Attributed to Giacomo Ceruti

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 is obviously dirty. The canvas has a very old lining. The paint layer is stable. Although there is slight cupping throughout, it seems the lining can be adjusted to make improvements. If and when the painting is cleaned, no damage or restoration of any note is expected to become more apparent, except for some thinness to the paint layer, particularly in the lower half of the face.
"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."

Previously unpublished, this beautiful and enigmatic portrait is instantly engaging.  The young sitter is depicted in what is presumably a fantasy costume and his gaze is direct and appealing.  The treatment of the boy’s face instantly recalls Giacomo Ceruti’s style, from the even transitions between cool flesh tones and warm, blushing cheeks, to the plump lips and the crisply outlined eyes.  The painting also bears a resemblance to portraits by Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, called Fra Galgario, though his brushwork is in general more broad and painterly than that in the present portrait.  The smoother handling of the flesh is closer to Ceruti’s style and is reminiscent of the Portrait of a Girl Holding a Pigeon, in the Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford (inv. no. 1942.352) from the artist’s Venetian period.¹  The somewhat wistfully melancholic nature of the boy’s expression is also similarly captured in the artist’s Portrait of a Young Girl Holding a Basket with a Cat which sold in Sotheby’s London in 1983 (fig. 1).²

We are grateful to Lino Moretti for proposing the attribution on the basis of photographs.

 

1. M. Gregori, Giacomo Ceruti, Bergamo 1982, p. 452, cat. no. 128, reproduced p. 286, fig. 128.
2. Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby’s, 6 July 1983, lot 44, sold with its pendant.