SPANISH SCHOOL, EARLY 17TH CENTURY | Crucifixion with thieves

oil on canvas

Bob Jones University Art Gallery, Greenville, South Carolina, by 1968 (inv. no. 65.350.2);
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 8 January 1981, lot 63 (as attributed to Carducho);
Anonymous sale ("Property of a Private Collector"), New York, Sotheby's, 28 January 2011, lot 15 (as attributed to Carducho);
There acquired by the present collector.

B.A. Jones, 'The Bob Jones University Collection of Religious Paintings. Supplement to the Catalogue of the Art Collection: Paintings Acquired 1963-1968,' Greenville, South Carolina 1968, p. 18, cat. no. 236, reproduced p. 88 (as attributed to Carducho);
B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, 'Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Paintings in North American Public Collections,' Cambridge 1972, p. 45 and p. 583 (as Bartolomeo Carducci, called Carducho).

The canvas is lined. An elaborate image reads well, with most of the surface well preserved. There is stable craquelure throughout. What appears to be an old tear of about 5 in. long is restored on the sky at center right. Some small inconsistency to the surface is visible on the sky at center left, though this is not too distracting. Inspection under UV reveals a heavy masking varnish though what appears to be thinly applied inpainting is scattered throughout. The painting can hang as is and is offered in a painted wooden frame with minor nicks.
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