Pietro della Vecchia

firmato e datato sul cartiglio: Petrus Bekia fakiebat mile et sekento et kinkoantakoatras.

William Hafferty;
Anonymous sale ('The Property of an Institution') London, Phillips, 4 July 2000, lot 75, for £40,000.

E.G. Rizzioli, 'Domenico Marolì Euclide di Megara che si traveste da donna. Arte e Scienza in Immagine', in Atti dell'Accademia Roveretana degli Agiati, 2010, vol. X, p. 259, n. 3.

In overall good condition. The canvas is lined, the paint surface is clean and the varnish is clear and even. There is a vertical line of retouching running the height of the canvas through the centre, along a seam. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals this line, as well as small, careful retouchings and strengthenings throughout, frequently in the darker folds of the drapery. In overall good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

It is not easy to determine the exact nature of the subject of this painting. Originally it was thought to represent the Four Fathers of the Church but the lack of attributes makes this difficult to sustain. Della Vecchia painted a good number of figure groups such as this, with small or larger groups of men engaged in conversation or argument. Some of these were of religious themes, others philosophical or related to learning, others of chiromancers or charlatans, and others still seem to have formed parts of sets of the Four Ages of Man and thus depicted Old Age. Della Vecchia's style, which was formed upon a blend of his Venetian Cinquecento heritage and his experience of Caravaggio in Rome, was at its most dramatic in the 1650s, when this canvas was painted. The faces of the disputants relate to types of character heads of old men found throughout della Vecchia's œuvre. Very similar models are to be found in an Allegory of Avarice of similar size, formerly on the Venetian art market.¹ The hand gestures of the figure on the right of the composition is repeated, for example, in a painting described as Pontius Pilate disputing with the Pharisees, sold London, Christie's, 19 April 1996, lot 201, and again in Three figures disputing, offered at Cambi Casa d'Aste, 29 October 2013, lot 293. As Rizzioli points out, the use of Greek for the signature would suggest that the canvas was originally intended for a rich and well educated patron or patrons. As Aikema has shown, many of these recondite subjects reflected the interests of the Venetian literary Accademia degli Incogniti.

¹ See B. Aikema, Pietro della Vecchia and the heritage of the Renaissance in Venice, Florence 1990, p. 139, no. 153, reproduced fig. 73.
² Aikema 1990, pp. 70–73.