（傳）喬瓦尼·斯坦基

Sale ('Property from the Wilson Estate, Arizona - Michael Taylor Design'), New York, Christie's, 6 June 2012, lot 34 (as Follower of Giuseppe Arcimboldo);
With David Koetser, Zurich;
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2012 (as Giovanni Stanchi).

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Attributed to Giovanni Stanchi. The Four Seasons. These paintings appear to have probably been relined in the late 19th century with some further restoration in the early twentieth. The present varnish is slightly opaque under ultra violet light but a few very minor old retouchings can just be seen in some of the summery fruit and occasionally elsewhere at the edges in all the paintings. Scattered recent retouching is also visible under UV but is almost always confined to the outer edges and never indicates any actual damage. It is clear that this remarkable group of paintings has been carefully preserved virtually undisturbed even throughout the last century, which is rare. The fine original glazing and finish within each individual still life element in the extraordinary composition of the figures are each fully realised and beautifully preserved. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"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."

Ultimately inspired by the work of the Milanese Cinquecento painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo, the inventor and greatest exponent of the anthropomorphic figure, this set of canvases depicting the Four Seasons were probably painted by the Roman painter Giovanni Stanchi. The attribution is based on stylistic affinities with Stanchi's more standardised still lifes of fruit and flowers. Copies and versions of these works have been associated with Stanchi for some time.

The idea of the anthropomorphic figure probably came to Stanchi via the examples of Francesco Zucchi, a painter of Florentine birth and a contemporary of Caravaggio who is in fact now credited with some of the still lifes previously thought to be Caravaggio's own. Zucchi's own set of the Four Seasons is thought to be the direct inspiration for the design of three of the present four compositions (all except Spring, which differs in its frontal, rather than profile, pose).¹ The attribution of his Four Seasons is based on a comparison with the single anthropomorphic figure on which Luigi Salerno found the initials FZ in the 1980s.²

Another set of the seasons in which all four, including Spring, follow the example of Zucchi, are recorded by Bocchi in an unknown location and attributed to Giovanni Stanchi.³ The present set compares favourably with these and indeed seems to be of higher quality and certainly in a better state of preservation. Bocchi records a further example of Autumn and one of Summer, by Stanchi and also in an unknown location.⁴ As with all of Stanchi's best still lifes the present examples are characterised by their rich colouring and expert modelling of the still-life elements. 

1. See L. Salerno, La natura morta italiana, Rome 1984, reproduced p. 55, figs 14.3–6.

2. Naples, Capodimonte. Ibid., p. 53, fig. 14.1.

3. G. and U. Bocchi, Pittori di natura morta a roma, artisti italiana 1630–1750, Viadana 2005, reproduced p. 274, figs FS.31–FS.34.

4. Bocchi 2005, p. 275, figs FS.35–36.