.jpg?w=1)
拍品專文
The identification of this artist eluded scholars for many years, largely due to the numerous influences discernible in his work. Attributions of some of his pictures to Boccaccio Boccaccino, later refuted, led to him becoming known as the 'pseudo-Boccaccino' until an identification as Giovanni Agostino da Lodi was first suggested by Malaguzzi Valeri in 1912, on the basis of a signature on the Saints Peter and John the Baptist in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. Since that time scholars have gradually come to acknowledge this artistic personality and the recent discovery in a Milanese archive of a document recording payment to a certain 'Master Augustino de Lode, painter' has led to the suppostition that the artist was active in Milan circa 1510-1511. Although a firm chronology for the artist has yet to be established, due to the absence of dated works, Bora (loc. cit.) has most recently and most successfully attempted a reconstruction of Giovanni Agostino's oeuvre.
Although stylistically his paintings seem to be a mixture of Lombard and Venetian influences, and many of his existing works can be found in churches or collections in each of those regions, Giovanni Agostino must have come from Lodi, a town to the south-east of Milan, as his appellation in the document and an inscription confirm ('laudensis' and 'da lodi'). A number of his early works are to be found in and around Venice: for example, his Madonna and Child enthroned with Saints John the Baptist, Nicholas of Bari, a Bishop Saint and Saint George in the church of San Pietro Martire, Murano, and Saints John the Baptist and Jerome in the church of Santo Stefano, Venice. Around the turn of the century his figures take on a Leonardesque air, which is undoubtedly a result of Giovanni Agostino's contact with Leonardo, or the artist's works from his stay in Venice in the first half of 1500: see, in particular, Giovanni Agostino's Washing of the Feet, dated 1500, in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, which appears to draw inspiration from a number of Leonardo's drawings. From this date, until the second decade of the sixteenth century, his paintings--both in their chiaroscuro technique and in the handling of details--and his characteristic sharply defined chalk drawings are directly inspired by Leonardo.
The date of Giovanni Agostino's return to Milan is hypothetical, but a comparison of the present work with other known paintings by the artist would seem to place it in relation to the two panels in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Madrid, which are still strongly Giorgionesque in inspiration and probably date from circa 1505-1506, and his Supper at Emmaus in a private collection, which is clearly closer to Lombard models (dated by Bora to after 1506-1507). The Adoration of the Magi must post-date these, and constitutes an important moment in the artist's life and in the evolution of his style, marking the fusion between the two prevalent influences of the Veneto and Lombardy. In the present work, the striking juxtaposition of the figures and the range of facial types is quintessentially Leonardesque, whereas the rocky setting is comparable to Giorgione's almost contemporary fantastical landscapes and to the Thyssen panels.
The beautiful luminescent halo around the Madonna's head is reminiscent of Germanic types already adopted by Boccaccio Boccaccino and, along with the unusual and evidently intentionally exotic headdresses worn by the attendants of the Magi, it bestows upon the scene a highly individual air. Dürer, who was in Venice in the 1490s and again in 1505, provides an important model for North Italian art of this period. His influence was primarily through the medium of prints but there were Dürer oils in Italy, and his 1504 Adoration of the Magi, in the Uffizi, Florence, is a relevant example of a contemporary German picture in which the Magi wear flamboyant hats.
The Scottish merchant, William Graham, to whom this painting belonged in the nineteenth century, was an active patron and collector of both old and contemporary masters; in particular he was a great friend and admirer of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, many works by whom he owned (a number of which later passed, along with this picture, to Sir Kenneth Muir Mackenzie). William Graham's collection included paintings by Giotto, Carlo Crivelli, Piero di Cosimo, Dosso Dossi (for example, The Circe and her Lovers now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington), as well as numerous fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Venetian works by artists in the circle of Giovanni Bellini.
We are grateful to Oliver Garnett for pointing out that Ellis Waterhouse identified the picture as lot 233A in the Graham Sale ('Unknown. Adoration of the Magi'). The painting was unsold and thence passed into the collection of Graham's daughter, Amelia, and it has remained for the last forty-five years in a private collection in Britain, until recently.
Although stylistically his paintings seem to be a mixture of Lombard and Venetian influences, and many of his existing works can be found in churches or collections in each of those regions, Giovanni Agostino must have come from Lodi, a town to the south-east of Milan, as his appellation in the document and an inscription confirm ('laudensis' and 'da lodi'). A number of his early works are to be found in and around Venice: for example, his Madonna and Child enthroned with Saints John the Baptist, Nicholas of Bari, a Bishop Saint and Saint George in the church of San Pietro Martire, Murano, and Saints John the Baptist and Jerome in the church of Santo Stefano, Venice. Around the turn of the century his figures take on a Leonardesque air, which is undoubtedly a result of Giovanni Agostino's contact with Leonardo, or the artist's works from his stay in Venice in the first half of 1500: see, in particular, Giovanni Agostino's Washing of the Feet, dated 1500, in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, which appears to draw inspiration from a number of Leonardo's drawings. From this date, until the second decade of the sixteenth century, his paintings--both in their chiaroscuro technique and in the handling of details--and his characteristic sharply defined chalk drawings are directly inspired by Leonardo.
The date of Giovanni Agostino's return to Milan is hypothetical, but a comparison of the present work with other known paintings by the artist would seem to place it in relation to the two panels in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, Madrid, which are still strongly Giorgionesque in inspiration and probably date from circa 1505-1506, and his Supper at Emmaus in a private collection, which is clearly closer to Lombard models (dated by Bora to after 1506-1507). The Adoration of the Magi must post-date these, and constitutes an important moment in the artist's life and in the evolution of his style, marking the fusion between the two prevalent influences of the Veneto and Lombardy. In the present work, the striking juxtaposition of the figures and the range of facial types is quintessentially Leonardesque, whereas the rocky setting is comparable to Giorgione's almost contemporary fantastical landscapes and to the Thyssen panels.
The beautiful luminescent halo around the Madonna's head is reminiscent of Germanic types already adopted by Boccaccio Boccaccino and, along with the unusual and evidently intentionally exotic headdresses worn by the attendants of the Magi, it bestows upon the scene a highly individual air. Dürer, who was in Venice in the 1490s and again in 1505, provides an important model for North Italian art of this period. His influence was primarily through the medium of prints but there were Dürer oils in Italy, and his 1504 Adoration of the Magi, in the Uffizi, Florence, is a relevant example of a contemporary German picture in which the Magi wear flamboyant hats.
The Scottish merchant, William Graham, to whom this painting belonged in the nineteenth century, was an active patron and collector of both old and contemporary masters; in particular he was a great friend and admirer of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, many works by whom he owned (a number of which later passed, along with this picture, to Sir Kenneth Muir Mackenzie). William Graham's collection included paintings by Giotto, Carlo Crivelli, Piero di Cosimo, Dosso Dossi (for example, The Circe and her Lovers now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington), as well as numerous fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Venetian works by artists in the circle of Giovanni Bellini.
We are grateful to Oliver Garnett for pointing out that Ellis Waterhouse identified the picture as lot 233A in the Graham Sale ('Unknown. Adoration of the Magi'). The painting was unsold and thence passed into the collection of Graham's daughter, Amelia, and it has remained for the last forty-five years in a private collection in Britain, until recently.