Pietro Muttoni Della Vecchia

Pietro de Muttoni, called Pietro della Vecchia (Venice 1602/3-1678) A landscape with a soldier sounding a trumpet and a standard bearer, a military encampment beyond oil on panel 9 7/8 x 18 3/8 in. (20.5 x 46.7 cm.) Della Vecchia developed a highly individual style that assimilated influences from Padovanino, under whom he studied, from the contrastingly Caravaggesque Carlo Saraceni, and from the Genoese born Bernardo Strozzi. This small panel in which the principal figures are placed close to the picture plane, in a landscape that rapidly drops away, can be compared with Della Vecchia's Battle between warriors, in a private collection (see B. Aikema, Pietro della Vecchia and the heritage of the Renaissance in Venice, Florence, 1990, p. 144, no. 183, fig. 49).

Pietro Muttoni, called della Vecchia (Venice 1603-1678), The Goddess Minerva, oil on panel, 44 x 33 cm, framed Certificate: Prof. Ugo Ruggeri, Venice. Pietro della Vecchia is considered the last exponent of the Late Renaissance in Venice, who drew his inspirations almost exclusively from the great painters of the 16th century. This certainly had to do with his training under Padovanino, who in turn frequently borrowed from Titian. The present painting is one of a group of similar works, all of which show the same treatment of the surface and the bluish glow of the armour, such as in the painting of David in the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, or Man in a Red Plume Hat in the National Gallery in Prague. Man in Armour in an English private collection is considered the prototype. Particularly the thickly applied paint layers of the white highlights in the armour and the plume of feathers in the present painting reveal della Vecchia’’’’s roots in the famous colourist tradition of his native town.

Lot Description Pietro della Vecchia (Vicenza? 1603-1678 Venezia) Cristo deriso olio su tela senza cornice 42,5x100 cm. Lot Condition Report I confirm that I have read this Important Notice and agree to itsterms. View ConditionReport Literature B. Aikema, Pietro della Vecchia, a profile, in "Saggi e Memoriedi Storia dell'Arte" 14, 1984, pp. 87-88, fig. 14. B. Aikema, Pietro della Vecchia and the heritage of the Renaissancein Venice, Firenze 1990, p. 125, n. 58 e fig. 20.

LOT 200 THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN PIETRO DELLA VECCHIA VENICE OR VICENZA 1602/3 - 1678 VENICE HEAD OF A BEARDED MAN, WEARING A RED CAP AND RED SHIRT oil on panel 8,000—12,000 GBP 41.5 by 30 cm.; 16 3/8 by 11 3/4 in. PROVENANCE Carl W. Hamilton, New York; By whom given to the present owner. CATALOGUE NOTE We are grateful to Professor Bernard Aikema for endorsing theattribution to Pietro della Vecchia.

Lot Description Pietro della Vecchia (Venice or Vicenza 1602/3-1678Venice) Imaginary Self-Portrait of Titian oil on canvas 45¼ x 36¼ in. (114.9 x 92.1 cm.) Provenance Earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place, Sussex, before 1877 until1931. with Frank T. Sabin, London, 1931. Anonymous sale; London, Christie's, 20 July 1956, lot 51 (250 gnsto Oscar Klein). with Central Picture Galleries, New York, where purchased by Lillian Rojtman Berkman, New York; (+) Sotheby's, New York, 28January 2005, lot 543 ($192,000). Literature G.M. Richter, 'Two Titian Self-Portraits', Burlington Magazine,1931, vol. 58, pp. 161-168, as 'Titian, circa 1550'. APC (Art Prices Current), London, 1955-56, XXXIII, no. 4414. B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School,London, 1957, I, p. 183; II, pl. 1008, as 'Titian, circa1560'. H.E. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian. II. The Portraits, London,1971, p. 180, no. X-94, as 'a 17th-century copy afterTitian'. F. Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, NationalGallery of Art, Washington, 1979, p. 519, as 'a 17th-century copyafter Titian'. B. Aikema, Pietro della Vecchia and the heritage of the Renaissancein Venice, Florence, 1990, pp. 28, 143, no. 174, as 'Pietro dellaVecchia, circa 1650'. M. Merling in D. de Grazia and E. Garberson, et al., ItalianPaintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: TheCollections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue,New York and Oxford, 1996, pp. 328-333, fig. 2, under no.1960.6.39. Exhibited London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1902, no.86. Lot Notes When the present painting was in the collection of the Earl ofAshburnham, Ashburnham Place, Sussex, it was considered a SelfPortrait by Titian. Published as such by Berenson, it wassubsequently doubted by most scholars in the field. Bernard Aikemawas the first to put forward the name of Pietro della Vecchia asthe likely author of the portrait and he considers it an autographvariant of Della Vecchia's Portrait of Titian in the NationalGallery of Art, Washington. While it has been hypothesized thatboth paintings reflect an original Titian self portrait that islost, Mitchell Merling has presented an ingenious and convincingalternative scenario as to how Della Vecchia developed the portraitin Washington, and it sheds light on the present painting as well(see Merling 1996 above). What would appear to have been an authentic self portrait of Titian(now lost), in which the artist wears the gold chain given him byCharles V and a statuette of the Medici Venus is present in thebackground, was in the Vendramin collection by 1569 and laterappeared in the collection of the painter and dealer NicolasRegnier, where it was recorded as late as 1666. The painting was ina tondo format, but otherwise its description contains all of theiconographic elements found in the Washington and ex-Ashburnhampaintings. Furthermore, Regnier was Pietro della Vecchia'sfather-in-law, so our artist would have known the Titian tondointimately. In 1676, Cardinal Leopoldo de'Medici - one of the leadingcollectors of Venetian painting, with a particular interest inartists' self portraits -- was offered for sale a painting reputedto be by Titian which precisely matches the description of both theWashington and ex-Ashburnham paintings; the dealer offering it wasCavaliere Francesco Fontana. Leopoldo's agents in Venice includedthe art critic Marco Boschini, a close friend of Della Vecchia, andit was through Boschini that Fontana offered Leopoldo his largecollection of paintings that included the 'Titian Self Portrait'and another self portrait said to be by Giorgione. To ascertain the quality, condition and authenticity of thepaintings, Boschini proposed to assess them with the assistance ofhis friend Della Vecchia, who was known as one of the most astuteconnoisseurs in Venice. However, Fontana created an endless seriesof impediments to prevent the two men from examining the paintings,in particular the self portraits by Giorgione and Titian. Thereason for Fontana's reluctance became clear as soon as the two menfinally managed to see the 'Giorgione'. As Boschini would laterrecount in correspondence: after seeing the painting, 'I told him[Della Vecchia] that he had made it himself. Then he also began tolaugh, and he confessed that it was from his hand. He recountedthat he had made it at the behest of the Signor Nicolo Regneri 32years ago, and that in truth to satisfy that painter he laboredhard to put all his knowledge into it, painting it from his ownhead without using anything for a model, much less copying itdirectly from Giorgione. Rather, he intended to emulate thatsingular artist, as in such a way Vecchia has done numerous thingsthat give thought and also have tricked many.' Nothing more is heard of the 'Titian' self portrait but, as Merlingobserves, it may safely be assumed that, like the 'Giorgione', ittoo was the work of Della Vecchia, and that Fontana's efforts toprevent Boschini and Della Vecchia from seeing the two paintingswas because he was well aware that they were not originals.Needless to say, Leopoldo did not purchase Fontana's collection,but he was so impressed with Della Vecchia's abilities that hecommissioned an 'original' Giorgione from the artist to hang withhis Venetian old masters. Might he have commissioned another'Titian Self Portrait' too?