Studio of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called Il Baciccio

Moltini, Milan;

Acquired from the above by James Irvine, 17 March 1828, in Milan, for 15 Louis (as Domenichino);

Gifted from the above, in gratitude for his employment, to Sir William Forbes, 7th Baronet of Pitsligo (1773–1828), of Fettercairn, Kincardineshire, 14 October 1828;

By descent to his son Sir John Stuart Hepburn-Forbes, 8th Baronet of Pitsligo (1804–1866);

By inheritance to his son-in-law Charles Trefusis, 20th Baron Clinton (1834–1904);

Thence by descent to the present owner.

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, Works of Old Masters and Scottish National Portraits, 1883, no. 187 (as Domenichino, Head of a Nobleman).

James Irvine acquired this portrait, then attributed to Domenichino, in Milan, 17 March 1828, on his own account. An entry in his list of expenses, dated 2 October 1828, Rome, however, documents the cost of the case made for this picture and others (including the Schedoni - lot 13, Evening Sale) and reveals his plan to present the painting to Sir William Forbes as a token of his gratitude for his employer's favour, in the face of a recent lack of correspondence. In fact, this silence was due to Sir William's ill health and Irvine was not to know, in writing to him of his gift on 14 October, that Sir William had died four days previously and would never receive the painting.

This portrait exists in at least four published autograph variants by Gaulli: two half-length paintings (London, National Gallery, inv. no. NG6534, and Brianza, Valerio collection), one bust-length (sold Sotheby's, London, 10 July 1974, lot 32), and one three-quarter length, seated (Bucharest, Musée d'Art, inv. no. 8169/203).¹

Cardinal Marco Galli was born in Como in 1619. He became governor of Ascoli, Perugia, Ancona and Macerata, prefect in Umbria and the Marches under Pope Alexander VII, bishop of Rimini in 1659, and papal nunciate in Cologne (1659-66) and Naples (1668-71). He was made cardinal under Pope Innocent XI in 1681 and died suddenly two years later.

Dr. Francesco Petrucci supports an attribution of this painting to Gaulli in full, on the basis of a digital photograph.

1. See F. Petrucci, Baciccio, Giovan Battista Gaulli 1639-1709, Rome 2009, pp. 399-401, cat. nos A36, A36a-b, and A37.