An illustrated inventory
of famous disrnembered works of art European painting with a section on disrnembered tombs
i...
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An illustrated inventory
of famous disrnembered works of art European painting with a section on disrnembered tombs
in France
Unesco Paris 1974
Verlag Dokumentation Mùnchen
An illustrated inventory
of famous disrnembered works of art European painting
The reconstitution of disrnembered works of art is a very difficult problem and one which is clearly of an international character, for in many cases fragments of the same work are to be found in several différent countries. With a view to elucidating this subject, Unesco has invited a number of eminent European art specialists to describe some famous works of art which hâve been disrnembered in their own countries, give an account of the circumstances in which this was done, and state what measures hâve been or could be taken in order to restore thèse works to their original unity. The Organization thanks thèse specialists for their co-operation, and hopes that the research they hâve done may serve as an example in the préparation of national inventories of disrnembered works of aU catégories, which will faciUtate the identification of fragments and increase the chances of reconstituting the originals. The facts and ideas set forth in this work are the sole responsibihty of the authors.
Published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris Printed by Ceuterick, Louvain
ISBN 92-3-101039-5 (paper) Verlag Dokumentation : 3-7940-5126-2 92-3-101040-9 (cloth) French édition: 92-3-201039-9
wM ©
Unesco 1974
Printed in Belgium
The authors
Abdul Hak, Selim
Danilova, Irina
Pesenti, Franco Renzo
Doctor of letters of the University of Paris (1943), graduate of the Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie, the Institut d'Urbanisme and the École du Louvre, Paris. Head curator of the National Muséum, Damascus (1946-50), director gênerai of aatiquities and muséums in Syria (1950-64), head of the Monuments and Muséums Division (1965-70) and specialist in international instruments at Unesco (since 1971). Director and editor-in-chief of the journal Annales Archéologiques de Syrie (1950-64). Publications: Les Sculptures des
Graduate in the history of art ofthe University of Moscow (1945). Doctor of the Institute of the History of Art, Academy of Sciences, Moscow (1948). Lecturer at the Institute of
Born 1937, studied at the Ghislieri Collège, Pavia; gained a doctorate of letters in 1959. Engaged as an assistant at the Institute of the History of Art of the University of Pavia and also at the University of Genoa, where he is at présent a libre docente teaching the history of art, lecturer on the history of techniques in art and holder of a contract with the CNR. Has published many articles and essays on fourteenth-, fifteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century painting in Lombardy and Liguria. At présent studying the techniques and working conditions of artists in thirteenthcentury Italy.
Porches du Transept de la Cathédrale de Chartres, Paris, 1943; L'Art Grec d'Orient, Damascus, 1951 ; Illustrated Catalogue of the National Muséum, Damascus, Damascus, 1951 ; Les Aspects Archéologiques de Damas, Damas¬ cus, 1953 ; Rome et V Orient Romain, Damascus, 1958; etc.
Cândea, Virgil Studies at the University Institute of Theology, Bucharest. Bachelor of Iaw, doctor of philoso-
phy of the University of Bucharest. Divisional head at the library of the Romanian Academy (1950-61), research assistant at the Institute of History in Bucharest (1952-54). Director of the International Association of South-East European Studies (1963-68). Lecturer at the University of Bucharest (since 1965). Research assistant at the Institute of South-East Euro¬ pean Studies in Bucharest (since 1968). Visiting professor at the Graduate Institute of Inter¬ national Studies and at the University Institute of European Studies, Geneva (1968-71). Corresponding member of the Romanian Academy of Social and Political Sciences. Specialist in the history of mediaeval cultures and thought in South-East Europe and the Near East. Author of a number of books, studies and critical éditions in thèse fields. In 1967 discovered melchite icons, an expression of post-Byzantine art peculiar to the peoples of the Near East. In 1969 organized in Beirut the first international exhibition of melchite icons. Has conducted research into this art in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Cyprus.
Décorative Arts, Moscow (1948-67). Assistant director of the Pushkin Muséum of Fine Arts (as from 1967). Made a study tour of Italy (1961). Specialist in the history of Russian mediaeval painting and Italian fourteenth- and fifteenth-century painting, and author of a number of books and publications.
Lavalleye, Jacques
Doctor of philosophy and letters (history), doctor of archaeology and of the history of art. Archivist and palaeographer with the General Archives ofthe Kingdom (1924) then assistant curator of the Royal Muséums of Fine Arts of Belgium (1929), Brussels. Profes¬ sor and chairman, Higher Institute of Archaeo¬ logy and the History of Art of the Catholic University of Louvain. Member (1958) then permanent secretary (1970) to the Belgian Royal Academy. Président of the National Centre for Research on the Flemish Primitive Painters since 1958. Speciality: problems of methodology in the history of art, the history of painting and notably of fifteenth-century painting in the southern parts of the former Low Countries.
Quarré, Pierre Head curator of the muséums of Dijon, vicechairman of the Régional Commission for the Inventory of the Monuments and Artistic Treasures of France (Burgundy). Lecturer at the University of Dijon. Correspondent of the Academy of Fine Arts. Member of the Higher Commission on Historic Monuments, Associate of the Belgian Royal Academy. Publica¬ tions: L'Art en Bourgogne: Dijon; Le Musée de Dijon, Sa Formation, Son Développement; La Chartreuse de Champmol, Foyer d'Art au Temps des Ducs de Valois; La Sainte-Chapelle de Dijon, Siège de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or; La Sculpture de la Façade et des Portails de Notre-Dame de Dijon ; Un Cabinet d'Amateur Dijonnais au XVIIIime Siècle; La collection Jehannin de Chamblanc; Une École Provinciale de Dessin au XVIIlème Siècle; L'Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture de Dijon; Le Goût du Gothique chez les Collectionneurs du XIXime Siècle; Un Descendant d'une Grande Famille de Parlementaires Bourguignons: CharlesBalthsar- Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin. ..; La Sculpture Romane en Haute- Auvergne . . .
De Salas, Francisco Xavier
Thuillier, Jacques
Studied at the universtities of Barcelona, Madrid and Salamanca and undertook further studies in Vienna and Berlin; is a bachelor of law and a doctor of letters (history). Assistant professor at Barcelona since 1931, lecturer on the history of art, commissioner and director of the muséums of Catalonia (1940), titular professor (1945). Appointed to the Spanish Institute in London in 1946. Assistant director and curator of paintings in the Prado Muséum in 1960, professor at the University of Madrid since 1963, where he still teaches the history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century art. Member of a great many societies, including the Real de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Titular adviser of the Patronato Saavedra Fayardo. Secretary of the Spanish committee of ICOM. Member ofthe Executive Committee of that organization. Founder and director of the Annals and Bulletin of the Barcelona muséums of art. At présent runs the journal Arte Espanol, published by the Sociedad Espafiola de Amigos del Arte. Is a member of the editorial committee of the Fine Arts Gazette. Author of a number of works and of a great many articles that hâve been published in most Spanish and foreign journals concemed with the history of art.
Born 1928. A student of the École Normale Supérieure; agrégé and doctor of letters. Studied at the Primoli Foundation (Rome) then at the Thiers Foundation fj'aris). Lectured on the history of art at the Sorbonne (1959-62), then at the University of Dijon. In 1970 returned to the Sorbonne, where he is in charge of the department of the history of modem art. Is at présent scientific secretary of the International Committe on the History of Art (since 1969) and vice-chairman of the Society for the History of French Art (since 1970). His Personal research has been mainly concemed with French and Italian art of the seventeenth century (international symposium on Nicolas Poussin, 1958; Charles Le Brun exhibition, 1963; Sébastien Bourdon exhibi¬ tion, 1971-72, etc.) and of the eighteenth century (Fragonard), as well as with the history of literature on art in France. Some sixty articles and books published since 1957 in France, Italy, Fédéral Republic of Germany, United Kingdom and the United States.
Schug, Albert
Doctor of philosophy (history of art) of the University of Hamburg (1956). Scientific assistant at the Institute for the History of Art, University of Hamburg (1956-59). Librarian at the Central Institute for the History of Art, Munich (1960-69). Head of the arts and museography library of the city of Cologne at the Wallraf-Richartz Muséum (since 1969). Publications: Italian Pointers of the Renaissance; German and French Pointers of the Nineteenth Century; Twentieth-century Art. Engaged in the computerization of bibliographical documentation. Since 1969, he has been working on the electronic processing of documentation on objects in muséums (information storage and retrieval) for the Association of German Muséums and the ICOM working party concemed with the préparation of documentation about mu¬ séums. Other work connected with the electronic processing of data on the history of art at the University of Cologne.
Contents
Introduction
6
by Selim Abdul Hak
13
7
8
Disrnembered works of art- -Italian painting by Franco Renzo Pesenti
18
DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA
Predella of the Maestà, Sienna Cathedral 26 / Front: Central part and Coronation. The Virgin Enthroned with Child, Angles and Saints; Scènes from the End ofthe Life ofthe Virgin. Predella: Childhood of Christ; The Prophets. 2 Back: The Passion; Appearances of Jésus. Predella: Jésus Among the Doctors; The Miracles of Jésus.
Giotto Polyptych of the Virgin and four saints National Gallery of Art, Washington 1 The Virgin and Child.
28
Home Muséum, Florence 2
Saint Stephen.
Jacquemart-André Muséum, Abbaye de Chaalis 3 Saint John the Evangellst and The Angel. Simone Martini
Polyptych of the Passion 30 Royal Fine Arts Muséum, Antwerp 1 The Angel Gabriel. 2 The Annunciation. 3 The Crucifixion. 4 The Déposition. The Louvre, Paris 5 The Way to Calvary. Kaiser Friedrich Muséum, Berlin The Entombment.
6
Domenico Veneziano Altar-piece of Santa Lucia dei Magnoli 36 Uffizi Gallery, Florence 1 The Virgin with Child and Four Saints.
National Gallery of Art, Washington 2 The Ecstasy of Saint Francis. 3 Saint John the Baptist as a Child in the Désert. Fitzwilliam Muséum, Cambridge (United Kingdom) 4 5
The Annunciation. The Miracle of Saint Zenobius.
Kaiser Friedrich Muséum, Berlin The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy.
