Lot 105
  • 105

Corrado Giaquinto

Estimate
200,000 - 300,000 USD
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Description

  • Corrado Giaquinto
  • The Last Supper
  • oil on canvas

Provenance

W.P. Wilstach, Philadelphia, by whom bequeathed in 1904 to the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania, inv. no. W04-1-36;
By whom sold, Philadelphia, Samuel T. Freeman, October 30, 1954, lot 141 (as attributed to Giovanni Battista Tiepolo);
Dr. William S. Serri, Woodbury, NJ;
Thence by descent to the present collector.

Literature

M. d'Orsi, Corrado Giaquinto, Rome 1958, pp. 122, 147, no. 316, reproduced, fig. 161 (as dateable to 1753-62).

Condition

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 painting has been quite recently restored and if the frame were to be repaired in, it would be ready to be hung as is. Despite the fact that it might be slightly dirty, the canvas has been lined and the surface is stable. The paint layer has been cleaned, varnished and retouched. Under ultraviolet light the retouches are mostly visible in a few spots in the drapery of the figures on the right, possibly in the shadowed area of the tablecloth, in the extreme foreground and in a few other isolated spots. This picture is clearly in lovely state. The restoration has been nicely handled and we do not recommend any further work.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Giaquinto's paintings from the 1740's, the period to which Irene Cioffi dates the present work,are characterized by a lovely, soft palette and elegant rococo forms.  His figures are inspired by those of  Sebastiano Conca, one of his Roman contemporaries, while his smooth, painterly technique reveals the influence of  Francesco Solimena, with whom Giaquinto probably came into contact with as a young man in Naples. 

The 1740s and early 50s were a particularly productive period for Giaquinto.  In 1740 he was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca, Rome, and sometime shortly thereafter he established a studio in which he trained young Spanish artists who had been sent to Rome to complete their studies.  In 1753, Giaquinto left Rome for Spain; indeed the artist's work there left a profound influence on the generation of artists active in Spain during the second half of the 18th century, such as Francisco Bayeu, Antonio González Velázquez and Francisco de Goya.  

The reverse of the stretcher is inscribed in an old, possibly 18th century hand, L'ultima Cena di Nro Signore.

1 When Irene Cioffi confirmed, upon first hand examination, the attribution of the present work to Corrado Giaquinto, she dated it to the artist's Roman period of the 1740's, approximately a decade earlier than d'Orsi dated the painting (see literature) when the artist was in Spain.