Watercolour, copy after St Filippo Benizi healing Children, Andrea del Sarto in the Chiostro dei Voti (Santissima Annunziata, Florence), Cesare Mariannecci, Arundel Society watercolour, 1866

Arch-topped watercolour showing a scene taking place in a church. A priest stands before an altar and presents the relics to a woman kneeling before him and supporting her child. Fourteen other figures on either sides, kneeling or standing.

Museum acquisition in 1995, from the National Gallery of Art, London.
Watercolour copy made for the Arundel society and published in 1869 (Second publications) as a chromolitograph (inv. 23995) by Storch & Kramer.

This watercolour is a copy made in 1866 for the Arundel Society by Cesare Mariannecci (c.1819 - c.1894) after the fresco representing St Filippo Benizi healing Children by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530). It was printed as a chromolithograph by the German firm Storch & Kramer and distributed by the Arundel Society to Second Subscribers in 1869 (Museum no. 23995).

Original work
Between 1509 and 1514, Andrea del Sarto painted seven lunette frescoes for the religious order of the Servi di Maria in the atrium of the church of their convent, Santissima Annunziata, the so-called Chiostro, or Chiostrino, dei Voti. Five of his frescoes represent events from the Life of St Filippo Benizi (1509-1510), whereas the two final lunettes show the Procession of the Magi (1511) [see Mariannecci’s copy; Museum no. E.274-1995] and the Nativity of the Virgin (1513-1514) [see Christian Schultz’s copy Museum no. E.273-1995]. Other famous painters of the period collaborated to the cycle: Alessio Baldovinetti (Adoration of the Shepherds, 1463), Cosimo Rosselli (Vocation of St. Filipi Benizi, 1476), Franciabigio (Marriage of the Virgin, 1513), Pontormo (Visitation, 1514-16) and Rosso Fiorentino (Assumption of the Virgin, 1517).

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 and a spoiled destiny was created by his first biographer, Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). It was perpetuated along the centuries and found an strong echo in 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 also called him the ‘faultless’ painter. Although this was considered with positive value in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries, 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 valuation of his work and he was mainly 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.

Only three of the lunettes in the Chiostro dei Voti were copied for the Arundel Society.

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 (1511-1574) 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.

Copyist
Cesare Marianneci was one of the most prolific copyist employed by the Arundel Society. He made over eighty watercolour copies for the Society from 1856 to circa 1868. Born in Rome and trained with Tommaso Minardi (1787-1871), Mariannecci settled in Florence in 1859 when he was commissioned the copies of the Brancacci chapel. His copies were criticised, especially by the journal The Athenaeum, for their inaccuracy (the copyist did not show the damages and the cracks of 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 conservation issues.

This watercolour is a copy of Andrea del Sarto’s fresco showing St Filippo Benizi healing Children from the church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. The copy was made by Cesare Mariannecci (c.1819 - c.1894) in 1866 for the Arundel Society. The society commissioned and published reproductions like this one in order to promote knowledge of the art European Old Masters. A chromolithograph after the this watercolour copy was published in 1869 (Museum no. 23995).
The original fresco is located in the Chiostro dei Voti in the church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. It was painted in 1509-10 by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) and belongs to a cycle of twelve arch-topped frescoes made by some of most important Florentine painters of the time.

E.272-1995