Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria

Last updated
Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria
Titian, Sacra Conversazione, The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria.jpg
Artist Titian
Yeararound 1560
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions127.8 cm× 169.7 cm(4.19 ft× 5.57 ft)

The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria , also known simply as Holy Conversation , is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Titian. It is one of his several versions of the canonical image of the Madonna and Child.

Contents

Executed in oil on canvas, it was painted around 1560, at the height of Titian's career. In 2011, the painting achieved the highest auction price ever for one of Titian's works, at $16.9 million. [1] The painting was sold by Gerlinda Kisters, who had inherited it from her husband, Heinz Kisters, who died in 1977. [2]

Description

The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria is a mature work executed when Titian was at the height of his artistic powers and fame.

Christ is depicted as a playful baby, slightly off balance as He tips forward with arms outstretched towards Catherine, who in turn leans gently towards Him. [3]

It is suggested that members of Titian's Venice workshop probably painted the curtain and Luke, because of the lower quality of those parts. [4]

History

The work was painted around 1560, rarely appearing in public at exhibitions or auctions. It is traditionally said to have been painted for the artist's friend, the Dondi dell'Orologio family of Padua. It was not exhibited in public from the late 1970s, until it was offered for auction in 2011. [3]

The painting remained in the Dondi dell'Orologio family until Sir Richard Worsley purchased it during his stay in Italy as the last British Resident of Venice, [5] a position he held from 1793 to 1797. The ship which was transporting the work back to England on was captured by a French privateer. The painting was acquired by Lucien Bonaparte, then the Napoleonic Ambassador to Madrid. [6]

By 1814, after four years exile in England, Lucien Bonaparte was facing growing financial difficulties and sold the painting at auction in London. The painting then became the property of Sir John Rae Reid, a Conservative politician, financier and a Governor of the Bank of England. By 1936, by marriage and inheritance, the painting had become a part of the Panshanger Estate in Hertfordshire, England, and hung in the estates gallery, owned by Baron and Lady Desborough. Ettie Desborough [7] was one of the most famous society hostesses of her age. She frequently hosted meetings of the celebrated aristocratic, political and literary figures known as "The Souls" at the Desborough residence, with visitors including Henry Irving, Vita Sackville-West, Edward VII, H. G. Wells, Edith Wharton and Oscar Wilde.

Although Lady Desborough had three sons and a daughter and the succession and survival of Panshanger's grand collection of art seemed secure, two of her sons were killed in the First World War and the third in a car accident in 1926, leaving no obvious heir to the estate. After her death in May 1952, Panshanger was sold to a demolition contractor for £17,750 and subsequently destroyed. A portion of the art collection passed to Lady Desborough's daughter, Lady Imogen, who married the 6th Viscount Gage in 1931. However, most of Panshanger's contents, including the Holy Conversation, were auctioned at Christie's in 1954.

In 1956, Heinz Kisters, a German businessman living in Switzerland, acquired the painting from the New York art dealers who had purchased the painting at the Christie's auction. When he died in 1977, the painting became the property of his widow, Gerlinda Kisters.

In 2011, the painting was sold at auction in New York by Sothebys on behalf of the Heinz Kisters Foundation, which promotes and preserves the works of art in Heinz Kisters' collection. [8]

The painting achieved the highest auction price ever for one of Titian's works, at $16.9 million. It was sold at Sotheby's to a European telephone bidder on 28 January 2011. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titian</span> Italian painter (died 1576)

Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio, known in English as Titian, was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. During his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, 'from Cadore', taken from his native region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canaletto</span> Italian painter of landscapes (1697–1768)

Giovanni Antonio Canal, commonly known as Canaletto, was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Bellini</span> 15th- and 16th-century Italian Renaissance painter

Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father, but now that familial generational relationship is questioned. An older brother, Gentile Bellini was more highly regarded than Giovanni during his lifetime, but the reverse is true today. His brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorenzo Lotto</span> Italian painter (c. 1480–1556/57)

Lorenzo Lotto was an Italian painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He painted mainly altarpieces, religious subjects and portraits. He was active during the High Renaissance and the first half of the Mannerist period, but his work maintained a generally similar High Renaissance style throughout his career, although his nervous and eccentric posings and distortions represented a transitional stage to the Florentine and Roman Mannerists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galleria Borghese</span> Art gallery in Rome, Italy

The Galleria Borghese is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate tourist attraction. The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese Collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V. The building was constructed by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, a country villa at the edge of Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moretto da Brescia</span> Italian painter (c. 1498 – c. 1554)

Alessandro Bonvicino, more commonly known as Moretto, or in Italian Il Moretto da Brescia, was an Italian Renaissance painter from Brescia, where he also mostly worked. His dated works span the period from 1524 to 1554, but he was already described as a master in 1516. He was mainly a painter of altarpieces that tend towards sedateness, mostly for churches in and around Brescia, but also in Bergamo, Milan, Verona, and Asola; many remain in the churches they were painted for. Most are on canvas, but a number even of large ones are on wood panel. Only a handful of drawings survive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paris Bordone</span> Italian painter of the Venetian Renaissance

