(Berbenno circa 1470–1528 Bergamo)
Madonna and Child,
oil on panel, 44 x 64 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Charles Sedelmeyer (1837–1925), Paris;
his sale, Galerie Sedelmeyer, Paris, 3-5 June 1907, lot 169 (as Andrea Previtali);
sale, Hugo Helbing, Munich, 3 May 1909, lot 74 (as Andrea Previtali);
Collection Gaston von Mallmann (1860–1917), Berlin;
his sale, Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, 12 June 1918, lot 13 (as Andrea Previtali);
Collection Wendlinger, Vienna;
their sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 2 June 1924, lot 39 (as Venetian Master, circa 1500, in the Manner of Andrea Previtali);
with Julius Böhler, Munich;
with Colnaghi, London;
sale, Christie’s, London, 14 December 1984, lot 170 (as Follower of Andrea Previtali);
Private collection, Italy

Literature:
Catalogue des Tableaux composant la collection Ch. Sedelmeyer, Paris 1907, vol. III, p. 182, no. 169 (as Andrea Previtali);
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice 1962, vol. I, p. 135, S. 289 (as Andrea Previtali);
J. Meyer zur Capellen, Andrea Prevital; Dissertation, Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg, 1972, pp. 153–154, no. 36 (as Andrea Previtali);
I. Chiappini di Sorio, Andrea Previtali, in: I pittori bergamaschi. Il Cinquecento, I, Bergamo 1975, p. 142, no. 93 (as attributed to Andrea Previtali)

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for his help in cataloguing the present painting.

The present work is registered in the Fototeca Zeri (no. 39631) as Andrea Previtali.

The composition of the Madonna and Child in the present painting corresponds almost exactly with an engraving by Giovanni Maria Sasso in Venezia pittrice. The engraving was executed at the end of the eighteenth century, when the painting upon which it was modelled, which is now lost or untraced, belonged to the celebrated collection of the British Resident in Venice, Sir John Strange. When compared to the present painting, certain alterations in the engraving can be noted, for example, in the inclination of the Virgin’s head which is turned further to the left, in the shape of the veil over her head and in the position of both her hands. The pose of the child is essentially unchanged in both compositions, however in the present painting he is shown holding a cross, rather than clasping a veil. Moreover, in the present painting the landscape also differs somewhat and the artist’s monogram is lacking. It can be suggested that these changes were introduced by the engraver to make it easier for him to render the marvellous atmosphere of the scene.

Over the past forty years and probably as a result of its inaccessibility, it has been asserted that the present work is by a follower or student of Previtali, however it is an entirely autograph work according to Lucco. This is demonstrated by the artist’s talent for rendering natural landscape settings, and especially for depicting mountain scenes during the change of seasons. The detail of the stream on the left of the composition is also typical of Previtali’s work. Heinemann (see literature) suggested dating the present painting to ‘between 1506 and 1510’, meanwhile, Meyer zur Capellen (see literature), suggested a date of around 1510 as a result of its similarities with Sasso’s engraving. In fact, a better comparison for the figures can be made with the Madonna and Child in the El Paso Museum (inv. no. 1961.1.29; Kress coll. K2139), the Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist in the Städtisches Museum Schloss Rheydt, Mönchengladbach, and the second version of this subject, formerly in the Coatesworth collection. These paintings, which were painted after the Conventino polyptych in Bergamo, which is signed and dated 1512, point to the present panel also belonging to a date of around 1513.