(Arezzo 1511–1574 Florence)
An Allegory of Summer,
oil on panel, 80.5 x 79.5 cm, framed

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no. 16875 (as Giorgio Vasari, Putti con spighe, with measurements 90.2 x 78.7 cm).

Provenance:
Collection of Hans von Pernull (1868–1949), London;
his heirs;
their sale, Christie’s, London, 27 November 1970, lot 38;
Collection of Anna Moffo Sarnoff (1932–2006), New York;
her sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 22 January 1976, lot 78;
where acquired by Alexandre Villiers;
Private collection;
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
C. Davis, in: L. Corti/C. Davis/M. Daly Davis/J. Kliemann (eds.), Giorgio Vasari: principi, letterati e artisti nelle carte di Giorgio Vasari. Pittura vasariana dal 1532 al 1554, exhibition catalogue, Arezzo 1981, p. 45 (as Workshop of Vasari);
L. Corti, Vasari. Catalogo completo, Florence 1989, p. 87, no. 66, illustrated (as Vasari, with measurments 90.2 x 78.7 cm);
F. Härb, The Drawings of Giorgio Vasari, 1510-1574, Rome 2015, p. 364, figs. 214.1 and 214.2 (as Vasari)
C. Falciani, in: C. Falciani, P. Curie (eds.), La collection Alana. Chefs-d’oeuvre de la peinture italienne, exhibition catalogue, Bruxelles 2019, p. 172 (as Vasari)

Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi:

The painting technique is coherent with Vasari’s practice. Reflectographic images indicate that the left arm of the right putto was originally drawn differently, not raised but outstretched towards the viewer, quickly drawn with open and schematic fingers, that held nothing. The drawing of that arm was retraced with the current position. It is possible that the ears of corn were added by the artist in a later elaboration of the subject.

When the subject of the present painting is compared to the Study for a Ceiling Decoration conserved in the Art Institute Chicago (inv. 1922.42), it is possible to notice some general similarities with the putti in the corners, but not identical postures. Besides, in the drawing the putti do not present evident symbols or objects, therefore they do not seem to be allegorical subjects, while the putti in the present painting hold corn sheaves, so being probably an allegorical representation of one of the four seasons. Perhaps the painting can be compared to the subject of the lower left corner of the Chicago drawing: both the putti appear frontally, but in the present work they are tied by the legs and they pass each other ears of corn. In the drawing a putto holds a stem (possibly a synthetic note for the ear of corn?), while in the first underdrawing of the painting, as already discussed, there was no evidence of an object held at least on the right. Whether the Chicago design refers to this painting or not, it could have been a similar ceiling, or another graphic version of the same ceiling.

As Reflectance spectroscopy analysis pointed out, the sky contains smalt blue pigment, partially discoloured. This pigment was frequently used by Vasari, as some researches confirm (see G. Poldi, Pigmenti, colore, sporco, alterazioni. Le analisi in riflettanza vis-NIR sulla ‘Pala Albergotti’, in: L’ingegno e la mano. Restaurare il mai restaurato. Il restauro della Pala Albergotti di Giorgio Vasari nella Badia delle Sante Flora e Lucilla di Arezzo, conference proceedings [Arezzo, Sala dei Grandi della Provincia, 28–30 March 2008], ed. by I. Droandi, Florence 2009, pp. 63–74), where not rarely the discolouration process profoundly changed the colour from bright blue to brown. In the present painting the hue is now bluish-grey, but it would have been more blue originally. The palette employed also includes lead white, lead-based yellow, vermillion, a good quality carmine-type red lake, yellow ochre and earths.

Ceiling Decoration by Giorgio Vasari (Lots 22 and 23)

These two paintings by Giorgio Vasari (lots 22 and 23) formerly belonged to part of a ceiling decoration. It has been suggested that these two compositions relate to a preparatory drawing for a ceiling which is in the Art Institute of Chicago (inv. 1922.42). The precise date of execution and the original destination of the ceiling remain uncertain at present, though various theories have been advanced.

These panels represent pairs of putti respectively holding ears of corn and root vegetables – turnips or onions –and are most probably allegories of Summer and Winter. The usual iconography of the seasons, whereby summer is normally associated with female figures, is overturned here with the employment of male putti, while conversely, winter, possibly alluding to the mixed fertility of the season, is represented by female putti.

A third panel, part of the series, representing Autumn has recently been identified and was exhibited in 2019 in the exhibition of the Alana
Collection at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris. This also represents two intertwined putti, here holding bunches of grapes; the reappearance of this panel is an important new addition to the reconstruction of the lost ceiling arrangement. At present there is no information concerning the fourth and final panel of this group which would certainly represent an Allegory of Spring.