6
Paolo Uccello The battle of San Romano 38 National Gallery, London 1 Niccolo da Tolentino Leading the Attack.
Uffizi Gallery, Florence 2 The Unhorsing of Bernardino délia Carda. The Louvre, Paris 3 Micheletto da Cotignola Counter-attacking.
Andréa Mantegna San Zeno altar-piece 40 Church of San Zeno, Verona / Centre: The Virgin and Child. Left: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint John the Evangellst, Saint Zenobius. Right: Saint Benedict, Saint Lawrence, Saint Gregory, Saint John the Baptist. Predella: The Agony in the Garden, The Crucifixion, The Résurrection.
Fine Arts Muséum, Tours The Agony in the Garden. 4 The Résurrection. 2
Masaccio Pisa polyptych Pisa Muséum 1 Saint Paul.
The Martyrdom of Saint Peter and the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. The Adoration of the Magi. Scènes from the Life of Saint Julian and Saint Nicholas.
32
The Louvre, Paris 3 The Crucifixion.
Lanckoronski Collection, Vienna 2 Saint Andrew.
Cosimo Tuba
Capodimonte Muséum, Naples 3 Crucifixion.
Roverella polyptych The Louvre, Paris 1 Pietà.
National Gallery, London 4 The Virgin and Child. Kaiser Friedrich Muséum, Berlin 5 Four saints from the side pilasters: Saint Augustine, Saint Jérôme, The Prophet Elijah, Saint Albert.
42
National Gallery, London Virgin Enthroned with Child and Angels.
2
Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, California Head of Saint George.
3
Colonna Collection, Rome Saint Maurelius and Saint Paul with Nicolo Roverella.
4
Metropolitan Muséum of Art, New York The Flight into Egypt.
5
Isabella Stewart Gardner Muséum, Boston, Massachusetts 6 The Circumcision.
Fogg Art Muséum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 7 The Adoration ofthe Magi.
Francesco del Cosa Griffoni polyptych 46 Reconstitution according to Longhi.
Palazzo Bianco, Genoa 3 Virgin, Child, Saint Jérôme and Saint Benedict.
The Toledo Muséum of Art, Ohio 4 Two Figures and a Child. Two Figures. The Feast in Simon' s House.
Private collection, Paris 2 The Martyrdom of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian.
Glasgow Muséums and Art Galleries 7 Pietà.
Stirling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts 8 The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
Disrnembered works of art
Metropolitan Muséum of Art, New York Virgin of the Annunciation. 5 Angel of the Annunciation. 4
Anonymous The Martyrdom of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian 70 Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw 1 The Martyrdom of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian.
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
by Jacques Lavalleye
Royal Fine Arts Muséum, Antwerp 2 Jewish Judges and Roman Soldiers. 3 Virgin, Saint John and Holy Women.
The Louvre, Paris 2 God Between Two Angels.
Dahlem Muséum, Berlin 2 Saint Catherine of Sienna, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Jérôme. 3 Saint Augustine, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Anthony o/Padua.
6
Gérard David Christ Nailed to the Cross 67 National Gallery, London / Christ Nailed to the Cross.
God Between Two Angels 68 1 Reconstitution of the Altar-pieces in the Abbey Church of La Cervara in Liguria.
Luca Signorelli Bichi polyptych 48 The Louvre, Paris 1 Saint Christopher.
5
Max and Leola Epstein Collection, Chicago Art Institute David and a Messenger.
2
Flemish painting
52
Pieter Bruegel The Months 72 Kunsthistorisches Muséum, Vienna / Hunters in the Snow. 2 A Gloomy Day. 3 Return of the Herd.
Narodni Gallery, Prague 4
Rogier Van der Weyden Saint Mary Magdalene Reading 56 National Gallery, London / Saint Mary Magdalene Reading. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon 2 Head of Saint Joseph. 3 Head of a Saint.
Nativity and Pietà 58 Capilla Real, Granada 1
2
Pietà. Nativity.
Metropolitan Muséum of Art, New York 3 Christ Appearing to His Mother.
The Haymaking.
Metropolitan Muséum of Art, New York 5
The Corn Harvest.
Petrus Paulus Rubens The Gonzaga Family in Adoration of the Holy Trinity Galleria e Museo di Palazzo Ducale, Mantua 1 The Holy Trinity. 2 The Family of Vincenzo Gonzaga. 3 Little White Dog. 4 Head and Shoulders of a Halberdier. Kunsthistorisches Muséum, Vienna 5
Portrait of Francesco Gonzaga.
Private collection, London Portrait of Margherita Gonzaga.
6
Virgin and Child 61 Mancel Collection, Caen 1 Virgin and Child.
Fine Arts Muséum, Nancy 7 The Transfiguration.
Royal Fine Arts Muséum, Brussels
5
2
Royal Fine Arts Muséum, Antwerp The Baptism of Christ.
Laurent Froimont.
Justus of Ghent Famous Men 63 1 Reconstitution of the Urbino Studiolo, Ducal Palace, Urbino.
Galleria Nazionale délie Marche, Urbino Saint Gregory.
2 5
74
Moses.
The Louvre, Paris 3 Saint Augustine. 4 Ptolemy.
Triptych of the Adoration of the Kings 76 Church of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, Malines / Adoration of the Kings. 2 Saint John the Evangelist Thrown into Bolllng OU. 3 Saint John the Evangelist at Patmos. 4 The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. 5 The Baptism of Christ. Fine Arts Muséum, Marseilles 6 The Résurrection of Christ. 7 The Adoration of the Shepherds.
Hans Memling
Saint Francis Receiving the Infant Jésus from the Hands of the
Bathsheba at her Bath 64 Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart 1 Bathsheba at her Bath.
Virgin 80 Fine Arts Muséum, Dijon 1
Saint Francis Receiving the Infant Jésus from the Hands ofthe Virgin.
Church of Saint Gommaire, Lier 2 Saint Clara. 3 Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata.
Anthony Van Dyck
Nicolas Poussin Venus and the Libéral Arts 102 The Louvre, Paris / Cupids' Concert. 3 Venus and the Libéral Arts.
Dulwich Collège Picture Gallery, London Venus and Mercury.
Christ 82 Galleria di Palazzo Rosso, Genoa / Christ.
2
The John and Mable Ringling Muséum of Art, Sarasota, Florida Saint Andrew.
2
Muséum of Fine Arts, Budapest 3 Saint John the Evangelist. Niedersâchische Landesgalerie, Hanover 4 Saint Paul.
Fine Arts Muséum, Lille Copy. Venus and the Libéral Arts.
4
Maître de Moulins Triptych of the Bourbons 104 The Louvre, Paris / Pierre II, Duc de Bourbon, Presented by Saint Peter. 2 Anne de France, Duchesse de Bourbon, with Saint John the Evangelist.
Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Collection, Essen 5
6
Saint Peter. Saint Thomas.
3
Portrait of Child Praylng.
4
Sketch showing the relationship between panels 2 and 3. Reconstitution of the side panels of the triptych.
Kunsthistorisches Muséum, Vienna 7 Saint Judas Thaddaeus.
5
Portrait of Jan Woverius and his Son 84 The Louvre, Paris 1 Portrait of Jan Woverius and his Son.
Homage to the Child Louis XHI 106 The Louvre, Paris 1 The Municipal Magistrates ofthe City of Paris Congratulating the Young King Louis XIII on the Occasion of his Marriage.
Frans Pourbus the Younger
GemâJdegalerie, Dresden 2 Maria Clarissa and Child.
Hermitage Muséum, Leningrad Fragment I: with a portrait of Chancellor Nicolas Brulart de Sillery on the right. 3 Fragment II: with a portrait of the Provost of the merchants of
2
Frans Pourbus the Younger Homage to Louis XIII as a Child
Paris. 86
Private collection, Brussels 4 Fragment III: with a portrait of the Keeper of the Seals, Guillaume du Vair on the left.
Hermitage Muséum, Leningrad 1 Portrait of Four Men. 2 Portrait of Three Men. 3 Portrait of Three Men.
Mrs Hans Burny Collection, Brussels Portrait of Three Men.
4
Disrnembered works of art by Jacques Thuillier
French painting
88
Jean Fouquet
Diptych, Melun 96 Berlin Muséum 1 Etienne Chavalier Presented by Saint Etienne.
Royal Fine Arts Muséum, Antwerp Virgin with Child Surrounded by Angels.
2
Staatliche Museen, Berlin (photo) 3 The Descent ofthe Holy Spirit Among the Faitkful and the Unbelievers (photo original destroyed in 1945).
The Louvre, Paris 4 Self-portrait of Jean Fouquet.
National Muséum, Warsaw J Fragment IV: with a portrait of three municipal magistrates of the City of Paris.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec La Baraque de la Goulue 108 The Louvre, Paris 1 La Goulue and Valentin le Désossé at the Moulin Rouge (cut-up canvas). 2 La Goulue and Valentin le Désossé at the Moulin Rouge (reconstituted canvas). 3 La Goulue Dancing an Egyptian Dance in Her Dance Shack (cut-up canvas). 4 La Goulue Dancing an Egyptian Dance in Her Dance Shack (reconstituted canvas). Antoine Coypel Gallery of Aeneas, at the Palais Royal
/
110
Plan of the Gallery of Aeneas in the Palais Royal, Paris (destroyed).
Fabre Muséum, Montpellier 2 Aeneas Carrying Away his Father Anchises. 4 The Death of Dido.
Fine Arts Muséum, Arras 3 Aeneas and Achates Appearing to Dido. Unknown
Triptych of the Annunciation, Aix 98 Church of La Madeleine, Aix-en-Provence 1 Central part: The Annunciation. Royal Fine Arts Muséum, Brussels Right panel: The Prophet Jeremiah.
2
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Left panel (above): Still Life.
3
Van Beuningen Muséum, Rotterdam Left panel (below): The Prophet Isaiah. 6 Outer side of The Prophet Isaiah: Mary Magdalene.
