Giovanni di Niccolò de Lutero called Dosso Dossi

Probably Cesare Ignazio d'Este (died 1713), Via Coperta, Modena;
Baroness Sophie von Bayrstorff (1827-1912), created Countess von Bayrstorff in 1840, wife of Paulo Martins, Visconde de Almeida (1806-1874);
By descent and inheritance to her daughter-in-law, Princess Hélène von Wrede (1859-1935);
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 15 January 1993, lot 70, where acquired by the present owner (as Dosso Dossi).

Probably G. Campori, Raccolta di cataloghi ed inventarii inediti di quadri, statue, disegni, bronzi, dorerie, smalti, medaglie, avori, ecc., dal secolo XV al secolo XIX, Modena 1870, reprinted Bologna 1975, p. 323;
A. Ballarin, Dosso Dossi, La pittura a Ferrara negli anni del ducato di Alfonso I, Padua 1995, vol. I, pp. 321-22, cat. no. 401, reproduced vol. II, fig. 486 (as Battista Dossi).

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 work has an old lining. The original canvas is joined horizontally about 5 inches from the bottom edge. The paint layer is stable. Although the surface shows slightly raised cracking, particularly in the trees, the lining can probably remain. The paint layer seems to be yellowed with an old varnish and dirt layer, but nonetheless is very attractive. The upper part of the sky has received a lot of retouching as has the lower sky to a lesser degree, but there is hardly any retouching within the large trees on the left. The condition seems to be very good on the left side in general, except for a vertical damage in the center of the left side. There has been quite a lot of weakness that has been retouched in the donkey and in the water behind it. It may be that the work should be hung as is, despite the fact that the palette is slightly browner than it could be.
"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."

Datable to 1518-19, this characteristic painting by Dosso Dossi is most likely the work listed in Campori's un-numerated inventory of 1685 of Cesare Ignazio d'Este's collection (see Literature).  The work is probably identifiable with that listed as "a landscape by Dossi with a man dressed in black riding a mule, unframed, 20 by 28 oncie [circa 86 by 120 cm.] "¹ Dosso was court painter to Alfonso d'Este in Ferrara so the work would have remianed in the ducal collection at least until the date of the inventory.

The man riding a mule lower right is reminiscent of a similar figure group in the Walk in the Woods from 1517-18 in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Besançon.² The coloring, the handling of paint, in particular the foliage, and the figure types also recall the Three Ages of Man, from the same years, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.³ As Professor Ballarin notes in a private communication, the present picture stands out for its background in the distance, which extends further than most of Dosso's landscapes.  

We are grateful to Professor Alessandro Ballarin for confirming the attribution to Dosso on the basis of color images. When he published the picture as by Dosso's brother Battista, he only knew the work from black and white photographs.

1. "Un paese de' Dossi con un uomo vestito a nero sopra di una mula senza cornice, alto on. 20 largo on. 28."
2. See Ballarin, under Literature, vol. I, p. 311, cat. no. 369, reproduced vol. II, fig. 485;
3. Ibid., pp. 310-11, cat. no. 368, reproduced vol. II, fig. 480.