Case 1, 2014-15: The Penitent Saint Peter by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Expert adviser’s statement Reviewing Committee Secretary’s note: Please note that any illustrations referred to have not been reproduced on the Arts Council England Website EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) The Penitent Saint Peter c. 1675 oil on canvas, in a French 19th-century frame (almost certainly made whilst in Marshal Soult’s collection, so datable to the period between 1810 and 1850) 212 x 155 cm. (83½ by 61 in.) Condition: The canvas has been relatively recently relined but the paint surface still retains some of its original texture and impasto, particularly on the figure of Saint Peter. Past flaking has been stabilised and is now secure. The figure of Saint Peter is in good condition overall and some pentiments are visible in the arrangement of the apostle’s drapery. There are scattered retouchings throughout, particularly along the left side and background where the painting appears to have suffered in the past. There is a repaired 6-inch vertical tear running up from the lower edge. (Detailed condition report prepared by Sarah Walden, dated 14 March 2014.) Provenance: Painted for Justino de Neve (1625-1685) and bequeathed by him to the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes, Seville, in 1685; Installed in the church of the hospital (hanging on the first altar on the right by 1701); Appropriated by Marshal Jean de Dieu Soult (1769-1851) in Seville in 1810 and subsequently taken by him to France; Soult sale, Paris, 19, 21-22 May 1852, lot 65, where acquired by a certain ‘Townend of Brighton’ for 5,500 francs; Included in the Townend sale at Christie’s, London, 14 July 1883, lot 74 (as by Ribera) but withdrawn from sale; Thence by descent to Charles Townend Allan Hastings Wheler at Newick, nr. Uckfield in Sussex (when published by Angulo, 1974); Sold by the Wheler family in 2005; Thence in possession of the same owner until recently. Key bibliography: A. Ponz [1772-1794], Viaje de España…, ed, 1947, IX (1780), p. 794; J.A. Ceán Bermúdez, Diccionario histórico de los más ilustres profesores de las Bellas Artes en España, 1800, p. 60; J.A. Ceán Bermúdez, Carta de D.J.A.Ceán Bermúdez a un amigo suyo sobre el estilo y gusto en la pintura de la Escuela Sevillana y sobre el grado de perfección a que la elevó Bartolomé Estevan Murillo…, 1806, p. 94; C.B. Curtis, Velazquez and Murillo. A Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Works of Don Diego de Silva Velasquez and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Comprising a Classified List of their Paintings..., 1883, no. 37; D. Angulo Iñiguez, ‘Murillo: el San Pedro de los Venerales de Sevilla’, in Archivio Español de Arte, no. 186, 1974, pp. 156-160; D. Angulo Iñiguez, Murillo: su vida, su arte, su obra, 1981, II, pp. 286-87, no. 364; 1 E. Valdivieso, Murillo. Catálogo razonado de Pinturas, 2010, pp. 185 and 523, no. 362. G. Finaldi, in Murillo & Justino de Neve. The Art of Friendship, exhibition catalogue, Madrid/Seville/London 2012, pp. 138-40, cat. no. 17. Key exhibition references: Gabriele Finaldi, ed., Murillo & Justino de Neve. The Art of Friendship, Madrid, Museo del Prado, 26 June – 30 September 2012; Seville, Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes, 11 October 2012 – 20 January 2013; London, Dulwich Picture Gallery, 6 February – 12 May 2013, no. 17. DETAILED CASE Subject The painting depicts Saint Peter, his eyes red with tears and his hands clasped in prayer, at the moment in which he acknowledges his denial of Christ. The apostle is shown with his attribute of the two keys beside him. The keys refer to Christ’s command to Saint Peter ‘I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’ (Matthew 16:19). This, as Gabriele Finaldi points out in the 2012-13 exhibition catalogue, was understood in a Catholic context to indicate divine sanction of the earthly and heavenly authority of the papacy. Finaldi also argues that the keys are given special prominence here: though this is not entirely true (Saint Peter is normally shown either holding the keys or sitting beside them) the keys may take on additional significance in this painting and might allude to the person who commissioned the painting from Murillo; Justino de Neve, whose second surname was Chaves (‘llaves’ is ‘keys’ in Spanish). Extremely popular in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, Murillo’s paintings had a profound effect on artists working in this country – notably Sir Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds – and his works greatly influenced taste in Great Britain. Although this country is rich in its holdings of Murillo’s works, both in public and private collections, the best of these consist of his genre (‘beggar’) paintings and his multi-figural religious works; notably his domestic representations of the Virgin