4
5
7
Outer side of Still Life: The Risen Christ. Reconstitution by photomontage
Fine Arts Muséum, Angers 14 Venus Implorlng Jupiter (sketch). 5 Aeneas Carrying Away His Father Anchises (engraving by Desplace). 6 Aeneas and Achates Appearing to Dido (engraving by Simon Thomassin). 7 The Death of Dido (engraving by G. Duchange). 8 Aeneas in the Underworld (engraving by J. Surugue). 9 Jupiter Appearing to Aeneas (engraving by Desplace). 10 The Death ofPallas (engraving by Desplace). 11 The Defeat and Death of Turnus (engraving by Poilly). 12 Juno Lettlng Loose the Tempest (engraving by Tardieu). 13 Neptune Quelling the Tempest (engraving by Tardieu). 15 The Wreck of Aeneas' Fleet (engraving by Beauvais). 16 Venus Asking Vulcanfor Arms for Aeneas (engraving by Tardieu).
Jean-François Millet Décoration of the Ilot cl Thomas 114 Private collection 1 The Cherub Shiverlng with Cold, or Winter. 2 Ceres, or Summer.
Chartres Muséum Saint Lucy.
3
Hermitage Muséum, Leningrad 5 Saint Lawrence. Séries of the martyrs of the Order of Mercy Pérez Asensio Collection, Jerez
National Muséum of Western Art, Tokyo 3 Daphnis and Chloe, or Spring.
Adanero Collection, Madrid 3 Martyr. 4 Martyr. 8 Martyr.
Disrnembered works of art- -Spanish painting 116
El Greco High altar of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, Toledo 121 / Diagram showing the reconstitution of the high altar.
Ceballos Collection, Madrid 5 Martyr.
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut 6 Martyr. 7 Saint Serapion.
Art Institute, Chicago 2
The Assumption.
Prado Muséum 3 The Trinity. 4 Saint Benedict.
Muséum of the Casa del Greco, Toledo 9
Martyr.
Collection belonging to the heirs of the Marquis de Valdeterrazo 10 Martyr.
Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo Saint John the Baptist. 6 Saint John the Evangelist. 5
9
34
Martyr. Martyr.
1
2
by Xavier de Salas
1
The Résurrection.
Juan March Collection, Madrid
Juan de Valdés Leal Group of paintings from the Monastery of Saint Jérôme of
The Holy Face. Emilio Botin Collection, Santander 8 The Adoration of the Shepherds.
Buenavista 136 Cremer Collection, Dortmund 1 Saint Jérôme with the Pagan Doctors.
7
Francisco de Zurbarân High altar of the Carthusian Monastery at Jerez de la Frontera 124 1 Diagram of reconstitution of the high altar of the Monastery at Jerez de la Frontera as suggested by Paul Guinard. Metropolitan Muséum, New York 2 The Battle of Jerez (the Virgin ofthe 'Defension', Patroness of the Carthusian Monastery, Putting the Moors to Flight). Fine Arts Muséum, Grenoble 3 The Adoration of the Shepherds. 5 The Adoration of the Wise Men. 8 10
Seville Muséum 2 The Baptism of Saint Jérôme. 3 The Temptation of Saint Jérôme. 4 The Flagellation of Saint Jérôme. 8 Friar Fernando Yâhez de Figueroa. 9 Friar Gozalo de Illescas. 10 Friar Pedro Fernandez Pécha. 11 Friar Juan de Ledesma. 13 Friar Pedro de Cabanuelas, 14 Friar Hernando de Talavera. Bowes Muséum, Barnard Castle, Durham, United Kingdom 5 Saint Eustochium.
The Annunciation. The Circumcision.
Tessé Muséum, Le Mans 6 Saint Paula.
Cadiz Muséum 4 Saint John the Evangelist. 6 Saint Matthew. 7 Saint Bruno in Ecstasy. 9 Saint Mark. 11 Saint Luke. 12 Saint John the Baptist. 13 Saint Lawrence.
Grenoble Muséum 7
Friar Alonso
de Ocana.
Dresden Muséum 12
Friar Vasco de Portugal.
Prado Muséum, Madrid 15 Hieronymite Martyr. 16 Saint Jérôme.
Passage to the Tabernacle (Pasillo del Sagrario), Carthusian Monastery at Jerez de la Frontera 128
Cadiz Muséum / Angel Bearing Incense. 2 Saint Anthelm. 3 Saint Hugh of Grenoble. 4 Saint Bruno. 5 Angel Bearing Incense. 6 Cardinal Albergati 7 Saint Arthaud. 8 Saint Hugh of Lincoln. 9 Blessed John Houghton.
Disrnembered works of art by Albert Schug
The Uttenheim Master The Uttenheim Lady Altar 144 Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna 1 Madonna with Child and Saints. Bolzano Muséum 2 Saint Peter.
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh 10 The Immaculate Conception with Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. Muzeum Narodowe, Poznan 11
The Virgin
The Louvre, Paris 2 Saint Apollonia.
Konrad Witz The Spéculum altar-piece 146 1 Reconstitution of Konrad Witz's altar-piece, proposed by Wendland in 1924.
ofthe Rosary with Carthusian Monks.
Monastery of Saint Joseph, Order of Discalced Mercedarians Seville Muséum 1 The Eternal Father. 4 Christ Crowning Saint Joseph.
German painting
140
132
Kunstmuseum, Basel 2 The Church. 3 The Angel ofthe Annunciation. 4 6
Saint Bartholomew.
7
Slbbechal and Benaiah.
The Synagogue.
8 10 12 13
6
Abishal before David. Abraham before Melchizedek. Esther and Ahasuerus. Caesar and Antlpater.
7
8
9
Musée de la Ville, Dijon 5 Saint Augustine. 9 Augustus and the Sybil.
10 13
Staatliche Museen, Berlin 11 The Queen ofSheba before Solomon.
11
Stephan Lochner Last Judgement altar-piece from the parish church of Saint Laurenz in Cologne 150 Bayerische Staatsgemâldesammlungen, Munich 1 Saint Anthony Abbot, Pope Cornélius and Saint Mary Magdalene. 2 Saint Hubert, Saint Quirinus and Saint Catherine.
Wallraf Richartz Muséum, Cologne 3 The Last Judgement. Hans Multscher Retable of the high altar at Sterzing 1 52 Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich / Angel Supporting the Crown on the Rlght-hand Side. 2 Angel Supporting the Crown on the Left-hand Side. Sterzing Church 3 Saint Apollonta 4 Saint Catherine. 5 Virgin with Child. 6 Saint Barbara. 7 Saint Ursula.
Sterzing Muséum 8 Angels Holding a Cloth. 9 Saint George Guarding the Retable. 10 Saint Florlan Guarding the Retable. 11 Christ Bearing the Cross. 12 The Scourging of Christ. 14 15 16
17 18
The The The The The
Mount of Olives. Adoration ofthe Magi. Death of Mary. Annunciation. Birth of Christ.
Sterzing Town Hall 13 The Crowning with Thorns and the Deriding of Christ.
Tilman Rtemenschneider and Veit Stoss Altar-piece of Saint Mary Magdalene from the parish church at Munnerstadt 156 Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich 1 Mary Magdalene with Six Angels. 2 The Feast in the House of Simon. Dahlem Staatliche Museen, Berlin 3 Saint John. 4 Saint Mark. 5 Saint Luke. 6 Saint Matthew. 9 Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene. Parish Church of Munnerstadt 7 Saint Elizabeth. 8 Saint Kilian. 10 Death of Saint Mary Magdalene. 11 Communion of Saint Mary Magdalene. 12 Mercy Seat, with Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist.
Hans Holbein the Elder High altar from the Dominikanerkirche, Frankfurt am Main 1 60 1 Reconstitution by Stange and Lieb of Hans Holbein the Elder's
The Scourging of Christ. The Crowning with Thorns. Ecce Homo. Christ Bearing the Cross. The Résurrection. Five Scènes from the Life of Christ.
Kunsthalle, Hamburg The Présentation
of Jésus in the Temple.
Offentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel 12 The Death of Mary.
Albrecht Durer Jabach altar-piece 166 Wallraf Richartz Muséum, Cologne / Piper and Drummer Stâdelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main
2
Job and his Wife.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich 3 Saint Joseph and Saint Joachim. 4 Saint Simon and Saint Lazarus. Albrecht Altdorfer Frescos in the Kaiserbad in Regensburg Fine Arts Muséum, Budapest 1
168
Fragment.
Stàdtisches Muséum, Regensburg 2 Détail from the left half of the main fresco.
Mathk Gothard Neithardt Grunewald Maria Schnee altar from the Stiftskirche in Aschaffenburg / Original frame of the altar-piece. Augustinermuseum, Freiburg-im-Breisgau. 2 The Miracle of the Snow.
Hans Holbein the Younger Portraits of Lady Mary and Sir Henry Guildford City Art Muséum of Saint Louis, Missouri / Portrait of Lady Guildford.
172
Zentralinstitut fur Kunstgeschichte, Munich 2 Portrait of Sir Henry Guildford. Georg Petel Crucifixion group of the Augsburg Heiliggeistspital Crucifixion.
173
Wilhelm Leibl Girl with carnation 174 Wallraf Richartz Muséum, Cologne 1 Fragment of the Bodice. Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe 2 Left Hand. 3
Right Hand.
Kunsthistorisches Muséum, Vienna 4 Fragment.
Disrnembered works of art by Irina Danilova
Russian painting
175
Anonymous Royal door, Tver 179 / Reconstitution of the royal door, Tver.
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow 2 Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil the Great.
altar-piece. Stâdelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main 2 Tree of Jesse. 3 Genealogical Tree of the Domincan Order. 4 The Taking of Christ.
5
Christ Before Pilate.
Unknown Icons from the 'occasional' row of an iconostasis
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow 1
2
The Déposition. The Lamentation for Christ.
180
170
Icons from the 'occasional' row of an iconostasis Muséum of Russian Art, Kiev / The Last Supper. 2 The Décapitation of Saint John the Baptist.
Jacques de Besançon
181
Andrei Rublev and Daniel Cherny Iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Vladimir (I) / Reconstitution of the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the
Miroir Historial de Vincent de Beauvais 202 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris / Salome Presenting the Head of Saint John the Baptist to Herod. 2 The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine. 182
Jean Foucquet
Assumption. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow 2 The Virgin Mary, The Saviour and Saint John the Baptist. 3 Saint Gregory of Nazlanzus and The Virgin Mary. 4 Saint Andrew. Iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Vladimir (LT)
Livre d'Heures d'Etienne Chevalier 204 Musée Condé, Chantilly The Coronation of the Virgin.
