ID 1239220
Lot 8 | TIZIANO VECELLIO, CALLED TITIAN (PIEVE DI CADORE C. 1485/90-1576 VENICE)
Estimate value
£ 15 000 000 – 25 000 000
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
oil on canvas, laid on panel
18 ¼ x 24 ¾ in. (46.2 x 62.9 cm.)
Provenance
Bartolomeo della Nave (1571/9-1632), Venice, from whom acquired in 1638, through Basil Feilding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh (c. 1608-1675), by,
Sir James Hamilton, 3rd Marquess of Hamilton and later 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606-1649), first Hereditary Keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse (listed in the inventory of 1649, inv. no. 22), where acquired by the following before 1651,
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (1614-1662), Brussels and Vienna (listed in the inventory of the Imperial Collection of 1659, inv. no. 96), recorded in the Stallburg Gallery, and by descent in the Habsburg Collection to,
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685-1740), Vienna, and by descent in the Habsburg collection to,
Maria Theresa (1717-1780), Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia (listed in the inventory of the Imperial Collection of 1772, inv. no. 918(?)), and by descent in the Habsburg collection to,
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1741-1790), and transferred to Belvedere Palace, by 1781 (listed in the ‘second room’), and looted by French troops in 1809 for the Musée Napoléon, when held in the church of Saint Elisabeth, Rue du Temple, Paris, and returned to Vienna in 1815.
Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar (1797-1864), by 1851; Christie’s, London, 1 June 1878, lot 124 (350 gns. to Colnaghi).
John Alexander Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831-1896), Longleat House, Warminster, Wiltshire, and by descent.
Literature
Listed in the inventories of the collection of Bartolomeo della Nave, MS. 332/M/4/10, circa 1636, inv. no. 21, in the Italian, as ‘Vna Madonna con S. Gioseppe, largo palmi 3. alto 2. di Titiano’, valued at £200, and MS. 332/M/4/8, in the English, as ‘Our Ladye and Joseph. Palm. 3. &. 2. Titian', Douglas-Hamilton family, Dukes of Hamilton and Brandon, National Register of Archives, Scotland.
Listed in the inventories of Sir James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, MS. M/4/21, circa 1643, as ‘The Virgin Mary: Christ: & Joseph: Titian’; and MS. M/4/40, circa 1649, inv. no. 22, as ‘Titian…Madona avec l’enfant et Joseph un beau paisage, h. 2 la. 3’, Douglas-Hamilton family, Dukes of Hamilton and Brandon, National Register of Archives, Scotland.
Listed in the inventory of the Imperial Collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Vienna, 1659, inv. no. 96, as ‘Ein Landtschafftl von Öhlfarb auf Leinwath, warin vnser liebe Fraw in einem rothen Klaid vnd blawen Mantl mit dem Jesuskindl in ihren beeden Händten, dabey St. Joseph in einem gelben Mantl. In einer vergulden, glatten Ramen, 2 Span 7 Finger hoch vnd 3 Span 7 Finger braith. Von Titiano Original’.
F. Storffer, Neu eingerichtes Inventarium der Kayl. Bilder Gallerie in der Stallburg welches nach denen Numeris und Maßstab ordiniret und von Ferdinand à Storffer gemahlen worden, III, 1733, no. 109, a painted inventory of the Imperial Collections in Vienna, held in the archive of the Gemäldegalerie, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
A.J. von Prenner and F. van Stampart, Prodromus zum Theatrum artis pictoriae, von den Originalplatten in der k. k. Hofbibliothek zu Wien abgedruckt und mit einer erläuternden Vorbemerkung neu herausgegeben von Dr. Heinrich Zimerman, fol. 8, 1735, a preliminary catalogue of the Imperial Collections of Austria in the Stallburg Gallery, Vienna.
J. Rosa, Inventarium über die in der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Gallerie vorhandenen Bilder und Gemälde…, 1772, fol. 1r., Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, Vienna, inv. no. 918(?).
C. von Mechel, Verzeichniß der Gemälde der Kaiserlich Königlichen Bilder Gallerie in Wien: Nach der von ihm auf allerhöchsten Befehl im Jahre 1781 gemachten neuen, Vienna, 1783, p. 24, no. 35.
J. Rosa, Gemälde der K.K. Gallerie, Vienna, 1796, p. 63, no. 39.
G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, II, London, 1854, p. 133.
W. Frost, A Catalogue of the Paintings in the Collection of Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar, 6 Hamilton Place, London, London, 1865, p. 16, no. 48.
J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in North Italy, III, London, 1871, p. 52.
A. Berger, ‘Inventar und Kunstsammlung des Erzherzogs Leopold Wilhelm von Österreich: nach der Originalhandschrift im fürstlich Schwarzenberg'schen Centralarchive’, Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, I, 1883, p. XCII, no. 96.
A.J. von Prenner and F. van Stampart, ‘Prodromus zum Theatrum artis pictoriae, von den Originalplatten in der k. k. Hofbibliothek zu Wien abgedruckt und mit einer erläuternden Vorbemerkung neu herausgegeben von Dr. Heinrich Zimerman (1735)’, Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, Vienna, 1888, pl. 8.
