Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Naples 1598-1680 Rome)
Caricature of a man pointing with his left arm
Add. Notes: pen and brown ink 5 1/8 x 4 1/8 in. (129 x 104 mm.)
Notes: This masterful study is a typical example of Galloche's graphic work. The head and the hands are only quickly sketched but the draperies are studied with meticulous detail and great sensitivity. The artist is subtly using the stumping and the delicate network of short hatching to give the fabric a rich variation of tone and texture while the white chalk helps to define the volumes. A sketchier drawing of the same figure, with a scroll beside her, and also from the Duvivier family, was sold at Christie's, 4 July 1989, lot 121. Both drawings may be preparatory to the figure of Diana in the Race of Hypomene and Atalanta, a painting now in a private collection.

w - FRENCH, PROBABLY 18TH CENTURY (1598-1680) - A MARBLE BUST OF ARMAND JEAN DU PLESSIS DE RICHELIEU, CARDINAL-DUC DE RICHELIEU (1585-1642) -
Mis: 77cm., 30¼in.
wearing the order of the Saint Esprit, on grey marble socle

CATALOGUE NOTE
The scheme to commission a portrait of Cardinal Richelieu in Rome was devised almost simultaneously by Cardinal Mazarin and the French Ambassador to Rome, maréchal d?Estrées. Mazarin?s agent, Benedetti, was instructed to persuade Bernini to accept the commission and encourage the Barberini family, the sculptor?s main patron, to allow him to spend the time on it. The original intention was for a statue of Richelieu, however, by November 1640, Bernini had decided that a bust would be better done first. The bust was carved from the triple likeness of the Cardinal-Duke painted by Philippe de Champagne, now in the National Gallery London. Both the French Ambassador and Antonio Barberini vied to be the sponsor of the bust. This struggle seems to have been won by the latter, so maréchal d?Estrées had de Champagne?s portrait returned so that he could proceed to have a proper full length statue of Richelieu made. It is now generally considered that the inscription on the back of the painting refers to this further attempt to have a statue made in Rome: ?? la fece in Parigi per Roma al statuorio Mocchi; qual poi fece la statua e la mando a Parigi.? This reference has persuaded some historians to reject the attribution to Bernini of the marble bust of Richelieu, now in the Louvre, in favour of Orazio Mochi. This contention was thought to be confirmed by the erroneous belief that a marble version of the Richelieu in the Musée de Bayeux was signed by Mochi. In 1979 Gaborit was the first of many subsequent historians to reject this theory and considered the Bayeux bust to be a 19th century copy. Gaborit further noted that the sculptor of the Bayeux bust must have copied Bernini?s marble after damage to the laces which should properly descend from the neck, as in the painted portrait, because the ends of these laces have been misunderstood and simply fold under the sash holding the order of Saint Esprit. A damaged marble torso of Richelieu in the Musée du Pilori, Niort, which is partially signed FRAN.CO MO is now accepted as Mochi?s statue. RELATED LITERATURE J.R. Gaborit, ?Le Bernin, Mocchi et le buste de Richelieu du Musée du Louvre un probleme d?attribution?, Bulletin de la Société de l?Histoire de l?Art Francais, 1977/79, pp.85-91; Francesco Mochi, 1580-1654, exhib. cat., Montevarchi, 1981, pp,84-85, no.25; Richelieu: Art and Power, exhib. cat., Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, September 2002, pp. 261-262, no.110; Sefy Hendler, ?Echec a la berninienne: le buste de Richelieu, une nouvelle approche?, Revue de l?art no. 3, 2005, pp.59-69

