Christ Blessing

Details

Bartolomeo Montagna (Vicenza c.1450-1523)
Christ Blessing
signed and dated 'Opus. Bar*olom..Montag.di 24 Sep..mbris 1507' (lower center)
tempera (?) and oil on panel
25¾ x 20 in. (65.4 x 50.8 cm.)

Provenance

San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, circa 1616.
John Strange, Venice, circa 1773-88.
(Possibly) with Celotti, Italy.
Signor Rotamerendis, Venice, 1850.
Dr. Fritz Harck, Seusslitz, 1889.
Frederick W. Schumacher, Columbus, Ohio, circa 1925, and by bequest to the
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, 1957.

Literature

E.A. Cicogna, Delle Inscrizioni Veneziane, Raccolte ed Illustrate..., Venice, 1853, IV, pp. 349, 380, 388, no. 16.
A. Magrini, Elogio di Bartolomeo Montagna, Venice, 1863, p. 38.
F. Harck, 'Quadri di Maestri Italiani in Possesso di Privati a Berlino', Archivo storico dell'Arte, serial 1, II, nos. 5-6, 1889, pp. 213-214.
A. Foratti, Bartolomeo Montagna, Padua, 1908, p. 31.
T. Borenius, The Painters of Vicenza 1480-1550, London, 1909, p. 63.
J.A. Crowe and C.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in North Italy, New York, 1912, II, p. 136.
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School, London, 1957, I, p. 115.
L. Puppi, Bartolomeo Montagna, Venice, 1962, pp. 64, 101-102, no. 156.
K. Paris, ed., The Frederick W. Schumacher Collection, Columbus, 1976, pp. 134-136.

Exhibited

Columbus, Gallery of Fine Arts, The Renaissance Image of Man and the World, 27 October-27 November 1961, no. 27.
Athens, Trisolini Gallery Ohio University, Selected Paintings and Drawings of the Italian Renaissance, 4-24 February 1975, no. 5.

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Lot Essay

Bartolomeo Cincani, called Montagna, was the principal follower in Vicenza of his teacher, Giovanni Bellini. He was born near Brecia around 1450 and was recorded in Venice as of 1469. Christ Blessing is an important signed and dated work by the artist. The inscription, on a trompe-l'oeil piece of paper on the front of the parapet is written in an irregular italic script that has been disfigured by paint losses and restorations, but what can still be deciphered reads: 'Opus. Bar.olom..Montagn. di 24 Sep..mbris 1507'. A print after the painting was made in the late 18th century when it was in the collection of John Strange, which identifies itself as 'Raccolta di S.E. il Sig.r Cav.r Giovanni Strange residente di S.M. Britanica appresso la Serenis.ma Repubblica di Venezia' and reproduces the inscription as 'Opus Bartolomei Montagna (vicentini) die septembris 1507'.

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