Studio of Giovanni Bellini

The 7th Earl of Chesterfield and Dowager Countess of Chesterfield,  London;
Their sale, London, Christie's, 31 May 1918, lot 6 (as School of Bellini);
Booth Tarkington collection, Indiana, by 1936 until at least 1962;
With Newhouse Galleries, New York (as Francesco Pietro Bissolo);
Where purchased by the present owner in 1966.

B. Berenson, Pitture italiane del rinascimento; catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere, con un indice dei luoghi, Milan 1936, p. 74 (as by Francesco Bissolo);
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice 1962, p. 91, cat. no. S.23 (as Francesco Bissolo).

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 panel has a cradle on the reverse. The panel is flat, and the paint layer is stable. The clothing of the Madonna, the landscape on the right, and much of the sky are in very good state. There seems to be a vertical break in the panel that has been repaired, and there have been losses that run vertically through the center of the work. There is some unevenness and restoration in the face of the Madonna applied to the left side of her face. The restorations extend down to the left side of Christ's face through the arm and thigh into the remainder of the panel to the bottom edge. The losses are quite thin on the bottom portion of the picture, but are reasonably significant in the side of the Madonna's face. Improvements could be made if the restoration were re-examined, but the work is certainly presentable as is.
"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 tender depiction of the Madonna and Child with a crystalline landscape beyond originated with Giovanni Bellini and would become an enduring image, with a number of variants completed by the artist's assistants and followers.  Perhaps the earliest of these versions is the Madonna and Child with a donor, signed IOANNES BELLINUS and listed by Fritz Heinemann as by Francesco Bissolo, though now considered to be autograph with the donor portrait completed by a thus far unidentified associate.¹  Heinemann proposed a dating of the initial Bellini design to 1502 though, in the light of new research surrounding the aforementioned signed panel, Peter Humfrey believes the design to have been conceived somewhat earlier, circa 1495 -1500.²  Though identifying the hands of Bellini's various assistants can be problematic, this painting seems closest in style to Francesco Bissolo, who was documented in the workshop from 1492 and whose facial features are characterised by a certain delicacy and sweetness.  Carolyn Wilson notes a similarity in Christ's features here with those in Bissolo's signed variant in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, though find the Madonna's face to be more in line with Bellini's own models and indeed the possiblity of the master's involvement here should not be ruled out.³ 

The Madonna places a protective arm around the Christ Child as she bounces him on her left knee while her right hand, conveyed with impressive foreshortening, lightly holds his outstretched foot.  Despite the open window or balcony to the right the composition is illuminated from the left, bathing the Child in light and causing a play of shadows among the deep folds of drapery.  While the Madonna’s robes are essentially simple in form, the tunic bordered with a geometrically patterned neckline and tied below the bust with a thin, leather lace, for their coloration the artist has employed a majestic palette, lining her blue mantel with a contrasting, rich, yellow silk.  The Christ Child is beautifully portrayed, grasping his mother’s sleeve and leaning against her breast, his delicate features are expressed with softly shadowed modeling.  In keeping with the convention of the period, the Madonna and Child are positioned behind a parapet, accentuating their elevated status in contrast to their viewer.

We are grateful to Peter Humfrey and Carolyn Wilson for their assistance in the cataloguing of this lot on the basis of photographs.

 

1.  Ibid, reproduced p. 214, fig. 71; Anonymous sale, London, Christie’s, 13 December 1996, lot 109.
2.  F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice 1962, vol. I, p. 19, cat. no. 58; P. Humfrey in a private communication dated 28 April 2013.
3.  Private communication with Carolyn Wilson, dated 29 April 2013, for the Accademia variant see F. Heinemann, op. cit. vol. I, p. 19, cat. no. 58r, reproduced vol. II, p. 317, fig. 347