Nicola Vaccaro

Special Notice Christie’’’’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €5,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €400,000. Buyer’’’’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually. Pre-lot TextThe Property of the Counts of Cao di San Marco (lot 90) Lot Description Nicola Vaccaro (Naples 1634/7-1709) Glaucus fleeing from Skylla, the Goddess Diana looking down from above oil on canvas 102.2 x 76.4 cm.

Nicola Vaccaro (Naples 1640-1709) Tobias and the Angel oil on canvas 30¼ x 25¼ in. (76.7 x 63.9 cm.) Provenance The Osborne Family, Chicksands Priory, Bedfordshire, from whomacquired by the aunt of the present owner approximately twentyyears ago. We are grateful to Professor Riccardo Lattuada for theattribution, given after inspection in the original; this has beenconfirmed by Dr. Mariaclaudia Izzo, to whom we are also verygrateful, and who regards it as a late work by the artist, datableto the first years of the 18th century. Professor Lattuada and Dr.Izzo will include this picture in their forthcoming catalogueraisonné of the artist's works, due to be published in 2006. Nicola Vaccaro, the son of the celebrated Andrea Vaccaro, was oneof the most important figures in neapolitan art during itstransitional stage before the full impact of the baroque movement.He is perhaps best known for his contribution as a figure painterin still life paintings, particularly in large-scale works asdocumented in contemporary inventories and as is evident in thenumber of such paintings in museums and on the art market : forexample the Young woman and three children picking up fruit andflowers in a garden sold, Christie's, London, 18 April 1997, lot120, painted in collaboration with Abraham Brueghel(£128,000).

Nicola Vaccaro (Naples c. 1634-1709) The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist oil on canvas 39¼ x 29 in. (99.5 x 73.7 cm.) Provenance W. Townly Bixler (according to a label on thereverse). Lot Notes We are grateful to Professor Riccardo Lattuada for suggestingthe attribution on the basis of photographs (written communication,19 August 2004). He notes that the present composition appears tobe influenced by the artist's father, Andrea Vaccaro, whose modelsand compositions he used throughout his career, especially in hisearly years. The facial type of the Madonna and the figure of Christ in thepresent composition are loosely based on Andrea Vaccaro's father'spainting of The Madonna and Child with Saint Luca (formerly in theChurch of San Giovanni delle Monache, Naples) where the samephysiognomy of the Madonna and infant figure of the cherub holdinga canvas are visible (see G. de Vito, Appunti per Andrea Vaccaro,con una nota su alcune copie del Caravaggio che esistevano aNapoli, 1994-5, p. 110, fig. 38). It has also been suggested that the present work may be a late workby Andrea Vaccaro.

Nicola Vaccaro (Naples 1640-1709) The Sacrifice of Moses with initial 'P.' (lower centre) oil on canvas 52¾ x 72¾ in. (134 x 185 cm.) Provenance (Possibly) Ercola Michele Brasciforte e Pignatelli, Principe deButera de Radali, by whom bequeathed to his daughter Donna Caterina di Branciforte (1768-1814) by whom bequeathed to herhusband Georg, Principe de Radali (d. 1841), by whom bequeathed to hisbrother Ernst Wilhelm Wilding, Principe de Radali (1792-1863), SchlossKönigsbrck, and by descent to his son August Friedrich Graf Wilding von Königsbrck, from whom acquired in1893 with Schloss Königsbrck by Geheimen Kommerzienrat Carl Robert Bruno Nauman, and by descent atSchloss Königsbrck until confiscated in 1946 by Soviet occupyingforces, and subsequently on loan to the Gemäldegalerie,Dresden. Lot Notes We are grateful to Professor Riccardo Lattuada for theattribution, given on the basis of a black and white photograph. Hebelieves it to be an early work by the artist.