Jacopo Robusti, called Jacopo Tintoretto and Studio

Prince Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rittberg (1711-1794), Vienna;

Prince Alois Wenzel von Kaunitz (1774-1848), Vienna;

His sale, Vienna, Artaria & Cie, 13 March 1820, lot 176;

August Artaria (1807-1893), Vienna;

His sale, Vienna, H.O. Miethke, 12 January 1886, lot 79;

Consul-General Eduard Friedrich Weber (1830-1907), Hamburg;

His Deceased sale, Berlin, Rudolph Lepke’s Kunst-Auctions-Haus, 20-22 February 1912, lot 133;

Michel van Gelder, Uccle, Belgium, from whom acquired.

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Italiaansche Kunst in nederlandsche bezit, 1 July-1 October 1934, no. 381.

Italiaansche Kunst in nederlandsche bezit, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam 1934, cat. no. 381, reproduced fig. 381;

F. Harck, 'Quadri di maestri italiani nelle gallerie private di Germania – La Galleria Weber di Amburgo', in Archivio storico dell’arte, vol. IV, 1891, p. 89;

T. von Frimmel, Geschichte der Wiener Gemäldesammlungen, I, part 3, Berlin and Leipzig 1899, pp. 108/110;

K. Woermann, Wissenschaftlichen Verzeichnisses der älteren Gemälde der Galerie Weber in Hamburg, Dresden 1907, pp. 124-125, cat. no. 133;

B. Berenson, The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, New York 1910, p. 136;

E. Schaeffer, 'La Vendita della collezione Weber a Berlino', in Rassegna d’arte, vol. XII, 1912, p. 73;

T. von Frimmel, Lexicon der Wiener Gemäldesammlungen, vol. I, Munich 1913, p. 65; vol. II, 1914, pp. 352-353;

S. Reinach, Répertoire de peintures du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance, vol. IV, Paris 1918, p. 468, cat. no. 2, reproduced p. 468;

L. Venturi, 'Nell’esposizione d’arte italiana ad Amsterdam', in L’Arte, vol. XXXVII, 1934, p. 496;

R. van Marle, 'Le pitture all’esposizione d’arte antica italiana di Amsterdam', in Bollettino d’arte, vol. XXVIII, March 1935, p. 398, reproduced p. 397, fig. 12;

G. Matthiae, 'In margine all’esposizione d’arte italiana ad Amsterdam', in Rivista del Reale Istituto d’Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, vol. V, nos. 1/2, 1935, pp. 224-225;

E. von der Bercken, Die Gemälde des Jacopo Tintoretto, Munich 1942, p. 106, cat. no. 51;

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School, London 1957, vol. I, p. 170 (this, and all the above, as Jacopo Tintoretto);

P. Rossi, Jacopo Tintoretto, vol. I (Portraits), Venice 1974, p. 140, reproduced fig. 189 (with no first-hand knowledge of the portrait, author places it among the works of uncertain attribution).

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: This painting has an old but quite firm stretcher. The lining is also old and it is perhaps a double lining. The paint is secure and stable and has of old been imprinted to some extent into the texture of the canvas. The restoration has been slightly rejuvenated recently with a fresh varnish. Under ultra violet light the background has various scattered older retouchings, apparently quite broad brush and painterly, faintly visible through the semi opaque old varnish. However the figure seems to be largely untouched and intact, with the impasted brushwork sometimes scumbled across the warm ground and rough texture of the canvas. One thin old horizontal tear runs across the raised hand for about seven or eight inches. The figure of Temperance on the helmet is pouring a liquid, which has been reinforced with retouching, as have some of the details of her drapery. The main figure also has small touches reinforcing the outer edges of his hair and head. Traces of a pentiment can be seen around his hand, with recent retouching at the end of the fingers. Essentially rather little has been done at all recently, with the overall image long established unaltered by any intervention for a century or so at least. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"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 engaging portrait of an unknown nobleman, painted by Tintoretto between the years 1550-55, was in the early literature thought to depict Ottavio Farnese (1524-1586), Duke of Parma and Piacenza.¹ This relatively early work in Tintoretto’s long career can be compared to other portraits from the period such as his Portrait of a young man at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, and the Portrait of a Gentleman holding a bust of Lucretia in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.²

The device on the crest of the helmet, a female figure pouring water from one vessel into another, is the emblem of the cardinal virtue of Temperence.

Provenance:
The first recorded owner of the painting, Prince Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rittberg, whose monogram is found lower right (see fig. 1), was chancellor and foreign minister of the Austrian Empire under Maria Theresa and her sons, Joseph II and Leopold II. He was also a keen patron of the Arts and served as Protector for the Akademie der bildenden Kunste, Vienna, and assembled a notable collection.³ In the nineteenth century the painting passed into the collection of Consul-General Eduard Friedrich Weber who also amassed an important collection.

1. See, for example, Woermann, under Literature.
2. See Rossi, under Literature, p. 103, reproduced fig. 79, and p. 115, reproduced fig. 80 respectively.
3. See Trimmel, under Literature.