Saint Matthew the Apostle

Brignole-Sale De Ferrari Maria 1874 Genova - donazione

Procaccini, Giulio Cesare

PR 114

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 122; Larghezza: 90

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Procaccini, Cerano, Morazzone. Dipinti lombardi del primo seicento dalle civiche collezioni genovesi - Genova - 1992<br>Van Dyck a Genova. Grande pittura e collezionismo - Genova - 1997

The four paintings of the apostles (St Matthew, St Paul, St Simon, St Thomas) were part of a lost series of the twelve apostles, originally completed with images of Christ and the Virgin Mary for a total of fourteen canvases, painted for Gio. Carlo Doria - according to a letter from Simon Vouet - around the end of 1621. However, a second letter written by Orazio Fregoso to Doria in December of the same year documents Procaccini's serious illness, which is why critics had assumed that only St Thomas was painted by the master and that the other paintings, which appeared to be of inferior quality, had been painted by an assistant. However, it seems unlikely that the artist would have entrusted a pupil with the task of completing part of a cycle commissioned by his most illustrious client; moreover, recent restoration work has highlighted the consistent pictorial quality of the four canvases. After 1645, it was inherited by the descendants of Gio. Luca Doria, Gio. Carlo's younger brother, who in 1678 sold one to Ottavio Centurione and five to Cristoforo Centurione Oltremarini. In turn, the latter's son, Pietro Francesco, sold four of the five canvases to Gio. Francesco II Brignole-Sale in 1730, who placed them in Palazzo Rosso. The identity of the saints is clear from the attributes of the figures, which also appear in other series on the same subject, such as the one created by Peter Paul Rubens, now in the Prado: Saint Paul has his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, symbolising his beheading; Saint Thomas holds a spear, the instrument of his martyrdom; Saint Simon holds a book and Saint Matthew a halberd, the weapon with which he was martyred. The figures are monumental and imposing due to their substantial relief and the accentuated twisting movement of their bodies: Procaccini had worked as a sculptor between 1591 and 1599 at the construction site of Milan Cathedral, and this activity undoubtedly influenced his painting style. The marked chiaroscuro of the paintings is common to the formal choices of other Lombard artists active in the early 17th century for religious commissions from the Counter-Reformation Church, in particular Giovan Battista Crespi il “Cerano” and Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli il “Morazzone”. The painting depicts a portrait of Saint Matthew the Apostle holding a halberd.

Death of Cato

Maria Brignole-Sale De Ferrari 1874 Genova - donazione

Barbieri, Giovanni Francesco detto il Guercino

PR 61

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 118; Larghezza: 107

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Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, 1591-1666) - Cento - 1991<br>Genova e Guercino. Dipinti e disegni delle civiche collezioni - Genova - 1992<br>Guercino. Il mestiere del pittore - Torino - 2024

The artist's account book shows that a deposit of 20 scudi was paid for this painting on 22 November 1640, while the balance of 55 scudi was recorded on 7 December 1641; in both cases, the name of the client is specified: the lawyer Marcantonio Eugeni, who, two years later, paid Guercino a similar amount for a Death of Seneca, which has been lost but was clearly conceived as a companion piece to the work in question. The work was then identified as the “painting on canvas depicting Cato Utecenze with a gilded frame” recorded in the post-mortem inventory of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pallotta in 1668 (Boccardo in Caldarola 2009, p. 120). It was therefore from the cardinal's niece and heir that the painting was purchased by Giovanni Francesco I Brignole-Sale, certainly before 1684, the year in which it appears in the inventory of the latter's assets (Tagliaferro 1995, p. 299). There are two known drawings, both in pen and ink, related to this subject: one in the Royal Library at Windsor (inv. No. 2816) where, compared to the painting, Cato's right hand is raised so as to thrust the sword into his side; the other, preserved at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon (inv. No. D. G. 565), presents, in analogy with the canvas in Palazzo Rosso, a curtain on the left and the right arm lowered (Boccardo in Genova 1992, p. 70). The painting depicts Cato wearing a red cloak and stabbing himself in the stomach.