1
1
85
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow 1
2 3
British Muséum, London David at Frayer.
2
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris The Family ofthe Virgin.
3
The Annunciation. The Descent into Hell. The Assumption.
Iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Vladimir (TU) Russian Muséum, Leningrad 1 Saint Peter. 2 Saint Paul.
186
Iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Assumption, Vladimir (IV) Russian Muséum, Leningrad 1 The Présentation in the Temple.
187
Disrnembered illuminated manuscripts European art by Virgil Cândea
Musée Condé, Chantilly 3 The Coronation of Lothair.
188
Anonymous The Lorsch Gospels 194 Victoria and Albert Muséum, London / First Ivory Cover.
Workshop of the Dures of Rohan Livre d'Heures du Maître des Grandes Heures de Rohan 206 Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris Adoration ofthe Christ Child. Radu Zugravul Painter's Guide, by Radu Zugravul 207 Library of the Romanian Academy 1 Virgin and Child. 2 Virgin and Child. 3 The Holy Trinity. 4 The Forty Martys, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and Saint Ephraim the Syrlan. Saint John the Baptist. Saints Sergius and Bacchus and the Hermits Peter, Mark and Macarius.
Disrnembered tombs- -French sculpture
Batthyaneum Library, Alba Iulia 2 Canon of Concordance ofthe Gospels. 3 Saint Matthew.
by Pierre Quarré 210
Vatican Library 4 Saint John
Tomb of Philippe le Hardi 216 / Reconstitution of 1827; the 'mourners' were rearranged in 1932, 1945 and 1959.
English master and Dutch master, both anonymous Carmélite Missal 196 British Muséum, London Page ofthe manuscript reconstructed by Miss Margaret Rickert: A Miracle Worked by Saint Nicholas.
Claus Sluter and Claus de Werve
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris Drawing by J. P. Gilguin.
2
Cleveland Muséum of Art and loan from the Musée de Cluny Mourners Nos. 38 and 40.
3
Jean de la Huerta and Antoine le Moiturier
Masters of the Duke of Berry and others, including Jan van Eyck Les Très Belles Heures de Notre-Dame, du Duc Jean de Berry 197 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris / The Présentation. 2 Christ Teaching His Apostles the Paternoster (destroyed in the fire in 1904). Museo Civico, Turin The Birth of Saint John the Baptist.
3
Duke of Berry's illuminator; later Jean Foucquet and probably Jean Poyet Antiquités Judaïques de Flavius Josàphe 200 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris / The Combat of the Maccabees (Jonathan and Simon) Against General Bacchides.
2
Herod Entering Jérusalem.
Tomb of Jean sans Peur and Marguerite de Bavière 218 1 Reconstitution of 1827; the 'mourners' were rearranged in 1932, 1943 and 1959.
Dijon Muséum 2
Drawing by Johannes Lesage.
Cleveland Muséum of Art and loan from the Musée de Cluny. 3 Mourners Nos. 67 and 68. Jean de Cambrai, Etienne
Bobillet and Paul Mosselman
Tomb of Duke Jean de Berry 220 Drawing for the reconstitution of one of the sides, by Paul Gauchery.
Workshops in Tournai Tomb of Pierre de Bauffremont 221 Side of the tomb of Pierre de Bauffremont.
Conclusion
223
Introduction
Unesco's action to promote the reconstitution of disrnembered works of art Selim Abdul Hak
THE PROBLEM
OF DISMEMBERED
WORKS
OF ART
Wars, invasions and conquests hâve, from time immémorial, led to the loss of incalculable numbers of works of art. Because of their symbolic value, conquerors hâve always been inclined to make a dead set at them, since the destruction of a nation's treasures or of the évidence of its history was one means of impairing or annihilating the personality of defeated nations. Armed conflict was also at the root of the déplorable practice of removing works of art from the situation for which they had been created, dismembering them and transferring the pièces elsewhere, for purposes of profit and enjoyment and from motives of prestige. Apart from this, the ostentatiousness of famous people, the passion of amateurs and magnâtes for collecting and the profit motive of art dealers hâve aU contributed, throughout the âges, to the dismemberment of numerous works of art, a process which the legitimate owners of such works, unaware of their real value or tempted by the lure of gain, hâve readily condoned. Moreover, artists lacking in due respect for the intentions of their predecessors hâve made things worse by undertaking to rectify or transform works regarded as out of date; and many curators hâve succumbed to the temptation to enrich their muséums' collections by acquiring fragments of disrnembered works of art. It is, of course, consoling to think that the dispersion of parts of works of art has contributed to the building up of great collections in famous art galleries and has helped to give various societies a deeper knowledge of the arts and to enrich the cultural life of the world as a whole; so that there can be no question of criticizing or repeating the criticism already levelled against the events which led to such dis¬ memberment or of condemning the methods employed. Any attempt to do so could only detract from the nations' respect for one another and impair international understanding. None the less, it would be wrong, on the pretext that cases of the dismemberment of works of art are the outcome of historical phenomena bound up with the circumstances in which they occurred, to conclude that no steps can ever be taken to remedy the situation. In the first place, if an impartial survey of the situation were made, it might arouse the nations' conscience and strengthen their détermination to avoid further mutilation of the cultural héritage of mankind.
14
Selim Abdul Hak
Second, research on disrnembered works is necessary in order to provide historians with information and évidence concerning the past. Art galleries should treat this kind of research as urgent, and carry it out in a systematic way. The problems presented by each case should be defined. Reliable methods of ascertaining the gênerai character of works of art and identifying the stylistic and iconographical resemblances between their various parts should be devised. It is essential, also, to arrange for the technical examination of fragments which appear to belong to one and the same work of art, paying minute attention, in each case, to such factors as the support, the undercoat, the colours and even the varnish used. It is true that the research done hitherto has not enabled many works of art to be reconstituted; but it has at least produced a great deal of information about masterpieces the fragments of which were dispersed, and hâve had a différent fate according to the place where they were conserved, and it has contributed to our knowledge of their nature, origins, history and original form. As a resuit, the value of each fragment has increased, for the fact that it is part of a wellknown original has given it a new and hitherto unsuspected worth. Several countries of Europe hâve succeeded, thanks to co-operation between curators and restorers, in reconstituting disrnembered works of art from fragments in their muséums or in private collections Iocated on their territory. Reconstitution is a much more difficult problem in cases when fragments of works of world renown belong to two or more muséums in différent countries, especially when each fragment is a work of art in itself and has, over the years, acquired a certain independent value. In such cases, the problem can only be solved by co-operation between the nations concemed.
SURVEY OF UNESCO'S ACTION
Meeting of experts (1966)
In implementation of Resolution 3.3432 adopted by the General Conférence at its thirteenth session (1964), the Director-General instructed an expert committee to study procédures for exchanging original objects between countries and the problem of the reconstitution of disrnembered works
of art. This committee met in Paris, at Unesco House, from 27 June to 2 July 1966. The meeting discussed the foUowing subjects: the exchange of original objects between muséums at national level, international exchanges, légal, financial and technical aspects of the problem, the bases for régulations covering exchanges and methods of implementation, pilot projects, the reconstitution of disrnembered works of art and the rôle of international organizations. With regard to disrnembered monuments, the experts thought it better, in most cases, not to consider measures which, incidentally, would be extremely costly designed to reconstitute architectural works on the basis of dispersed omamental fragments. Sculptures, paintings and other déco¬ rative éléments incorporated in thèse works should obviously be taken separately, as having acquired independent status, and appropriate solutions should be adopted in each case. The problem of the reconstitution of disrnembered paint¬ ings, sculptures, engravings, etc., should be dealt with within the framework of and through exchanges between muséums. Every attempt at reconstitution would hâve to reckon with the same légal and psychological factors as other exchanges; it should be based on rational methods and be carried out in accordance with légal régulations at both the national and the international level, with a view to reinforcing the contri¬ bution made by muséums to the préservation of cultural property, the cause of éducation and the dissémination of a knowledge of the différent cultures throughout the world. International exchanges of original objects should in no instance impoverish the cultural héritages of the countries undertaking them. They should respond to a manifest cultural necessity, avoid the removal of the works from their historié and aesthetic context and be directed to assembling sufficiently représentative groups for a significant comparison of the cultural héritages from which they are drawn. Hence the solution of the problem will dépend on the parties directly concemed, and should never be considered as restitution pure and simple. The importance of the disrnem¬ bered works should override ail other considérations, espe¬ cially if the reconstitution of thèse works is of major cultural significance. The actual reconstitution of disrnembered works should always be preceded by a theoretical and practical study. Lastly, muséums possessing works which hâve been reconstituted should be required to conserve such works by the most modem methods and to display them in exhibition
15
Introduction
rooms accessible both to the gênerai public and to research workers. In this regard, the foUowing procédure should be adopted: At the psychological level: there should be publicity to promote a favourable climate by making the facts of the problem widely known. This might take the form of exhibitions conceived as pilot projects, in which one or more reconstituted works would be displayed. The first of thèse exhibitions should be organized with Unesco's
At
assistance. the technical level: inventories of disrnembered works should be drawn up, first within each country, on the basis of methodical searching. The national inventories, together with an international inventory, would then be able to provide the material for systematic exchanges of information and documentation, which would be supple-
mented by the publication of photographie reconstitutions of disrnembered works. At the légal and administrative level: préventive and remédiai measures should be taken by the responsible authorities for the prohibition and repression of aU acts capable of destroying, modifying, mutilating or dismembering works
of art. Survey
of disrnembered works of art
By Resolution 3.346, adopted at the fourteenth session of the General Conférence (1966), the Director-General was authorized: '(d) to take ail appropriate steps to make people aware of the desirability of reconstituting dismantled works and restoring their original aesthetic purpose and value.' The steps taken by the Secrétariat in 1967-68 to implement this resolution included circulating the conclusions and suggestions of the meeting of experts held in 1966 to the Member States and international organizations concemed. The Director-General sent a circular letter asking them to let him hâve their views on ways in which thèse suggestions and conclusions might be put into effect. Thirty-seven States and three intergovernmental organi¬ zations stated their views on the subject of the exchange of objects and the reconstitution of disrnembered works. This consultation was extremely useful to Unesco, enabling it to get a clear view of ail the information available on thèse questions, place them in the widest possible context and obtain the latest data on the subject.
