Venetian Painting in America; the Fifteenth Century
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BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE • _ „ SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND ; THE GIFT OF HenviS M. Sage 1891 B.3.wyife3 "IaH-o-. DATE DUE hjm^^^ MArfrmfi-Ki^ - t¥iC 9n?i)8g. ,fr 'i- GAYLORD INU.S.A. '"7 , Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924008640496 VENETIAN PAINTING IN AMERICA GiovAHKi Bellini: Madomna Collection or the late Mr. Theodore M. Davis VENETIAN PAINTING IN AMERICA THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BY BERNARD BERENSON NEW YORK FREDERIC FAIRCHILD SHERMAN MCMXVI 5 Copyright, 1916, by Frederic Fairchild Sherman PREFACE "Now that we are on the subject of Venetian Paint- ing," that would be a more exact title for this book. For, in fact, I have made the stray pictures in our col- lections the pretext for saying what I wanted to say about their authors in general. In some ways this form suits me as it suited my master, Giovanni Morelli. Like him, I have a dis- taste for including in my own writing questions that do not vividly interest me at the moment, no matter how important in themselves ; and like him, I prefer to avoid such systematic treatment as entails dealing with ma- terials either at second hand, or out of dimmed and at- tenuated recollection. It goes against the grain to write about anything that does not fascinate and absorb me. For the last few years it has been the painters of Venice, and Giovanni Bellini in particular, that have preoccupied my leisure and occupied my working hours. I thought of making a book about him, and I may still do it. But should I fail to achieve this pur- pose the student will be able to gather from this book, supplemented by certain essays in my third series of "Study and Criticism of Italian Art," most of what I have to contribute to the subject. He will see what works I would ascribe to the great artist, in what chron- ological order I would arrange them, how I would reconstruct the whole of the master's career, and how I would relate him to his contemporaries. These contemporaries as well are treated in this vol- ume nearly as exhaustively as suits my own researches and reflections. I have however to some extent been guided by the abundance or the scarcity of the materials, and am happy that these permitted me to say so much about Montagna, so much more still about Cima, and as much as I have said about Basaiti and Catana. Of the minor painters, and of such momentarily over- appreciated ones as Lazzaro Sebastiani or Jacopo di Barbari I have spoken only when works of theirs in America demanded it. Most of them, however, are represented. I venture therefore to trust that this book will not be mistaken for a sort of catalogue of Venetian pictures in America. It is intended to be much more than that. I hope to follow it with another volume on the Six- teenth Century Venetians. My thanks are due to private owners and to public institutions for photographs and the permission to re- produce them.* B. B. Settignano, July, 1916. •Reproductions of nearly all the pictures referred to in this book will be found in a work that should be in every student's hand: A. Venturi's "Storia dell' Arte Italiana," Vol. VII, part IV. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface v List of Illustrations xi CHAPTER I PAGE The Transition i I Caterino and Others 2 II Giovanni and Antonio da Murano 5 III Antonio Vivarini's Studio 9 IV Bartolommeo Vivarini 13 V Crivelli's Madonnas 18 VI Crivelli Pietas 22 VII Victor Crivelli 24 VIII Jacopo Bellini 25 CHAPTER II Antonello da Messina and His Imitators 28 I Johnson and Altman Portraits 29 II Mr. Frick's Pieta not by Antonello 31 III Mr. Walters' Female Head 35 IV Antonio de Saliba: Mr. Winthrop's Madonna ... 38 V Mr. Theodore M. Davis' Madonna 42 VI Mr. Piatt's South Italian Madonna 43 VII Antonio Solario 45 VIII Filippo Mazzola 49 IX Cristoforo da Parma 52 X Antonio da Serravalle 53 vii CHAPTER III PAGE Giovanni Bellini 54 I Mantegna; Mrs. Gardner's "Sacra Conversazione" . 54 II The Altman "Holy Family" 58 III Giovanni Bellini; New Theory of His Development . 60 IV The Davis Madonna 63 V The Johnson Madonna 65 VI The Lehman Madonna 71 VII The Piatt Madonna 74 VIII The Winthrop Madonna 78 IX The Huntington Madonna 81 X The Madonna of the Metropolitan Museum ... 84 XI The Salomon Madonna 89 XII The Willys Madonna 92 XIII Mr. Frick's "St. Francis" 95 CHAPTER IV Pictures from the Studio of Giovanni Bellini, and Con- temporary Copies 106 I Figures in Metropolitan Museum 109 II The Worcester Madonna 112 III Madonna of the Fogg Museum -. .115 IV Copies of the "Christ at Emmaus" 119 V Mr. J. P. Morgan's "Santa Conversazione," Formerly in the Pourtales Collection 123 VI Mr. Walters' Altarpiece 136 CHAPTER V The Contemporaries of Giovanni Bellini 143 I Mrs. J. J. Chapman's "Sposalizio" and "Adoration" . 