Lotto No. 38


Domenico Tibaldi


Domenico Tibaldi - Dipinti antichi I

(Bologna 1541–1583)
The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Paul,
oil on panel, 131 x 96 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Galleria Altomani, Pesaro;
sale, Finarte-Semenzato, Venice, 12 June 2005, lot 47 (as Pellegrino Tibaldi);
Private European collection

Literature:
D. Benati, in: J. Bentini et al. (eds.), Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna. Catalogo generale. 2. Da Raffaello ai Carracci, Bologna 2006, p. 185, mentioned under no. 127a-b (as Domenico Tibaldi);
D. Benati, Domenico Tibaldi e la pittura bolognese di fine cinquecento, in: F. Ceccarelli/D. Lenzi (eds.), Domenico e Pellegrino Tibaldi. Architettura e arte a Bologna nel secondo Cinquecento, Venice 2011, p. 316, fig. 5, p. 379 (as Domenico Tibaldi, with measurements 150 x 110 cm);
M. Danieli, in: V. Sgarbi (ed.), Da Cimabue a Morandi. Felsina Pittrice, exhibition catalogue, Bologna 2015, p. 132, mentioned under no. 37 (as Domenico Tibaldi)

Domenico Tibaldi, the brother of Pellegrino, was one of the most creative personalities of Bolognese Mannerism. His tombstone (which is lost but was transcribed by C. C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice, Bologna 1678, ed. Bologna 1841, I, p. 158) in the church of Santa Annunziata, Bologna, records his multiple talents as an architect, painter and engraver, recalling the acclaim and honours he received as a draughtsman, as a painter and for his architecture.

Among his most important architectural works are the execution of the Presbytery at the Cathedral of San Pietro, a commission he received from Cardianl Gabriele Paleotti; the Cappella Maggiore (begun 1575); the Palazzo Magnani (1576-87) and the Palazzo Mattei. As well as being a celebrated architect Domenico was also an exceptional engraver in whose studio Agostino Carracci received his training.

Regrettably, Domenico Tibaldi’s activity as a painter is sparsely documented and was soon more or less forgotten. The recovery of his status as a painter is owed to the recent studies of Daniele Benati (2001). The only paintings that can be attributed to Domenico on the basis of documentary evidence are the Stories of Saint Paul which decorated the doors of the cabinets in the sacristy of the Olivetan church San Michele in Bosco, Bologna. These consist of four panels, two of which are now in a private collection and two in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, representing Saint Paul on the Island of Malta and Saint Paul being led to prison. In addition to these, Benati has also ascribed the present picture, The Holy Family with Saints to the artist, along with one other work, the Allegory of Peace formerly with the Whitfield Gallery, London – a composition Domenico repeated in a engraving (see B. Bohn, in: W. L. Strauss [ed.], The illustrated Bartsch. Italian masters of the sixteenth century. Bartolommeo Passarotti, Domenico Tibaldi, Camillo Procaccini, Ludovico Carracci, and Annibale Carracci, 1996, vol. 39 Commentary, part II, p. 47).

The present painting, of exceptional quality, is characterised by the brilliant pallet typical of Tuscan-Emilian Mannerism. It represents the Holy Family accompanied by Saint Paul and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The former figure, seen from the back, exhibits the same complex contraposto pose as the figures populating the panels from San Michele in Bosco (note in particular the figure holding a shield viewed from the back in the panel with Saint Paul on the Island of Malta). The features of the Madonna, intent on covering Christ with a veil, are comparable to those of the allegorical figure of Peace in the painting formally at the Whitfield Gallery, while the pose of the sleeping Child is similar, although studied from a different angle, to that of the putto that crowns the figure of Peace in Domenico’s engraving after that painting.

Through the group of paintings assembled by Daniele Benati, the younger of the Tibaldi brothers can be restored to a position of prestige in the narrative of late Bolognese Mannerism, alongside the artists of his generation, including Lorenzo Sabatini and Orazio Samacchini, all of whom were involved in promoting a purified re-reading of the eccentrically charged manner of Pellegrino, intent on bestowing their work with a proper degree of elegance.

Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi:

As IR images show, the painting is full of compositional changes, first painted and then covered with different pictorial solutions. Among them, the small cross with the cartouche of Saint John the Baptist, was placed on the step behind the cradle, instead of the fragment of Saint Catherine’s wheel. This cross, as well as the Virgin’s cloak were originally prolonged on the same step: they were only drawn and reserved, then cancelled.

The position of the hands of Saint Joseph and Saint Catherine was modified: his left hand was painted at the top of the rod, that had a T-shaped top; the woman’s hand holding the book was higher on her breast, while her head was originally lower by some centimetres, then repainted higher up. Small changes in the hands are also present in Saint Paul, on the right. The base of the cradle was modified, and the Child’s body contours were corrected with painting,
IRR also shows a thin outline underdrawing in some areas, probably made with a black chalk. All these changes, despite the existence of an underdrawing, indicate that the painter constantly changed the composition in order to create balance.

Pigments, detected by non invasive spectroscopies together with optical microscopy, include a discoloured smalt blue in the Madonna’s cloak, explaining its strange colour, a copper-based green in all the green clothes and the pillow, probably verdigris, mixed with lead-tin yellow in order to obtain the specific colour change in Saint Paul’s garment. In Saint Paul’s yellow cloak, lead-tin yellow was used in the lighter zones and yellow-brown ochre in the shadows, while the iridescent orange colour of Saint Joseph’s mantle is mainly obtained in the lights with yellow orpiment (an arsenic-based pigment), coarsely grinded, so maintaining large crystals, and in the shadows adding vermillion, in fine grains.
Vermillion and lead white, together with some red lake for the shadows, in the Virgin’s red dress, and a deep red-purple coccid-based lake is used in Saint Catherine’s dress, with the addition of blue particles to create a deeper tone.

22.10.2019 - 17:00

Prezzo realizzato: **
EUR 50.300,-
Stima:
EUR 40.000,- a EUR 60.000,-

Domenico Tibaldi


(Bologna 1541–1583)
The Holy Family with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Paul,
oil on panel, 131 x 96 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Galleria Altomani, Pesaro;
sale, Finarte-Semenzato, Venice, 12 June 2005, lot 47 (as Pellegrino Tibaldi);
Private European collection

Literature:
D. Benati, in: J. Bentini et al. (eds.), Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna. Catalogo generale. 2. Da Raffaello ai Carracci, Bologna 2006, p. 185, mentioned under no. 127a-b (as Domenico Tibaldi);
D. Benati, Domenico Tibaldi e la pittura bolognese di fine cinquecento, in: F. Ceccarelli/D. Lenzi (eds.), Domenico e Pellegrino Tibaldi. Architettura e arte a Bologna nel secondo Cinquecento, Venice 2011, p. 316, fig. 5, p. 379 (as Domenico Tibaldi, with measurements 150 x 110 cm);
M. Danieli, in: V. Sgarbi (ed.), Da Cimabue a Morandi. Felsina Pittrice, exhibition catalogue, Bologna 2015, p. 132, mentioned under no. 37 (as Domenico Tibaldi)

Domenico Tibaldi, the brother of Pellegrino, was one of the most creative personalities of Bolognese Mannerism. His tombstone (which is lost but was transcribed by C. C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice, Bologna 1678, ed. Bologna 1841, I, p. 158) in the church of Santa Annunziata, Bologna, records his multiple talents as an architect, painter and engraver, recalling the acclaim and honours he received as a draughtsman, as a painter and for his architecture.

Among his most important architectural works are the execution of the Presbytery at the Cathedral of San Pietro, a commission he received from Cardianl Gabriele Paleotti; the Cappella Maggiore (begun 1575); the Palazzo Magnani (1576-87) and the Palazzo Mattei. As well as being a celebrated architect Domenico was also an exceptional engraver in whose studio Agostino Carracci received his training.

