0001
Studio of Andrea Solario
(Milan c. 1465 - 1524 Milan)
„Madonna with the green cushion, St. Joseph in the background“
oil on panel
57 x 44.5 cm
label on the reverse: Royal Academy Exhibition 1895
Provenance
probably Principessa Carolina Barberini Colonna di Sciarra nata marchesa di Pescopagano, Naples (1820-1914);
1894 Simonetti, Rom;
acquired there by T. Humphrey Ward, Esq. (1845-1926), London;
collection Wilhelm Ofenheim (1860-1932), Vienna;
private collection, Vienna
Exhibition
1895 The Royal Academy of Arts, no. 152
Literature
The Royal Academy of Arts, Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School, including a collection illustrating the Sculptor-Goldsmith's Art, chiefly of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries, 7 January to 16 March 1895, London, 1895, p. 37, no. 152 (as "replica")
Kurt Badt, Andrea Solario: sein Leben und seine Werke; ein Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte the Lombardei; Leipzig, 1914, p. 194 & 208 (as "copy")
Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 542
Bernard Berenson, Pittore Italiane del Rinascimento, Milan 1936, p. 466
Luisa Cogliati Arano, Andrea Solario, 2. edition, Milan 1966, p. 92 (as "copia" reffering to Badt)
Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools, vol. 1, London 1968, p. 411
David Alan Brown, Andrea Solario, Milan 1987, p. 215, no. 52, (cited twice under "Copie": h) "Già Barone Ofenheim, Vienna. Citate come variante autografa del Louvre dal Berenson...."/ m) "Già collezione T. Humphrey Ward, Londra ..." referring to Badt "Come una copia precedente, ...")
The painting is documented in the archives of Bernhard Berenson as the work of Andrea Solario (cf. Biblioteca Berenson, Fototeca, I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies: Database no. olvwork663446)
Estimate: € 50.000 - 100.000
Result: € 64.000 (incl. fees)
Auction is closed.
Andrea Solario is considered one of the most important successors of Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519). In this tradition, the "Madonna with the Green Pillow" is one of his most successful compositions. The motif of the eponymous green cushion emphasises the impression of well-being and familial tenderness with its finely crafted materiality. The signed version, painted around 1507-10, is now in the Louvre, Paris (oil on panel, 59.5 x 47.5 cm, inv. no. 673 / MR 484). It shows a wooded landscape in the background with two vistas reaching into the depths. In contrast, the Madonna and Child in the present version are presented in an almost domestic setting: Saint Joseph is shown as a working carpenter with a saw and shavings lying around in the left vista.
The composition was in great demand at the time and was executed in several repetitions and versions by Andrea Solario himself, but also in his circle. In the past, this has repeatedly led to differing opinions on the classification of his work. In Dan Alan Brown's 1987 catalogue raisonné, for example, this painting is listed twice among the 18 repetitions and variants mentioned - referring to different scholarly opinions: On the one hand, referring to Kurt Badt, as a "copy" in the possession of T. Humphrey Ward; on the other hand, formerly published in the Ofenheim Collection by Bernhard Berenson as a variant in his own hand, and documented in a photograph taken around 1925.