Damiano Mascagni

Possibly Cardinal Richelieu;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 17 November 1950, lot 141.

Dizionario enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani, vol. VII, 1983, p. 259;
S. Bellesi, Pittori fiorentini del '600 e '700, Florence 2009, vol. I, p. 195.

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 large painting is in wonderful condition. If the old lining were relaxed and tightened, there should be no reason to change it. The painting is extremely dirty, but apart from two visible restorations in the center of the right side, and a couple in the lower left, it is hard to find any area which is not in beautiful condition. This is certainly remarkable for a work of this period and scale. Cleaning the work will reveal a dazzling and beautifully preserved 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 large signed and dated canvas was painted by Donato Mascagni in 1602. The artist trained in Florence with Jacopo Ligozzi and is known to have worked in collaboration with him several times, for example in the canvases at Locko Park in Derbyshire, England.¹ As the characteristically Florentine palette might suggest, Mascagni's style was initially very much the product of his artistic surroundings but in the early 1600s it began to change and veered towards the Mannerists of the previous century, such as Jacopo Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino. The classicizing smooth features of his contemporaries made way for more unusual physiognomies and slightly affected forms, especially discernible here in the kneeling Joseph, and in the stylized poses of the figures.

The coloring and make-up of the unusual landscape, visible through the V-shape which dominates the center of the design, is unlike Florentine landscapes of the period and would suggest a knowledge of Northern, or at least certainly Venetian, art. Mascagni was later to move to Salzburg in 1614 to work at the court of Archbishop Prince Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, before returning to Florence in 1632.

The 1950 sale catalogue (see Provenance) notes that the painting once formed part of the collection of Cardinal Richelieu.



1. See Bellesi, under Literature.