As regards the reconstitution of disrnembered works, the replies received were in line with the conclusions ofthe 1966 meeting, although it was suggested that différent countries might adopt différent means of solving the problem. Several States took the view that fragments of dispersed works should be assembled so that they could be reconstituted for the benefit of the country which was the real owner, especially where thèse fragments either formed part of an architectural monument, or would make a collection com¬ plète. This view was naturally opposed by those who had come by such fragments legally. Several States recommended pru¬ dence, with a view to 'cooling down' the debate. In particular, they approved the conclusion of the 1966 meeting of the effect that exchanges should be made only on the basis of free consent, and agreed with the experts that the solution of the problem should dépend on the parties concemed, and should never be considered as restitution pure and simple. The question of supplying counterparts was considered to be of vital importance. Since this involves légal, artistic and psychological considérations, it should be settled by agreement between the parties concemed. A system of arbitration at the national, régional or international level might produce the required results. Despite thèse réservations, the countries consulted were not opposed to the idea that the problem of reconstitution might be considered within the framework of new interna¬ tional régulations and solved by exchanges between muséums, provided that the purpose of such reconstitution was to restore the true value of disrnembered works and that ail the necessary scientific, technical and administrative measures were taken. Lastly, States were in favour of the proposai to draw the attention of intergovernmental and non-governmental organ¬ izations to the need for reconstituting disrnembered works and carrying out programmes for that purpose.
Exhibition of disrnembered works (1968) The measures taken by the Director-General of Unesco in implementation of Resolution 3.346 included the organization of a pilot exhibition of disrnembered works, held at Unesco House from 17 to 22 June 1968. Unesco's purpose hère was to set an example, and it was hoped that this would stimulate thought on the subject and lead to the reconstitution of other
16
Selim Abdul Hak
disrnembered works of art. Everything was done to ensure that the Works displayed illustrated the circumstances in which they had been disrnembered. Thèse works were lent on a voluntary basis by the muséums possessing them. The Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Muséum of the Wawel Royal Castle in Cracow (Poland) lent Unesco three works, two of which had been definitively reconstituted, whilst the third was reconstituted for the duration of the exhibition only. This third work was the Persian carpet, known as the 'Paris-Cracow' carpet, the two halves of which belong to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Muséum of the Wawel Royal Castle in Cracow respectively. Thanks to Unesco, thèse two halves were put together again after being separated for a long period of time; and they were displayed first at Cracow, from 27 April to 13 May 1968, and then at the pilot exhibition in Paris. This carpet, which is the only one of its kind in the world, and which dates from the second quarter of the sixteenth century, is the work of the Tabriz school, and was no doubt produced by one of the royal Safavid workshops. It was intended to cover the steps of the altar of Cracow Cathedral, but it was found to be too large, and was therefore eut
to the Ajaccio and Toulouse muséums, sets an example which might be followed in other transactions of the same kind. The third disrnembered work which was reconstituted and displayed in the exhibition at Unesco was the picture repre¬ senting The Baille of Bergen (1665), the work of Willem Van de Velde the Elder.
It is not known why this picture was disrnembered. In 1887, the Nederlandse Muséum at the Hague purchased the right-hand part, along with another picture; and the left-hand part, after belonging to the Schlossmuseum in Weimar (Germany), was purchased by the National Maritime Muséum at Greenwich (United Kingdom). The curators ofthe Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam had long suspected that thèse were the two fragments of the picture painted by Willem Van de Velde, which had disappeared. Their supposition was confirmed in the course of an exhibi¬ tion held in 1957, when it could be seen clearly that the two fragments in question belonged to the same picture. The matter was put before the managing board of the Greenwich Muséum, which made the generous décision to offer their half of the picture to the Netherlands, thus enabling the work to be reconstituted in its original form. This picture was displayed in the new Netherlands History Section, which was opened in the Rijksmuseum in 1971.
in two. The temporary reconstitution of this carpet gave art historians an opportunity of comparing the two halves and making scientific studies. It was easy to see that the part conserved at Cracow has a strip 17 cm wide missing. The original carpet, including this pièce, measured 391-410 cm by 700 cm. It is moderately well conserved. Most of the worn parts are where the carpet fitted over the steps of the altar. There are, in addition, long faded strips running cross-wise. The second work displayed at Unesco was the polyptych by Paolo Veneziano from the Musée du Louvre. Disrnem¬ bered at the time ofthe dispersion ofthe Campana collection, it has now been reconstituted and, since 1956, has occupied a prominent position in the Room of the Seven Master Painters in the Musée du Louvre. The panel representing Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Anthony was acquired by the Ajaccio Muséum in 1863, and the one depicting Saint Francis and Saint John the Baptist was acquired in the same year by the Toulouse Muséum. The reconstitution of this polyptych for the benefit of the Musée du Louvre, which has presented works of an équivalent value
Illustrated inventory offamous works that hâve been disrnembered
The work plan for Resolution 3.341 adopted by the General Conférence of Unesco at its fifteenth session spécifies that: 'In co-operation with the appropriate national bodies, insti¬ tutions and international non-governmental organizations, the Secrétariat will prépare an illustrated inventory of major works that hâve been fragmented or dispersed and whose reconstitution would be of great cultural importance. After systematic exchanges and build up of information and docu¬ mentation, photographie reconstitutions will then be made of the works in question.' After consulting, in 1969, many ofthe national and inter¬ national organizations concemed, the Secrétariat decided that it would be préférable to confine the inventory to Euro¬ pean works of art and, more particularly, to paintings from the Renaissance to the présent time. Mention should hère be made of the active part in this project played by the Council for Cultural Co-operation of
17
Introduction
the Council of Europe. This body informed Unesco in 1967 that it had included in its programme the préparation of a preliminary basic study, which Mr Emile Langui, the rap¬ porteur of the meeting organized by Unesco in 1966, was asked to undertake. This study, which was to investigate the desirability and possibility of compiling a catalogue of fragmented and dispersed works of art, was to be examined by a committee of experts meeting in 1968. This committee met at Strasbourg on 12 and 13 Novem¬ ber 1968. The experts considered that the work programme should give priority to the foUowing two points: A scientific inventory of disrnembered or mutilated paintings belonging to each ofthe member countries ofthe Council of Europe should be compiled. The compétent national service of each country would be responsible for drawing up this inventory, which would constitute one of the éléments ofthe 'European Corpus'. A spécifie programme of action should be prepared to make the gênerai public aware of the problems met with in this domain. A second working group met at Strasbourg on 24 and 25 March 1969 to consider, in particular, the principles to be followed in compiling the scientific inventory, as well as the methods and administrative means to be used. As a resuit of the meeting, a proposai was made as to a form of card for recording accurate information about disrnembered works. Unesco, whilst wishing the Council for Cultural Co¬ opération ofthe Council of Europe every success in its impor¬ tant and ambitious undertaking, has itself concentrated on carrying out the project proposed in Resolution 3.341. The two projects are complementary: the Unesco inventory, although it takes account of the recommendations of the two working groups mentioned above, is ofa more gênerai char¬ acter, and may provide an initial example of what could be done in this sphère. This inventory is divided into several sections, as follows: Disrnembered Works of Italian Painting; Disrnembered Works of Flemish Painting; Disrnembered Works of French Painting; Disrnembered Works of Spanish Painting; Dis¬ rnembered Works of German Painting; Disrnembered Works of Russian Painting; Disrnembered European Manuscripts; Disrnembered Tombs French Sculpture (a section on disrnembered works of French sculpture included in the exhibition of mourning figures in mediaeval sculputre, organized by the Fine Arts Muséum in Dijon on the occasion
of the General Assembly of ICOM in 1970). It is true that there is no connexion between the subject of this last section and that of the preceding ones. None the less, considérable interest attaches to the measures taken by the Dijon Muséum to obtain loans of exhibits in order to illustrate the artistic relationship between the various ways of treating the subject of ' Mourning Figures' in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century European sculpture; and the work done by this muséum may serve as an example for others attempting to reconstitute disrnembered works of aU kinds.
Disrnembered works of art
Italian painting
Franco Renzo Pesenti
The dismemberment of works of art or groups of works is a particular conséquence of the hazards to which they are exposed, such as removal from their original location, damage and destruction. Its causes are therefore those ofthe phenomena in question. For instance, the destruction or damaging of one part of a group of works often leads to dismemberment of the remaining parts, the fate of which may change con¬ siderably when property changes hands or when they are used for a différent purpose from that for which they were intended. We do not intend to undertake a gênerai study of this process, but we shall consider a few spécifie examples of it. Works of art used for religious purposes and, in any case, for public purposes, are disrnembered chiefly because of two factors: changes in taste and in the rôle assigned to the works themselves, and external changes in the institutions holding them. As an example of the first factor we may take the fate of numerous mediaeval polyptychs, formerly objects of vénér¬ ation on high altars. When there was a change in taste or doctrine or in the architectonics of the church, the central part only, which was retained as an object of more spécial worship, was incorporated in a new artistic whole, while the latéral parts and the predellas were disrnembered, damaged or discarded. In Italy as elsewhere, the second factor was felt most strongly at the end of the eighteenth century, when many religious institutions small parishes, confratemities and monasteries were abolished. The works of art which embellished them were confiscated, damaged or abandoned, and their dismemberment was one ofthe logical conséquences of that situation. The vicissitudes of the artistic héritage hâve always been linked to the fate of political régimes. Sometimes the héritage has been dispersed for no apparent reason. Works belonging to private individuals are even more liable to dismemberment, for the économie situation or the interests of the families possessing them may change frequently. Other factors, too, come into play. It sometimes happens this being an extrême case that when a legacy is shared out, a large canvas is disrnembered ; for instance, so that each legatee may hâve one or more portraits. War has always played a considérable part in the destruc¬ tion and dispersion of works of art. The Napoleonic réquisi¬ tions and the export of works of art to Nazi Germany made
19
Disrnembered works of art
serious inroads on Italy's artistic wealth. It is true that in both cases some of the works of art were subsequently retumed and that, in the former case, this enabled the stock ofthe Brera Gallery in Milan and the Gallery ofthe Academy of Fine Arts in Venice to be built up. Nevertheless no new form of présentation, however inspired, can make up for the harm that is done by removing the work from its original
setting. We must now tum our attention to a broader sensé ofthe term 'dismemberment'. Let us consider a small village church, for example. Taken separately, the works it contains would probably not be worthy of exhibition in a muséum; yet the whole, from the architecture down to the smallest ornament, bears testimony an organic and irreplaceable testimony to the cultural history of the limited environment of which it is part, and it is a natural place for the éducation of the eye and taste of the inhabitants of the village. The church and its contents thus form a whole, both in purpose and in
function. That is why two phenomena which hâve recently attained immoderate proportions are proving especially harmful: the collector's snobbery and the theft both literal and metaphorical of works of art, accomplished with the consent of the very people who ought to realize the need to keep them in their original situation. The collector's snobbery has put up the price of the objects concerned, and this leads to the pillaging of convents, churches, villas and houses, and divests the works of art of their true worth, giving them a fictitious value and their owners false prestige. Very often, such works of art, particularly examples of the so-called minor arts, are damaged and disrnembered for adaptation to what was not their original use. Frescos, too, hâve been the subject of wild spéculation. Because they cannot be used in their entirety, they are sold in fragments. The theft, in the real sensé ofthe word, of works of art even those that are well known and therefore cannot be exhibited or sold is the worst conséquence of snobbery in collecting old works of art. The Pavia Gallery recently lost three of its principal masterpieces in this way. An example of a theft which has probably led to dis¬ memberment ofthe work is that ofthe Nativity of Caravaggio, in the oratory of San Lorenzo at Palermo. It will never be possible to exhibit or sell the canvas as a whole; the principal figures would hâve to be eut out and fictitious parts recon¬ structed if it were to be sold.
