The Last Sacrament of Saint Jerome

Details

Studio of Sandro Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli (Florence 1445-1510)
The Last Sacrament of Saint Jerome
oil on panel
14 1/8 x 10½ in. (36 x 26.7 cm.)

Provenance

Sir William Neville Abdy, Bt.
Robert Benson (1850-1929) and Evelyn Benson, 16 South Street, Park Lane, London and Buckhurst Park, Sussex, with their inventory number 25 on the reverse of the panel.

Literature

J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, Painting in Italy, A.L. Douglas, ed., IV, London, 1911, p. 270.
H.P. Horne, Alessandro Filipepi commonly called Sandro Botticelli, i, p. 174.
[R.H. Benson], Catalogue of Italian Pictures at 16, South Street, Park Lane, London and Buckhurst in Sussex collected by Robert and Evelyn Benson, London, 1914, pp. 47-48, no. 25, as Botticelli.
F. Zeri, with the assistance of E. Gardner, Italian Paintings, A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Florentine School, New York, 1971, p. 159, as one of 'a number of more or less contemporary copies and versions'.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The prototype, of which three other contemporary versions are known, is the small devotional panel recorded in the collection of Francesco di Filippo del Pugliese in 1502, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, no. 14.40.642. With the exception of Benson all writers have accepted the priority of the New York picture, but, as Everett Fahy observes, after examining the present panel, this is evidently a studio version, based on the same cartoon: as Benson noted: 'The differences between the two are millimetric, e.g., the knobs on the window frames, the candlestick where it crosses the line of the back of the priest, and the white sleeve of this same priest.'

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