W. Suida, Titien, Paris, 1935, p. 14.
H. Tietze and E. Tietze, 'Tizian Studien', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, N.F., X, 1936, pp. 137-192.
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, I, London, 1957, p. 187.
F. Valcanover, Tutta la pittura di Tiziano, I, Milan, 1960, pl. 42.
K. Garas, ‘Die Entstehung der Galerie des Erzherzogs Leopold Wilhelm,’ Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, LXIII, 1967, Appendix II, ‘Inventar 1649 des Hamilton-Archivs, Lennoxlore [sic]’, pp. 69 and 76.
K. Garas, ‘Das Schicksal der Sammlung des Erzherzogs Leopold Wilhelm’, Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, LXIV, 1968, p. 207, no. 96.
H.E. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian, I, The Religious Paintings, London, 1969, p. 125, no. 90, pl. 7.
C. Cagli and F. Valcanover, L'opera completa di Tiziano, Milan, 1969, p. 95, no. 44, illustrated.
R. Pallucchini, Tiziano, I, Florence, 1969, pp. 32, 53 and 242; II, fig. 74.
H.T. Goldfarb, 'An Early Masterpiece by Titian Rediscovered, and its Stylistic Implications', The Burlington Magazine, CXXVI, no. 926, July 1984, p. 423, under note 13.
F. Russell, in The Treasure Houses of Britain. Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting, exhibition catalogue, Washington, 1985, p. 564, under no. 501.
P. Joannides, ‘Titian: A Call For Natural Light’, exhibition review, Apollo, CXXXII, no. 344, October 1990, p. 268.
M. Díaz Padrón and M. Royo-Villanova, David Teniers, Jan Brueghel y los gabinetes de pinturas, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, 1992, p. 69, under no. 1.
A. Scarpa Sonino, Cabinet d'Amateur: Le Grandi Collezioni d'Arte Nei Dipinti Dal XVII al XIX Secolo, Milan, 1992, p. 90.
K. Oberhuber, in Le Siècle deTitien: L'âge d'or de la peinture à Venise, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1993, p. 460, under no. 102.
H. Montgomery-Massingberd and C.S. Sykes, Great Houses of England and Wales, London, 1994, p. 162.
D. Burnett, Longleat. The Story of an English Country House, rev. ed., Wimborne, 1996, p. 152.
P. Joannides, Titian to 1518, New Haven and London, 2001, pp. 43, 157 and 161, fig. 141.
P. Humfrey, 'Collecting Venetian painting in Scotland', in The Age of Titian, Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, 2004, pp. 48, 428, fig. 63.
D.A. Brown and S. Ferino-Pagden, eds., Bellini, Giorgione, Titian and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting, exhibition catalogue, New Haven and London, 2006, p. 62.
P. Humfrey, Titian: The Complete Paintings, London, 2007, p. 46, no. 13, dated circa 1510.
P. Hills, ‘Titian’s Flight into Egypt’, The Burlington Magazine, CLIV, no. 1313, August 2012, p. 589, fig. 55.
J. Dunkerton and M. Spring, with contributions from R. Billinge, K. Kalinina, R. Morrison, G. Macaro, D. Peggie and A. Roy, 'Titian's Painting Technique to c. 1540', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XXXIV, 2013, pp. 4, 40, 44-45 and 127, no. 3, figs. 83 and 84.
J. Wood, ‘Buying and selling art in Venice, London and Antwerp: The collection of Bartolomeo della Nave and the dealings of James, third Marquis of Hamilton, Anthony van Dyck, and Jacob van Veerle, c. 1637-50’, The Walpole Society, LXXX, 2018, p. 94, no. 21, with inventory references (though erroneously identifying this work with no. 161 [instead of no. 96] in the 1659 inventory of the Imperial Collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria).
A. Mazzotta, Tiziano 1508, Agli esordi di una luminosa carriera, exhibition catalogue, Florence, 2023, pp. 71, 166-167, figs. 54 and 150.
Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, Works by the Old Masters, January-March 1887, no. 161.
London, Royal Academy, Works by the Old Masters, 4 January-12 March 1904, no. 72.
London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1914, no. 22.
London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900, 1 January-20 March 1930, no. 365.
Manchester, City of Manchester Art Galleries, Art Treasures Centenary Exhibition, 1957, no. 64.
Venice, Palazzo Ducale and Washington, National Gallery of Art, Titian, Prince of Painters, 1 June 1990-27 January 1991, no. 8.
London, National Gallery, Titian's First Masterpiece: The Flight into Egypt, 4 April-19 August 2012, no. 26.
Engraved
T. van Kessel (1620-c.1660), as no. 63 for the Theatrum Pictorium.
Sale room notice
Please note that this lot is displayed in a loan Venetian sixteenth-century carved and gilded cassetta frame from Arnold Wiggins & Sons, which is not being sold with the picture, but could be acquired separately. Please ask the department for further details about this and the picture’s original frame, which can be viewed on request.
Auction house category: | Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Paintings |
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Auction house category: | Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Paintings |
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