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Lot Essay
Pasqualino is thought by Berenson to have been possibly a pupil of Giovanni Mansueti - himself a pupil of Gentile Bellini - but the strongest influences on his mature works were Giovanni Bellini and Cima. These are found, in a very happy equilibrium, in this panel: the head of the Madonna owes as much to Bellini as to Cima, while the composition implies a knowledge of a very popular design by the latter of which the prime version may be the signed example at Philadelphia (P. Humfrey, Cima de Conegliano, Cambridge, 1983, no. 122, pl. 2), while the Madonna's right hand is adapted from the picture at Este (ibid., no.48, fig. 114).
Charles Butler, Director of the Royal Insurance Company and, that still rare phenomenon in his time, a millionaire, formed a very large collection which was particularly strong in Italian pictures. Some were sold as a result of the financial crash of 1890, but the bulk of the collection was sold at Christie's, 22-26 May 1911.
Charles Butler, Director of the Royal Insurance Company and, that still rare phenomenon in his time, a millionaire, formed a very large collection which was particularly strong in Italian pictures. Some were sold as a result of the financial crash of 1890, but the bulk of the collection was sold at Christie's, 22-26 May 1911.