Paris Bordone was an Italian painter of the Venetian Renaissance who, despite training with Titian, maintained a strand of Mannerist complexity and provincial vigor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Vecellio</span> Italian painter

Francesco Vecellio was a Venetian painter of the Italian Renaissance. He was the elder brother and close collaborator of the painter Tiziano Vecellio ("Titian").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartolomeo Veneto</span> Italian painter (active 1502–1531)

Bartolomeo Veneto was an Italian painter who worked in Venice, the Veneto, and Lombardy. During his time in Venice, he studied under Gentile Bellini. The little information available about Bartolomeo's life has been derived from his signatures, dates, and inscriptions. His best-known works are portraits or pictures with portrait-like character. Bartolomeo's later works, and especially those done on commission in Milan, indicate an influence from the artist Leonardo da Vinci.

<i>Niccolini-Cowper Madonna</i> Painting by Raphael

The Niccolini-Cowper Madonna, also known as the Large Cowper Madonna, is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael, depicting Mary and Child, against a blue sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palma Vecchio</span> Italian painter (c.1480–1528)

Palma Vecchio, born Jacopo Palma, also known as Jacopo Negretti, was a Venetian painter of the Italian High Renaissance. He is called Palma Vecchio in English and Palma il Vecchio in Italian to distinguish him from Palma il Giovane, his great-nephew, who was also a painter.

<i>Venus and Adonis</i> (Titian) Series of paintings on the same subject by Titian and his workshop

A composition of Venus and Adonis by the Venetian Renaissance artist Titian has been painted a number of times, by Titian himself, by his studio assistants and by others. In all there are some thirty versions that may date from the 16th century, the nudity of Venus undoubtedly accounting for this popularity. It is unclear which of the surviving versions, if any, is the original or prime version, and a matter of debate how much involvement Titian himself had with surviving versions. There is a precise date for only one version, that in the Prado in Madrid, which is documented in correspondence between Titian and Philip II of Spain in 1554. However, this appears to be a later repetition of a composition first painted a considerable time earlier, possibly as early as the 1520s.

<i>Madonna of the Rabbit</i> Painting by Titian

The Madonna of the Rabbit is an oil painting by Titian, dated to 1530 and now held in the Louvre in Paris. It is signed "Ticianus f." and is named after the white rabbit held in Mary's left hand. The rabbit is a symbol of fertility and – due to its whiteness – of Mary's purity and the mystery of the Incarnation, and is also a symbol of her virginity; female rabbits and hares can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first, resulting in them being able to give birth seemingly without having been impregnated.

<i>Self-Portrait</i> (Titian, Berlin) Painting by Titian

Self-Portrait is an oil on canvas self-portrait by the Venetian painter Titian, dated c. 1546–47. While he painted a number of independent self-portraits in various formats, this is one of only two painted examples to survive. The other is in Madrid, dated c. 1560. Both share a somber and reserved palette, although this example is richer in tonal variation and colour harmonisation.

David Bowie owned an extensive private art collection which included paintings, sculpture and furniture. He started collecting art in the mid-1970s and continued through the end of his life. His collection included paintings that he himself painted.

<i>Portrait of Alfonso dAvalos with a Page</i> Painting by Titian

Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos with a Page is a 1533 portrait by Titian of Alfonso d'Avalos, a general in the service of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. It has been in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles since 2004. After Venus and Adonis (1555-1560) and Penitent Magdalene (1555-1561), it was the third Titian work to enter the Getty collection.

<i>Le Palais Ducal</i> 1908 series of paintings by Claude Monet

Le Palais Ducal or The Doge's Palace is the name given to various oil paintings which depict the Doge's Palace made by Claude Monet during a visit to Venice in 1908.

<i>The Man of Sorrows</i> (Botticelli) Painting by Sandro Botticelli

The Man of Sorrows is a tempera and oil on panel painting of Jesus Christ by the Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), thought to have been painted sometime between 1500 and 1510.

Heinz Kisters was a German entrepreneur, art dealer and art collector.

References

  1. "Titian painting sells for $16.9m". BBC News. 5 November 2018.
  2. Vogel, Carol (28 October 2010). "Titian Work to Go on Display at Sotheby's". The New York Times.
  3. 1 2 Villarreal, Ignacio. "Sotheby's to Offer Most Important Work by Titian to Appear at Auction in Nearly Twenty Years". www.artdaily.com.
  4. "Titian: Sacra Conversazione".
  5. "Accredited Diplomatic Agents in Venice - British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk.
  6. "Sothebys.com: Sotheby's "Important Old Master Painting & Sculpture" Sale N08712 New York, Thu 27 Jan 10.00am)".[ permanent dead link ]
  7. "Ettie: The Intimate Life and Dauntless Spirit of Lady Desborough" by Richard Davenport-Hines, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN   978-0-7538-2595-2, 2009 )
  8. "Stiftung Heinz Kisters". Moneyhouse.
  9. "Titian painting sells for $16.9m". BBC News. 5 November 2018.