Case 1, 2014-15: The Penitent 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of Brighton’ for 5,500 francs; Included in the Townend sale at Christie’s, , 14 July 1883, lot 74 (as by Ribera) but withdrawn from sale; Thence by descent to Charles Townend Allan Hastings Wheler at Newick, nr.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;

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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, /Seville/London 2012, pp. 138-40, cat. no. 17.

Key exhibition references: , ed., Murillo & Justino de Neve. The Art of Friendship, Madrid, , 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 , 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 lighting, are strongly reminiscent of the 17th-century Spanish painter , 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 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 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. When Justino commissioned the painting he may have done so already with a view to donating it to the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes, which was founded in 1676 but was still under construction when Justino died in 1685. Justino bequeathed other pictures to the Hospital including Murillo’s full-length portrait of him (today in the National Gallery, London).

Although The Penitent Saint Peter has been dated to c. 1675, the painting may date from a little earlier – even to the mid-1660s, around the time that Murillo painted Justino’s portrait, today in the National Gallery (1665).

1 ‘… Yten un rretrato de el sseñor san Pedro de mano de morillo con su moldura dorada que tiene de largo tres baras [este fue legado]’ (see 2012-13 exh. cat., p. 163, under ‘Inventory of pictures and sculptures of Justino de Neve). 2 The Penitent Saint Peter’s original perforated gilt frame is still on the altar, though the painting has now been replaced with another canvas, and the present frame on The Penitent Saint Peter most likely dates from the early 19th century at the time of Marshal Soult’s removal of the painting in 1810. 3

A drawing by Murillo in the British Museum showing The Penitent Saint Peter (1946-7-13- 1155) may relate to this painting. Although there are a number differences between the pose of Saint Peter in the drawing and painting, the scarcity of pictures with this subject matter in Murillo’s oeuvre does argue in favour of this sheet being an early compositional study for the painting being examined here.

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WAVERLEY THREE – the painting is of outstanding significance for the study of some particular branch of art, learning or history

The painting is of outstanding significance for the study of Spanish painting and, in particular, in the context of Murillo’s oeuvre. The Penitent Saint Peter’s unusual subject matter and uncharacteristically Riberesque style mark the painting out in the wider context of Murillo’s output. The provenance of the picture, having been commissioned by Murillo’s important friend and patron Justino de Neve, is also of particular significance. This is especially true if one considers The Penitent Saint Peter in relation to other works in this country that boast a similar provenance:-

o Murillo’s Portrait of Justino de Neve (1665) in the National Gallery, London (NG6448), included in 2012-13 exhibition, cat. no. 1.This was painted by Murillo as a gift for Justino de Neve, as the inscription on the painting indicates, and was bequeathed by the latter to the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes in Seville (the same hospital to which he bequeathed The Penitent Saint Peter being examined here). o Murillo’s Faith or the Church Triumphant (1664-65) in the Faringdon collection at Buscot Park, Oxfordshire (included in 2012-13 exhibition, cat. no. 6). This shaped canvas was one of two lunettes at the top end of the side aisles of the newly- reconstructed parish church of Santa Maria la Blanca in Seville (where it was installed by early August 1665). The other lunette, showing The Immaculate Conception, is in the Musée du , Paris, and two larger lunettes which were originally in the small dome of the same church are in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. These works were commissioned by Justino de Neve, whose portrait is included in the lunette in the Louvre. o Murillo’s The Young Christ as The Good Shepherd (c. 1660-65) in the George Lane Collection at Ashton Wold, Peterborough (formerly on deposit at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery). This painting is a pair to the National Gallery’s own The Infant Saint John the Baptist with the Lamb (NG176). Both these paintings were in the collection of Justino de Neve and are listed together in his 1685 post-mortem inventory. They were clearly conceived as pendants and Justino de Neve lent his own pictures to adorn the temporary altar erected in the Plaza de Santa María la Blanca in 1665, during the festivities for the church’s inauguration.

Until its inclusion in the 2012-13 exhibition in Madrid, Seville and Dulwich, The Penitent Saint Peter was only known through a black and white photograph published by Diego Angulo (1974), now in the photographic archives of Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez. In the words of the art historian, Benito Navarrete Prieto, who contributed to the 2012-13 exhibition catalogue: ‘It had therefore not been possible to study its original colouring since the painting was appropriated by Marshal Soult. In this respect, the reappearance of the work on the art market is an event of international significance, as it represents the essence of a seasoned and spirited painter who is reluctant to abandon his original sources, such as Ribera whose style, in Ponz’s opinion, he manages ‘to surpass in gentleness and colouring’ […] Saint Peter’s face and his glassy eyes, however, preserve much of the young Murillo and attest to the experience of an artist who trained in a realist style but ended up softening his palette and heralding the aesthetic of the late around 1670.’

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