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (Naples 1598-1680 Rome) Portrait of the Artist, as Mars inscribed '06=40 Mars opus eq Jo: Laurentÿ Bernini.1640 Dono datumalexandro de.Syris Amico suo' (on the relining canvas; fig.1) oil on canvas 15 5/8 x 11¾ in. (39.7 x 29.8 cm.) Provenance Presented by the artist to Alessandro Siri, 1640. By inheritance to the great-aunt of the present owner. Literature M. A. Pavone, 'Un Autoritratto del Bernini per Alessandro Siri',Per la Storia dell'Arte in Italia e in Europa, Studi in onore diLuisa Mortari, ed. M. P. Ferrara, 2004, pp. 277-82. Lot Notes This striking portrait was first published by Mario AlbertoPavone and has also been studied by Francesco Petrucci and MarcelloFagiolo dell'Arco, who endorse the traditional attribution. Clearlythe inscription on the reverse is the point de départ for the studyof the picture and in this connection it should be noted thatCristina di Leo considers this to be in Bernini's own hand, a viewaccepted by Petrucci. Bernini executed self-portraits throughout his career. As Petrucciand Pavone observe, the angle of the head corresponds very closelywith that of the early self-portrait in the Villa Borghese, Rome.Allowing for the passage of some two decades the correspondence ofthe features is compelling. Dr Ann Sutherland Harris independentlynoted this, but commented on the surprising scale of the ears whichare conveniently covered by hair in the Borghese sketch: it shouldbe noted that the second, later, self-portrait in the VillaBorghese, shows that the lobes of the artist's ears were indeedrather large. Bernini is of course most celebrated as a sculptor, but hiscontemporary Baglione, writing in 1642, commented on his talent asa painter and in one of the Avvisi, printed after his death, he isreferred to as the 'Titiano dei nostri tempi' (Pavone, pp. 280 and282, note 23). While most of the extant portraits in oil have thecharacter of sketches, and were no doubt intended as such, thiscanvas was intended for presentation -- to a significant member ofthe Barberini establishment (see below) -- and is thus more fullywrought. As Petrucci notes, Fagiolo dell'Arco has suggested thatthe picture was intended as a wedding present to Alessandro Siriand thus that his characterisation of himself as Mars alludes tothe theme of Mars and Venus. This characterisation would not besurprising in an artist who had twice portrayed himself in thecharacter of David (Rome, Palazzo Barberini and formerly Incisadella Rocchetta collection, the latter of Chigi provenance). Thedeep red drapery -- which Dr Sutherland Harris (who also hasreservations about the lighter strokes of the hair and facial hair)considers not to be by the artist -- is not readily paralleled inother pictures by him, but the dramatic folds do have sculpturalcounterparts: and without the drapery the characterisation as Marswould not be clearly expressed. The fullest description of Bernini's physical appearance is that ofhis son, Domenico (cf. Pavone, p. 280): 'carni alquanto brune, pelonero, che incanuti nell'età più vecchia, occhio pur nero, e di cosiforte guardatura, che cullo squardo solo alter..., ciglia lunghe, edi longhi peli composte, ampla fronte e maestosa...'. The swarthyskin of the Siri portrait would conform with this filialaccount. The explanation of Bernini's association with Alessandro Siri mustlie in their mutual links with the Barberini family, all powerfulduring the relatively long pontificate of Pope Urban VIII(1623-44). As was established by Giuseppe Milazzo, from whose paper'La Nobile Famiglia Savonese dei Siri', the information in theensuing three paragraphs is drawn. Alessandro Siri and his brotherGiovanni Battista were the sons of Francesco Siri, a successfulmerchant of spices from Savona, who had settled in Rome. Thebrothers who became bankers in the service of Bernini's patron,Pope Urban VIII, applied to be ennobled and, in 1638, were dulyincluded in the 'Libro d'Oro' of the nobility of Savona. In 1640,Alessandro married Aurelia Gavotti, daughter of a distinguishedSavonese family; and in October of that year, employing two of theGavotti as intermediaries, the brothers acquired a palace in viaGuarda at Savona for 20,000 lire. As bankers to the Pope, the Siri,evidently against the wishes of Odoardo Farnese, controlled thefinances of the Duchy of Castro. They were also no doubt active insecuring financial support at Genoa and elsewhere in Liguria forthe disastrous war of Castro, in which the Barberini tried to usurpterritory acquired less than a century earlier by the equallygrasping family of Pope Paul III Farnese. The family's