Gaetano Gandolfi San Matteo della Decima near Bologna 1734 - 1802 Bologna

This beautifully preserved Judgment of Solomon is a newly discovered work of Gaetano Gandolfi, dating to the mid 1770s.  It was clearly intended as a gallery picture, and the horizontal format is somewhat unusual in the artist’s work.  Nevertheless, Gandolfi uses the space to great effect.  The figures are depicted half -length, and the artist bisects the canvas with two crossing diagonals formed by the figure of the honest mother and the soldier who raises his sword to carry out Solomon’s verdict.  The colors are brilliantly rendered, and the lighting particularly dramatic.  Its reappearance is a significant addition to the artist’s known oeuvre.

The Judgment of Solomon is one of three known versions of the composition; the others are in a private collection, Bologna¹ and another formerly in a private collection, Sweden, until sold at auction in 2000².  One of these canvases was tantalizingly referred to soon after it was painted by Marcello Oretti, the Bolognese writer, collector and connoisseur.  In his Descrizione delle pitture che ornano le case de’ cittadini della città di Bologna, Oretti describes the collection of Giuseppe Pirotti, where he lists two pendant paintings by Gaetano Gandolfi: “Un quadro per traverso con l’Adultera mezze figure minori del vero di Gaetano Gandolfi. Un quadro per compagno col Giudizio di Salomone del medesimo Gandolfi.³."  This reference, to whichever of the three canvases it may have been, ties the Judgment with another composition of Christ and the Adulteress, of which at least two examples exist.  The best known is in the City Art Gallery, Leeds, and the other was formerly in the Herlitzka collection, Buenos Aires.  All of these canvases are of almost exactly the same size, and it is difficult to say with certainty which of the versions were paired with the original.

A preparatory drawing for the composition is in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice (inv.36185, see fig.1); it corresponds closely to the final paintings, with the addition of a (turbaned?) figure on the extreme right of the composition, and the hand of Solomon moved to the right of the soldier’s helmet.  

1 See D. Biagio Maino, Gaetano Gandolfi, Turin, 1995, cat. no. 75

2  Sale: Bukowski’s, Stockholm, December 5, 2000, lot 398, as attributed to Luca Giordano, sold for SK6,400,000 ($657,421)

3 Trans: Manuscript, Biblioteca Comunale dell’Archiginnasio, Bologna  “A horizontal picture with [Christ and] the Adulteress, half-length figures, [slightly] smaller than life[size] by Gaetanto Gandolfi. A pendant picture with the Judgement of Solomon by the same Gandolfi.”