Čís. položky 45


Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano

[Saleroom Notice]
Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano - Obrazy starých mistrů

(Bassano del Grappa circa 1510–1592)
Head of Vulcan,
inscribed lower right,
oil on canvas, 45.5 x 33 cm, framed

Saleroom Notice:

We are grateful to Alessandro Ballarin for confirming the attribution to Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano (Bassano del Grappa circa 1510–1592) after examination of the present painting in the original.

Provenance:
art market, England;
where acquired by the present owner

The present, previously unpublished painting, represents the head of an elderly man who can be identified as the god Vulcan, since the same figure appears in the large composition by Jacopo Bassano representing The Forge of Vulcan conserved in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (250 x 407 cm, inv. no. P005263).

The large canvas in Madrid represents the god intent on forging armour, helped by assistants who animate the scene, just as they would have done in a sixteenth century workshop. The genre setting with figures in contemporary dress, would seem to bear no resemblance to a mythological context were it not for the presence of Cupid, seated alongside Vulcan. Indeed, mythological subjects are quite rare in the work of Jacopo Bassano and are mostly encountered in works from his late period, for example the Diana and Actaeon in the Art Institute of Chicago (inv. no. 1939.2239). In choosing a subject from classical myth for such a large canvas, Bassano would surely have wished to measure himself against the great Venetian masters of the Cinquecento: Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese.

In this Head of Vulcan the light falls on the god frontally, drawing him out of the dark background, and focusing on the rendering of the wrinkled brow, and even on such naturalistic details as the mole on the subject’s right cheek. The elderly Vulcan, communicates a somewhat tired air rather than that of an Olympian god, and his rendering as a country-man intent at his work, is typical of Jacopo Bassano’s most harmonious works – indeed, this figure is based on the same model as the fish-seller in the Sarasota Allegory of Water, one of a series of the four elements (The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, inv. no. SN 87).

In the present painting the densely loaded brushstrokes reveal a careful study of the last manner of Titian. Indeed, the work is datable to the end of the 1570s, during the final phase of Bassano’s activity, which also corresponds to that of his greatest output. During this period Jacopo was involved in the execution of numerous altarpieces for churches of the Veneto and Trentino, as well as series of canvases such as the allegories of the Seasons.

The present canvas with the Head of Vulcan has been dated to the last phase of Bassano’s career, around 1577 (see A. Ballarin, San Pietro risana lo storpio. Jacopo Bassano 1573-1580 [1988], in: A. Ballarin, Jacopo Bassano, ed. by V. Romani, Padova 1995, vol. I, t. II, pp. 261-262, and vol. I, t. I, figs. 165, 172). The large canvas in the Prado, believed in the past to be the work of a follower of Leandro Bassano, was restored to Jacopo by Alessandro Ballarin (see op. cit.): it is therefore the original from which various studio replicas were taken, such as that in the Louvre and another also in the Prado.

Expert: Mark MacDonnell Mark MacDonnell
+43 1 515 60 403

oldmasters@dorotheum.com

10.11.2020 - 16:00

Dosažená cena: **
EUR 210.700,-
Odhadní cena:
EUR 100.000,- do EUR 150.000,-

Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano

[Saleroom Notice]

(Bassano del Grappa circa 1510–1592)
Head of Vulcan,
inscribed lower right,
oil on canvas, 45.5 x 33 cm, framed

Saleroom Notice:

We are grateful to Alessandro Ballarin for confirming the attribution to Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano (Bassano del Grappa circa 1510–1592) after examination of the present painting in the original.

Provenance:
art market, England;
where acquired by the present owner

The present, previously unpublished painting, represents the head of an elderly man who can be identified as the god Vulcan, since the same figure appears in the large composition by Jacopo Bassano representing The Forge of Vulcan conserved in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (250 x 407 cm, inv. no. P005263).

The large canvas in Madrid represents the god intent on forging armour, helped by assistants who animate the scene, just as they would have done in a sixteenth century workshop. The genre setting with figures in contemporary dress, would seem to bear no resemblance to a mythological context were it not for the presence of Cupid, seated alongside Vulcan. Indeed, mythological subjects are quite rare in the work of Jacopo Bassano and are mostly encountered in works from his late period, for example the Diana and Actaeon in the Art Institute of Chicago (inv. no. 1939.2239). In choosing a subject from classical myth for such a large canvas, Bassano would surely have wished to measure himself against the great Venetian masters of the Cinquecento: Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese.

In this Head of Vulcan the light falls on the god frontally, drawing him out of the dark background, and focusing on the rendering of the wrinkled brow, and even on such naturalistic details as the mole on the subject’s right cheek. The elderly Vulcan, communicates a somewhat tired air rather than that of an Olympian god, and his rendering as a country-man intent at his work, is typical of Jacopo Bassano’s most harmonious works – indeed, this figure is based on the same model as the fish-seller in the Sarasota Allegory of Water, one of a series of the four elements (The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, inv. no. SN 87).

In the present painting the densely loaded brushstrokes reveal a careful study of the last manner of Titian. Indeed, the work is datable to the end of the 1570s, during the final phase of Bassano’s activity, which also corresponds to that of his greatest output. During this period Jacopo was involved in the execution of numerous altarpieces for churches of the Veneto and Trentino, as well as series of canvases such as the allegories of the Seasons.

The present canvas with the Head of Vulcan has been dated to the last phase of Bassano’s career, around 1577 (see A. Ballarin, San Pietro risana lo storpio. Jacopo Bassano 1573-1580 [1988], in: A. Ballarin, Jacopo Bassano, ed. by V. Romani, Padova 1995, vol. I, t. II, pp. 261-262, and vol. I, t. I, figs. 165, 172). The large canvas in the Prado, believed in the past to be the work of a follower of Leandro Bassano, was restored to Jacopo by Alessandro Ballarin (see op. cit.): it is therefore the original from which various studio replicas were taken, such as that in the Louvre and another also in the Prado.

Expert: Mark MacDonnell Mark MacDonnell
+43 1 515 60 403

oldmasters@dorotheum.com


Horká linka kupujících Po-Pá: 10.00 - 17.00
old.masters@dorotheum.at

+43 1 515 60 403
Aukce: Obrazy starých mistrů
Typ aukce: Sálová aukce s Live bidding
Datum: 10.11.2020 - 16:00
Místo konání aukce: Wien | Palais Dorotheum
Prohlídka: 04.11. - 10.11.2020


** Kupní cena vč. poplatku kupujícího a DPH

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