Ubaldo Gandolfi

Gallery Heim, London;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 2 June 1989, lot 50A (as Gaetano Gandolfi);
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 24 May 1991, lot 62;
There purchased by the present collector.

P. Bagni, I Gandolfi, Affreschi, Dipinti, Bozzetti, Disegni, Bologna 1992, p. 511, cat. no. 480, reproduced.

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 painting is in remarkably good condition. The canvas is still on its original stretcher, and the frame may even be original. The painting is more or less clean. Under ultraviolet light, one can see isolated spots of retouching in the gown and in a few tiny spots in the background. There is one slightly larger retouch in the background in the center of the right side. In the head itself, there is only one spot of retouching on the forehead and one on the side of the nose. The condition is beautiful. The varnish has softened slightly, but very little conservation is recommended.
"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."

Published by Prisco Bagni in 1992 (see Literature), this intensely expressive Bearded man, bust length, in a grey cape is one of a series of character heads painted by Ubaldo Gandolfi throughout the 1770s.   A large group of these head studies was acquired by Marchese Gregorio Casali (1721–1802), Ubaldo's primary patron, and many of the paintings were later inherited by the Isolani Lupari family of Bologna.¹  Many of those canvases are signed or inscribed on the reverse, in a manner similar to this picture, and a number are dated 1777.  Given the volume of teste signed and marked with this same year, it seems likely, as Bagni suggested, that the date refers to the year they entered the Marchese’s collection, rather than the year of execution.²  While an inspection of the Isolani Lupari inventories reveals a number of works by the artist listed as Testa Virile or Testa di Vecchio, there are no defining details in any one of the entries to categorically link the present canvas to the collection.    

As with several of the sitters in the series, this bearded figure appears repeatedly, in various poses and from different angles.³  Indeed, another version almost identical to this study is extant, though it is slightly smaller in dimensions and somewhat less refined and finished than the present picture.

1.  P. Bagni, I Gaetano: Affreschi, Dipinti, Bozzetti, Disegni, Bologna 1992, p. 506.
2.  Ibid.
3.  Ibid., pp. 512-513, reproduced figs. 481 and 482.