Lot n° 157
Estimation :
100000 - 150000
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 205 000EUR
- Lot 157
Ludovico CARRACCI (Bologna 1555-1619)
The Adoration of the Magi.
Copper.
Height: 36 cm, length: 26 cm.
Old restorations.
Provenance: Several Adoration of the Magi given to Ludovico or Annibale Carracci were sold in the 18th century, sometimes without any precise indication allowing to identify them.
- According to family tradition, this painting belonged to Madame Agnès Jeanne Julie Froment de Champlagarde (1770-1853), daughter of Joseph Froment de Champlagarde des Condamines, bailiff of Versailles, who resided at the Hôtel de la Feuillade;
- Probably François Astruc sale (and to various dealers), Paris, Hôtel Bulion, 18 December 1817 (commissaire-Priseur Benoit-Antoine Bonnefons Lavialle, expert Charles Elie), no. 8 (An Adoration of the Magi on copper, 10 by 14 inches, "comes out of one of the first galleries in Parma");
- By descent from the Bardon family (Jean Bardon 1896-1969),
- Then by descent to the present day.
This precious unpublished copper is an autograph copy by Ludovico Carracci of his large altarpiece (190 x 120 cm), formerly kept in the Gessi Chapel of the church of San Bartolomeo di Reno in Bologna (also called Santa Maria della Pioggia), and destroyed during the Second World War 1. The Carracci family workshop was commissioned to completely decorate the Gessi Chapel, located to the left of the altar in this church. Agostino was commissioned to paint the high altar with the Adoration of the Shepherds, while Ludovico was commissioned to paint the two side canvases:
The Adoration of the Magi and the Circumcision. Most historians date this ensemble to the years 1590-95.2 Fortunately, these large lost formats are known from black-and-white photographs, one of which is in the Fototeca Zeri (card no. 55088, ill. 1). The composition of our copper is largely identical, with one important variation, which only Ludovico could afford: the addition of the heads of the donkey and the ox, located in the lower left-hand corner of the picture. [...]
[...] We are grateful to Professor Alessandro Brogi for confirming the autograph nature of this painting, after examining it in person, and for the information he provided, which was used in the drafting of this file. He will publish it in the magazine Prospettiva in an article to be published under the title "Luce riflessa su un dipinto perduto di Ludovico Carracci".
Related works:
- Adoration of the Magi, Ludovico Carracci, 1590-95, Oil on canvas, 190x120 cm, destroyed, formerly Bologna, Church of San Bartolomeo di Reno, Gessi Chapel.
- Adoration of the Magi, Workshop of Ludovico Carracci (retouched by Michel II Corneille), pen and ink drawing, wash and white highlights, 22.3x17.9 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts Graphiques, n° inv. 7907 (Catherine Loisel, Dessins Italiens du Musée du Louvre, Ludovico, Agostino, Annibale Carracci, RMN, Paris, 2004, p. 140, n°152)
- Adoration of the Magi, Ludovico Carracci, pen and bistre wash drawing, 21.3x16.3 cm, Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de Paris, inv. no. EBA 83 (Babette Bohn, Ludovico Carracci and the art of Drawing, 2004, fig. 104, p. 231).
- Adoration of the Magi, Francesco Brizio after Ludovico Carracci, ca. 1594-95, Etching, 18.1x22.1 cm, Bergamo, Accademia Carrara, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, no. inv. 02357.
At the end of his life, in 1616, Ludovico Carracci painted another Adoration of the Magi with a completely different composition (Milan, Brera Picture Gallery).
There is also a small version of the altarpiece opposite in the Gessi Chapel, The Circumcision (copper, 39x31.5 cm), which has not been located and is of inferior quality to our painting, given to a pupil of Ludovico's, Lorenzo Garbieri (Brogi, 2001, op. cit., vol.1, p.253, no. R9, reprinted vol.2, fig. 266).
1 - Alessandro Brogi, Ludovico Carracci, Pittore d'Italia 3, Bozzano Emilia, Tipoarte, 2001, vol. 1, p. 126-127.
2 - Walter Friedlaender, Contributi alla cronologia e all'iconografia di Lodovico Carracci, Cronache d'arte, 3, 1926, 133-147, see p. 147; note 68; Heinrich Bodmer, Drawings by the Carraci, Old Master Drawings, 1934, p. 54; 1926, p. 147; note 68; G. Feigenbaum, Ludovico Carracci.A Critical Study of his later Career and a Catalogue of his Paintings, Princeton University, 1984, pp. 229-229, A Brogi, 2001, op. cit.
3 - It is not possible to know if the colours were the same, it is doubtful, since the preserved photo is in black and white.
4 - This was still the case at the beginning of the 17th century with a Pietro de Lignis in Rome (1616, Prado Museum).
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