Old Master Paintings Day Sale

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Lot 237
  • 237

Pietro Damini Castelfranco Veneto 1592 - 1631 Padua

Estimate
25,000 - 35,000 GBP
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Description

  • Pietro Damini
  • A series of commemorative portraits

  • the first inscribed along the lower margin: DCCCXX. MALTRAVERSVS ALBERTI II. F./ REGIAM LABENTVM DESIDERII/ FAMILIAM HONORIFICE' SVSTINET
    DCCCLVII. ALPHARISVS. III. MALTR: F./ DEVICTIS APVD CAPUÃ SARACENIS/ ECLESIAM PERICLITANTEM CONFIRMAT.
    DCCCXXX. ROMVALDVS ALPH: III.F. ET/ FIDE, ET ÆQVITATE VIGET AC/ SVMMORVM PRINCIPVM GRATIA.
    DCCCCXX. MANFREDVS ROMVALDO F. PP/ PATRIA AD RODOLPHV BVRGUNDIE,/ REGEM LEGATVS PROFICISCITVR

    the second inscribed along the lower margin: DCCCXC ALBERTVS III IGHELFREDI ECADETI/ FAMILIE,. AMPLISSIMISQ. IVRIBES, ET/ OPIBVS GENEROSA SVCCESSIONE COSVLIT
    M. ENGULPHVS ALBERTI III. F. PVLSO/ PATRIÆ IVSSV CVM EXERCITV/ TYRRANO VINCENTIAM LIBERAT.
    MLXXVII ALBERTVS IIII. ENGULPHI F. A'/ CLARISS.MIS PROGENITORIBUS NEC/ VIRTVTIBVS NEC ANIMIS PEGENERAT.

    the third inscribed along the lower margin: MCCCLXI. PETRVS PHIL. F. QVE/ ILLVSTRIA DE SEIPSO COCITARAT,/ MORTE PREMATVRA DIREMIT.
    MCCCLXI. FRANCISCVS PET. F./ POSTH. VINCENTIVM ILLUSTRAT, ET/ VIRTVTE REGN..T COSILIO (F)OVET.
    MCDV. GREGORIVS FRANC. F./ DVCTA INGENTI FOVEA AGRVM/ PATAVINVM A VINCENTINO DIVIDIT.

    the fourth inscribed along the lower margin: DCC. ALARICVS VECT. F. SVB GRIMOALDO/ REGE VINCENTIA DONATVS ET/ OPIBVS FLORET ET ARMIS.
    DCCXL. PREDEVS. II./ ALARICI. F. LAGOBARDOR-/ -OIA NVTV REGIT ET ARBITRIO
    DCCLXVIII. ALBERTVS. II. PREDEI. II. F/ A' MAGNO CAROLO ET PATRIA/ DONATVR ET HON;BVS AMPLISSIMIS.

  • a set of four, with two additional later fragments, all oil on canvas, unframed

Provenance

Acquired in Italy by Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth (1857-1923) some time in the 1880s or '90s;
Thence by family descent until sold, along with Hewell Grange, to the Nation in 1946, but remaining in situ there until recently.

Condition

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The four canvases have been stored inappropriately and have been subjected to damp. They have all been lined but these linings have degraded and the canvases have lost tension. All have vertical seams. Most have visible small losses or tears , some are more severely butchered( including one that has had a portrait inexpertly hacked out) .The varnishes on all are blanched. The paint surfaces, for the most part, are in good, original and un-abraded condition beneath discoloured and degraded varnishes."
"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."

Catalogue Note

Active for much of his life in Padua, Pietro Damini received many commissions from the local nobility, for whom he painted portraits of ancestors with the help of his brother Giorgio, who was also an artist. Similar bust-length portraits, with extensive inscriptions, have appeared on the market in recent years: see, for example, Damini's Commemorative portraits of the Tisoni family sold, Rome, Finarte, 22 November 1994, lot 88, and his Fantasy portrait of Ugo Alberti IV sold, London, Christie's, 18 April 1997, lot 167. The latter may originally have belonged to the same series as the present set: its dimensions, format and the name of the sitter all find parallels in the canvases offered here. The portraits presumably adorned a room in a palazzo, rather like Titian's portrait series for the Gonzaga in Mantua.

These portraits were bought in the late 1880s or '90s by Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth (1857-1923).  He married Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline Paget (1863-1944), daughter of Sir Augustus Berkeley Paget in 1883.  Paget (1823-1896) was a diplomat who spent much of his career in Italy, first appointed as envoy-extraordinary in 1867 and subsequently becoming ambassador-extraordinary in 1876.  He remained in Rome until the end of 1883 when he became ambassador at Vienna, returning to Italy after his retirement from diplomatic life in 1893.  His son-in-law Robert George Windsor-Clive spent much time with him in Italy and acquired these paintings there.

Hewell Grange in Worcestershire was the seat of the Plymouth family since the 16th century.  Robert Windsor-Clive rebuilt the house in the Italianate style, the work being completed by 1894.  The paintings were moved into the attics then, where they have remained ever since.