Watercolour, copy after the Madonna del Sacco, Andrea del Sarto in the cloister of Santissima Annunziata (Florence), Cesare Mariannecci, Arundel Society watercolour, 1861

Arch-topped watercolour with three figures (the Holy Family) in an architectural background. A man on the left hand side with a red coat, identified as Joseph, is reading a book and lying on a large sack. On the right side, a female figure wearing a red dress and green veil, the Virgin Mary, is holding the Christ Child.

Purchased in 1866 (£16); on loan at the National Gallery (1906-1951).
Watercolour copy made for the Arundel society and published in 1862 (Occasional Publication) as a chromolitograph.

This watercolour is a copy made in 1861 for the Arundel Society by Cesare Mariannecci (c. 1819-c. 1894) after the fresco painting by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) representing The Rest during the Flight into Egypt, known as the Madonna del Sacco (or Madonna with the Sack). It was printed as a chromolithograph and distributed by the Arundel Society as Occasional Publications in 1862.

Original Work
Andrea del Sarto painted the original fresco in the great cloister, or Chiostro dei Morti, of the church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. The fresco is located over the door connecting the cloister with the church transept and was the first lunette to be painted in the cloister, while the others were executed as a cycle in the early Seventeenth century. The scene illustrates the Holy Family resting during the Flight into Egypt. The high classicism of the composition and the unconventional manner in addressing the subject have been highly celebrated. The fresco, considered one of Andrea del Sarto’s masterpiece, is now very damaged due to its outdoor location and has become difficult to see.

Andrea del Sarto painted other frescos in the Santissima Annunziata, among which several of the Chiostro dei Voti, that were copied for the Arundel Society: St Filippo Benizzi healing Children (Mariannecci’s copy, Museum no. E.272-1995), the Procession of the Magi (1511) (Mariannecci’s copy, Museum no. E.274-1995), the Nativity of the Virgin (1513-1514) (Christian Schultz’s copy, Museum no. E.273-1995).


Arundel Society
The Arundel Society was founded in 1848 to promote knowledge of the art through the publication of reproductions of works of art. The Society was named after Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646), important aristocratic patron and collector of the early Stuart period. The Society was intended to reach the largest possible audience through these reproductions. Subjects were chosen because of their instructive meaning rather than their popularity. In addition to copies of famous paintings, the Society published an English translation of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the most excellent painters, made in 1850 by Giovanni Aubrey Bezzi (1785-1789), one of the founding members of the Society.

The Arundel Society popularised Renaissance art, particularly that of the Italian Old Masters, echoing a growing interest for ‘primitives’ in the second half of the nineteenth century. The founding members of the Arundel Society were all acknowledge experts on Italian art. For instance, Sir Charles Eastlake (1793–1865; painter and art administrator), whose house was the meeting point of the Society, was Director of the National Gallery in London from 1855 until 1865 and during his tenure, he began one of the finest collections of Italian art in Britain.

Other preeminent members were John Ruskin (1819-1900, English writer, painter and collector), who supervised projects including the watercolours series of the Upper and Lower Church in Assisi, and Sir Austen H. Layard (1817-1894; English archaeologist, politician, diplomat, collector and writer). Layard lived and travelled in Italy for many years and his knowledge of the country’s art was extensive. It was thanks to Layard’s funding that the Society were able to publish copies of the watercolours made at their direction using chromolithography. Although photography was increasingly popular, as photographs could only be made in black and white, chromolithography was chosen as it was felt to be closer to the principals of the Arundel Society: they were coloured and had the aura of traditional prints. In this way, copies were more like the originals.

The Society reached the height of its popularity in the 1860s. However, by the end of the century, it faced mounting criticism with regards to the accuracy of its watercolour copies. The Society ceased its activities in 1897. At this time the availability of second hand prints had increased and the Society found it difficult to find market for its chromolithographs. Moreover, photographic reproductions were becoming increasingly popular thanks to technical advances. The last display of the Arundel Society’s watercolours took place at the National Gallery and when the Society was dissolved, some watercolours were given to that Institution, while others were acquired by the then South Kensington Museum (now V&A). The outstanding watercolours were transferred from the National Gallery to the V&A in the 1990s.

Andrea Del Sarto’s fortune
Andrea del Sarto was the leading painter in Florence in the early years of the sixteenth century. His art had a considerable influence on Florentine painting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The image of an exceptionally gifted artist but of a timid nature was created by his first biographer, Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). It was perpetuated along the centuries and captured the imagination of romantic nineteenth century fantasy, inspiring literature works such as a play by Alfred de Musset (Andrea del Sarto, 1833) or a dramatic monologue by Robert Browning (Andrea del Sarto, 1855).

Vasari had referred to del Sarto as the ‘faultless’ painter. While this was praised by Seventeenth and Eighteenth century audiences, in the Nineteenth century it was connoted as too academic. Moreover, at this time, the poor state of conservation of Del Sarto’s fresco and panel paintings did not help the estimation of his work and he was largely considered, alongside Fra Bartolommeo, as a follower of the Florentine High Renaissance painters. It explains why only seven of his works were copied by the Arundel Society, compared to the numerous copies after Fra Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli or Giotto.

Despite this, the Madonna del Sacco had long been an inspiration to artists as demonstrated, for instance, by the two earlier copies after the fresco in the V&A collections (Michel Corneille the Elder [French School] and Francesco Bartolozzi [British school] print, Museum Numbers DYCE.2409 and DYCE.2949).

Copyist
Cesare Mariannecci was one of the most prolific copyist employed by the Arundel Society. He made over eighty watercolour copies for the Society from 1856 to c. 1868. Born in Rome and trained with Tommaso Minardi (1787-1871), Mariannecci settled in Florence in 1859, when he was commissioned to copy of the Brancacci chapel. His copies were criticised, especially by the journal The Athenaeum, for their inaccuracy (the copyist did not show the damage and the cracks in the frescoes) and the standardisation of the different styles of artists. For this reason, Mariannecci was instructed in 1864 to “to avoid all restoration of parts injured or destroyed and to aim at rendering the existing rather than the supposed original one of colour”. Despite this recommendation, the two copies that Mariannecci made in 1866 after Andrea del Sarto’s frescoes in the Chiostro dei Voti (Museum nos. E.272-1995 and E.274-1995) are idealised and do not show any conservation issues.

This watercolour is a copy of Andrea del Sarto’s fresco showing the Madonna del Sacco from the church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. The copy was made by Cesare Mariannecci (c.1819- c.1894) in 1861 for the Arundel Society. The society commissioned and published reproductions like this one in order to promote knowledge of the art of European Old Masters. A chromolithograph after this watercolour copy was published in 1862.

The original fresco is located in the greater cloister in the church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. It was painted in 1525 by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) and is one of the most celebrated works by the artist.

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