The Virgin and Child
Drawing
1675 (made)
1675 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Drawing
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Virgin and Child (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink and wash on paper |
| Brief description | Drawing, The Virgin and Child by Luca Giordano (1632-1705), Neopolitan school, c.1675 |
| Physical description | Drawing |
| Dimensions |
|
| Object history | Dalton Bequest 1900 |
| Bibliographic reference | Ward-Jackson, Peter, Italian Drawings, Volume Two: 17th-18th Century , London, 1979, p.52-54 , cat. n. 707, illus.
The following is the full text of the entry:
GIORDANO, LUCA (1632-1705)
707
The Virgin and Child, seated on a cloud, with St Peter and St Paul on either hand, and three other saints below: design for an arched altarpiece
Inscribed below in ink probably in Padre Resta's hand 'Disegno fatto da Luca Giordano in Napoli, l'anno santo 1675, al Rm.o P. Abbate don Francesco Superchi, ' (?) per far poi la Pala di S. Pietro nella Chiesa di S. Giorgio Magre di Vena’
Pen and ink and wash
15 1/2 x l0 7/8 (394 x 276) D. 1022-1900
PROVENANCE ? Padre Sebastiano Resta (compare the handwriting in Lugt 2992a; and in the facsimile Resta album published by the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan); ? Crozat; P. J. Mariette (Lugt 1852, without the blue mount; sale, F. Basan, Paris, 1775, lot 442); Sir T. Lawrence; S. Woodburn (sale, Christie, 12 June 1860, lot 1228); Dalton Bequest 1900
LITERATURE Exhibition Catalogue, Neapolitan baroque and rococo painting, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham, 1962, no. 58; W. Vitzthum, 'Luca Giordano o Francesco Lamarra: una ipotesi' in Paragone, no. 183, May 1965, pp. 64-67, and fig. 61; O. Ferrari and G. Scavizzi, Luca Giordano, 1966, 1, p. 195 and fig. 671; Exhibition Catalogue, Le Cabinet d'un grand amateur P. J. Mariette, Louvre, Paris, 1967, p. 67, no. 65
Francesco Superchi, mentioned in the inscription, was Abbot of S. Giorgio Maggiore from 1667 to 1671, and he was still alive in 1686 (for these and other facts concerning him see Cigogna, Delle Inscrizioni Veneziane, 3, 1830, p. 462; 4, 1834, p. 275 etc; see also Giambattista Fabri, La Conchiglia Celeste, Venice, 1690, 3 ingresso, pp. 20, 21). It is possible, therefore, that he may have contemplated commissioning Luca Giordano to paint an altarpiece for the church, even after his retirement from the post of abbot. But the commission was evidently not carried out. There is no painting by Giordano in S. Giorgio Maggiore, nor does any other recorded picture by him in Venice bear any relation to the drawing. On the other hand, the Bollani Chapel in S. Giorgio Maggiore contains a well known altarpiece by Sebastiano Ricci which, like Giordano's drawing, represents the Virgin and Child adored by St Peter and St Paul and other saints. It is dated 1708, and according to Cigogna, lac. cit. vo!. 4, p. 351, it replaced another painting by Cervelli, executed about 1690. This may have been the altarpiece for which Father Superchi invited Giordano to submit a design.
The drawing is listed under Luca Giordano as no. 442 in the sale catalogue of Mariette's collection by Basan, 1775, and a note in the Museum's copy states that it was sold for 63 livres. Sir Thomas Lawrence's mark is not on the sheet, but the description of lot 1228 at the Woodburn sale, mentioned above, must almost certainly refer to this drawing. It reads as follows: 'Giordano (L) - The Virgin and Child, with St Peter and St Paul, and other saints - sketch for his picture in the church of St George, at Venice, bistre wash. From the collections of Crozat and Mariette.' A note in the Museum's Register of Drawings also states that the drawing was in Crozat's collection, but it is not mentioned in Mariette's catalogue of the Crozat collection, and the statement doubtless derives ultimately from the Woodburn sale catalogue.
The notes on this drawing in the two exhibition catalogues quoted are partly based on this catalogue entry, which was written before they were printed and shown to the authors. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | D.1022-1900 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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