Lot No. 534


Bernardino de’ Conti


Bernardino de’ Conti - Old Master Paintings

(Pavia 1450–1525?)
Madonna and Child,
oil on panel, 40 x 31.5cm, framed

Inscribed label on the reverse: Cavaliere Melzi / [.]assani Maggio 1855 / [Ca]stelbarchi fraganeschi / Castelbarco Litta Albani

Provenance:
Private Collection, Parma (1993);
European Private Collection

We are grateful to Mauro Natale for confirming the attribution to Bernardino de’ Conti on the basis of a digital photograph.

The present painting by Bernardino de´Conti is closely related to works produced in the 1490s by Ambrogio de Predi in Milan, such as the Portrait of Archinto (National Gallery, London) from 1494 or his Youth (Pinacoteca Brera, Milan), which dates from that same year and it has been suggested that this panel was also painted in the 1490s, a date which is also corroborated by its similarities to compositions by Leonardo. The pose of the Madonna, particularly the detail of the arm in the foreground, seems to be a direct quote of a preliminary drawing by Leonardo for his Madonna del Gatto, which he painted in Florence between 1478 and 1481. Bernardino de‘ Conti has also adopted a similar pose for the Christ Child, whose head, however, is turned upwards in Leonardo’s drawing. The verso of the drawing shows the same figure, yet in the reverse direction and with its head lowered, so that it is therefore closest to the Child in the present composition.

The exact model for the present panel has been identified in the form of a drawing in the Royal Library of Windsor Castle (no. 12.564): a copy by Francesco Napoletano based on Leonardo. The Madonna’s headdress seems to have been borrowed from the Madonna Litta (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), which can be dated with certainty to the 1490s.

Bernardino de‘ Conti was the son of a painter. In 1494 he received a commission for an altarpiece depicting a Madonna and Child (San Pietro in Gessate, Milan). Bernardino was probably a student of Ambrogio de Predi, which is suggested by the similar qualities of their portraits. Bernardino de‘ Conti also known as a portraitist, such as the portrait of Francesco Sforza, (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome) as well as for his depictions of the Madonna and Child such as the present painting and the Madonna and Child (Pinacoteca Brera, Milan).

15.10.2013 - 18:00

Realized price: **
EUR 183,300.-
Estimate:
EUR 150,000.- to EUR 200,000.-

Bernardino de’ Conti


(Pavia 1450–1525?)
Madonna and Child,
oil on panel, 40 x 31.5cm, framed

Inscribed label on the reverse: Cavaliere Melzi / [.]assani Maggio 1855 / [Ca]stelbarchi fraganeschi / Castelbarco Litta Albani

Provenance:
Private Collection, Parma (1993);
European Private Collection

We are grateful to Mauro Natale for confirming the attribution to Bernardino de’ Conti on the basis of a digital photograph.

The present painting by Bernardino de´Conti is closely related to works produced in the 1490s by Ambrogio de Predi in Milan, such as the Portrait of Archinto (National Gallery, London) from 1494 or his Youth (Pinacoteca Brera, Milan), which dates from that same year and it has been suggested that this panel was also painted in the 1490s, a date which is also corroborated by its similarities to compositions by Leonardo. The pose of the Madonna, particularly the detail of the arm in the foreground, seems to be a direct quote of a preliminary drawing by Leonardo for his Madonna del Gatto, which he painted in Florence between 1478 and 1481. Bernardino de‘ Conti has also adopted a similar pose for the Christ Child, whose head, however, is turned upwards in Leonardo’s drawing. The verso of the drawing shows the same figure, yet in the reverse direction and with its head lowered, so that it is therefore closest to the Child in the present composition.

The exact model for the present panel has been identified in the form of a drawing in the Royal Library of Windsor Castle (no. 12.564): a copy by Francesco Napoletano based on Leonardo. The Madonna’s headdress seems to have been borrowed from the Madonna Litta (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), which can be dated with certainty to the 1490s.

Bernardino de‘ Conti was the son of a painter. In 1494 he received a commission for an altarpiece depicting a Madonna and Child (San Pietro in Gessate, Milan). Bernardino was probably a student of Ambrogio de Predi, which is suggested by the similar qualities of their portraits. Bernardino de‘ Conti also known as a portraitist, such as the portrait of Francesco Sforza, (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome) as well as for his depictions of the Madonna and Child such as the present painting and the Madonna and Child (Pinacoteca Brera, Milan).


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Auction: Old Master Paintings
Auction type: Saleroom auction
Date: 15.10.2013 - 18:00
Location: Vienna | Palais Dorotheum
Exhibition: 05.10. - 15.10.2013


** Purchase price incl. charges and taxes

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