Regrettably, Domenico Tibaldi’s activity as a painter is sparsely documented and was soon more or less forgotten. The recovery of his status as a painter is owed to the recent studies of Daniele Benati (2001). The only paintings that can be attributed to Domenico on the basis of documentary evidence are the Stories of Saint Paul which decorated the doors of the cabinets in the sacristy of the Olivetan church San Michele in Bosco, Bologna. These consist of four panels, two of which are now in a private collection and two in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, representing Saint Paul on the Island of Malta and Saint Paul being led to prison. In addition to these, Benati has also ascribed the present picture, The Holy Family with Saints to the artist, along with one other work, the Allegory of Peace formerly with the Whitfield Gallery, London – a composition Domenico repeated in a engraving (see B. Bohn, in: W. L. Strauss [ed.], The illustrated Bartsch. Italian masters of the sixteenth century. Bartolommeo Passarotti, Domenico Tibaldi, Camillo Procaccini, Ludovico Carracci, and Annibale Carracci, 1996, vol. 39 Commentary, part II, p. 47).

The present painting, of exceptional quality, is characterised by the brilliant pallet typical of Tuscan-Emilian Mannerism. It represents the Holy Family accompanied by Saint Paul and Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The former figure, seen from the back, exhibits the same complex contraposto pose as the figures populating the panels from San Michele in Bosco (note in particular the figure holding a shield viewed from the back in the panel with Saint Paul on the Island of Malta). The features of the Madonna, intent on covering Christ with a veil, are comparable to those of the allegorical figure of Peace in the painting formally at the Whitfield Gallery, while the pose of the sleeping Child is similar, although studied from a different angle, to that of the putto that crowns the figure of Peace in Domenico’s engraving after that painting.

Through the group of paintings assembled by Daniele Benati, the younger of the Tibaldi brothers can be restored to a position of prestige in the narrative of late Bolognese Mannerism, alongside the artists of his generation, including Lorenzo Sabatini and Orazio Samacchini, all of whom were involved in promoting a purified re-reading of the eccentrically charged manner of Pellegrino, intent on bestowing their work with a proper degree of elegance.

Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi:

As IR images show, the painting is full of compositional changes, first painted and then covered with different pictorial solutions. Among them, the small cross with the cartouche of Saint John the Baptist, was placed on the step behind the cradle, instead of the fragment of Saint Catherine’s wheel. This cross, as well as the Virgin’s cloak were originally prolonged on the same step: they were only drawn and reserved, then cancelled.

The position of the hands of Saint Joseph and Saint Catherine was modified: his left hand was painted at the top of the rod, that had a T-shaped top; the woman’s hand holding the book was higher on her breast, while her head was originally lower by some centimetres, then repainted higher up. Small changes in the hands are also present in Saint Paul, on the right. The base of the cradle was modified, and the Child’s body contours were corrected with painting,
IRR also shows a thin outline underdrawing in some areas, probably made with a black chalk. All these changes, despite the existence of an underdrawing, indicate that the painter constantly changed the composition in order to create balance.

Pigments, detected by non invasive spectroscopies together with optical microscopy, include a discoloured smalt blue in the Madonna’s cloak, explaining its strange colour, a copper-based green in all the green clothes and the pillow, probably verdigris, mixed with lead-tin yellow in order to obtain the specific colour change in Saint Paul’s garment. In Saint Paul’s yellow cloak, lead-tin yellow was used in the lighter zones and yellow-brown ochre in the shadows, while the iridescent orange colour of Saint Joseph’s mantle is mainly obtained in the lights with yellow orpiment (an arsenic-based pigment), coarsely grinded, so maintaining large crystals, and in the shadows adding vermillion, in fine grains.
Vermillion and lead white, together with some red lake for the shadows, in the Virgin’s red dress, and a deep red-purple coccid-based lake is used in Saint Catherine’s dress, with the addition of blue particles to create a deeper tone.


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Asta: Dipinti antichi I
Tipo d'asta: Asta in sala
Data: 22.10.2019 - 17:00
Luogo dell'asta: Wien | Palais Dorotheum
Esposizione: 12.10. - 22.10.2019


** Prezzo d'acquisto comprensivo di tassa di vendita e IVA

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