Italian painting
Some examples of dismemberment of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian works of art are given below. Materially speaking, the dispersed fragments could obviously be put together so as to restore the original appearance of thèse works, which we hâve endeavoured to indicate in accordance with the results of studies at présent under way. We hâve no illusions about the enormous difficulties of this kind of reconstitution, for they are works of the utmost importance, and the pride of the muséums in which they are
housed. There are also, however, many very important works which could be exchanged between owners, institutions or countries, the principle that the combined value of the différ¬ ent parts of a work of art is well below that of the complète work being borne in mind. The first example concerns one of the principal Italian
works of art of the fourteenth century. We need not insist on the importance of the Maestà of Duccio di Buoninsegna to the Cathedral of Sienna, or on its quality; it may be said to be the most perfect expression of Byzantine figurative art in Italy. Duccio used the brush-work, colour, intellectual rather than physical space, and symbolic disposition that are typical of this kind of art with such wealth and variety that he made them express the same need for human intensity and depth of meaning that Giotto conveyed, about the same period, in a différent style. Like many others, this work encountered ill fortune which detracted from its value, and certain parts of it were dispersed. On 9 October 1308, Duccio di Buoninsegna signed an agreement with the Opéra del Duomo of Sienna concerning the great altar-piece in honour ofthe Virgin Mary. One clause stipulated that the altar-piece was to be executed entirely by him and that he was to paint nothing else before its completion. Amidst great festivities recoided by the chroniclers of the time and the cost of which was entered in the church registers, the altar-piece, accompanied by the religious and civil authorities and in the présence of the entire population, was carried to the cathedral on 9 June 1311 and placed over the high altar. It was painted on both sides, and The Virgin Enthroned with Child, Angels and Saints can still be seen on the main horizontal part of the front, and scènes from the Passion on the back. The Coronation panels represented, in front, scènes from the end ofthe life ofthe Virgin and, on the back, the appearances of Jésus. Above each panel there was probably another with a cherub. On the front of the predella
20 Franco Renzo Pesenti
were épisodes from the childhood of Jésus, with the prophets who had foretold them, and, on the back, the preaching and the miracles of Christ. The fifteenth-century inventories also tell us of the canopy adorned with angels which surmounted the altar and of the priceless tapestry which protected the Maestà. A Biccherna miniature (1482) in the Sienna National Archives shows in part the great altar-piece in its original position and with the canopy in place. In 1506 a new altar was built, and the Maestà probably underwent the first détérioration. F. A. Cooper (1965) thought that the central panel of the Coronation, being higher than the others, must hâve been movable, and must consequently hâve been set up inside the church; in which case it supposedly parted Com¬ pany with the other parts, and so is unknown to us. On 1 August 1771 the great altar-piece was divided vertically into seven parts, so that it could be exhibited complète on the nearer sides of the altars. Thèse parts were then sawn through the middle, in such a way as to separate the two painted surfaces, which were put together later on without any concern for reconstituting the original setting. Then began the dispersion of the panels of the Coronation and of the predella. In 1798, twelve panels of the Coronation were in the vestry of the cathedral. In 1878, when the Maestà was transferred to the Museo dell 'Opéra, the known fragments of the predella numbered no more than six. Between 1952 and 1958, the Istituto Centrale del Restauro in Rome very skilfully restored the central part ofthe Maestà, which was put back in its former position. On the other hand, several hypothèses hâve been advanced regarding the Coro¬ nation and the predella. Since ail that remains of the Coro¬ nation panels is on show at the Museo dell'Opera in Sienna, while the scènes from the predella are in various muséums and collections, Cooper's hypothesis is the one we shall examine. According to Cooper, the scènes on the front of the predella were The Annunciation (National Gallery, London); Isaiah, The Nativity, Ezekiel (National Gallery, Washington); The Adoration ofthe Magi, Solomon, The Présentation in the Temple, Malachi, The Massacre of the Innocents, Jeremiah, The Flight into Egypt and Hosea (in the Museo dell'Opera, Sienna); and those on the back were Christ Among the Doctors and The Temptation in the Temple (Museo dell' Opéra, Sienna); The Temptation on the Mount (Frick Col¬ lection, New York); The Calling of Peter and Andrew (National Gallery, Washington); The Marriage at Cana,
Christ and the Woman of Samaria (Rockefeller Collection, New York); The Miraculous Healing ofthe Mon Born Blind, The Transfiguration (National Gallery, London); and The Raising of Lazarus (Rockefeller Collection). We can hardly expect that the entire work will be restored to its original unity, but perhaps we may hope to gather together ail the extant parts, if only in order to check the hypothèses that hâve been advanced. Works by Giotto and his workshop also underwent dis¬ memberment and dispersion. After making critical studies it has been possible, by assembling the various parts, to reconstruct a polyptych which comprised, in the centre, The Virgin and Child, in the Washington National Gallery, to the left, on the outside, Saint Stephen in the Home Muséum in Florence, and Saint John the Evangelist in the Musée Jacquemart-André at Chaalis, above which there is an angel and to the right, on the outside, Saint Lawrence in the same muséum. A saint is missing between Saint Lawrence and the Virgin, perhaps Saint Francis or Saint John the Baptist. The critics date this polyptych about 1320, the period when Giotto was engaged on the Chapels of Peruzzi and Bardi in the Santa Croce, in Florence. Since Ghiberti speaks of four pictures painted by Giotto for that church, we may suppose, on the assumption that the three other works intended for the church hâve been identified, that this work is the fourth and, in view of the présence of Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence, that it was perhaps intended to decorate the chapel dedicated to those saints, which contains the frescos of Bernardo Daddi. As we can see, it is difficult to trace the history of the dismember¬ ment of this polyptych, which exhibits both the refinement and the élégance of form to which Giotto aspired, working in a style of extraordinary breadth and maturity. It is also one of the works of that period that the master was personally engaged upon for the longest period. Another hypothesis has also been advanced that beneath the polyptych were the small pictures representing The Adoration ofthe Magi, in the New York Metropolitan Muséum; The Présentation in the Temple, in the Gardner Muséum, in Boston; The Last Supper and The Crucifixion in the Alte Pinakothek, in Munich; The Descent from the Cross from the Berenson Collections, in Florence; Christ in Limbo, also in Munich; and finally Pentecost, in the National Gallery, in London. But this hypothe¬ sis does not seem at ail convincing. A work by Simone Martini, the famous contemporary of Giotto, was also disrnembered the éléments of what must
21
Disrnembered works of art
choir of the church, in accordance with the wishes of the notary Giuliano degli Scarsi da San Giusto, and its construc¬ tion was begun by a certain Pippo di Giovanni del Gante in late 1425. We know that the framework, the altar-piece and perhaps the gilding were the work of Antonio di Biagio of Sienna. We also know that Masaccio was engaged on the painting from February to December 1426, that Saint Julian and other figures were represented on the altar frontal, and that it was the work of a Florentine, Cola Antonio. We even know that the altar hangings were painted by a certain Mariano di Pietro délia Valenzana. But when did the dis¬ persion ofthe parts ofthe polyptych occur ? In ail probability, when large-scale repairs to the choir were being carried out. Berti (1964) disagrees with those who assign this incident to
hâve been a small portable altar commissioned from the painter by a certain Bishop Orsini, who is depicted in a frag¬ ment of the work The Déposition. The Déposition and the sections representing the Angel Gabriel, the Annunciation and the Crucifixion, are now in the muséum in Antwerp. The Way to Calvary is in the Musée du Louvre, and The Entombment in the Kaiser Friedrich Muséum in Berlin. The first were acquired in Dijon for the Van Ertborn collections in 1826; The Way to Calvary was acquired by the Louvre in 1834 from Mr L. Saint-Denis, and came from the Louis-Philippe Col¬ lection; the Berlin Muséum bought The Entombment from the
Pacully Collection in Paris, in 1901. This common French origin gave rise to a belief that the polyptych was painted in Avignon, where Martini is thought to hâve worked from 1339 to 1344. It was also conjectured that the kneeling bishop was Cardinal Stefaneschi, who died in Avignon in 1341 and is thought to hâve commissioned other works from Martini. But the Orsini coat of arms behind the small panel of The Way to Calvary seems to contradict this hypothesis. Furthermore, there is some doubt as to whether this work was executed while Martini was in France. Paccagnini dates it about 1320 (that is, between the time when the artist worked for Pisa and the time when he worked for Orvieto) pointing out the similarity between the style ofthe fragments that hâve been found and the works of that period and showing how they influenced the artists working in Italy. Paccagnini also mentions several bishops of the Orsini family who, for religious, political or artistic reasons, might hâve been in contact with Simone
Martini. With the information we hâve at présent, we obviously cannot reach any definite conclusion about the origin of the polyptych and the vicissitudes it encountered in the nine¬ teenth century. But whatever solution we opt for regarding the problem ofthe dating of thèse works and consequently of their place in the évolution of Simone Martini 's style, it is precisely in thèse small pictures that we find the most dramatically disturbing summit of his art, which certainly influenced ail the paintings executed subsequently in central Italy and southern France. Coming to the period of the Renaissance, we may note that a particularly remarkable work of that period was fragmented and part of it lost the polyptych of the Church of Santa Maria del Carminé, in Pisa, by Masaccio. There is a great deal of documentation on the origin of the work. The altar it was intended for was placed near the
Italian painting
.