Until recently these panels were believed to have formed part of a ceiling in the palazzo of the Venetian patrician Giovanni Cornaro (1515-1576), executed in 1542, however this provenance has since been discredited since the ceiling has now been entirely reconstructed and the corner panels represent winged putti holding inscribed tablets.

The central rectangle of the ceiling decoration represented in the Chicago drawing depicts the biblical episode of Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well (Genesis 24) and this image is in turn surrounded by two roundels and two ovals depicting reclining figures (see fig 1). These figures remain difficult to interpret as their attributes are hard to distinguish, but they may relate to the times of day, or to the seasons. Finally, at the four corners of this design, as in many projects by Vasari, there are squares representing pairs of putti. These two works are most probably the final compositions.

Completing the ceiling decoration is a frieze which runs along the lower edge of the design, with portraits flanking a portrait of Pope Clement VII, above which runs the motto ‘Candor illesus’. The presence of this portrait supported a theory that this ceiling design was originally for a cycle of rooms celebrating the leading members of the Medici family, commissioned by Cosimo I, which included a room dedicated to Clement VII in the Quartiere di Leone X, in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (1556-62). However, this proposal was rejected by Härb because the subjects depicted in the Chicago drawing do not correspond to the decorative programme conceived by Cosimo Bartoli for the Sala di Clemente VII, nor to any of the adjacent rooms, all of which represented historical events from the lives of members of the Medici family (see Härb in literature, pp. 363-364).

The central rectangle of the Chicago drawing with Rebecca and Eliezer corresponds to a drawing by Giorgio Vasari in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle (inv. no. 6005) wherein the composition is more clearly readable; and the finished painting of this subject by Vasari has been located in the Società Ficarazzi Acicastello collection, Catania: this has a provenance from the Serristori collection, Florence.

Charles Davis (see literature) proposed that the panel with the biblical scene, and those with the putti, including these two lots, once formed part of the decoration of a room in Vasari’s own house, however the decorative programme of the house is described in a letter from Vincenzo Borghini of 1570 in which he included different theological themes to those represented in the Chicago preparatory drawing.

Divergent dates of execution have been advanced by scholars for the panel with Rebecca and the present two paintings. While on stylistic grounds the Rebecca painting and the corresponding preparatory drawing at Windsor can be dated to the 1550s, the Chicago drawing and the panels with putti have been given to Vasari’s final years, after the Palazzo Vecchio decorations of 1555-1560, suggesting that Vasari used an earlier painting, which had not been used for its intended purpose, and thereby repurposed it by inserting it into a later decorative scheme.

In support of a late dating for the present two allegories of the seasons, they can be compared to works from the artist’s full maturity, and in particular to the Florentine altarpieces in Santa Maria Novella and in Santa Croce, as well as with the Coronation of the Virgin in the Badia di Arezzo. Additionally, prototypes for the putti can be found in the altarpiece and lateral panels – once included in an imposing wood altarpiece structure – representing the Last Judgement, executed between 1567 and 1569 for the church of Santa Croce di Bosco Marengo in Piedmont. Indeed, here there are similar herculean putti with accentuated muscles.

A further comparison could also strengthen the late dating of the present two panels: their connection with the vault of the Studiolo di Francesco I, a small room adjoining the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, completed in 1572 under Vasari’s supervision. The Chicago drawing explicitly repeats the partitioning of the Studiolo barrel vault with Prometheus at the centre, surrounded by panels representing the four elements and pairs of embracing putti at the corners.

Vasari was one of the greatest exponents of Mannerism, he consciously applied Michelangelesque forms in his altarpieces and in his religious and civic architecture. He became the leading interpreter of Cosimo I de’ Medici’s artistic programs and received the title of ‘architetto e pittore di Sua Eccellenza’. Assisted by lettered councilors, Vasari was called upon to oversee the works on the grand-ducal apartments in the Palazzo Vecchio until 1563, when he began work on the arrangement of the Salone dei Cinquecento. This programme envisaged the pictorial glorification of the Medici family including historical and allegorical subjects illustrating real and legendary events from the history of Florence, uniting art, history and symbolism. At the beginning of the century Michelangelo and Leonardo had contributed to the decoration of the Salone respectively with the Battle of Cascina and the Battle of Anghiari – the mythical lost fresco of Leonardo which history subsequently bound to the name of Giorgio Vasari.