Bernardino de' Conti

Count Castelbarco, Milan, by 1861 (as Leonardo da Vinci);

Alfred Morrison (1821-1897), Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire, by 1892 (where it hung in the Picture Gallery);

Thence by inheritance, via entail as one of the estate’s “heirlooms” (no. 40), to his wife, Mabel Chermside Morrison (1847-1933), Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire (in the Picture Gallery);

Thence by descent, via entail as one of the estate’s “heirlooms” (no. 40), to her son, Hugh Morrison (1868-1931), Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire, circa 1911 (in the Picture Gallery until 1921, when [Old] Fonthill House was demolished and the collection moved to [New] Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire, where it hung in the Ball Room, by at least 1937);

Thence by descent to his son, John Granville Morrison (1906-1996), 1st Lord Margadale of Islay, [New] Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire;

By whom sold (“The Property of The Rt. Hon. Lord Margadale of Islay, T.D. removed from Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire”), London, Christie's, 2 July 1965, lot 57;

Where acquired by Thomas Agnew & Sons, London;

Private collection, Ontario;

Anonymous sale ("Property of a Gentleman"), London, Christie's, 14 December 1990, lot 6;

Anonymous sale ("From a Private Collection"), London, Christie's, 10 December 1993, lot 77;

Where acquired by the present collector.

Possibly F. Gandini, Viaggi in Italia, Cremona 1833, vol. III, p. 318 (as Leonardo da Vinci);

Possibly L. von Simonyi, Das Lombardisch-Venezianische Königreich, Milan 1844, p. 225 (as Leonardo da Vinci);

G. Morelli, Italian Masters in German Galleries, London 1883, p. 423;

G. Morelli, Kunstkritische studien über italienische malerei, Leipzig 1890, p. 249;

G. Frizzoni, Arte italiana del Rinascimento, Milan 1891, p. 348 note 1;

G. Morelli, Italian Painters, Critical Studies of their Works, London 1892, vol. 1, pp. 192-193;

Exhibition of Early Italian Art From 1300 to 1550, exhibition catalogue, London 1893, p. 48, cat. no. 260 (as Giovanni Antonio Beltraffio);

A. Venturi, “Le esposizioni d’arte italiana a Londra,” in Archivio Storico dell’Arte 7 (1894), p. 254, reproduced fig. 11a;

C. Phillips, “Correspondance d’Angleterre,” in Gazette des Beaux-Arts (April 1894), pp. 357, 359, reproduced;

“Corrieri artistici dall’estero e dale regioni itlaiana,” in L’Arte 1 (1898), p. 317, no. 44;

Catalogue of Pictures by Masters of the Milanese School..., Exhibited May, June and July, 1898, exhibition catalogue, London 1899, p. 12, cat. no. 44, reproduced plate 13;

E. Müntz, Leonardo da Vinci: Artist, Thinker, and Man of Science, London 1898, vol. II, p. 247;

G. Cagnola, “A proposito di un ritratto di Bernardino de’ Conti,” in Rassegna d’Arte 5, no. 1 (April 1905), pp. 61-62, reproduced;

S. Reinach, Répertoire de peintures du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance (1280-1580), Paris 1905, vol. 1, p. 668, reproduced in line drawing (as Ambrogio da Predis or Bernardino de' Conti);

W. von Seidlitz, “Ambrogio Preda und Leonardo da Vinci,” in Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlung des Allerhochsten kaisterhauses 26, no. 1 (1906), p. 6;

B. Berenson, North Italian Painters of the Renaissance, New York 1907, p. 198;

J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in North Italy, London 1912, vol. 2, p. 395, note 1;

F.M. Valeri, La corte di Lodovico il Moro: gli artisti Lombardi, Milan 1913, p. 266, reproduced;

An Illustrated Catalogue of the Second National Loan Exhibition 1913-1914: Woman and Child in Art, exhibition catalogue, London 1914, p. 65, cat. no. 38, reproduced;

F. Mond, in Revue de l’Art 35 (April 1914), pp. 305, 309, reproduced;

W. von Bode, Studien über Leonardo da Vinci, Berlin 1921, p. 118;

W. Suida, Leonardo und sein Kreis, Munich 1929, pp. 185, 282;

A Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of Italian Art, exhibition catalogue, London 1931;

W.G. Constable, in Dedalo (May 1930), pp. 755-759;

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 79;

Art Treasures of the West Country, exhibition catalogue, Bristol 1937, p. 47, cat. no. 197;

W.G. Constable, “Art Treasures of the West Country at Bristol,” in Burlington Magazine 71, no. 412 (July 1937), p. 42;

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Central Italian and North Italian Schools, London 1968, vol. 1, p. 47, vol. 3, reproduced plate 1402;

Burlington Magazine 110, no. 781 (April 1968), pp. 228-230;

Master Paintings: Recent Acquisitions, London 1976, p. 13, cat. no. 17, reproduced plate 10;

Dizionario Enciclopedico Bolaffi dei Pittori e degli Incisori Italiani, vol. 3, Turin 1972, p. 423;

M. Molfino, Collezionismo e mercato artistico a Milano, 1982, pp. 247-250, notes 63-64

S.M. Levey, Lace, A History, London 1983, p. 19, reproduced plate 104;

P. Zambrano, in Pittura Italiana dal ‘300 al ‘500, M. Natale (ed.), Milan 1991, pp. 110-111, reproduced;

M.T. Fiorio, "Bernardino de' Conti," in I Leonardeschi, l’eredità di Leonardo in Lombarda, Milan 1998, p. 217, reproduced fig. 94;

M.T. Fioro, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, un pittore milanese nel lume di Leonardo, Milan 2000, p. 206;

M. Morandotti, Magnasco a Milano in Il collezionismo in Lombardia, 2008, pp. 37-38 note 29;

E. Burns, "Fine old pictures: On the trail of Alfred Morrison's Old Masters," in Millionaire Shopping, The Collection of Alfred Morrison 1821-1897, C. Dakers (ed.), forthcoming.

London, New Gallery, Exhibition of Early Italian Art From 1300 to 1550, 1893 - 1894, no. 260 (as Giovanni Antonio Beltraffio);

London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Pictures of the Milanese School, 1898, no. 44;

London, New Grosvenor Gallery, Second National Loan Exhibition: Woman and Child in Art, 26 November 1913 – 11 February 1914, no. 38 (lent by Hugh Morrison);

London, Royal Academy, Italian Art, 1200-1900, 1 January - 8 March 1930, no. 334;

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Art Treasures of the West Country, 25 May – 10 July 1937, no. 197;

London, Agnew's, Master Paintings: Recent Acquisitions, 18 May - 18 June 1976, no. 17.