Old Masters Day Sale, including portrait miniatures
Old Masters Day Sale, including portrait miniatures
The Property of a Gentleman
Manner of Giovanni Bellini
Portrait of a boy, bust-length, wearing a black hat and red jacket
Lot Closed
December 8, 02:05 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Property of a Gentleman
Manner of Giovanni Bellini
Portrait of a boy, bust-length, wearing a black hat and red jacket
oil on panel
unframed: 26.1 x 22.3 cm.; 10¼ x 8¾ in.
framed: 37.2 x 33.5 cm.; 14⅝ x 13¼ in.
Professor Paolo Paolini, Rome, probably in the 1920s;
Foresti collection, Milan;
Dr Stadlin, Zug, Switzerland;
With Galerie d'Atri, Paris;
Probably from whom acquired in the late 1950s by the grandparents of the present owner;
Thence by descent.
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani. Supplemento e Ampliamenti, vol. III, Hildesheim 1991, p. 77, no. V 24 (as possibly heavily restored by Paolini – see Provenance – but regarded as a fake by Malagutti);
A. Tempestini, Giovanni Bellini e i pittori belliniani, Florence 2021, p. 256, no. 1337.
The attribution of this intriguing painting has been the subject of consideration by several eminent scholars of the Italian Renaissance. Federico Zeri recorded it as 'Workshop of Bellini',1 Raimond van Marle proposed an attribution to Giovanni Mansueti, and Fritz Heinemann initially published it as Lazzaro Bastiani. In his Supplement, however, Heinemann raised concerns about the state of preservation of the panel, and noted the possibility that it may have been heavily restored by one of its former owners, Paolo Paolini.
Recent technical examination has confirmed the presence of extensive repaint throughout, including in the sitter's eyes, in which the lines of craquelure are in fact themselves painted; the lead white and artificial ultramarine used suggests that this work took place either in the late 19th or early 20th century. The analysis does also reveal, however, the scattered existence of period pigments, such as copper green verditer, on top of an old gesso ground, hinting at the remains of a late 15th- or early 16th-century work.