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Lot Essay
Painted on a well-preserved piece of slate, this picture was likely executed in Italy in the early 17th century. The use of stone as a support gained popularity in Italy in the late 16th century, and was considered a discovery to the contemporaries of Sebastiano del Piombo, who is credited with developing the technique for these paintings. As the biographer Giorgio Vasari wrote, ‘this painter then introduced a new method of painting on stone, which pleased people greatly, for it appeared that by this means pictures could be made eternal, and such that neither fire nor worms could harm them’ (Vasari, Lives of Painters, Sculptors and Architects, II, New York, 1996, p. 148). While this painting remains unattributed, a number of names have been proposed in the past - from Girolamo da Treviso to Adriaan de Bite - though the painting's style suggests it is most likely by a northern artist working in Italy.
The composition takes figures from the Battle of Zama, part of a tapestry series of 22 episodes from The Life of Scipio the Great, woven in Brussels for King Louis XIV. A copy of the tapestry, now at the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no. OA 5394), reveals the similarity in the group of horsemen at left, with a soldier running between them, as well as the solider holding his shield forward, with his sword raised above his head, and a man kneeling before him, protecting his head with his hand. The design of the tapestry is thought to have been conceived by Giulio Romano, with a copy of one of his drawings relating to the project today at the Louvre (inv. no. 3718), further exhibiting these groups of figures. It is possible that the artist of the present painting became familiar with the tapestry cartoons while in Brussels, or saw the drawings by Romano in Italy. Additional Italian influences, which suggest this unknown artist travelled to Italy, include the soldier with his shield held forward and sword behind him, in the right foreground, taken from Polidoro da Caravaggio's façade of the Casino del Bufalo. While this facade is now destroyed, the composition is is recorded in drawings now in the Prado Museum, Madrid (Perino del Vaga, Perseus Turning Phineus and his Warriors into Stone, inv. no. D001783) and the British Museum, London (After Polidoro da Caravaggio, Perseus and Phineus, inv. no. 1858,0724.12).
While it has not been possible to trace the work in any surviving inventories, the reverse bears the coat of arms and inventory number of Don Gaspar Méndez de Haro y Guzmán, 7th Marques del Carpio y Eliche and 5th Conde Duque de Olivares (see A. Anselmi, loc. cit.). Haro y Guzmán, the nephew of Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Conde Duque de Olivares, the prime minister of Philip IV of Spain, was appointed ambassador to Rome and later became the Viceroy of Naples. It was there that he built one of the most important picture collections in Europe in the third quarter of the 17th century. Other works in his collection included Diego Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus and Antonio da Coreggio’s School of Love, both in the National Gallery, London, as well as Raphael’s School of Love, in the National Gallery, Washington.
The composition takes figures from the Battle of Zama, part of a tapestry series of 22 episodes from The Life of Scipio the Great, woven in Brussels for King Louis XIV. A copy of the tapestry, now at the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no. OA 5394), reveals the similarity in the group of horsemen at left, with a soldier running between them, as well as the solider holding his shield forward, with his sword raised above his head, and a man kneeling before him, protecting his head with his hand. The design of the tapestry is thought to have been conceived by Giulio Romano, with a copy of one of his drawings relating to the project today at the Louvre (inv. no. 3718), further exhibiting these groups of figures. It is possible that the artist of the present painting became familiar with the tapestry cartoons while in Brussels, or saw the drawings by Romano in Italy. Additional Italian influences, which suggest this unknown artist travelled to Italy, include the soldier with his shield held forward and sword behind him, in the right foreground, taken from Polidoro da Caravaggio's façade of the Casino del Bufalo. While this facade is now destroyed, the composition is is recorded in drawings now in the Prado Museum, Madrid (Perino del Vaga, Perseus Turning Phineus and his Warriors into Stone, inv. no. D001783) and the British Museum, London (After Polidoro da Caravaggio, Perseus and Phineus, inv. no. 1858,0724.12).
While it has not been possible to trace the work in any surviving inventories, the reverse bears the coat of arms and inventory number of Don Gaspar Méndez de Haro y Guzmán, 7th Marques del Carpio y Eliche and 5th Conde Duque de Olivares (see A. Anselmi, loc. cit.). Haro y Guzmán, the nephew of Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Conde Duque de Olivares, the prime minister of Philip IV of Spain, was appointed ambassador to Rome and later became the Viceroy of Naples. It was there that he built one of the most important picture collections in Europe in the third quarter of the 17th century. Other works in his collection included Diego Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus and Antonio da Coreggio’s School of Love, both in the National Gallery, London, as well as Raphael’s School of Love, in the National Gallery, Washington.