Lot 308
  • 308

Bernardo Strozzi

Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
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Description

  • Bernardo Strozzi
  • Pietá
  • oil on canvas
  • 37 1/4 x 52 inches

Provenance

Probably Cesare Jacini;
Presumably, His sale, Milan, Galleria Geri, 23 December 1920, lot 266;
With Italico Brass, Venice;
Acquired from Alessandro Brass by the Museum in 1953 (purchase, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, inv. no. 53.27).

Exhibited

Seattle, WA, Seattle Art Museum, Caravaggio and the Tenebrosi, 8 April - 30 May 1954, no. 20;
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, The Venetian Tradition, 1956, no. 43;
Vancouver, Vancouver Art Gallery, The Nude in Art, 3 - 29 November 1964, no. 38;
Caracas, Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Works of Great American Masters on loan from North American Museums, 5 November to 17 December 1967, no. 10.

Literature

H. S. Francis, "A Pietá by Bernardo Strozzi," in Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 40, 1953, pp. 182-183, reproduced p. 178;
Art Quarterly, 1953, pp. 350-352, reproduced p. 350;
L. Mortari, "Su Bernardo Strozzi," in Bolletino d'Arte, 1955, p. 328;
L. Mortari, Bernardo Strozzi, Rome 1966, p. 99, reproduced figure 99;
M. Milkovitch, Bernardo Strozzi: Paintings and Drawings, exh. cat., Binghamton, New York 1967, p. 97, reproduced;
C. Donzelli & G. M. Pilo, I pittori del Seicento Venuto, Florence 1967, p. 385;
B. Frederickson & F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge 1972, pp. 193, 296, 574;
Cleveland Museum of Art, Catalogue of Paintings:  Part Three.  European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries, Cleveland 1982, no. 185, reproduced;
A. Chong, European & American Painting in The Cleveland Museum of Art:  A Summary Catalogue, Cleveland 1993, p. 315;
Bernardo Strozzi:  Genova 1581/82-Venezia 1644, exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Genoa 1995, pp. 128-129, under no. 16, reproduced;
L. Mortari, Bernardo Strozzi, Rome 1995, p. 106, no. 107, reproduced.

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 is quite compromised from a condition standpoint however, it has no retouches to the surface to speak of and so what is visible is an un-restored painting which is quite unusual for works of this period. However the areas which are lit, the torso of Christ, the white sheet around him and the right hand and side of Mary Magdalene's head, are in very interesting and tempting condition. While one does not want to give the impression that the condition is anything but over-cleaned, it is very tempting to consider the results of careful restoration which will reveal a picture which is in much better condition than it looks at present.
"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

This moody depiction of the Pietà would appear to have been painted by Strozzi in the late teens, and has been dated to that period by most scholars.1  The 1610's were years of particular creative fecundity for the artist; having left the confines of the Capuchin monastery of San Barnaba to become an independent master, Strozzi had begun to be more open to the varied artistic influences then prevailing in Genoa, and as a result began to produce works of startling individuality.  In addition to the Tuscan manner adapted from his early master Pietro Sorri, he was exposed to trends from other parts of Italy.  The present work shows an awareness of Lombard art, and in particular the painting of Giulio Cesare Procaccini, who arrived in the area in 1618.

Strozzi examined the theme of the Pietà multiple times, and paintings of that subject are mentioned in Genoese collections in early sources.2  Another, slightly smaller, treatment of the subject, but with the additional figures of Saint John and the Magdalene is in the collection of the Accademia Liguistica di Belle Arti, Genoa (inv. no. 381).  Another version of the Genoa picture with slight differences, also by Strozzi (but with clear studio assistance) is in the Pinacoteca del Convento dei Cappuccini, Voltaggio.  A third Pietà, with just the figure of Christ and his mourning Mother was formerly in the De Masi collection (see Mortari, op. cit., fig. 90).  All of these pictures are rather different in composition from the present example: the figure of Christ is shown with his head to the left, and his body is shown in a much more horizontal pose, as opposed to this picture, where he is shown propped up on a bolster or winding sheet, as if he has just been lowered from the cross.  It does seem likely, however, that Strozzi was working on the theme and the various versions at about he same time.  This is suggested not only by the stylistic affinities of the paintings but also by an oil sketch in the Palazzo Bianco, Genoa (see fig. 1).  That painting shows the figure of Christ arranged as in most of the versions, with his head to the left.  The figure of the Virgin with her hands clasped together in grief is also similar to the Genoa picture.  Christ, however, is shown sitting up, in a way closer to the present picture.  Most compelling is a fragmentary figure at the top of the canvas, clearly another idea for the figure of Christ.3 There, the position of the torso, left arm, crossed legs and even the drapery on which Christ lies correspond to the present work so closely that it is clearly a preliminary study for it.      

1. The exception to this is Francis (see literature) who dated the Pietá much later, to Strozzi's Venetian period, seeing Titianesque elements in the composition.
2.  Ratti mentioned a "Cristo Morto" by the artist, and Alizeri records in the Palazzo Spinola on the Strada Nuova a "bislungo di Bernardo Strozzi...[con il] Gesu morto colle Marie" [a horizontal painting by Bernardo Strozzi (with the) dead Christ with the Marys].
3.  This extra figure had been covered over at a later date in order to convert the Palazzo Bianco picture from bozzetto by Strozzi into a "stand alone" painting.  The painting was later cleaned and the figure revealed.