 (Saint John) (later works after Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio);
B. Berenson, I disegni dei pittori fiorentini, Milan 1961, vol. 1, p. 254, no. I (as Andrea Solario);
D.A. Brown, Leonardo's "Last Supper": Precedents and Reflections, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1983, under no.6 (as After Leonardo, close to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio);
D.A. Brown, Andrea Solario, Milan 1987, p. 270, no. 98 (as after Leonardo da Vinci);
C. Geddo, 'Disegni leonardeschi dal Cenacolo: un nuovo nome per le teste di Starsburgo.', in F. Frosini ed. "Tutte le opere non son per istancarmi": Raccolta di scritti per i settant'anni di Carlo Pedretti, Rome 1998, pp. 159, 161;
P.C. Marani, 'Presentazione del restauro del 'Cenacolo' di Leonardo da Vinci', Raccolta vinciana, Milan 1999b, no. 28, p. 93-121;
P.C. Marani & A. Rovetta, Il Genio e le Passioni: Leonardo e il Cenacolo: Precedenti, innovazioni, riflessi di un capolavoro, exhib. cat., Milan, Palazzo Reale, 2001, pp. 196-198, under no. 60-64 (Anonimi, da Leonardo, secoli XVI XVIII?);
A. Ballarin, 'I Disegni di Weimar', Leonardo a Milano, Padua 2010, vol. II, Appendix III, p. 899, reproduced pl. cccxviii (as 'Copia tarda da Leonardo');
P. Bower, ''The paper used for the Head of Saint Matthew''. A cartoon for the ''Last Supper'', after Leonardo da Vinci from the collection of Adriano Ribolzi'', Leonardo a Milano, Padua 2010, vol. II, Appendix II, pp. 883-884;
L. Wolk-Simon, The 'Cartones of Leonardo da Vinci', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 153, March, 2011, pp. 148-155, reproduced p. 150, reproduced fig. 5 (as after Leonardo da Vinci c. 1500?);
C. Bambach, Leonardo da Vinci. Rediscovered, New Haven 2019, vol. III, pp. 533-536, vol. VI, p. 407, notes 183, 184 (as Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio) 
London, Woodburn Gallery, Fifth Exhibition, A Catalogue of 100 Original Drawings by J. Romano, F. Primaticcio, L. da Vinci, and P. del Vaga, collected by Sir Thomas Lawrence, late president of the Royal Academy, 1836, part of no. 75 (as Leonardo da Vinci);
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sixteenth Century Italian drawings in New York Collections, 1994, pp. 51-53, no. 46b, p. 187 reproduced (as Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio);
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Painters of Reality. The legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy, 2004, p. 72, reproduced p. 97, J (as After Leonardo da Vinci)