Paolo Caliari, il Veronese* (1528-1588)

Christ and the Widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17)

Details

Paolo Caliari, il Veronese* (1528-1588)
Christ and the Widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17)
oil on canvas--unframed
38 x 64in. (97.7 x 163.8cm.)

Provenance

Mrs. Parkinson, Eynsham, Oxfordshire; Sotheby's, London, June 26, 1957 as 'Christ and the Woman taken into Adultery' (9,800 to Betts).
with Newhouse Galleries, New York, 1960.
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
with Knoedler and Co., New York.

Literature

B. Ridolfi, Le Maraviglie dell'arte..., 1648, ed. D. von Hadeln, 1914-24, p. 330, no. 5.
G. Fiocco, Paolo Veronese, 1934, p. 124.
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, 1957, I, p. 131 as 'Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery', an early work.
B.S. Manning, 1550-1650 A Century of masters from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1962, pp. 46-7.
B.S. Manning, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto in the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Arte Veneta, XVI, 1962, pp. 52-3, fig. 62.
R.L. Manning, Venetian Paintings of the Sixteenth Century, 1963, no. 28, illustrated.
F.L. Richardson, Two Exhibitions of Venetian Painting at Finch College, Art Quarterly, XXVII, 1964, no. 3, p. 355.
L. Crosato Larcher, L'Opera completa del Veronese, Arte Veneta, 1968, p. 221.
R. Marini, Tutta la pittura di Paolo Veronese, 1968, no. 23A.
T. Pignatti, Veronese, 1976, I, p. 110, no. 46 and p. 185, under no. A119; II, fig. 94.
R. Pallucchini, Veronese, 1984, p. 170.
T. Pignatti and F. Pedrocco, Veronese, 1991, no. 33.
T. Pignatti and F. Pedrocco, Veronese, 1995, I, pp. 83-4, no. 55 '...di alta qualit ed'e ben conservata...'.

Exhibited

Rockford, IL, Rockford College Festival of Arts, 1963, no. 9.
Norfolk, VA, Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Dec. 2, 1967-May 15, 1968, p. 19, no. 15 as 'Christ and the Wife of Zebedee'.

Lot Essay

The present painting was considered an early work by Berenson, dated by Suida Manning to 1550-5 and by Crosato Larcher after 1560. Pignatti and Pedrocco propose a dating of circa 1556 by comparison with the ceiling of the church of San Sebastiano, Venice, painted between Dec. 1, 1555 and Oct. 30, 1556 pointing specifically to the 'gemmei effeti congianti' (jewel-like shot colors).

Studio copies are in the Strossmayer Gallery, Zagreb (Pignatti, op. cit., II, fig. 95) and in the Museo Civico, Padua (ibid., fig. 96).

The composition was repeated, in reverse and with variations, in the 1560s for the Christ and the Sons of Zebedee in the Muse des Beaux-Arts, Grenoble (ibid., I, no. A119, and II, fig. 824) executed with studio assistance.

It is possible that this corresponds with one of two otherwise untraced pictures given to Veronese and catalogued as Christ and the Adulteress which were offered at Christie's, London, March 5, 1791 and June 14, 1794 which came respectively from the Carignan and S.E. Maurice collections.