Christ drives the merchants from the Temple

Maria Brignole-Sale De Ferrari 1874 Genova - donazione

Barbieri, Giovanni Francesco detto Il Guercino

PR 62

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 250; Larghezza: 311

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GENOVA E GUERCINO. DIPINTI E DISEGNI DELLE CIVICHE COLLEZIONI - GENOVA - 1992<br>Le stanze del Cardinale. Caravaggio,Guido Reni, Guercino e Mattia Preti per il Cardinale Pallotta - Caldarola - 2009

The available documentation provides rather contradictory information regarding the genesis of this painting. On the one hand, the Bolognese historian Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1678) states that it was commissioned from Guercino in 1634 by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pallotta as a gift to Francesco I d'Este, then Duke of Modena, at the end of his term in Ferrara, but that he did not deliver it and kept it for himself. On the other hand, the artist's account book records the payment received four years later from Antonio Fabri for “the retouching of the pair of Christ driving the merchants from the temple”. did not deliver it and kept it for himself. On the other hand, the artist's account book records a payment received four years later from Antonio Fabri for “the retouching of the pair of Christ driving the merchants from the Temple” to be donated to Pallotta himself, who, at that point, would have owned two almost identical paintings. Beyond the fact that Malvasia may have been mistaken and that the first canvas from 1634 may have actually reached the Duke of Modena (but no similar work appears in the Este inventories), there is little doubt about the direct connection between the subject of the painting and the figure of the cardinal: in fact, the bent rope wielded by Christ in the act of driving out the merchants closely resembles the Pallotta family's heraldic weapon, characterised by a “scourge in the act of striking”. The comparison is so apt that in the cardinal's papers, the work - perhaps only added to his possessions in 1638, thanks to the “retouching” paid for by Fabri? - was curiously recorded under the heading “Flagellum de funiculis”, with a quotation from the Gospel of John (2:15). Equally certain is that the work now preserved in the Strada Nuova Museums was purchased by Gio. Francesco I Brignole-Sale by 1684, from a select group of works that once belonged to Cardinal Pallotta and subsequently, through the marriage of his daughter, passed to her husband, the Bolognese count Gio. Gaspare Grassi. Far from being a mere copy “tout court”, the painting in question therefore seems to be a workshop reworking - the names of Bartolomeo Gennari and Matteo Loves have been mentioned - with the intervention of the master, perhaps limited - also judging by the amount paid by Fabri for the “retouching” - to the execution of the main heads and a few other significant elements. The 2009 restoration also revealed the presence of several layers of paint, some of which, however, can be traced back to the heavy restoration work carried out in the mid-19th century by Giuseppe Isola and documented. (Boccardo 2009, pp. 116-117) According to Turner (2017, pp. 496-497), this may be a classic workshop “sketch”, created in preparation for the main painting, for which the retouching requested by Fabri was intended to fill in the parts that had been left only sketched. The painting depicts Jesus driving the merchants out of the temple.

Eternal Father with little angel

Brignole-Sale De Ferrari Maria 1888 Genova - legato

Barbieri, Giovanni Francesco detto il Guercino

PB 257

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 66; Larghezza: 91

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Mostra d'arte antica aperta nelle sale del Palazzo Bianco - Genova - 1892<br>Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, 1591-1666) - Bologna - 1968<br>Il Guercino - Bologna - 1991<br>Genova e Guercino. Dipinti e disegni delle civiche collezioni - Genova - 1992

The painting was intended to crown the altarpiece depicting the ‘Clothing of Saint William of Aquitaine’, painted by Guercino in 1620 for Cristoforo Locatelli. According to Malvasia's testimony, the client ‘kept it for himself’, placing a copy in its place. The presence of Guercino's canvas in the Ligurian capital is attested as early as the first half of the 18th century, while it is mentioned for the first time in Palazzo Rosso in the handwritten inventory of 1748. The painting was one of the few not to be donated, together with the palace, to the municipality of Genoa in 1874, as the Duchess of Galliera took it with her to decorate her Parisian residence. It was only in 1889 that it became part of the artistic heritage of the Palazzo Bianco gallery, through the bequest she made that year to the civic collections.

Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist, Bartholomew and John the Evangelist

Maria Brignole-Sale De Ferrari 1874 Genova - donazione

Barbieri, Giovanni Francesco detto il Guercino

PR 90

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 344; Larghezza: 221

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GENOVA E GUERCINO. DIPINTI E DISEGNI DELLE CIVICHE COLLEZIONI - GENOVA - 1992

According to Malvasia, the painting was intended for the Cathedral of Cento, but it never reached its destination, remaining in Guercino's house until his death. The story of the work, first recognised by Nefta Grimaldi (1957, fig. 143) in the painting in Palazzo Rosso, but absent from any other source after the Bolognese biographer, remained obscure until 2017, when, thanks to a careful re-reading of the painter's exceptional account book and other archival documents, Piero Boccardo very convincingly proposed that the painting now preserved in Palazzo Rosso should be recognised as the “painting of St Bartholomew” mentioned in the account book (Boccardo in The Burlington Magazine, June 2017, pp. 450-452). The work, in fact, paid for by Guercino between 1660 and 1661, a sum commensurate with the size and complexity of an altarpiece, had never been identified before. The presence of the infant St. John the Baptist in the painting of St. Bartholomew, as described in the two sheets attached to the account book and dedicated exclusively to this work, made the scholar realise that it could not be a composition on the theme of the saint's life. Finally, the work was commissioned and paid for by Sebastiano Fabri, a member of a wealthy family of landowners who held the patronage of the chapel dedicated to St. Bartholomew in the Collegiate Church of San Biagio in Cento. Therefore, while it is highly credible that the original destination of the work was the Fabri altar, the fact that the altarpiece was never installed, despite being paid for, and remained in the artist's house remains unexplained. It was purchased directly from the painter's heirs in 1684 for 3398 lire by Gio. Francesco I Brignole-Sale to be placed in Palazzo Rosso, where it can still be admired today. Two preparatory drawings are known to exist for the canvas: one in pen and ink, relating to the figure of St. Bartholomew, preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. No. 1963 63. 67); the other, in red pencil, pertaining to the Koening-Fachsenfeld collection (inv. No. Ii/62), now deposited at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, referring to the drapery of St John the Evangelist's robe. The painting depicts the Madonna holding the Baby Jesus, with Saint John at her feet. Near them are John the Evangelist and Saint Bartholomew, with two cherubs at the top right.

Guido Reni e bottega

Sibyl

Maria Brignole-Sale De Ferrari 1889 - legato

Reni, Guido

PB 282

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 83; Larghezza: 67

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The painting is part of a series of four ‘Sibyls’ purchased in Bologna on behalf of Anton Giulio Brignole-Sale, along with six other paintings, including ‘Christ the Saviour’ and its companion piece, ‘Praying Madonna’. However, Anton Giulio was rather disappointed with the final outcome of the ‘Sibyls’, so much so that his relationship with the art dealer who had arranged the purchase for him soured from that moment on. The four paintings are part of the artist's late work, when, due to his physical and mental condition, he would sketch the canvases and then often leave them to be completed by his collaborators, such as Ercole De Maria and Giovanni Andrea Sirani, whose hand has been recognised in particular in the painting of the Sibyl with the Turban (PB 277). BOCCARDO 2012, pp. 46-48 The painting depicts a portrait of a Sibyl in the foreground, with her head covered by a turban.

Paris Bordon (Treviso, 1500 - Venezia, 1571)

Drawing

Madonna and Child between Saints John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene

Galliera 1889 Genova - legato

Negretti, Jacopo detto Palma il Giovane

PB 283

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 71; Larghezza: 108

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This painting depicts a Holy Conversation: at the centre of the composition sits the Virgin Mary, facing forward, her head slightly tilted and holding the Child in her arms, seated on her left knee, whom she lovingly holds with both hands. Jesus turns his gaze sideways upwards, as if looking beyond the limits of the composition. On the right, standing, is a half-length portrait of Mary Magdalene, while on the left is Saint John the Baptist.
The painting is certainly one of the masterpieces of Palma il Vecchio, an exponent of early 16th-century Venetian art, trained at the school of Giovanni Bellini and later influenced by Giorgione and Titian. The painting, painted on wood, can be dated to around 1520-1522. The half-length figures are beautifully set against the bright background landscape, pervaded by a clear and diffused light, typical of Venetian painting between the 15th and 16th centuries.
The symmetry of the composition is a clear reference to Bellini, but the sumptuousness of the drapery and the solemnity of the figures' attitudes reveal the painter's independent maturity, in a fully Renaissance sense.

Judith and Holofernes

Brignole-Sale De Ferrari Maria 1874 Genova - donazione

Caliari, Paolo detto il Veronese

PR 95

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 195; Larghezza: 176

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VERONESE E VERONA - VERONA - 1988<br>Venecia. Triunfo de la bellezza y destrucciòn de la pintura - Madrid - 2017