earliest demonstrable link with Bernini was due to athird brother, Giovanni Stefano, born in 1602. He was a favouriteof Cardinal Antonio Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII. Appointedbishop of Sagona and Calvi in Corsica at the age of 29 on 15November 1631, he died on 4 September 1635, but had alreadyestablished what was to be an enduring link between his family andthe Sanctuario of Savona. Before his departure for Corsica he hadclearly come to know Bernini. Letters between the two survive, onewith the ending: 'vi saluto con salvado del cuore affettuoso e coldesiderio dell'amico lontano' (Pavone, p. 278, quoting V. Poggi,1889, pp. 105-113). With the Gavotti, the Siri were briefly the leading patrons ofreligious artistic projects in the city, but the Sanctuario wastheir main preoccupation. For the chapel of the Visitation, thebrothers ordered Guido Reni's picture of the subject: the marbledecoration was supplied from Rome, as an inscription records: TOTUM QUOD HEIC MIRARIS MARMOREVM OPUS IOANNES BAPTISTA ET ALEXANDER SIRI FRATRES SAVONENSES VIRI. HVC ROMA DONO MISERVNT OLLIS LAVRENTIVS BERNINVS FECIT Alessandro's personal commitment to the sanctuary is also impliedby his gift on 15 May 1639, of a reliquary of the Cross, now in theMuseo del Tesoro del Sanctuario di Nostra Signora dellaMisericordia di Savona. With the death of Pope Urban VIII in 1644 the brothers not onlylost their patron, but also suffered from the reaction againstthose associated with the Barberini regime and indeed the war ofCastro. Their financial business quickly disintegrated. AlessandroSiri died in Rome soon after 1651, his widow in 1665: GiovanniBattista survived, apparently until 1671, by when the collapse ofhis business had impelled him to return to Savona where a fourthbrother, Nicolò may have enjoyed a quiet prosperity as a canon ofthe cathedral. The family survived, but in reducedcircumstances. Bernini's range was prodigious. As a painter we associate him,above all, with his wonderfully direct studies of heads that have atimeless conviction purely because these almost float on thesurface of the canvas. The drapery in the Siri portrait thus comesas a surprise. Yet although studies were collected in the seicento,it would be difficult to invoke any example of an evidentlyunfinished work painted for presentation. If Bernini intended to berepresented as Mars as a teasing allusion to Siri's marriage, reddrapery, or failing this visually distracting armour, would in anycase have been necessary. It may not be a coincidence thus that insome ways the portrait recalls works by Van Dyck, of whoseachievements Siri as a Ligurian would have been so wellaware.

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (Naples 1598-1680 Rome) A young boy with long hair, bust-length with inscription 'd arpino igno... Lire 5' (verso) black, red and white chalk on light brown paper 8¾ x 6¾ in. (221 x 171 mm.) K.E. Hasse (L. 860). E. Ehlers. Lot Notes This portrait of a boy, probably one of Bernini's young assistants, is one of a group of sheets of similar size, in the same technique and on similar supports. These portraits are at Windsor Castle (two drawings), in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York and formerly with Luca Baroni at Colnaghi (A. Weston-Lewis, Effigies and Ecstasies, Roman Baroque Sculpture and Design in the Age of Bernini, exhib. cat., Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, 1998, nos. 12, 16, 17, and figs. 33 and 33). The touch of white on the pupil combined with the dark line around the lower part of the iris is distinctive of Bernini's technique, seen for example in the Portrait of a Man in Oxford (A. Weston-Lewis, op. cit., no. 16). The handling of the torso in the Oxford drawing can also be compared to the present sheet, as perhaps can the swooping shadow to the right and the rather odd hairstyle, cut short at the top and long at the sides. The attribution of the present drawing was confirmed by Nicholas Turner on the basis of a photograph, while Ann Sutherland-Harris, also on the basis of a photograph, describes the drawing as a copy after a lost portrait by Bernini.