Manner of Bonifacio Bembo

Set of four portraits from a decorative ceiling frieze, depicting a young lady, an old man, a soldier, and a boy

Lot Closed

October 21, 04:26 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Estates of Lord and Lady Jacobs

Manner of Bonifacio Bembo

Set of four portraits from a decorative ceiling frieze, depicting a young lady, an old man, a soldier, and a boy

a group of four, all oil on panel

the first, panel: 15¼ by 14½ in.; 38.7 by 36.8 cm.

the first, framed: 18½ by 17½ in.; 50.0 by 44.5 cm.

the second, panel: 15½ by 14¼ in.; 39.4 by 36.2 cm.

the second, framed: 19 by 17⅜ in.; 48.3 by 44.1 cm.

the third, panel: 15⅝ by 13⅜ in.; 39.7 by 34.0 cm.

the third, framed: 19 by 16 3/4; 48.3 by 42.5 cm.

the fourth, panel: 15¼ by 14½ in.; 38.7 by 36.8 cm.

the fourth, framed: 18½ by 17½ in.; 47.0 by 44.5 cm.

(4)

Bust-length portraits often populated painted friezes that decorated fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Lombard palaces. Such ensembles typically included depictions of contemporary men and women (oftentimes the patrons, among them) as well as figures from antiquity. Among the most celebrated of such ceiling cycles were those painted by Bonifacio Bembo for the Visconti-Sforza Palazzo in Milan (in situ) and those painted by an anonymous Lombard artist for the Golden Room in the Vimercati Palazzo in Crema (Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, inv. no. 4380-477, and Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, inv. no. P30CI).