- 295
Attributed to Charles Mellin
Estimate
4,000 - 5,000 GBP
Log in to view results
bidding is closed
Description
- Attributed to Charles Mellin
- the madonna and child with st. joseph, and st. anne kneeling to the right
- Pen and brown ink and brown and grey wash over black chalk, squared in black chalk;
the central section irregularly cut, and made up by the artist to the left, bottom and right (the new section including the hand of St. Joseph, the lower edge, and the figure of St. Anne);
bears inscription in black chalk: testa fecit, and in pen and brown ink: P. testa fecit.
Provenance
Henry Hamal (L.1231);
Dr. and Mrs. Victor Bloch,
their sale, London, Sotheby's, 19 November 1963, lot 69 (as Pietro Testa), bought by P & D Colnaghi,
from whom purchased by Ralph Holland in April 1964
Dr. and Mrs. Victor Bloch,
their sale, London, Sotheby's, 19 November 1963, lot 69 (as Pietro Testa), bought by P & D Colnaghi,
from whom purchased by Ralph Holland in April 1964
Exhibited
Newcastle, 1964, no. 44 (as Pietro Testa and with incorrect provenance of Victor Koch);
Newcastle, 1974, no. 66 (as ? Pietro Testa);
London, 1975, no. 45 (as above);
Newcastle, 1982, no. 54 (as above)
Newcastle, 1974, no. 66 (as ? Pietro Testa);
London, 1975, no. 45 (as above);
Newcastle, 1982, no. 54 (as above)
Catalogue Note
This drawing was considered the work of Pietro Testa when Mr. Holland bought it and he at first maintained that attribution. At the time of the 1974 exhibition he had begun to question it and in 1982 proposed that this might be Testa reworking a study by another hand. It seems that both parts of the drawing are, in fact, by the same hand but in spite of the old attribution, it does not compare closely enough with Testa's quite recognisable and idiosyncratic style.
The reminiscences of Poussin, particularly in the kneeling St. Anne, suggest it is by a French artist, active in Italy in the early 17th century. Although it is not comparable to the most familiar kind of Mellin drawing, in which the figures are drawn in a strongly Poussinesque manner, there are some more elaborated compositional studies which seem relevant. See, for example, several of the studies for an altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with Saints.1
1. P. Malgouyers, Charles Mellin, exhib. cat., Nancy, Musée des Beaux-Arts, et al., 2007, pp. 294-95, nos. D70-73, reproduced pp. 139-41