the eighteenth century, and puts it at the end of 1500. In the 1568 édition oîLives ofthe Most Excellent Pointers, Sculptors and Architects, Vasari speaks of the polyptych as being in its original place. De Morrona, in his Pisa Illustrata, states that in 1750 the polyptych was no longer where it had been initially placed. We know certain facts about the various pièces of this work: the Crucifixion was acquired in 1901 from a private person by the Naples Muséum; the Saint Paul was left by Zucchetti in 1796 to the Primaziale of Pisa, whence it passed to the muséum; the Saint Andrew ofthe Lanckoronski Collection was identified in 1896 by Schmarsow; the Virgin Enthroned, which has been in the National Gallery in London since 1916, was recognized in 1907 by Berenson at a private home in England; the four small saints ofthe Berlin Muséum (they hâve been there since 1905) were shown as the work of Masaccio at an exhibition in London in 1893 (Butler Collec¬ tion); Iastly, ofthe three paintings from the predella now in Berlin that of The Adoration of the Magi and that of The Martyrdom of Saint Peter and the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist were purchased in 1880 from the collection of G. Capponi, where they had been in the middle of the nine¬ teenth century, whilst the painting depicting The Lives of Saint Julian and Saint Nicholas was bought in 1908. The actual history ofthe dispersion of this very great Renaissance work thus remains somewhat obscure. Its dismemberment is aU the more regrettable as it marked the appearance in paint¬ ing ofa new awareness ofthe relations between space and the figure, between man and reality as a whole, a balance that was to be strikingly emphasized by the rule that the entire composition of what was visible should be enclosed within a unitary structure.
22
Franco Renzo Pesenti
We are not certain of the date when Domenico Veneziano painted the altar-piece for the Church of Santa Lucia dei Magnoli in Florence, with the Virgin, Saint Francis and Saint John the Baptist, Saint Zenobius and Saint Lucy, which had a predella representing the lives of those four saints, with an Annunciation in the centre, although there are good grounds for putting it between 1445 and 1448. We know more about the fate of the work. The altar-piece was placed first on the high altar and subsequently on the side altar known as the Altar of the Bigallo, before being transferred in 1862 to the Uffizi Gallery. But while in 1795 Lanzi had seen it whole with its predella, the scènes depicted on the predella had already been dispersed at the time of its transfer to the Uffizi, since the Martyrdom of Saint Lucy had been bought in Italy by the Berlin Muséum in 1841-42. Fortunately, we can imagine how the unity of the painting could be reconstituted, since the five parts of the predella hâve been found. The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy, which was recognized by Bode in 1883 as being part of it, formed the last section on the right. The first, with The Ecstasy of Saint Francis, which is now in the National Gallery, Washington, first came to light at Boehler's in Munich, and was subsequently authenticated by Longhi in 1929. The second, Saint John the Baptist as a Child in the Désert, also in Washington, comes from the Hamilton Col¬ lection, New York, and was authenticated by Berenson in 1924-25. The Annunciation in the centre was acquired by the Fitzwilliam Muséum, Cambridge, in 1923, under the Fuller bequest, and was authenticated two years later by A. Venturi. The Miracle of Saint Zenobius, also in the Fitzwilliam Muséum, was authenticated by Berenson in 1924-25. Berti says that the altar-piece was an example of refinement for the whole of the second half of the fifteenth century in Florence, and in it, according to Argan, Domenico Vene¬ ziano approached 'the identification of absolute light and absolute space'. We may note that viewing the delicately handled, serene, limpid solemnity of the large picture at the same time as the mild lyricism of the small, more narrative pictures of the predella could considerably illuminate our appréciation of each of them. The three large pictures by Paolo Uccello, representing the battle of San Romano, at which the Florentines defeated the Siennese in 1433, in ail probability painted very shortly after 1455, were part of the décoration of the bed-chamber of Lorenzo the Magnificent in the Medici Palace in Florence, and is now the first room in the Medici Muséum. As a resuit
of the récent restoration of the painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, a hypothesis has been advanced as to exactly how the three works were originally placed. According to an inventory dated 1492, they were hung, together with three other pictures, high up in that room. Restoration showed that there was a part added in the upper corners of the picture which is in the Uffizi, and the same is true of the other two pictures, now in London and Paris. From the shape of the corners, which of course follow the line ofthe springers ofthe arch, and from the dimensions it was concluded that the Lon¬ don and Florence panels had been on the wall where the entrance was, while the Paris panel had been on the left wall, next to the Florence panel. In the sixteenth century the panels were moved from the chamber. Analysis of the materials has shown that the additions at the corners date from that period. According to an inventory taken in 1 598, they were then in another part of the palace, framed together and ail on the same wall. The three other paintings which completed the original décoration hâve been lost. According to the inven¬ tory of 1492, two of thèse were the work of Paolo Uccello, one representing dragons and lions and the other the story of Paris, while the third was by Francesco Pesellino, and represented a hunt. But we do not know what happened even to the three remaining pictures, after they were moved. Going back over the years, we note that the Uffizi pictures were bought between 1769 and 1784. The pictures in the Louvre and those in London were probably together until the middle of the nineteenth century, when they became part of the Lombardi Baldi Collection. The former then became part of the Campana Collection and, in 1861, was acquired by the Napo¬ léon III Muséum, before finally reaching the Louvre. The latter was purchased by the National Gallery in 1857. The différent ways in which the three paintings of the battle of San Romano hâve been interpreted give some idea of the complexity of thèse works. Some critics hâve emphasized the freedom of imagination shown by the artist, who reproduced the evocatory power and colour of the Gothic world, others, intellectual inquiry in its far-ranging explora¬ tion of the principles of perspective, and others again the human feeling to be found in them, so much so that the work has been called a fifteenth-century Guernica. In any case, the significance they hâve gained in the study of painting today and the influence they hâve exerted are a clearer indication of their importance.
23
Disrnembered works of art
In the letter of 5 January 1457, in which the Marquis Ludovico Gonzaga tried to persuade Mantegna to become his court artist, there is a référence to the fact that work had already been begun on the altar-piece in the Church of San Zeno, in Verona. It is indeed an altar-piece rather than a polyptych, for the comice between the three principal parts tallies perfectly with the architectural setting of his Sacra Conversazione. In June 1459 Mantegna was still engaged on this work, at Padua, and it was only after he had executed the work commissioned by the protonotary apostolic, the humanist Gregorio Correr, Abbot of San Zeno, that he settled in Mantua. The fate of the altar-piece and of the paintings on the predella is well known. They remained on the altar of San Zeno until 1797, and they, like other paintings, gave Bona¬ parte occasion to follow the advice contained in the two letters from Camot of 7 May 1796 in which he declared that the time had come for the works of art that had been the glory and wealth of Italy to embellish the country of liberty, and for the bronze and silver pièces to finance its military expéditions. Mantegna's pictures were taken to France and remained there until 1815. Owing to the clause that the victorious powers had inserted in the Treaty of Paris at the instigation of Wellington and Blucher, ordering the restitu¬ tion of the works of art taken from Italy 'because they are inséparable from the country to which they once belonged', the work was retumed to its original setting. Only the three paintings on the predella of which The Agony in the Garden and The Résurrection are in the Muséum of Tours and The Crucifixion in the Louvre hâve been replaced in Verona by copies. It may be of interest to mention two newspaper items published in 1798 concerning NapoIeon's booty. In that year, the London Daily Advertiser published an announcement stating that an unprecedented exhibition was being held in Whitcomb Street, near Leicester Square, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and that only the prevailing situation in Italy had made it possible to gather together so many masterpieces. The exhibits included perfectly preserved paintings by such masters as Raphaël, Domenichino, Titian, the Carracci, Guercino, Guido Reni, Veronese, Tintoretto, Velasquez, Carlo Dolci and Poussin, and the entrance fee was one shilling. At the same time, Quatremère de Quincy, writing in the Paris paper Le Rédacteur, stated in substance that works of art were planned in accordance with a particular environment and for it, and that removing them from it made it more difficult to understand them. Speaking 'on
Italian painting
behalf of the European Republic of Arts and Sciences, and not as a citizen of a particular nation', he said that Italy had become the muséum of Europe; '. . . and what are we doing', he went on, 'with this great muséum? We are taking away one stone of it after another, and imperilling the whole édifice.' The dialectical relation between the upper part and the predella in Mantegna's altar-piece should be noted. The suprême stylization of the former in which classicism and Christianity are seen as part of immutable time is answered by the présentation, in the predella, of scènes of a constantly unfolding drama: expectation, sacrifice and catharsis caught in a desperate quest for truth and in a synthesis which gives them a lapidary clarity. On an altar in the Church of San Giorgio, outside the walls of Ferrara, was one of the most important works of Cosimo Tura, the polyptych commissioned by the Roverellas. On 14 January 1709, the heavy artillery which was firing from the town at the Germans encamped on the outskirts hit the very part of the church where the polyptych was. The side most damaged was apparently the left latéral part represent¬ ing Lorenzo Roverella, ex-physician to Pope Julius V and Bishop of Ferrara, knocking at the gâtes of the Kingdom of Heaven, presented by Saint Peter and Saint George. From the date of his death the lines written on the organ in the centre, beneath the Virgin, themselves referred to it we may infer that Tura executed the work around 1474. On the other hand, the person still to be seen kneeling on the right latéral part is, in ail probability, Lorenzo 's brother, Nicolô Rove¬ rella, an abbot and later abbot-general of the Order of Olivetans, to which that church belonged. He is perhaps the person to whom we owe the fact that the polyptych was painted. After that unfortunate cannon shot the polyptych was split up, and at least some ofthe pièces were still in the vestries of San Giorgio in 1773. In 1787 the upper lunette with the Lamentfor the Dead Christ was still there. In 1817 that part, together with the central part representing The Virgin, was in the Zafferini Collection. Later, we find it alone, at Brescia. In 1861 it was in the Campana Collection, and in 1863 it was acquired by the Louvre. On the other hand, the Virgin Enthroned with Child and Angels was transferred to Bergamo. In 1867 it was in England, in the Eastlake Collection, and later in the National Gallery. At the end of the eighteenth century the left latéral part, with Saint Maurelius, Saint Paul
