Jacopo Ligozzi Verone 1547 - 1627 Florence and Donato Mascagni Florence? 1570/4 - 1637

The Ughi Family, Florence, since 1783;
William Drury Lowe(1803-1877), Locko Park, Derbyshire;
Thence by descent.

Nottingham, University of Nottingham, Dante in Art, 1965;
Sheffield, City Art Galleries, 17 April - 17 May 1970, no. 37, as Beccafumi (?) or Morazzone (?);

J.P. Richter, Catalogue of Pictures at Locko Park, London 1901, pp. 61-64, 86 (as attributed to Beccafumi);
A. Smart, 'The Locko Park Collection', in Apollo, vol. LIIIVII, 1968, pp. 204-407;
M. Gregori, 'Federico Zuccari a Firenze: unpunto di vista', in  Paragone arte, vol. 17, January 1998, pp.16-17, figs. 16-19;
L. Conigliello, Ligozzi, Exhibition catalogue, Paris, Louvre 2005, p. 68, under cat. no. 4 ;
M. Brunner, Die Illustrierung von Dantes Divina Commedia in der Zeit der Dante-Debatte (1570-1600), Munich-Berlin 1999, pp. 134-148, reproduced p. 302 and 304;
J. Brooks, in the exhibition catalogue, Graceful and True: Drawing in Florence c.1600, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 2003, p. 110, under cat. no. 55;
F. Moro, Viaggio nel seicento Toscano, Paris 2006, p. 30, reproduced figs. 11 and 12.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. 1.Dante and Virgil about to take ship with Charon across the Acheron; 2.Charon ferrying Virgil and Dante across the Acheron 1. The original canvas is lined and the paint is stable and flat with a restored tear through the hull of the boat. The paint layer is in a good preserved condition generally, there has been slight abrasion to areas of the sketchy background, particularly to the right of Virgil and upper right leading down in to the group of naked figures and the knees of the reclining figure, lower right. Minor paint loss can be detected elsewhere. 2. The original canvas has also been lined and is in a similar condition to 1 .The sketchy vulnerable paint layer has been more abraded and consequently strengthened, especially the upper left area. The varnish layer to both is degraded and discoloured and its removal would improve the tonality to both. Generally well preserved original condition."
"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."

One of a Veronese family of craftsmen and painters, Ligozzi moved to  Florence in 1576-77 at the request of Grand Duke Francesco de' Medici, and worked for the court for the rest of his life. These paintings originally formed part of a set of four large canvases illustrating scenes from Dante's Divine Comedy. They are related to a group of five sheets of drawings by Ligozzi executed between 1587 and 1588 and which also depict scenes from Dante's poem. Three of these are now at Christ Church, Oxford: Dante in the dark forest (Hell, I, 1-6), Dante and the three wild beasts (Hell I, 31-63), and directly related to one of the present paintings, Dante and Virgil about to take ship with Charon across the Acheron (Hell III, 52-57) (fig. 1). The two other drawings are in the Louvre, depicting The second dream of Dante (Purgatory XIX, 28-32)  and in the Albertina in Vienna showing Beatrice appearing to Virgil (Hell II, 52-74). Two of the Christ Church drawings are dated 1587 and that related to one of these pictures is dated 1588 and inscribed: a Montui. This is probably a reference to the hills of Montughi near Florence, where Ligozzi would later paint an altarpiece for the convent of the Capuchin fathers.

Subjects taken from Dante accorded very well with Florentine taste at this date, and it is likely that Ligozzi's drawings would originally have formed part of a larger set. Another such set, of  twenty six sheets of similar size was drawn, for example, by Giovanni Stradano (Stradanus) in the same year and are now in the Biblioteca Laurenziana. Whether Ligozzi's paintings formed part of an even larger scheme is not known, but there can be little doubt that they were painted in the context of the intellectual circles around Luigi di Piero Alamanni, the senior figure at the Accademia degli Alterati, where Ligozzi was also a member, and where discussion and recitals of Dante's poetry took place. Given their large scale and the fact that Ligozzi was more normally a miniaturist, these canvases would no doubt have been entrusted in part to the studio. Following  inspection of the originals, Moro has recently suggested the involvement of Donato Mascagni (c.1570-1637), called Fra Arsenio, who was a pupil of Ligozzi in Florence.

William Drury-Lowe (1803-1877) was one of the most discerning members of the second generation of British collectors of early Italian paintings. His most famous acquisitions were probably Andrea del Castagno's famous David with a sling (Washington, National Gallery), which he bought in 1852 for £6 13s., and Lorenzo Monaco's Madonna and Child today in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.¹ Another work by Ligozzi from his collection, an Allegory of the Redemption, was sold in these Rooms 6 December 1995, lot 27.

1. For Drury Lowe and his activities as a collector see Smart, op. cit.,  1968, and R. Calvocoressi, in the exhibition catalogue, Locko Park and the Drury-Lowes. A Derbyshire family and its art treasures, Nottingham, University Art Gallery, 1982.