and Child or The Holy Family (subjects for which Murillo was much admired). The most notable public holdings of his work are at the National Gallery, London (seven paintings); the Wallace Collection (eight paintings); and Dulwich Picture Gallery five fully autograph paintings). The theme of the Penitent Saint Peter is extremely rare in Murillo’s oeuvre though it is not unique. The composition is known in another painted variant, published by Valdivieso (2010) as autograph, in a private collection in Paris (1678-80, oil on canvas, 130 x 80 cm.) [Appendix A]. That painting is significantly smaller in scale and there are some minor differences and adjustments to the figure of Saint Peter; such as the turn of his head, the position of his feet, the drapery on his right knee, and the position of both of the apostle’s attributes. Judging from a photographic reproduction, the Paris painting appears inferior in quality and is more likely a derivation from the painting being examined here. Although there are a handful of paintings by Murilllo representing the apostle Peter, Murillo’s only other treatment of ‘The Penitent Saint Peter’ is a painting from earlier in his career, showing the apostle in three-quarter length with similar attributes, in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao (acquired in 2000 from Caylus; c.1655-60, oil on canvas, 148 x 104 cm.). Style The Penitent Saint Peter is also noteworthy from a stylistic point of view since it is unusually naturalistic for Murillo and this, together with the painting’s marked chiaroscuro lighting, are strongly reminiscent of the 17th-century Spanish painter Jusepe de Ribera, called Lo Spagnoletto (1591-1652). Indeed the painting was considered to be by Ribera in the Townend sale at Christie’s, London, 14 July 1883, lot 74 (where it was withdrawn). This aspect of 2 Murillo’s style is especially interesting given that in the previous century Antonio Ponz had already referred to Murillo’s conscious intention to imitate Ribera in this painting: ‘In it [the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes] there are superb paintings by Murillo, as is the Saint Peter in the first altarpiece on entering the church on the right in which work he set out to imitate Lo Spagnoletto; but without a doubt he surpassed him in the gentleness and softness of the colouring’ (Viaje de España, 1772-94). This was repeated by Céan Bermúdez in the early 19th century: ‘the praying Saint Peter which surpasses in softness and gentleness the well-known Ribera whom he sought to imitate’. There are striking compositional similarities between Murillo’s painting and an engraving of Saint Jerome by Ribera (1621; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), in which the saint is shown in a very similar pose – albeit in reverse – and it has been convincingly argued that this may have served as a model for Murillo’s painting. Provenance The painting was commissioned by Justino de Neve, the priest and canon of the cathedral in Seville; the town in which Murillo was born and spent much of his artistic career. Justino was Murillo’s most significant patron in Seville and the extraordinarily fruitful relationship between the two men was the subject of a recent exhibition in Madrid, Seville and London (Murillo & Justino de Neve. The Art of Friendship, 2012-13). In the catalogue to the exhibition Finaldi refers to ‘the special relationship between painter and sitter, one that was both personal and professional, a long-lasting friendship that was founded on common devotional and financial interests, on a mutual appreciation of the other’s skills and abilities, and on both men’s desire for recognition’ (p. 17). Justino owned at least eighteen works by Murillo and The Penitent Saint Peter is recorded among them. The painting is listed in Justino’s post-mortem inventory of 1685: ‘A painting of the lord Saint Peter by the hand of Murillo with its gilt frame, three varas tall [252 cm.]’.1 In his will Justino bequeathed the painting – ‘with its frame’ – to the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes, the hospital for retired priests which he had been instrumental in founding. Despite his request that the painting should be hung in one of the infirmaries Justino’s wishes were disregarded and by 1701 the painting was hanging on the first altar on the right of the church. It was set into a carved wooden architectural setting with the papal keys and tiara interlaced with palms crowning it: this served to underline the painting’s own subject matter (as noted above, an allustion to Christ giving the keys to Peter).2 Angulo suggested that the painting may have been conceived as part of a pair, perhaps with a Saint Jerome as its pendant, intended to hang on opposite sides of the nave, but Justino’s intentions were clear – he wished The Penitent Saint Peter to hang in one of the infirmaries, not in the church itself.