24
Franco Renzo Pesenti
and Nicolà Roverella, was at Ferrara in the keeping of the parish priest of San Tomasio. The Colonna Collection acquired it in 1836 from the Nagliati di Pontelagoscuro Col¬ lection, and it is now in the gallery of that name in Rome. The fate of the left latéral part, which was disrnembered, is not clear. In 1940 Haertzsch recognized as Tura's work the Head of Saint George, which, since 1929, had been in the Von Lamina Collection, in Prague. About the same time, Roberto Longhi, in making convincing comparisons, identified it as a pièce ofthe left latéral part of the Roverella polyptych, about which he had, in 1934, put forward a hypothesis based in particular on the descriptions of chroniclers. It will be seen from this outline that neither the Saint Benedict and Saint Bernard, whose busts must hâve been above the latéral parts, nor the small pictures which, accord¬ ing to Baruffaldi, were at the base of the large picture, and which depicted in miniature scènes from the lives of those saints, hâve come down to us. Longhi has suggested that, in addition to those subjects, the polyptych represented the three épisodes from the childhood of Christ, one of which, The Flight into Egypt, is in the New York Metropolitan Muséum, another The Circumcision, in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Muséum, Boston, and the last, The Adoration ofthe Magi, in the Fogg Art Muséum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Net everyone, however, finds this hypothesis convincing. Tura's art in this work is extremely impressive. Argan wrote of the Roverella polyptych: '. . . It is an example of asceticism, an almost automatic call to the turning-point that the soûl has to face in order to overcome and transcend matter. Through the clear dynamism of its own création rather than through the things represented, art accentuâtes the dynamism ofthe élective striving ofthe human soûl.' Another major Renaissance painting at Ferrara to be split up and dispersed was the polyptych of the Griffoni Chapel in the Basilica of Saint Petronius of Bologna. On 15 July 1473, the master cabinet-maker and inlayer Agostino de Marchi of Crema demanded payment for the framing. The pictorial part was the work of Francesco del Cossa, from whom it had been commissioned by Floriano Griffoni. The central part of the polyptych was dedicated to Saint Vincent Ferrer, and Saint Peter and Saint John the Baptist were represented on the sides. The predella was adorned with a single picture depicting six épisodes from the life of Saint Vincent Ferrer. Frizzoni had authenticated thèse parts as early as 1 888. Hypothèses regarding the rest of the
work were advanced by Longhi in 1934 and 1940. According to him, it is a work with a great many components, which are now to be found in différent collections and places. In 1776 the polyptych was removed and taken to the Aldobrandi résidence. From there the predella, executed in collaboration with Ercole de' Roberti, reached the Vatican in 1838. In that year's catalogue of the Constabili Collection, in Ferrara, R. Longhi identifies numerous items of the reconstitution suggested by him for the polyptych, and uses them to support his theory that the Ferrara Collection had included Saint Vincent Ferrer and The Crucifixion, which originally sur¬ mounted it, Saint Anthony and Saint George on the small latéral pilasters, and The Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin over the small pilasters. Towards the middle ofthe nineteenth century, the Barbicenti Collection in Ferrara possessed the Saint Peter, the Saint John and the Saint Petronius, which, according to Longhi, were ail on the latéral pilasters. There is no need to recount the successive journeys that the various parts of the work made from one collection to another. Today the polyptych, as Longhi had foreseen, is divided up between the National Gallery, Washington, which has the Crucifixion and the two saints Saint Florian and Saint Lucy from the upper part, the National Gallery, London, which has the Saint Vincent Ferrer, the Brera Gal¬ lery in Milan, where the parts representing Saint Peter and Saint John are to be seen, and Varese, where The Angel Gabriel and The Annunciation are to be found in the Cagnola Collection. The saints on the small latéral pilasters to the left are Saint Michael and Saint Apollonia, which are in the Louvre, the Saint Anthony of the Van Beuningen Collection, and the Saint Petronius of the Vendeghini Collection. Of the small saints depicted on the right-hand latéral part, three hâve remained together in the Cini Collection in Venice the Saint George, the Saint Jérôme and the Saint Catherine. The predella, as stated above, is in the Vatican. The theoretical reconstitution of the Griffoni polyptych, which at least leaves us in no doubt regarding the central parts and the predella, gives us considérable insight into the expérimental approach to art of the Ferrara painters. F. del Cossa uses the same sort of subject-matter as Tura; he recap¬ tures the grandeur of Piero deUa Francesca, and he has Andréa Mantegna's ability to strike a balance between analysis and synthesis. In his altar-piece he portrays a sort of dialogue between the characters and the landscape; and he finds still more dialectic éléments for instance, when he
25
Disrnembered works of art
makes the upper figures stand out against the gold background, gives them their full weight, and makes them radiate light, so that they express a kind of exaspération with ail the dissensions going on below them. The predella, by E. de' Roberti, in which narration and space are treated as facets that establish new syntaxic relations, increases the expéri¬ mental, exploratory value ofthe work, giving it meanings not ail of which were understood by those who came after him. The last work we shall consider is by Luca Signorelli. Vasari recalls that this artist painted pictures for the Bichi chapel in the Church of Sant' Agostino at Sienna around a statue of Saint Christopher. The exact date is given by S. Tizio in his Storie Senesi. He relates, in 1513, that a relation of his named Luca had executed paintings for the chapel of Antonio Bichi and his daughter Eustachia fifteen years before i.e. in 1498. The Siennese guide-books of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries speak of the statue a sa work by Jacopo délia Quercia. And by comparing the guides it can be ascertained that it was probably shortly before 1760 that the Bichi family removed the statue and the paintings from the chapel. In the middle of the eighteenth century, Father Galgano Bichi described ail the works of art that adomed the chapel, and on the basis of that description Borenius suggested how it should be theoretically reconstituted. The works must hâve remained for some time in the possession ofthe Bichi family. The most important parts were relinquished in the early nineteenth century: the two latéral paintings representing saints were bought by the banker Solly and subsequently reached Berlin. The movements of the other parts cannot be ascertained. The wooden statue of Saint Christopher, if it really is the one identified by De Fabriczi in the Louvre, arrived there in 1890. It came from the Eugène Piot bequest, and had been purchased at Siena in 1858. But Iet us see how the works must hâve been placed in the chapel. As we hâve said, the statue of Saint Christopher, today no longer carrying the Child Jésus, was in the middle. A little further back, almost at the far end, were the two pictures which today are in the Toledo Muséum, Ohio; thèse, in accordance with the thème of the saint who helped people across the water, show two groups of persons, some preparing to cross the ford and the others already on the far side. The pictures at the sides represent two groups of three saints under open arch-ways Saint Catherine of Sienna, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Jérôme on the left, and Saint Augustine, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Anthony of Padua on the right. Thèse
Italian painting
works are in the Dahlem Gallery, Berlin. The base of the polyptych was decorated with three pictures: one (now in the Dublin National Gallery) which shows the Feast in Simon's house, with Mary Magdalene, was below the large picture representing the saint. In the centre was the Pietà, with its numerous characters, which is today in the Stirling Maxwell Collection, Glasgow. Under the picture representing Saint Catherine of Alexandria was the Martyrdom of the Saint, now in the muséum of the Clark Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. The work is not one of Signorelli 's greatest, although his qualities plasticity and dramatic intensity are évident, particularly in the predella. On the other hand, however, the interest of the work ought to be considered afresh in relation to its original structure. The archways, the monumental quality of the figures of saints, the clean outline of the background figures and the detailed, penetrating expressiveness of the pictures below aU this can only be properly appreciated when we realize how they were origi¬ nally placed. We must conclude this inventory, which merely gives some idea of the very large number of Italian works of art that hâve been dispersed, stolen or lost. And while the works we hâve considered date from the period in which Italian art came into its own, that does not mean that those of subsé¬ quent centuries met a kinder fate. Everything that has happened is to a very large extent irréparable, but it may provide a lesson for the future.
26
Italian painting
Predella of the Maestà, Sienna Cathedral Artist Duccio di Buoninsegna.
Subject The central part and the Coronation: on the front, The Virgin Enthroned with Child, Angels and Saints, and Scènes from the End ofthe Life of the Virgin; on the back, scènes from The Passion and the Appearances of Jésus. The predella (according to F. A. Cooper): Front, The Annunciation, Isaiah, The Nativity, Ezekiel, The Adoration of the Magi, Solomon, The Présentation in the Temple, Malachl, The Massacre ofthe Innocents, Jeremiah, The Flight Into Egypt, Hosea; Back, Jésus Among the Doctors, The Temptation In the Temple, The Temptation on the Mount, The Calling of Peter and Andrew, The Marriage at Cana, Christ and the Woman of Samarla, The Miraculous Healîng ofthe Mon Born Bllnd, The Transfiguration, The Résurrection ofLazarus.
School, group, period Sieimese School, 1308-11.
Original location Sienna (Italy). Shape
Polyptych. Dimensions Orignal: approx. 411 cm x 214 cm.
Paint layer Distemper. Support Poplar.
Previous history On 9 October 1308 Duccio signed an agreement with the Opéra del Duomo, in Sienna, and on 9 June 1311 the altar-piece was placed over the high altar. On 1 August 1771 it was divided vertically and then through the middle, after which the dispersion of the parts of the Coro¬ nation and of the predeUa began.
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