Jacopo Palma Giovane Venice 1548-1628
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF BERNARD C. SOLOMON, LOS ANGELES
Jacopo Palma Giovane Venice 1548-1628

Saint Sebastian

Details
Jacopo Palma Giovane Venice 1548-1628
Saint Sebastian
oil on canvas
26 3/8 x 12¼ in. 67 x 31.1 cm.
Provenance
Robert Prioleau Roupell, by 1872; Christie's, London, 25 June 1887, lot 73, (6 gns to White).
Sir Herbert Cook, Doughty House, Richmond, by 1932, and by descent; Sotheby's, London, 25 June 1958, lot 21 (£280 to de Boer).
Paul H. Ganz, New York; Christie's, New York, 3 June 1987, lot 68.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 6 December 1989, lot 214, where bought by the present owner.
Literature
Sir Francis Cook, et al., Abridged catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the collection of Sir Herbert Cook, Bt., London, 1932, p. 42, no. 187.
R.L. Manning, A loan exhibition of Venetian paintings of the sixteenth century, New York, 1963, no. 35.
F. Cummings, et al., Art in Italy, 1600-1700, exhibition catalogue, Detroit, 1965, pp. 161-62, no. 184.
S. Mason Rinaldi, Palma il Giovane; l'opera completa, Milan, 1984, p. 96, no. 176, fig. 476.
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Old Masters, 1872, no. 240.
New York, Finch College Museum of Art, A loan exhibition of Venetian paintings of the sixteenth century, 30 October - 15 December 1963, no. 35.
Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Art in Italy, 1600-1700, 6 April - 9 May 1965, no. 184.

Lot Essay

This is an unusually intimate depiction of a subject treated several times by Palma (see examples in the Sanctuario delle sette chiese, Monselice; Gemäldegalerie, Dresden and Staatsgalerie, Schleissheim). As a saint invoked to protect the faithful from the plague -- especially after the traumatic outbreak in Venice of 1576 -- Sebastian enjoyed considerable popularity. The high level of finish and the lack of any close compositional relationship to any of the other renditions of the subject by the artist indicate, that despite its small scale this was not intended as a preparatory sketch. The sweeping diagonals and the boldly delineated musculature reveal the artist's debt to Tintoretto which continued throughout Palma's career. Rinaldi dates this painting towards the end of Palma's life, circa 1610, and compares it to a painting of the same subject in the Cathedral of Málaga for which there is a preparatory drawing dated 1611.

This painting comes from the celebrated collection formed by Sir Francis Cook (1817-1901) which was installed at Doughty House, Richmond. One of the most important collections ever formed, the Cook collection included the Fra Angelico Adoration of the Magi (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.), The Old woman cooking eggs by Velasquez (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh) and La Schiavona by Titian (National Gallery, London). The collection began to be dispersed during the Second World War.

More from Old Master Paintings

View All
View All