Lot Essay
A poor reproduction of the present lot (Fahie, op. cit., pl. VIII left) shows that it then differed from its present cleaned appearance; it, or a lost version, was engraved in the same direction by Pietro Bettellini (1763-1829) as the work of Domenico Cresti, il Passignano (1560-1638). The engraving shows much more facial hair and buttons down the centre of the tunic and the back of the chair. For the dating of the print, see Fahie, op. cit., pp. 25-6.
Antonio Favaro rejected Fahie's attribution of the present lot to Passignano and rightly associated it with Sustermans' portrait of Galileo in the Pitti (see Fahie, op. cit., p. 28). This picture is probably that discussed by Viviani - Galileo's last disciple and biographer - in a letter of 1656 and compared with that, in the Uffizi, executed by Sustermans in 1635; the picture's return to Florence was the subject of Viviani's letter (see, most recently, C. Pizzorusso in the catalogue of the exhibition, Sustermans, Sessant'anni alla corte dei Medici, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, July-Oct. 1983, under nos. 33 and 34).
The Pitti picture shows Galileo blind. His eyesight began to weaken in 1636; by the end of June 1637 his right eye had failed, and he was totally blind by December 1638.
Compared with the sitter's appearance in the Uffizi portrait, he seems to have deteriorated in the present portrait, but seems not to be blind. Trouble in his right eye is perhaps indicated by the slackening of the eye socket. The present picture is inscribed with what is meant to be read as the 'Florentine Lynceus'. Lynceus, in Classical Literature, was so sharp sighted he could see through the earth and distinguish objects nine miles off: 'Non possis occulo quantum contendere Lynceus' (Horace, 1 Epistles i. 28). The Accademia dei Lincei, the first and most celebrated of the modern academies, was founded in 1603 in Rome; Galileo became a member in 1611.
Sustermans' connection with the ageing and aged Galileo, probably influenced by the concern of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, is established if only by the two portraits in the Uffizi and the Pitti; that the present lot is an authentic record of an intermediary sitting - 1636 to early 1637 - is indicated by a version, bust rather than half length, in the Bodleian, the gift of Viviani to Oxford University in 1661 (see Fahie, op. cit., pp. 45ff.).
Professor G L'E Turner has kindly pointed out in a letter of 1 November 1994 written on the basis of a black and white photograph: 'The object in Galileo's right hand is a telescope with the objective lens housing uppermost. Judging from the hand, the diameter of the top of the turn is about 2 or 2.5 inches, which is most reasonable for a hand-held telescope. The housing holds what would have been a double convex objective lens, and there would have been a card annulus over the front of the lens to form an aperture limiter, or aperture stop. The photograph shows the presence of this annular stop clearly, and I would expect the painting itself to reveal this more clearly. Just below the rim of the objective housing is a white band followed by a section of dark tube before it is hidden by the hand: beyond the hand more tubing can be seen. The white band is a portion of short tubing that pushes into the open end of a long section of tube. In the early period the objectives were not fixed as integral parts of the tube. Such removable lens housings are seen in the 'Galileo' telescopes in the Florence Museum.'
A version of the present picture is in the Torre al Gallo, Florence; in it the shape of the stone set in the ring worn by Galileo differs from that in the present portrait. Fahie (op. cit., p. 49) describes this ring as a 'large signet ring, worn by members of the Lyncean Academy of Rome'.
A copy of a lost variant of the present picture was formerly in the Rev. John Sanford Collection, for which see Nicolson, op. cit., fig. 42.
Antonio Favaro rejected Fahie's attribution of the present lot to Passignano and rightly associated it with Sustermans' portrait of Galileo in the Pitti (see Fahie, op. cit., p. 28). This picture is probably that discussed by Viviani - Galileo's last disciple and biographer - in a letter of 1656 and compared with that, in the Uffizi, executed by Sustermans in 1635; the picture's return to Florence was the subject of Viviani's letter (see, most recently, C. Pizzorusso in the catalogue of the exhibition, Sustermans, Sessant'anni alla corte dei Medici, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, July-Oct. 1983, under nos. 33 and 34).
The Pitti picture shows Galileo blind. His eyesight began to weaken in 1636; by the end of June 1637 his right eye had failed, and he was totally blind by December 1638.
Compared with the sitter's appearance in the Uffizi portrait, he seems to have deteriorated in the present portrait, but seems not to be blind. Trouble in his right eye is perhaps indicated by the slackening of the eye socket. The present picture is inscribed with what is meant to be read as the 'Florentine Lynceus'. Lynceus, in Classical Literature, was so sharp sighted he could see through the earth and distinguish objects nine miles off: 'Non possis occulo quantum contendere Lynceus' (Horace, 1 Epistles i. 28). The Accademia dei Lincei, the first and most celebrated of the modern academies, was founded in 1603 in Rome; Galileo became a member in 1611.
Sustermans' connection with the ageing and aged Galileo, probably influenced by the concern of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, is established if only by the two portraits in the Uffizi and the Pitti; that the present lot is an authentic record of an intermediary sitting - 1636 to early 1637 - is indicated by a version, bust rather than half length, in the Bodleian, the gift of Viviani to Oxford University in 1661 (see Fahie, op. cit., pp. 45ff.).
Professor G L'E Turner has kindly pointed out in a letter of 1 November 1994 written on the basis of a black and white photograph: 'The object in Galileo's right hand is a telescope with the objective lens housing uppermost. Judging from the hand, the diameter of the top of the turn is about 2 or 2.5 inches, which is most reasonable for a hand-held telescope. The housing holds what would have been a double convex objective lens, and there would have been a card annulus over the front of the lens to form an aperture limiter, or aperture stop. The photograph shows the presence of this annular stop clearly, and I would expect the painting itself to reveal this more clearly. Just below the rim of the objective housing is a white band followed by a section of dark tube before it is hidden by the hand: beyond the hand more tubing can be seen. The white band is a portion of short tubing that pushes into the open end of a long section of tube. In the early period the objectives were not fixed as integral parts of the tube. Such removable lens housings are seen in the 'Galileo' telescopes in the Florence Museum.'
A version of the present picture is in the Torre al Gallo, Florence; in it the shape of the stone set in the ring worn by Galileo differs from that in the present portrait. Fahie (op. cit., p. 49) describes this ring as a 'large signet ring, worn by members of the Lyncean Academy of Rome'.
A copy of a lost variant of the present picture was formerly in the Rev. John Sanford Collection, for which see Nicolson, op. cit., fig. 42.