The Jeffrey E. Horvitz Collection of Italian Drawings

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Lot 63
  • 63

Giuseppe Passeri

Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
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Description

  • Giuseppe Passeri
  • st bernard received into the abbey of citeaux by st stephen harding

  • Pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white, over traces of red chalk, on paper washed pink;
    bears attribution in pen and brown ink, lower right: Vanni ; and bears inscription in pencil on the verso: Reception de Charlequint / au couvent de St Just / Velasquez

Provenance

H.S. Reitlinger (L.2274a), his sale, London, Sotheby's, 9 December 1953, lot 74 (as Giuseppe Passeri, Charles V being received at the Convent of St. Just);
sale, London, Sotheby's, 10 March 1977, lot 79;
with Kate de Rothschild, London;
sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, Piasa, 23 March 2001, lot 34 (as Attributed to Passeri); acquired at the sale

Exhibited

London, Kate de Rothschild at William Darby's Gallery, Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, 1977, no.13

Condition

The catalogue illustration is too brown in color, the drawing itself is more of a brick red shade. There is some foxing, although this is only really visible on the verso, the recto appears virtually clear. A tiny, pin-prick hole at the lower left margin, only seen when held to the light. Otherwise the condition is very good.
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

Kate de Rothschild was the first to relate this drawing to Passeri's painting, formerly hanging in the abbey at Citeaux and now in the museum at Dijon.1  The painted composition is rather different, but this drawing could indeed be an early idea for it. Another finished drawing, which corresponds exactly with the painting but in reverse, is at Windsor.2 The rather Spanish costumes of the noblemen is perhaps why the subject was previously thought to be Charles V retiring to the monastery of St. Just, in Estremadura, which he entered in 1557.

An anonymous drawing with very much the same composition is in the Albertina, Vienna.3

 

1. Marguerite Guillaume, Catalogue raisonné du Musée de Dijon, Peinture italiennes, Dijon 1980, pp. 58-60, no. 92

2. A. Blunt and H.L. Cooke, Roman Drawings...at Windsor Castle, London 1960, p. 74, no. 567

3. Inv. 23231; V. Birke and J. Kertész, Die Italienischen Zeichnungen der Albertina, IV, Vienna/Cologne/Weimar 1997, p. 2216, reproduced