Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian and Girolamo Dente

Exhibited by Trinity Fine Art

Material Oil on canvas

Dimensions 104.7 x 93 cm

Place of Creation Italy

Status Vetted

About the Work

A rediscovered Titian at TEFAF: Trinity Fine Art presents a masterpiece by the greatest painter of 16th century Venice. Titian’s "Madonna and Child with St. Mary Magdalen", whose execution can be dated to between 1555 and 1560, is being brought to light after being hidden from public view in various private collections for more than two centuries. The picture is remarkable for its sophisticated composition and emotional depth, both typical features of Titian’s mature work. The superb quality of the brushwork and the excellent condition of the painted surface give this picture the edge over other versions of the same subject hanging in some of the world’s leading museums, such as the Hermitage, the Gallerie degli Uffizi and the Museo di Capodimonte. The work was acquired by the Sebright family in the 18th century from an unnamed Milanese Palazzo and remained in their collection at Beechwood Park until 1937, when the house and contents were sold by Christie’s. After that it briefly resurfaced in 1947 when it was shipped to Rome to be relined and was shortly thereafter sent to a private collection in New York.

Fascinating details relating to Titian’s studio practices were revealed when the painting was X-rayed in 2024; this showed a window on the left that was later covered, demonstrating how Titian modified and changed the composition as the work progressed. Moreover, the Child originally had a sunburst halo, no coral necklace, his right hand was turned upward, and the Virgin’s mantle covered her knee. The most striking reworking, however, is in the figure of the Magdalen which initially, was painted by Titian as a male figure, complete with beard, offering something to the Child (although it is unclear what).

According to Prof. Dal Pozzolo, a plausible explanation could be that the picture may have been conceived, and largely painted, for someone who died before it was completed, or who may never have collected it from the artist. At that point, it remained in his studio until he decided, a few years later, to turn the figure into St. Mary Magdalen, delegating the change to an assistant, whom we can almost certainly identify as Girolamo Dente, a painter who had been his most trusted collaborator for many years.

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Provenance

Provenance:
Private collection, Milan;
Sebright collection, Beechwood Park, 19th century; Sir Giles Edward Sebright (1896–1954), 13th Baronet;
Sir Giles Sebright sale, Christie’s London, 2 July 1937, lot 136;
Private collection, London, 1948 (F. Zeri, written note dated 18 January 1991);
Mario Modestini, Rome (F. Zeri, Zeri Photographic Library, Bologna, shows the date as 1947, yet in his note dated 18 January 1991 he talks about a time after 1948 when it was in a private collection in London);
Shipped to New York by Louis Levy on 10 November 1948 (Berenson Photographic Library, Villa I Tatti, Florence);
With Frederick Mont and Mario Modestini, New York, 1967 (F. Zeri, Zeri Photographic Library);
Private collection, New York, 1980 and 1982 (F. Zeri, Zeri Photographic Library, Bologna).

Literature

Literature:
W. Suida, Miscellanea tizianesca, in “Arte Veneta”, VI, 1952, pp. 28-30, reproduced on p. 29 fig. 3 (autograph);
R. Pallucchini, Tiziano. Lectures delivered at the Facoltà di Lettere in the Università di Bologna during academic year 1952-53, Bologna 1953, pp. 48-49 (autograph);
F. Valcanover, Tutta la pittura di Tiziano, Milan 1960, vol. I, p. 103 (listed among the works “attributed” to the master);
T.D. Fomiciova, I dipinti di Tiziano nelle raccolte dell’Ermitage, in “Arte Veneta”, XXI, 1967, p. 63;
R. Pallucchini, Tiziano, Florence 1969, vol. I, p. 128, vol. II, plates 359 and 360 (autograph);
F. Valcanover (ed.), L’opera completa di Tiziano, introduction by C. Cagli, I Classici dell’arte, Milan 1969, p. 112, cat. no. 215, II ed. 1978, p. 112 no. 215;
H. E. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian. I. The Religious Paintings, London, 1969, p. 111, cat. no. 68.3;
G. Incerpi, in G. Agostini, E. Allegri, A. Cecchi, G. Chiarini, L. Fiorentini, G. Incerpi, M. Manfrini, F.P. Squellati, M. Zecchini (ed.),
Tiziano nelle Gallerie fiorentine, catalogue of the exhibition held in 1978-9, Florence 1978, pp. 185, 186 note 37;
T. Pignatti, Tiziano. Tutti i dipinti, vol. I, Milan 1981, p. 80, n. 218;
T.D. Fomichova, The Hermitage. Catalogue of Western European painting, Venetian painting: fourteenth to eighteenth centuries, Florence 1992, p. 336;
M. Dazzi, E. Merkel (ed.), Catalogo della Pinacoteca della Fondazione scientifica Querini Stampalia, Vicenza 1993, p. 42;
M. Utili, in La collezione Farnese. I dipinti lombardi, liguri, veneti, toscani, umbri, romani, fiamminghi. Altre scuole. Fasti farnesiani, Napoli 1995, p. 70: (listed as “probably workshop”);
V. Tátrai, Una novità tizianesca in Ungheria, in “Arte cristiana”, 94, 2006, 832, pp. 34, 37 (“autograph, between Budapest and Hermitage”);
V. Tátrai, in L. Puppi (ed.), Tiziano. L’ultimo atto, catalogue of the exhibition held in Belluno in 2007-8, Milan 2007, p. 390 (“attributed to Titian”);
G. Tagliaferro, La pala di Serravalle e la congiuntura degli anni ‘40, in “Venezia Cinquecento”, XVIII, 2008 (2009), p. 51;
G. Tagliaferro, Assistenti al lavoro: la produzione fra terzo e quinto decennio, in B. Aikema, M. Mancini, A.J. Martin, G. Tagliaferro, Le botteghe di Tiziano, Florence 2009, p. 128;
F. De Luca, in A. Natali (ed.), Il pane degli angeli – Offering of the Angels. Paintings and Tapestries from the Uffizi Gallery, catalogue of the exhibition held in 2011-13, Florence 2011, p. 148;
I. Artemieva, La Madonna Barbarigo di Tiziano, in I. Artemieva, D. Ton (ed.), Tiziano. La Madonna Barbarigo dell’Ermitage: Storia, fortuna, restauro, catalogue of the exhibition held in Belluno in 2017, Verona 2017, p. 13, reproduced as fig. 1 p. 21;
D. Ton, Per la fortuna di un modello tizianesco, in in I. Artemieva, D. Ton (ed.), Tiziano. La Madonna Barbarigo dell’Ermitage: Storia, fortuna, restauro, catalogue of the exhibition held in Belluno in 2017, Verona 2017, p. 20, fig. 1 “Titian and assistants (?)”;
I. Artemieva, Titian’s Barbarigo Madonna: the original and its variants, in P. Humfrey (ed.), Titian. Themes and Variations, Florence 2023, pp. 157, 159, p. 161 note 23.