Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli

Probably Roberto Canonici, Parma, 1632;
Probably in the collection of King Charles I, before 1639 (as Parmigianino);
Possibly King Charles II (as Parmigianino);
Possibly King James II, Whitehall (as Parmigianino);
Arthur L. Nicholson, London, until 1926;
His sale, London, Christie's, April 26, 1926, lot 129, to Moore (as Cesare da Sesto);
Ernst Remak, Berlin, until 1937-8;
Dr. and Mrs. Herbert T. Kalmus, Los Angeles, until 1954;
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Herbert T. Kalmus to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1954 (acc. no. 54.119.2).

Possibly G. Vertue, A Catalogue and Description of King Charles the First Capital Collection of Pictures..., London 1757, p. 7, cat. no. 26 ("said to be done by Parmigianino...");
Possibly G. Vertue, A catalogue of the collection of pictures, belonging to King James the Second..., London 1758, p. 34, cat. no. 386 (as Parmigianino);
Probably G. Campori, Raccolta di Cataloghi ed inventari inediti di cose d'arte, Modena 1870, p. 110 (as Parmigianino);
Probably S.J. Freedberg, Parmigianino: his work in painting, Cambridge 1950, p. 241 (under Lost Works: works attributed to Parmigianino by seventeenth- and eighteenth century sources, but not now definitely identifiable with any surviving work either of Parmigianino or of another artist);
Bulletin of the Art Division, Los Angeles County Museum, Summer 1955, vol. VII,1955, p.18, reproduced;
Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1972, p. 21;
A.R. Milstein, The Paintings of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, New York and London 1978, pp. 47-8, 154-57, 259-60;
J. Shearman, The Early Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge 1983, p. 40, under cat. no. 35;
S. Schaefer, et al., European Painting and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, Los Angeles 1987, p. 68, reproduced;
M. Di Giampaolo, Girolamo Bedoli 1500-1569, Florence 1997, p. 120, cat. no. 12.

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 panel has been quite recently restored and if the varnish were to be freshened, the painting could be hung as is. The paint layer has cracked fairly consistently in horizontal lines and some paint loss has occurred here, much of which has been retouched, particularly in the figures of the children. These retouches are visible under ultraviolet light in the upper legs and particularly the chests of both children and in their arms. The face of the infant Christ has been conservatively restored and slightly more restoration has been applied in the infant St John. In the landscape, in the lamb and in the remainder of the picture considerably fewer retouches seem to have been applied. In all likelihood the picture should be hung as is, however the retouches could be slightly more subtly applied, in the body of Christ particularly, and some slight attention to some of the glazes might be beneficial.
"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."

This beautiful and finely finished panel of the Infants Christ and Baptist would appear to date to the Mazzola Bedoli's early maturity, the mid 1530s.  It displays the enduring influence of his mentor and cousin-in-law Parmigianino, which reasserted itself during the 1530s, after that artist's return to Parma from Rome in 1527.  However, the physiognomy of the two young boys as well as the minutely rendered details of the composition—the hair of the figures, the blue and white baptismal cup handing from the Baptist's belt, the dripping and outlandishly lush foliage of the landscape—all find comparison in other works by Mazzola Bedoli of these years.  Both Milstein and Giampaolo (see literature) note in particular the relationship between this picture and the large Allegory of the Immaculate Conception in the Galleria Nazionale, Parma [inv. 141], which had been commissioned from Mazzola Bedoli and his father-in-law Pier Ilario Mazzola in early 1533. Other works of the same moment are the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma) as well as the another panel of similar size and format as the present panel depicting the Madonna and Child at the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass [inv. 1972.22]. At the time of its bequest to LACMA the painting was attributed to Girolamo's son, Alessandro Bedoli Mazzola, and it was not until 1972 that Fredericksen and Zeri rightfully restored it to Girolamo's oeuvre where it has remained in the eyes of all subsequent scholars. 

As with many of Mazzola Bedoli's best works, this painting was from an early date and for much of its history attributed to Parmigianino.  It is almost certainly the picture listed as such in the 1632 inventory of the discerning collector Roberto Canonici in Ferrara.¹  It then probably entered the collection of King Charles I of England, although this provenance is made confusing by the fact that the king owned another version of the composition which is still in the Royal Collections at Windsor (inv. 1178, see Shearman, under literature).  Both Giampaolo and Milstein consider that picture to be a copy of the present work (and indeed based on photographs it does appear to be weaker) although Shearman considers both works to be autograph.  The Windsor version does have the collection marks of Charles I on the reverse, thus confirming its Caroline provenance, but two works are mentioned in an inventory of circa 1639 by the King's Surveyor of Pictures, Abraham van der Doort: "A peece of .2. naked Children imbraceing one another, signifying Christ and S^t John in the desart said to be done by Parmentius Chaunged by yor Ma^ty with my Lo: ...Pembrooke........1 ft. 4 ½ in. by 1 ft. 6 in....of which said 2: Children yor Ma^ty had amongst yo^r Mantua Colleccion Pictures a Coppy w^ch S^r James Paumer had of your Ma^ty given him...".  Sherman further notes that the Windsor picture has a faint inscription on a van der Doort type label on the reverse stating that that picture had been "boug[ht]... from [?] Italy" thus suggesting that that picture may have been acquired there (ie from the Mantua collection) although that was noted as having been given to Sir James Palmer.² A painting of this description appears in later collections of Charles' sons, Charles II and James II, which Giampaolo considers most likely identifiable with this picture.  Nor do the measurements that van der Doort give in his inventory help, as they don't correspond exactly with either picture.³  Whatever its passage through the Royal collection may have been, the present panel's next secure appearance was in the considerable collection of Arthur L. Nicholson, London, where it was thought to be a work of Cesare da Sesto.

1.  ("Un Cristo e San Giovanni bambini, di Francesco Parmigianino, ambedue sono nudi e si baciano stando a sedere su un barca in un bosco, N.S. ha la mano drita su al volto di San Giovanni e lui ha parimenti l'istessa mano sopra il corpo di N.S. et le stanca su il colo:gl'è un Angnello, che va pascolando, et ha un mosca sopra della schiena , e in un arbore li vicinio li sono tortore, ha la cornice dorata; scudi duecento")  Trans: "An Infants Christ and Saint John the Baptist, of Francesco Parmigianino, both are nude and embracing seated on a mound in a copse, O[ur] L[ord] has his right hand on the face of Saint John, and he equally has his same hand over the body of  O[ur] L[ord] and the other on his neck: there is a lambe, which is grazing, and it has a fly the surface and in the tree nearby there is a turtledove, it has a gold frame, 200 scudi."
2.  Sir James Palmer was a close friend of Charles I who helped in the formation of the Royal collections and appears to have been an artist and miniaturist himself (see G Reynolds, "A Newly Identified Miniaturist of the Early Seventeen Century, Probably Sir James Palmer," Burlington Magazine, vol. 91, no. 556, July 1949, pp. 196-99.
3.  There is a further copied mentioned both by Milstein and Giampaolo fomerly in the Grassi collection, Florence.