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Lot Essay
The present work is a variant of the painting by Giovanni Bellini in the Brera, signed and dated 1510.
Although unrecorded in Fritz Heinemann's survey, Bellini, Giovanni Bellini E I Belliniani, 1959, and the 1991 supplement, it would appear that he knew the present painting from a photograph in the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute Institute of Art, London. A pen inscription 'School of Giov. Bellini (F.H.)' on a photocard of the same composition entitled 'North Italian School' in the Witt files can probably be identified as Heinemann's notation. The painting illustrated on the card includes putti holding a crown above the head of the Madonna. These details are just barely visible through old repaint on the present painting. Most likely they were later additions which have now been overpainted.
Although unrecorded in Fritz Heinemann's survey, Bellini, Giovanni Bellini E I Belliniani, 1959, and the 1991 supplement, it would appear that he knew the present painting from a photograph in the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute Institute of Art, London. A pen inscription 'School of Giov. Bellini (F.H.)' on a photocard of the same composition entitled 'North Italian School' in the Witt files can probably be identified as Heinemann's notation. The painting illustrated on the card includes putti holding a crown above the head of the Madonna. These details are just barely visible through old repaint on the present painting. Most likely they were later additions which have now been overpainted.