Attributed to Carlo Maratta

Possibly commissioned by Alessandro Capponi (1644–1715), Florence;

Thence by descent to his son Scipione Capponi;

By whom sold in England;

George Encil (1906–1995), by 1989;

Thence by inheritance to the present owner.

Possibly G.M. Crescimbeni, L' Arcadia del canonico Gio. Mario Crescimbeni custode della medesima Arcadia, di nuovo ampliata, e pubblicata d'ordine della Generale Adunanza degli Arcadi, colla giunta del Catalogo de' medesimi, Rome 1711, pp. 133–34;

Possibly G.P. Bellori, 'Vita, et opera di pitture del Sig.r Carlo Maratti', in Le Vite Inedite, Guido Reni, Andrea Sacchi, Carlo Maratta, 1672-1695, M. Piacentini (ed.), Rome 1942, p. 130 (as painted in 1679 for Ferrante Capponi);

Possibly F.S. Baldinucci, 'Carlo Maratta' in Zibaldone baldinucciano. Raccolta di scritti editie ed inediti di Filippo e Francesco Baldinucci e delle loro fonti manoscritte, 1728, B. Santi (ed.), vol. II, Florence 1981, pp. 366 and 642;

S. Rudolph, ‘Una visita alla capanna del pastore. Disfilo 'primo dipintore in Arcadia' (Carlo Maratti)’, in Atti del convegno di studi per il III centenario dell’Accademia dell’Arcadia, Rome 1991, pp. 394–95, reproduced fig. 4;

S. Rudolph, Niccolò Maria Pallavicini. L'ascesa al Tempio della Virtù attraverso il Mecenatismo, Rome 1995, pp. 63 and 197 under n. 141;

S. Vsevozhskaya, A Capital Collection: Houghton Hall and the Hermitage, L. Dukelskaya and A. Moore (eds), New Haven and London 2002, p. 146, under no. 53;

E. Reznicek, Experience and Adventures of a Collector, G. Encil (ed.), Paris 1989, pp. 48–55, reproduced in colour (as Annibale Carracci).

This impressive painting illustrates the rare tale of The origin of the red rose, meticulously described by Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni (see Literature), a founding member and leader of the erudite literary society of the Accademia degli Arcadi in Rome. Seated in a wooded landscape at the centre of the composition, Venus is depicted looking downwards towards a putto who has proudly extracted a thorn from her foot. The blood trickling from her wound has stained the surrounding white roses, turning their petals red. In the background, a putto clasps a dove, while another, depicted in mid-air, sets one of the birds free.

The authorship of this work was first addressed in 1991 by Stella Rudolf, who identified it as an autograph composition by Maratta commissioned in Florence by Senator Alessandro Capponi (1644–1715), as relayed by Baldinucci in 1728 (see Literature). Confusingly, Bellori's earlier account of the life of Maratta states that the work was commissioned in 1679 by Ferrante Capponi, a relative of Alessandro's. Rudolf addresses this in her article, deeming Baldinucci's account more reliable as he was based in Florence (Bellori was based in Rome).¹ This view has also more recently been adopted by Simonetta Prosperi Valenti, who will include the painting as an autograph work by Maratta in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist. A workshop copy of comparable dimensions, 'redipinta assai dal Sig. Cav. Maratti' (extensively repainted by Maratta) and now untraced, was recorded in the 1712 inventory of the artist's home, published for the first time in 1985.² Rudolf does not exclude the possibility that the latter may be the present picture; however, its description in the inventory mentions the figure of Adonis in the distance, absent from this work, which features instead a shepherd tending his flock.

Maratta appears to have returned to this subjected in another work, now lost, painted for Niccolò Maria Pallavicini (1650–1714) and linked by Rudolph (1995) to a work formerly in the Walpole collection at Houghton Hall and known from an engraving by J.B. Michel published in 1779.³ The latter differs significantly from the present work as it shows Cupid in the process of extracting the thorn from Venus's foot. A number of autograph drawings of the ex-Houghton version survive, notably in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle,⁴ and another in the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.⁵ Finally, a reduced and simplified workshop repetition of this subject, depicting only the figure of Venus, is in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen.⁶

Note on Provenance

After entering the collection of Alessandro Capponi, this picture was inherited in 1715 by his son, Scipione Capponi. The latter, finding the subject inappropriate, sold it shortly after in England 'per grandissimo prezzo'.⁷

The later history of the painting remains unknown until it entered the collection of skier, ski-resort owner and developer George Encil (b. George Eisenschiml in 1906) in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Encil was born in Czechoslovakia and emigrated to Canada in 1937. He settled in Banff after the Second World War, becoming passionate about mountain photography and cinematography. He went on to build the Mount Norquay Ski Lift in 1948 and in 1952 his company purchased the Sunshine Ski Lodge. Encil’s love of nature and the mountains was mirrored by his love of art. Majorelle’s spectacular views of the High Atlas, for instance, very much appealed to this passion. Nevertheless, his tastes were eclectic, ranging from Old Masters to early twentieth-century paintings, books, sculpture and even Japanese art; however, what unified each and every ‘orphan’ (as he described the objects and pictures that entered his collection) was the duty of care he invested in them to bring out the best in them and make them shine: from restoration to framing and presentation; a way of thinking perhaps fostered by his own gratitude towards his adoptive country and the opportunities it gave him. In 1989 Encil published a book about his collection, Experience and Adventures of a Collector, a celebration of the collection with personal anecdotes as well as insights into the disciplines of framing and restoration.

We are grateful to Dr Dario Beccarini for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.

¹ Rudolf 1991, p. 395, n. 27.

² D.L. Bershad, 'The Newly Discovered Testament and Inventories of Carlo Maratti and his wife Francesca', in Antologia di Belle Arti, 25–26, 1985, p. 78.

³ See for example the impression in the British Museum, London, inv. no. Ll,6.10; engraving; 23.3 x 27.6 cm.; https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Ll-6-10

⁴ Inv. no. 904100; red chalk; 16.2 x 21.9 cm.; https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/3/collection/904100/a-composition-study-for-la-tintura-della-rosa

⁵ Inv. no. 808D20; pen & brown ink, brown ink wash, black chalk on paper; 24.3 x 30.4 cm.; https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/cupid-extracting-a-thorn-from-venus-foot-the-origin-of-the-rose/25856/

⁶ Inv. no. 4551; oil on canvas; 53.5 x 65 cm.; https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS4551?q=*&page=0&filters=artist%3ACarlo%2520Maratti

⁷ Baldinucci 1981, p. 366.