Domenico Puligo

The following condition report is provided by Henry Gentle who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Domenico Puligo The Madonna and Child with SS. John the Baptist and Apollonia in a landscape. The panel support is in a good preserved condition with a central horizontal tapering batten. There is evidence of worm infestation. There are a small number of 1" long vertical splits from the top edge visible, along with a 8" long split down to the Madonna's head , with minor associated paint loss . There are 1-2 areas of paint instability and under u-v lighting a scattering of restorations can be detected denoting minor paint loss i.e. Child's and Madonna's face, and unnecessary strengthening of certain areas; a small area of paint loss can be seen in the buildings on the right. There is a restored loss at the lower right hand corner. A certain amount of worm damage has reached the paint surface from the reverse and these have been touched out. Overall , the painting is in a good preserved state with finer details including the original gold to the halos and drapery intact.
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This previously unpublished painting by Puligo is the best and most elaborate of four autograph variants of the composition. The painting sold in these rooms, 22 April 1953, lot 67, would appear to be the earliest of these versions, placing the Madonna and Child in a plain landscape, with visible pentimenti in the Madonna's left foot and certain deficiencies in drawing (the Child's right hand has only three fingers, for example);¹ and the work in the Palazzo Borghese, Rome, of slightly larger dimensions, includes a similar, though not so developed or populated landscape – Saint John the Baptist alone approaches from the right-hand side.² There is also a variant in the Musée Fabre, Montpellier, in which the Madonna's pose is repeated, though her breast is not exposed, and the positioning of the Child has changed – He turns in towards His mother, rather than out to face the viewer.³ The figure of the Baptist in this last painting reappears in the present work, though on the left-hand side, while on the right a rather dream-like landscape includes the depiction of 'Noli me tangere', with Mary Magdalene appealing to Christ, who holds the attribute of a gardener, with Saint Apollonia behind, and monks apparently in the background.

1. 59 x 43 cm.; see G.A. Gardner, The paintings of Domenico Puligo, doctoral diss., Ohio State University 1986, pp. 159–60, cat. no. 8, reproduced p. 456, fig. 13.
2. 86 x 64 cm.; inv. no. 338; see P. della Pergola, Galleria Borghese. I Dipinti, Rome 1959, vol. II, p. 48, cat. no. 67, reproduced fig. 67.
3. 54 x 42 cm.; inv. no. 123; see Gardner 1986, pp. 163–64, cat. no. 10, reproduced p. 458, fig. 15.