Baldassare Franceschini, called Il Volterrano

By inheritance to his brother Pietro Ridolfi (d. 1688), Florence;

Niccolò di Pietro Ridolfi (1662–1727), Florence;

By inheritance to Paris Canonici Ridolfi, Florence (d. 1746);

By inheritance to Stiozzi Ridolfi, Florence;

Anton Filippo Stiozzi Ridolfi (1752–1824);

Probably Conte Orsini, Florence;

Acquired in Florence in December 1829 by Sir William Eden, 6th Bt of West Auckland and 4th Bt of Maryland (1803–1873), Windlestone Hall, County Durham (inscribed on the reverse of the frame and on the stretcher: S^ir. W. Eden 39);

Thence by descent to John Eden, 9th Bt of West Auckland and 7th Bt of Maryland, Baron Eden of Winton (1925–2020).

F. Baldinucci, Notizie de' professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua, Florence 1681–1728, F. Ranalli (ed.), Florence 1845–47, vol. V, p. 160 (as ‘una Pescatrice coll'amo e con un pesce, figurata per la Fraude’);

Recorded in a nineteenth-century ms. plan of the hang at Windlestone Hall, Catalogue of Pictures, Windlestone, hanging on the north side of the Gallery, oval, as: ‘La Pescatrice said to be by Domenichino’; attribution crossed out and inscribed underneath: ‘Albano/ The first Picture/ I ever bought. I/ found it in a Bankers/ office at Florence in/ Decr. 1829–30.’;

Pictures, ms. list, 19^th century (in Sir William Eden’s hand?), no. 24: ‘Elisabetta Serani 1638–1664. La Pescatrice [...]’; with annotation: ‘B^t in Florence, 1829’;

‘The Private Collections of England, No. XXX Windlestone Hall’, The Athenaeum, no. 2599, 18 August 1877, p. 217 (as Sirani, ‘[...] not without cause, sometimes ascribed to Albano’);

Description of pictures at Windlestone, ms., 8 February 1884, fol. 2 r.: ‘La Pescatrice/ This Picture is of the best period of the Bolognese school [...]’; 

Pictures that are Heirlooms, ms list, n.d.: ‘“La Pescatrice” oval by Elisabetta Sirani/ 1638–1664’;

Pictures at Windlestone, ms. list, 1909, as hanging in East Hall, no. 12: ‘Elisabetta Sirani’; with annotation: ‘Has been attributed to Albano’;

Catalogue of the Pictures at Windlestone, ms. list, n.d., no. 12: ‘Elisabetta Sirani (1638–1664)/ La Pescatrice (oval)/ Elisabetta Sirani was a pupil of Guido Reni.’;

Manuscript notebook, early 20^th century and before 1922 (date when the Fabritius was purchased by the NACF), as hanging in the East Hall, no. 28 (crossed out and renumbered ‘25’): ‘Elisabetta Sirani/ La Pescatrice, oval [...]/ Found in a banker’s office, Florence, 1829.’;

G. Ewald, in Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Württemberg, 1975, p. 347;

G. Ewald, ‘Unknown works by Baldassare Franceschini, called Il Volterrano (1611–1689)’, The Burlington Magazine, CXV, no. 842, May 1973, p. 276 (as ‘una Pescatrice coll'amo e con un pesce, figurata per la Fraude’);

C. McCorquodale, Catalogue of an Important Group of Drawings by Baldassare Franceschini called Il Volterrano, Sotheby’s, London, 3 July 1980, under lot 55;

G. Ewald and M. Kopplin, Von Manierismus zum Barock, Italienische Gemälde des sechzehnten und des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts aus dem Besitz der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, exh. cat., Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, 11 December 1982 – 13 February 1983, under no. 17, p. 52 (as ‘una Pescatrice coll'amo e con un pesce, figurata per la Fraude’);

M. Privitera, ‘Disegni del Volterrano per i dipinti di Ferdinando Ridolfi’, Paragone, LI, 33–34, 607–609, September–November 2000, pp. 68–69 and 78–79;

M.C. Fabbri, A. Grassi and R. Spinelli, Volterrano Baldassare Franceschini (1611–1690), Florence 2013, pp. 216, 345 and 363–64, no. OP 78 (listed under Lost Works).