(Bassano del Grappa c. 1510–1592)
Orpheus Charming the Animals with the Sound of his Violin,
oil on canvas, 117.5 x 145.7 cm, framed

Provenance:
Counts Stecchini, Bassano, Giacomo Ignazio Stecchini (1710–1785)
Bruini collection, Bologna;
European private collection

Literature:
G. B. Verci, Notizie intorno alla Vita ed alle Opere de’ Pittori Scultori e Intagliatori della città di Bassano, Venice, 1775, p. 143;
W. E. Suida, Studien zu Bassano, in “Belvedere”, 1934–1936, issue 9/12, p. 195, fig. 216-217;
B. Berenson, I pittori italiani del Rinascimento, Florence 1948, pl. LXII;
A. Ballarin, Nota introduttiva alla «Chirurgia bassanesca» con, in appendice, la ristampa dell’elogio del Maruccini e la traduzione italiana della Vita del van Mander, in Atti dell’Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti, Venezia 125.1966/1967, p. 164

We are grateful to Giuliana Ericani for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original.

The present painting was the subject of authoritative expertise by Wilhelm Suida in 1936 and Rodolfo Pallucchini in 1943. It was published by Suida as a work by Jacopo Bassano (W.E. Suida, Studien zu Bassano, in “Belvedere”, 1934- 1936, issue 9/12, p.195, fig. 216-217) and was given the same attribution in Berenson’s catalogues (B. Berenson, I pittori italiani del Rinascimento, Florence 1948, pl. LXII). It was also included in Ballarin’s 1966 studies of the artist’s late period, although only with a short mention, probably because the author could not observe the painting directly (A. Ballarin, Chirurgia bassanesca, in “Arte Veneta”, XX, 1966, republished in A. Ballarin, Nota introduttiva alla «Chirurgia bassanesca» con, in appendice, la ristampa dell’elogio del Maruccini e la traduzione italiana della Vita del van Mander, in Jacopo Bassano. Scritti. 1964-1995, edited by V. Romani, Cittadella 1995, vol. I, pp. 39-68, p. 49).

When Suida published this picture as part of a private collection in Bologna (Bruini Collection) he cited its provenance from the collection of the Counts Stecchini of Bassano. This painting is indeed noted as being part of the collection at Bassano and is confirmed as an autograph work by the most prominent 18th Century historian of Bassano, Gian Battista Verci. An “Orfeo con varie sorte di animali e questi non sono ben anco perfezionati” [Orpheus with various species of animals] is mentioned in the collection of Giacomo Ignazio Stecchini (1710-1785) (G.B.Verci, Notizie intorno alla Vita ed alle Opere de’ Pittori Scultori e Intagliatori della città di Bassano, Venice, 1775, p.143). Giacomo Ignazio was the nephew of Pietro, who appears to have been the owner, together with his brother Giacomo, of a considerable collection of paintings, the purchase of which is documented in a file at the Stecchini Archive. The latter has been recently purchased by the municipality of Bassano del Grappa and stored in the town’s cultural institute. The documents in question are the Spese fatte Giacomo e Pietro fratelli Stecchini quondam Signor Girolamo in quadri di Eccellente pittura, published with a commentary by Livia Alberton Vinco da Sesso and Renata Del Sal (G.Petoello, F.Sbordone, L.Alberton Vinco da Sesso, Catastici e carte d’archivio del XVI e XVIII secolo degli Stecchini, nobile famiglia bassanese, in Giornata di Studi di Storia bassanese in memoria di Gina Fasoli, Bassano, Museo Civico, 23 October 1993, Conference Proceedings, edited by R. Del Sal, “Bollettino del Museo Civico di Bassano”, n.s., nn.13-15, 1992-1994, pp.159-229, esp. pp.204-210 and 221-222). On p.9, dated 17 July 1673, Giacomo Stecchini purchased, on behalf of his wife and his sister-in-law, from Amadio Grossa, the husband of Marietta Scajaro, granddaughter of Giambattista dal Ponte, Jacopo’s last son, seven paintings, all of which came from Dal Ponte’s studio. Some of them were specifically mentioned in Carlo Ridolfi’s Le meraviglie dell’Arte of 1648. Among these is also “an Orpheus”, not included by Ridolfi, which we can identify with the present painting discussed here on grounds of the 18th century testimony.

The painting depicts the son of the muse Calliope taming wild beasts and stirring the natural elements with the enchanting power of his lyre. The choice of a mythological episode allows Jacopo Bassano to imagine a highly evocative pastoral scene in which domestic and wild animals are “portrayed” motionless in the foreground before Orpheus playing a viola, a detail which updates the story to the 16th century. Jacopo intervenes with his usual colourfulness and ‘pittura di tocco’ brush strokes that convey light to the crests and flashes of grey, black, yellow and white hues, thus displaying mastery in the use of colour that echoes the marvellous pastel drawings of the 1570s. Of special note is the foamy effect of the sheep’s fleece on the right. The ‘a tocco’ technique with which it was executed appears clearly in the photograph taken in connection with Pallucchini’s expertise in 1943. The black nuances of the trees’ foliage, which constitute the backdrop of the scene, produce transparent effects, perhaps by means of bitumen. The painting’s execution could confirm Suida’s hypothesis that it may represent a preparatory sketch for the studio, although its large size suggests that the concept was to produce a final work.

Although Pallucchini dates this picture to the central phase of the artist’s pastoral production, i.e. around 1568, this work must - also as a result of the recovery of the artist’s late production resulting from Ballarin’s studies from the 1960s onwards - be attributed to a later phase, between the end of eighth and the beginning of the ninth decade of the sixteenth-century, when the artist fragmented his brush strokes and introduced a grey velatura in order to modulate shadows.

We are grateful to Giuliana Ericani for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.