School of Jacopo Robusti, il Tintoretto (1518-1594)

The Baptism of Christ

Details

School of Jacopo Robusti, il Tintoretto (1518-1594)
The Baptism of Christ
oil on canvas
40½ x 33in. (102.8 x 83.7cm.)

Provenance

Traditionally said to have belonged to Field Marshal Count Matthias von der Schulenburg; his sale, Christie's, London, April 12-3 (=2nd day), 1775, lot 62 (130gns.) as Jacopo Tintoretto 'The Baptism of Jesus, very fine, an undoubted picture of the master'.
Traditionally said to have belonged to Sir Simon H. Clarke, Oakhill, Herts, 1838.
J. Beresford, Wales, 1896.
Hanson Walker, Lassavade Estate, NY, 1929.
John Sardis, Princeton, NJ, 1972.

Literature

A. Graves, Art Sales, 1970, p. 207.

Lot Essay

Born into a Saxon family closely related to the Hanoverian dynasty, Field Marshal Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (1661-1747) was one of the most energetic patrons and collectors of his day, acquiring works by almost all of the leading Venetian artists, and amassing over nine hundred paintings which he began in 1735 to send back in crates to his German estates. The present work was one of about 150 pictures which were sold at Christie's, London, on April 12-13, 1775, but a large group remained together at Hanover until the 1980's. The collection is very well documented in the Hanover archives (for general accounts of Schulenburg's activities as a collector, see F. Haskell, Patrons and Painters. Art and Society in Baroque Italy, 1980, pp. 310-15, and A. Binion, From Schulenburg's Gallery and Records, The Burlington Magazine, CXII, no. 806, May 1970, pp. 297-303.

Sold with a photocopy of a certificate from Professor Ugo Adriano Graziotti dated May 18, 1963 as by Jacopo Tintoretto stating that the attribution is supported by Rodolfo Palluchini.