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Possibly commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Damasceni-Peretti Montalto (1571-1623), Rome, circa 1610;
Possibly thence by descent to his nephew, Cardinal Francesco Peretti Montalto (1595-1655), Rome;
Possibly thence by descent to his nephew, Cardinal Paolo Savelli Peretti (1622-1685);
Anonymous sale, London, Bonham’s, 4 July 2012, lot 13 (as circle of Francesco Cozza, but amended to Antiveduto Gramatica with a saleroom notice);
There acquired by Rob Smeets;
From whom acquired.

Possibly F. Martinelli, Roma ornata dall'architettura pittura e scultura, Rome 1600-1603;
Possibly, B. Granata, Le passioni virtuose: collezionismo e committenze artistiche a Roma del cardinale Alessandro Peretti Montalto (1571-1623), Rome 2012, p. 191, cat. no. 35;
F. Gatta, "Letter to the editor," Bolletino dell' Arte, May 2013, reproduced;
G. Feigenbaum and F. Freddolini, eds, Display of Art in the Roman Palace: 1550-1750, Los Angeles 2014, p. 98.

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. This work has been restored and should be hung in its current state. The canvas has a good glue lining which is nicely presenting the paint layer. There are a few retouches in the three in the upper left, and in the darkest blue across the top of the sky. There are very thin lines of retouching that suggest a thing break in the canvas, which runs vertically through the center of the landscape into the sky and branches out to the right and left. There is a restoration through the left front hoof of the bull in the lower right, and some restorations on the lower left edge in the yellow dress and between the dress and the basket of flowers. The condition is very good within the figures and the remainder of the picture, particularly given the period of the work.
"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 recently rediscovered painting depicting the Abduction of Europa forms part of a rare group of works by Antiveduto Gramatica, an artist of Sienese origins who lived in Rome and was active in the early 17th century.  Unlike the majority of his prolific output which is defined by dramatic Caravaggesque compositions filled with large figures set against dark backgrounds, in the present work, Gramatica arranges full-length figures in an almost frieze-like composition within an extensive landscape.  Europa’s maidens, adorned in richly colored fabrics, are assembled in the left foreground with their baskets of flowers.  To their right is Europa, who sits atop Jupiter disguised as a bull, holding one horn as she places a garland of flowers on his head, unaware of her imminent kidnapping by the God, poised with one hoof on the ground and readied to whisk the beauty out to sea.  This painting forms part of a small group of works by the artist, all horizontal in format and of similar dimensions (around 74 cm high), that depict female figures within Old Testament or mythological scenes.  It can be closely compared with Gramatica’s Miriam and the women of Israel singing for the safe passage across the Red Sea in Milan (fig. 1), which, like the present work, is also rendered with the artist’s distinct attention to detail in capturing fabrics as well as the figure's hands and faces.

What also sets this work apart from Gramatica's larger body of work is the inclusion of the wide panoramic landscape with foliage reminiscent of Paul Bril, with whom Gramatica collaborated on landscape paintings for Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga in 1610.¹  Only a few extant landscapes by Gramatica are known, and while he very likely could have completed the entirety of the present composition, the possibility of a collaboration with another artist on the landscape cannot be fully discounted.  

Various evidence suggests that this painting possibly once formed part of the collection of Cardinal Alessandro Damasceni-Peretti Montalto (1571-1623), grandnephew of Pope Sixtus V Peretti, as a pair to a canvas of Hercules spinning thread.  On 21 November 1610, Cardinal Alessandro commissioned a picture from Gramatica for 50 scudi and just a few months later, on 11 March 1611, he paid to have frames of a “Europa” and a “Hercules” gilded.²  When Cardinal Alessandro died in 1623, his collection descended to Cardinal Francesco Peretti Montalto.  After Francesco's death in 1655, the collection passed to his nephew, Cardinal Paolo Savelli, the universal heir to the Peretti Montalto collection.  In his publication of about 1660, Martinelli (see Literature) records a Europa and a Hercules by Gramatica as being in the Villa Montalto-Peretti, indicating that the paintings remained in the Montalto collection for at least a few generations.  Further support to the theory that the present painting once formed part of the Montalto collection can be found in a canvas by Carlo Maratti of the same subject dated circa 1680-1685 now in the National Gallery of Art in Dublin (fig. 2).  Maratti's canvas is remarkably similar in composition to the present painting, suggesting that he was likely familiar with Gramatica's picture.  Maratti was a close friend of Cardinal Paolo Savelli, and it seems quite possible that he may have seen Gramatica's composition in the Cardinal's collection. 

Gramatica did make autograph copies of his works, and in addition to Europa and Hercules in the Montalto collection, it is known that he also made another pair of the same subjects for the physician Michele Mercati.³  Even though it is possible that the present work could be the one in the Mercati collection, the connection between the present work, the other autograph version, and the Maratti painting is undeniable.

An essay by Erich Schleier forms the basis of this catalogue note.  

1. See A. Luzio, La Galleria dei Gonzaga venduta all’Inghilterra nel 1627-1628, Milan 1913, p. 47 and G. Papi, Antiveduto Gramatica, Soncino 1996, p. 141. 
2.  See B. Granata, under Literature, p. 191.
3.  A pair of paintings by Gramatica depicting Europa and Hercules are listed in 1622 and 1628 inventories of the Mercati collection.  See F. Cappelletti and L. Testa, Il trattenimento di virtuosi: Le collezioni secentesche di quadri nei palazzi Mattei di Roma, Rome 1994, p. 80, note 40.