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Lot Essay
Domenico Beccafumi was one of the most precocious exponents of Tuscan mannerism, which he practised with a strong sense of his Sienese artistic background, but at the same time, an awareness of contemporary developments in Florence and Rome. Although none of Beccafumi's works are signed and dated, his highly personal style has facilitated almost unanimous agreement regarding the definition of his oeuvre. This picture illustrates the influence of the work of Florentine artists on Beccafumi's style. It is not surprising therefore, that it was attributed to Fra Bartolommeo, until Cavalcaselle recognised it as by Beccafumi in 1864 (J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, 1884, loc. cit.).
The composition and especially the well-defined profile of Saint Catherine of Siena reflects Beccafumi's deep debt to the art of his compatriots, for example Neroccio di Bartolomeo Landi, Matteo di Giovanni or Cozzarelli, yet the narrative humour which is to be found in the vivid depiction of the Infants Christ and Saint John shows Beccafumi's innovative freedom. Another characteristic is the soft treatment of the contours and the clearly visible impasto.
There is general consensus among scholars that this work was executed circa 1516-17, based on the stylistic similarity and similar treatment of the subject as that of the Holy Family in Heaven in the altarpiece of Saint Paul enthroned in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, and that of the Holy Family in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Lord Cowper, at the time still Lord Fordwich, embarked on his Grand Tour at the beginning of 1757, with Colonel John Chastellain, the latter recording their journey in a diary. Despite being elected as an M.P., and having in September 1764 inherited the Earldom and a considerable fortune, Lord Cowper remained in Italy. He resided in Florence until his death in 1789. He lived in the Villa Palmieri and the Villa Cipresso, just outside Florence, and soon became a leading member of Florentine society. In 1766 he was nominated an honorary member of the Florentine Academy and two years later of the Accademia della Crusca. Cowper had developed an interest in fine art and commissioned several works by contemporary artists, including landscapes by Zuccarelli, now at Firle Place, Sussex, and Jakob-Philipp Hackert, now in the Goethemuseum, Frankfurt. He also started to collect pictures, on which he was advised by Zoffany who had arrived in Florence in 1774. In Zoffany's painting The Tribuna, in the Royal Collection, Windsor, the artist and Cowper are shown admiring Raphael's Niccolini Madonna, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, which Cowper bought from Zoffany with three or four other old masters.
The inventory of circa 1779 of Cowper's pictures demonstrates the high quality of the collection, which also included the three panels by Pontormo with Scenes from the Life of Saint Joseph, now in the National Gallery, London. That Cowper continued to acquire pictures of high quality even after Zoffany left Florence in 1778 is evidenced by the presence of the Beccafumi and also Fra Bartolommeo's Rest on the Flight into Egypt, which was recently acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. After Lord Cowper's death in 1789 the paintings came to England and were recorded in Lord Cowper's residence in George Street in circa 1810 (Hertfordshire Record Office, D/EP F/4228H, no. 16, as Fra Bartolomeo). The 28 pictures in this inventory were to form the nucleus of the celebrated collection at Panshanger, Hertfordshire, which was rebuilt by the 5th Earl Cowper at the beginning of the nineteenth century. After the death of Lady Desborough in 1952, the collection was dispersed.
The composition and especially the well-defined profile of Saint Catherine of Siena reflects Beccafumi's deep debt to the art of his compatriots, for example Neroccio di Bartolomeo Landi, Matteo di Giovanni or Cozzarelli, yet the narrative humour which is to be found in the vivid depiction of the Infants Christ and Saint John shows Beccafumi's innovative freedom. Another characteristic is the soft treatment of the contours and the clearly visible impasto.
There is general consensus among scholars that this work was executed circa 1516-17, based on the stylistic similarity and similar treatment of the subject as that of the Holy Family in Heaven in the altarpiece of Saint Paul enthroned in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, and that of the Holy Family in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Lord Cowper, at the time still Lord Fordwich, embarked on his Grand Tour at the beginning of 1757, with Colonel John Chastellain, the latter recording their journey in a diary. Despite being elected as an M.P., and having in September 1764 inherited the Earldom and a considerable fortune, Lord Cowper remained in Italy. He resided in Florence until his death in 1789. He lived in the Villa Palmieri and the Villa Cipresso, just outside Florence, and soon became a leading member of Florentine society. In 1766 he was nominated an honorary member of the Florentine Academy and two years later of the Accademia della Crusca. Cowper had developed an interest in fine art and commissioned several works by contemporary artists, including landscapes by Zuccarelli, now at Firle Place, Sussex, and Jakob-Philipp Hackert, now in the Goethemuseum, Frankfurt. He also started to collect pictures, on which he was advised by Zoffany who had arrived in Florence in 1774. In Zoffany's painting The Tribuna, in the Royal Collection, Windsor, the artist and Cowper are shown admiring Raphael's Niccolini Madonna, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, which Cowper bought from Zoffany with three or four other old masters.
The inventory of circa 1779 of Cowper's pictures demonstrates the high quality of the collection, which also included the three panels by Pontormo with Scenes from the Life of Saint Joseph, now in the National Gallery, London. That Cowper continued to acquire pictures of high quality even after Zoffany left Florence in 1778 is evidenced by the presence of the Beccafumi and also Fra Bartolommeo's Rest on the Flight into Egypt, which was recently acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. After Lord Cowper's death in 1789 the paintings came to England and were recorded in Lord Cowper's residence in George Street in circa 1810 (Hertfordshire Record Office, D/EP F/4228H, no. 16, as Fra Bartolomeo). The 28 pictures in this inventory were to form the nucleus of the celebrated collection at Panshanger, Hertfordshire, which was rebuilt by the 5th Earl Cowper at the beginning of the nineteenth century. After the death of Lady Desborough in 1952, the collection was dispersed.