Workshop of Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian

Charles Brinsley Marlay (1831-1912), Saint Katherine's Lodge, Regent's Park, London, by 1868;

By whom bequeathed, with the rest of his collection, to the University of Cambridge, but not retained in The Marlay Request to the Fitzwilliam Museum and anonymously sold ("The Property of a Gentleman, Deceased"), London, Christie's, 1 February 1924, lot 4 (as Jacopo Bassano);

Where acquired by "Mori";

Maud Ferrere, Geneva;

F.C. Lamm, Château de la Malvande, Chambésy, Geneva, by 1956;

Private collection, Lucerne, by 1969;

Private collection, by 2007.

National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds, 1868, Leeds 1868, p. 144, cat. no. 2939 (as Tintoretto, Portrait of Pope Paul IV);

R. Pallucchini, Tiziano, Florence 1969, vol. I, p. 285, cat. no. 310; vol. II, p. 285, reproduced (as Titian, Portrait of a Cardinal, circa 1546);

L. Dussler, “Rodolfo Pallucchini: Tiziano,” in Pantheon 28, no. 5 (November-December 1970), p. 550 (as Titian, but with “considerable reservations”);

L. Puppi, in Tiziano, L’ultimo atto, exhibition catalogue, L. Puppi (ed.), Milan 2007, pp. 326, 422-423, cat. no. 118, reproduced (as Circle of Titian, El Greco?, circa 1573);

D. Ferrara and V. Finocchi, "Iconografia di Giovanni Grimani: oggetti, fonti, problemi aperti," in Tintoretto e Giovanni Grimani, Ritratti a confronto, exhibition catalogue, Venice 2024, pp. 41-44, reproduced (as Titianesque).

Leeds, National Exhibition of Works of Art, 1868;

London, Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, 1912, no. 112 (as Jacopo Bassano, Portrait of a Cardinal," lent by Charles Brinsley Marlay);

Belluno, Palazzo Crepadona; Pieve di Cadore, Palazzo della Magnifica Comunità, Tiziano l’ultimo atto, 15 September 2007 – 6 January 2008, no. 118.

A man of exceptional learning and taste, Giovanni Grimani (1506-1593) was one of the most fascinating figures of the Venetian Cinquecento. Born into one of the most distinguished families in the Republic, Giovanni was destined from birth for the church, following in the footsteps of his uncle Cardinal Domenico Grimani (1461-1523). Both men had many parallels not only in their careers (both became, for example, the Patriarch of Aquileia, the ancient ecclesiastic hierarch of the Venetian state), but also in their interests. Grimani, like his uncle, was an avid patron of the arts and a collector. He is largely responsible for the restructuring of the spectacular Palazzo Grimani Santa Maria Formosa, where he commissioned a grand series of rooms to be decorated by leading artists. This culminated in the magnificent Tribuna, where he displayed his impressive collection of classical antiquities. Grimani’s greatest achievement, however, was likely the donation of that collection to the Venetian Republic, thus creating the first public gallery of ancient art in Europe. 

While he was a passionate collector, Giovanni Grimani did not acquire the paintings of his contemporaries in the meaningful way that his uncle Domenico did. However, he did have his portrait painted by a number of important artists. The present work is one of a small group of portraits of the Patriarch to survive. One, in a British private collection, is painted on panel and attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto. Another, also given to Jacopo, is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. A third portrait, attributed to Domenico Tintoretto, was recently acquired for the collection of the Palazzo Grimani, Venice. All three have been recently exhibited together in a dossier exhibition, Tintoretto e Giovanni Grimani, at the Palazzo Grimani, Venice (17 April - 15 September 2024). The present work appears to be more in the manner of Tintoretto’s older contemporary, Titian, and likely originated from an artist active in his workshop.