Portrait of a gentleman in a red coat and cap holding a lute and a letter

Details

Milanese School late 15th Century
Portrait of a gentleman in a red coat and cap holding a lute and a letter
with signature and date 'BERNADINUS DE**IVI PINXIT 1497' (lower right) and inscription 'SI COM EI VITIO SOL VITA DESPERA' (upper left)
oil on panel
28¼ x 21¾ in. 71.8 x 52.7 cm.

Provenance

Benigno Crespi, Milan.
Achillito Chiesa, Milan.
D'Abri, Paris.
with Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam, 1928.
Looted by the Nazi authorities, July 1940.
Recovered by the Allies, 1945.
in the custody of the Dutch Government.
Restituted in February 2006 to the heir of Jacques Goudstikker.

Literature

G. Morelli, Della pittura Italiana: Studi Storico-Critici, le Gallerie Borghese e Doria Pamphili in Roma, Rome, 1897, p. 194.
A. Venturi, La Galleria Crespi in Lilano, 1900, pp. 255-7.
B. Berenson, North Italian painters of the Renaissance, London & New York, 1907, p.198, as Bernardino dei Conti.
Pauli in Becker et al ed., Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig, 1907-50, XII, p. 332.
W. Suida, 'Leonardo da Vinci und seine Schule in Mailand', Monatshefte für Kunstwissenschaft, 12, 1919, p. 276.
R. van Marle, 'La pittura all'esposizione d'arte antica italiana di Amsterdam', Bolletino d'Arte, 28, 1934/5, p. 455.
C. Wright, Paintings in Dutch Museums, Amsterdam, 1980, p. 538.
A.T. Fiorio, 'Per il ritratto lombardo: Bernardino de' Conti', Arte Lombarda, 68/9, 1984, pp. 39, 49, note 9.
K. Dirkx, 'Bernardinus de ...ivi ...pinxit', Bonnefans, Bulletin van de Vereniging van Vrienden van het Bonnefantenmuseum, V, nos. 1-2, 1989, pp. 14-5, illustrated.
W. Angelelli, et al, Pittura dal Duecento al primo Cinquecento nelle fotografie di Girolamo Bombelli, Milan, 1991, p. 133, illustrated.
Old Master Paintings: An illustrated summary catalogue, Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst (The Netherlandish Office for the Fine Arts), The Hague, 1992, p. 336, no. 2975, illustrated (as 'anonymous').
C.E. De Jong-Janssen in D.H. van Wegen, Catalogue of the Italian paintings in the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, 1995, pp. 140-1, fig. 69, pl. 32; pp. 173 and 183, pl. 82.

Exhibited

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Italiaansche kunst in Nederlands bezit, 1934, no. 83, illustrated.
Maastricht, Bonnefantenmuseum, on loan.

Lot Essay

When this painting first came to light in 1897 it was generally assumed, on account of its inscription, to be by the Milanese master Bernardino dei Conti. It is not stylistically compatible with that Milanese artist's strongly Leonardesque oeuvre, but would appear to be by a North Italian Master of the same generation. The sitter's interests are implied not only by the lute but also by the inscriptions in the top left corner and between the window.

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