144 II Lazzaro Bastiani 149 III Benedetto Diana 155 viii PAGE IV Carpaccio 156 Following of Carpaccio 162 Pietro Carpaccio 164 V Antonello Again 165 VI Alvise Vivarini 168 VII Bonsignori 170 VIII Montagna 173 Speranza 185 IX Cima da Conegliano 186 X Cima's Followers—Pasqualino—^Jacopo di Barbari . 206 CHAPTER VI Giovanni Bellini's Pupils and Followers 213 I Rondinelli 218 II Giovanni Martini and Lattanzio da Rimini .... 227 III Basaiti 231 IV Catena 243 V Bartolommeo Veneto 256 VI The Widener Head.—The Painters of Santa Croce . 260 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Collection of the late Mr. Theodore M. Davis, Newport, R. I Frontispiece PAGE 1. Caterino; Triptych. Walters Collection, Baltimore . 2 2. Venetian, About 1400: Triptych. Walters Collec- tion, Baltimore 3 3. Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini: PoLYPTYCH. Collection of Mrs. Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs, Baltimore 7 4. 5, 6. Studio of Antonio Vivarini: Legend. Walters Collection, Baltimore 10, 11 7. Bartolommeo Vivarini: Madonna. Collection of Mr. D. F. Piatt, Englewood, N. J 14 8. Bartolommeo Vivarini: The Epiphany. Collection of Mr. J. P. Morgan, New York 15 9. Bartolommeo Vivarini : Madonna. Collection of the late Mr. Theodore M. Davis, Newport, R. I. 16 10. Carlo Crivelli: Madonna Enthroned. Collection of Mr. Philip Lehman, New York 19 11. Carlo Crivelli: Madonna with SS. Francis and Bernardino. Walters Collection, Baltimore . .21 12. Carlo Crivelli: St. George. Collection of Mrs. J. L. Gardner, Boston 22 13. Carlo Crivelli: Pieta. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 23 14. Jacopo Bellini ( ?) : St. Jerome. Collection of Mr. Augustus Healy, Brooklyn 25 15. Antonello DA Messina : Portrait of a Young Man. Johnson Collection, Philadelphia 29 16. Antonello da Messina: Portrait of a Young Man. Altman Bequest, Metropolitan Museum, New York . 30 17. Provenqal: Pieta. Collection of Mr. Henry C. Frick. New York 31 xi PAGE 1 8. Palermitan Follower of Antonello: St. Rosalie. Walters Collection, Baltimore 36 19. Palermitan Follower of Antonello: Madonna. Salting Bequest, National Gallery, London ... 36 20. Antonio de Saliba ( ?) : Madonna Enthroned. Collection of Mr. Grenville L. Winthrop, New York . 38 21. Antonio de Saliba: Madonna. Collection of the late Mr. Theodore M. Davis, Newport, R. 1 42 22. South Italian: Madonna. Collection of Mr. D. F. Piatt, Englewood, N. J 43 23. Antonio Solario: Madonna and Saints. Walters Collection^ Baltimore 46 24. FiLipPO Mazzola: Madonna. Walters Collection, Baltimore 51 25. Cristoforo Caselli ( ?) : Ecce Homo. Walters Collec- tion, Baltimore 52 26. Antonello da Serravalle: Madonna. Walters Col- lection, Baltimore 53 27. Mantegna: Sacra Conversazione. Collection of Mrs. J. L. Gardner, Boston 55 28. Mantegna: Holy Family. Altman Bequest, Metro- politan Museum, New York 58 29. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Johnson Collection, Philadelphia 66 30. Mantegna: The Circumcision. UfEzi Gallery, Flor- ence 68 31. Studio OF Philip Bellini : Triumphal Arch. Acad- emy of Fine Arts, Venice 70 32. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Collection of Mr. Philip Lehman, New York 71 33. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Collection of Mr. D. F. Piatt, Englewood, N. J 74 34. Studio of Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Collection of Mr. Grenville L. Winthrop, New York .... 78 35. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Collection of Mrs. H. E. Huntington, New York 82 36. Mantegna: Madonna. Carrara Gallery, Bergamo . 82 37. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Metropolitan Museum, New York 86 xii PAGE 38. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Venice Academy . 88 39. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Morelli collection, Bergamo 88 40. Studio of Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Cook Col- lection, Richmond, England 89 41. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Collection of Mr. William Salomon, New York 90 42. Giovanni Beluni: Madonna. Oldenburg ... 90 43. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Collection of Mr. John N. Willys, Toledo, Ohio 94 44. Antonio de Saliba : Madonna. Kaiser Friedrich Mu- seum, Berlin 94 45. Giovanni Bellini: St. Francis. Collection of Mr. Henry C. Frick, New York 96 46. Studio of Giovanni Bellini: Four Saints. Metro- politan Museum, New York no 47. Studio of Giovanni Bellini : Madonna, Worcester, Mass., Museum of Art 112 48. Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. National Gallery, London 112 49. Studio of Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Fogg Mu- seum, Cambridge, Mass 115 50. Studio of Giovanni Bellini: Madonna. Layard Bequest, National Gallery, London 115 51. Copy of Bellini. Christ at Emmaus. Wilstach Col- lection, Memorial Hall, Philadelphia 121 52. Copy of Bellini: Christ at Emmaus. Walters Col- lection, Baltimore 121 53. Studio of Giovanni Bellini: Madonna and Saints. Collection of Mr. J. P. Morgan, New York . .124 54. Variant of Late Bellini: Madonna.