Bernardino Cesari

Charles Robert Beauclerk, London;
By whose Estate sold, London, Christie's, 10 June 1872, lot 23 (as J. Arpino), to Conway;
M.D. Conway;
Eustace Conway, Allington Castle, near Maidstone, Kent;
By whom given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1928 (Inv. no. 28.181).

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Exhibition of Italian Baroque Painting: 17th and 18th Centuries, 16 May - 15 June, 1941, no. 22 (as Giusepe Cesari);
Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, The Classical Contribution to Western Civilization, 15 December 1948 - 31 January 1949 (not in catalogue);
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Classical Contribution to Western Civilization, 21 April - 5 September 1949 (not in catalogue).

A. McComb, The Baroque Painters of Italy: An Introductory Historical Survey, Cambridge, MA 1934, p. 123 (as Giuseppe Cesari);
H.B. Wehle, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, A Catalogue of the Italian, Spanish and Byzantine Paintings, New York 1940, p. 255, reproduced (as Giuseppe Cesari);
W.E. Suida, A Catalogue of Paintings in the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota 1949, p. 97, under cat. no. 108 (as Giuseppe Cesari);
J.L. Allen and E.E. Gardner, A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1954, p. 17 (as Giuseppe Cesari);
B.B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Collections, Cambridge, MA 1972, pp. 52, 467, 607 (as Giuseppe Cesari);
H. Röttgen, in Il Cavaliere d'Arpino, exhibition catalogue, Rome 1973, pp. 78, 107, 110, (as Giuseppe Cesari);
I. Faldi, L'Accademia nazionale di San Luca, Rome 1974, p. 89 (as a variant);
A. Pigler, Barockthemen: Eine Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, 2nd ed., Budapest 1974, vol. 2, p. 22 (as Giuseppe Cesari);
P. Tomory, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings before 1800, Sarasota 1976, p. 129, under cat. no. 133 (as Giuseppe Cesari, a variant) ;
K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by artists born before 1865, New York 1980, vol. 1, p. 26, reproduced vol. 2, p. 98 (as Giuseppe Cesari);
E. Schleier and H. Röttgen, " 'Perseus befreit Andromeda': Ein unbekanntes Werk von Giuseppe Cesari, gen. Il Cavalier d'Arpino. Zu einer Neuerwerbung des Kaiser-Friedrich-Museums-Vereins," in Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, vol. 35, 1993, pp. 205, 208, 211-212, reproduced p. 195, fig. 3 (as Bernardino Cesari); 
K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by artists born before 1865, New York 1995, p. 131, reproduced (as Attributed to Bernardino Cesari);
H. Röttgen, Il Cavalier Giuseppe Cesari d'Arpino, Rome 2002, pp. 48, 256, 258, 287, 333, 334, 528, cat. no. 99, reproduced p. 334 (as Bernardino Cesari).

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 work has not been recently restored. The panel is flat, and the paint layer is stable. The reverse of the panel is not cradled, but a thick wax has been applied in order to discourage movement in the wood. The hind legs of the horse in the upper left have received a few retouches, and there are a few restorations in the sky and distant landscape beneath this horse. There are some restorations in the right thigh of Andromeda, and across her chest and arm. The bulk of the retouches are confined to the dark colors of the rock behind Andromeda and in the dark colors of the dragon. The work could be hung in its current state, but it would also respond well to cleaning and retouching.
"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 painting of Perseus and Andromeda, formerly ascribed to Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere d’Arpino (1568-1640), has more recently been re-attributed to his brother and frequent collaborator, Bernardino Cesari. The subject clearly appealed to Giuseppe, and was no doubt in demand from his clients, as he and his studio painted numerous variations of the subject beginning in circa 1592 through circa 1602/3.  Among the autograph versions by Giuseppe Cesari are those in the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence (circa 1592/93, oil on slate); St. Louis Art Museum (circa 1593/94, oil on lapis lazuli); Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (circa 1594/95, oil on slate);  Clark Art Institute, Williamstown (circa 1594/95, oil on panel); and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (signed and dated 1602, oil on slate).  The present version most closely relates to the painting in Vienna.  An engraving of Perseus and Andromeda by Hendrik Goltzius (1583) likely served as inspiration for Giuseppe’s earliest iterations of the subject.