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North Italian 16th Century (Possibly Gian Paolo Pace)
Alessandro Alberti with a Page
K1561
152
possibly 1544/1545
oil on canvas
Painting
124.2 x 102.7 cm (48 7/8 x 40 7/16 in)
Marchese Torrigiani, Palazzo Torrigiani, Florence, by 1856; [1] his heirs, until 1895/1896; [2] possibly Stefano Bardini [1836-1922], Florence. [3] Alfred Beit [1853-1906], London, and Tewin Water, near Welwyn, Hertfordshire, by 1904; [4] by inheritance to his brother, Sir Otto John Beit, 1st bt. [1865-1930], London and Tewin Water; [5] by inheritance to his daughter, Mrs. Arthur Clifford Howie Bull [1899-1982, née Alice Angela Beit], Tewin Water, and Bryndewen, Gwent, Wales; (Bull sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 25 October 1946, no. 49, as by Veronese, "possibly by a painter connected with Parmigianino"); (William Sabin, London). (Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi, Florence); sold July 1948 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; [6] gift 1952 to NGA. [1] Otto Mündler recorded seeing the painting in September 1856; see "The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler 1855-1858," ed. Carol Togneri Dowd, Walpole Society 51 (1985): 131-132, 327. He described it as "A singular picture...with a letter, on which the name of Paolo Cagliari and 1557 is lisible[sic]." Mündler spelled the family name Torreggiani. [2] Elvira Grifi, Saunterings in Florence: A New Artistic and Practical Handbook for English and American Tourists, Florence, 1896: 385, no. 12, as by Veronese. [3] According to Everett Fahy, L'Archivio Storico Fotografico di Stefano Bardini: Dipinti, Disegni, Miniature, Stampe, Florence, 2000: 28, no. 81, Bardini acquired the painting from Torrigiani's heirs by 1895, but he provides no documentation for this date, and the introduction to the book states that the fact of Bardini owning a photographic negative did not always mean he owned the work of art. [4] Wilhelm von Bode, The Art Collection of Mr. Alfred Beit, Berlin, 1904: 5-6, 52, as by Veronese(?). [5] Wilhelm von Bode, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures and Bronzes in the Collection of Mr. Otto Beit, London, 1913: 47-48, 100, questioning the validity of the signature and the subsequent attribution to Veronese. [6] The Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini-Bonacossi on 7 June 1948 for a group of twenty-eight paintings, including Lotto's "Gentleman with a Page;" the offer was accepted on 11 July 1948 (see copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files).
1952.5.80
1561
1159
