貝爾納迪諾‧梅

Grisaldi del Taja collection, Siena, until 1966;
With Simpson and Sommerville, London;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 8 July 1987, lot 44;
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 21 May 1992, lot 84, where acquired by the present owner for $209,000 (erroneously listed as dated 1636).

C. Brandi, Rutilio Manetti 1571-1639, Siena 1931, p. 191, note 1;
C. De Bravo, 'Presentazione di Bernardino Mei', in Pantheon, XXIV, 1966, p. 301, note 1;
Advertisement, The Burlington Magazine, 1985, 127, 985, p. xxxi;
F. Bisogni, 'Bernardino Mei. Sette dipinti nella Collezione del Monte dei Paschi', in Bernardino Mei e la pittura Barocca a Siena, exhibition catalogue, Florence 1987, pp. 167-68;
F. Bisogni in M. Ascheri (ed.), I Libri dei Leoni. La nobilta' di Siena in eta' medicea, exhibition catalogue, Siena 1996, p. 276, reproduced in color fig. 87;
L. Fornasari, Salvi Castellucci pittore aretino e allievo di Pietro da Cortona, Arezzo 1996, p. 61, reproduced in color plate XIV, fig. 28;
B. Sani, 'Il Cinquecento e il Seicento', in G. Chelazzi Dini et al. (eds), Pittura senese, Milan 1997, p. 454, reproduced in color;
M. Ciampolini in Drawings in Renaissance and Baroque Siena: 16th- and 17th-Century Drawings from Sienese collections, exhibion catalogue, Siena 2002, p. 231, reproduced fig. 1;
S. Sperindei, "Gli anni romani di Bernardino Mei: nuovi documenti sulla sua attivita'', in M.B. Guerrieri Borsoi and F. Petrucci (eds.), Il Museo del Barocco romano. Le collezioni Ferrari, Laschena ed altre donazioni a Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia, exhibition catalogue, Rome 2008, p. 156;
A. Pezzo, 'Mei, Bernardino' in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Rome 2009, p. 202;
M. Ciampolini, Pittori senesi del Seicento, Siena 2010, vol. I, p. 368.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. Although this work may not have been recently cleaned, it certainly looks very attractive. The canvas has an Italian lining. While the paint layer is not as textured as it once was, it is well stabilized. It can be seen that there is very little abrasion throughout. Although some of the darker colors may have become slightly warmer in the background and in the sky, this is certainly a very healthy image. The figure is particularly well preserved, showing only a few isolated retouches. The edges have attracted some retouches, as have the dark brown colors of the background around the figure, the figure group on the right side and the architecture in the center of the work. The retouches are good. Aside from one restoration on the lower center edge which needs attention, the work should be hung in its current condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This signed and dated Allegory was painted by Bernardino Mei during his most fruitful artistic phase. Like in many of his best works, the strong sculpted figure fills the foreground of the pictorial space and strong colours dominate the scene. The artist must have taken quite some care in preparing this design since related drawings for both the present work and its signed pendant, An Allegory of Injustice, are known.¹ The two pictures were both in the Grisaldi del Taja collection in Siena until they were split up in the 1960s; the pendant is now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena (fig. 1).

The open book seen lower left is the Institutes of Justinian, a section of the Corpus Juris Civilis, a codification of Roman law ordered by the Emperor Justinian I in the sixth century.

1. See Ciampolini 2010, under Literature, p. 361, reproduced in color plate 205. The preparatory study for the Allegory of Injustice is in the British Museum, London; the preparatory sketch for the drapery of the present Allegory is in the Biblioteca Comunale in Siena.