ANDREA PICCINELLI, CALLED ANDREA BRESCIANINO | Leda and the Swan

Anonymous sale, Bordeaux, Jean Dit Cazaux & Associés, 30 November 2008, no lot no.;
There acquired.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The panel has two inserted vertical batons on the reverse near to the left and right vertical edges and is securely held within the frame with a wooden slip. The structural condition appears to be reasonably sound and secure although there is evidence of some blistering in the past as well as historic losses caused by flaking. There are some areas of slight blistering which should be observed and might require localised consolidation such as an area in the green backcloth between the swan and the boy in the centre of the composition. Paint Surface The varnish layer is reasonably even with a film of surface dust. Inspection under ultra-violet light clearly shows extensive retouchings, the great majority of which are largely horizontal lines running across the composition through the flesh tones of the three children, the feathers of the swan, and the flesh tones of Leda. There are also a number of retouchings on Leda's thighs and stomach and other scattered retouchings. The majority of the retouchings appear to cover significant paint loss caused by flaking. There is also evidence of further retouchings in the background and a number of retouchings in the dark pigments of the hair of the child on the right of the composition. There may be other retouchings beneath older varnish layers that are not identifiable under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably stable condition and the extent of retouching applied in the past should be noted.
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Likely painted in Siena in the 1520s, this unusual panel was probably intended as the headboard to a bed in a marital chamber. Like other such works by the artist and by his strongest Sienese influence, Domenico Beccafumi, this painting depicts a mythological or biblical woman as its principal subject.  The story of Leda and the Swan was popularized by early 16^th-century artists whereas, prior to Leonardo da Vinci, it was practically absent in all two-dimensional art. Here the god Zeus, disguised as a swan, seduces Leda who seems to willingly accept his advances. The eggs from which Leda’s resulting offspring hatched, as well as some of the children, are depicted, which is atypical among depictions of this subject. The offspring of Leda’s union with the swan are Helen and Polydeuces, and she also gave birth to Castor and Clytemnestra from sleeping with her husband Tyndareus on the same night, each pair hatching from a different egg. Here we likely see both of Zeus’ offspring: Polydeuces, who touches the swan, and Helen behind him holding a veil or mantle over her head. However, only one of Tyndareus’ children is shown, presumably Castor, while Clytemnestra is absent. The iconography is highly unusual both for the inclusion of the children, as well as for the inclusion of only three of the four.

Two other works by Brescianino with the same general composition are known. One, depicting The family of Adam, shows Eve in almost the same position as Leda, with the young Cain and Abel behind and Adam to the right.¹ The other shows Venus reclining in a landscape attended by two putti symbolizing Sacred and Profane Love.² All three works are very closely related to one by Domenico Beccafumi showing Venus in a landscape in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham.³ As here, in the Beccafumi, the female nude reclines across the full width of the panel, her right elbow bent to take some of her weight. Beccafumi’s Venus is of remarkably similar scale and dimensions to Leda (Venus measures 57 x 126 cm) and is thought to have been part of the decorative scheme featuring mythological women painted for the bedchamber of the Sienese nobleman Francesco Petrucci, to which panels by Beccafumi in the National Gallery in London (depicting Marzia and Tanaquilla) and the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome (Cornelia) also belong.⁴ Torriti and others have suggested Venus may have served as the headboard to the bed. Given the present panel's similar subject, shape, size and composition it seems fair to surmise (as it does with his Family of Adam and Venus with Sacred and Profane Love) that it too would originally have served as the headboard to a bed for a marital bedchamber in or around Siena. The iconography of the panels, with their focus on offspring and families, also suggests this function. We are grateful to Prof. Carlo Falciani for endorsing the attribution to Brescianino on the basis of photographs.

1.See Domenico Beccafumi e il suo tempo, exhibition catalogue, Siena 1990, reproduced p. 295, fig. 7.
2. Sold London, Christie's, 13 December 2000, lot 60, for £260,000.
3. P. Torriti, Beccafumi, Milan 1998, pp. 94–95, cat. no. P29, reproduced.  
4. Torriti, 1998, pp. 95–97, cat. nos P30 a, b, c, all reproduced.