LOT DETAILS
Materials:
oil on slate
Measurements:
18.70 in. (47.50 cm.) (height) by 14.17 in. (36.00 cm.) (width)
Condition:
The following condition report is provided by Simon Folkes who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Sebastiano del Piombo Portrait of a man, said to be Ippolito de'Medici. Oil on slate. 47.5 x 36 cm. 18 7/8 x 14 1/8 in. Support The painting is on a single piece of lightly polished slate with a rough surface on the reverse. With the exception of a feint diagonal line running up from the lower left side across the face between the nose and the mouth and into the background on the right, the surface is completely flat and undamaged. Paint layers The condition of the paint layers is generally very good although a little thin in places. The artist has prepared the slate surface with a warm pale orange-red ground colour, clearly visible at the lower left side, before painting in the grey background colour across the whole painting. The portrait has then been applied over the grey background and this colour can be seen bleeding through the hair, face and beard where the upper layers have been thinned, probably during previous cleaning cycles. These areas of thinness have largely been left alone during the most recent restoration but there are a scattering of small retouchings across the painting which can most clearly be seen under UV light. These can be found in the hair, beard and in the neck directly below the beard as well as in the background at the upper left corner. A longer and broader line of earlier overpaint runs up from the sitter's ear along the hair line to the point where it reaches the top of his visible forehead. Otherwise the painting is in a remarkably good state of preservation. Varnish coating The painting has an even and transparent coat of varnish with traces of an earlier coat in the crown of the hair which fluoresces slightly when examined under UV. "This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."
Literature:
A. Ballarin, 'Un nuovo ritratto su lavagna di Sebastiano del Piombo', in ; Nuovi Studi, Rivista di arte antica e moderna, vol. 21, 2015, pp. 71–80, reproduced in colour pls XV, XVI, and XVII and figs 108–09, 114, 121, 124, 130 and 132–33 (as depicting Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici); ; A. Cerasuolo, 'Osservazioni sulla tecnica di Sebastiano del Piombo', in Nuovi Studi, 21, 2015, pp. 81–86; ; P. Baker-Bates, ''Uno nuovo modo di colorire in pietra': Technical Experimentation in the Art of Sebastiano del Piombo', in P. Baker-Bates and E. M. Calvillo (eds), Almost Eternal: Painting on Stone and Material Innovation in Early Modern Europe, Art and Material Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, vol. 10, April 2018, pp. 53, and 64, reproduced p. 54, fig. 1.4 (incorrectly listed by the publisher as attributed to Sebastiano); ; P. Baker-Bates, 'Technical Experimentation in the Art of Sebastiano del Piombo: Further Thoughts', forthcoming (as by Sebastiano del Piombo).
Provenance:
Count Giuseppe Canera di Salasco, Villa Franceschini Pasini Canera di Salasco di Arcugnano, Vicenza, Italy; ; His deceased sale, Milan, Finarte, 25 February 1986, lot 103 (as Venetian School, 17<sup>th</sup> century, Portrait of a Warrior); ; Where acquired by the present owner.