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Lot Essay
In 1985, Jaynie Anderson identified the present painting as Agostino Carracci's lost portrait of Olimpia Luna, a work that was celebrated by the artist's earliest biographers. The portrait was commissioned by her husband, Melchiorre Zoppio, professor of moral philosophy at the University of Bologna, and one of Agostino's friends and best-known patrons. Zoppio was co-founder of the Accademia dei Gelati, the most distinguished literary academy in 16th-century Bologna. Prior to painting Olimpia's portrait, at Zoppio's request Agostino had provided engravings for some of this group's publications of poetry, and the artist himself became a member of the Accademia around 1590 (A. Summerscale, op. cit., p. 167, notes 193-4).
The earliest and most complete description of this painting comes from Lucio Faberio's oration given at Agostino's funeral service, which was held on 18 January 1603 at the church of the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Morte in Bologna. Faberio (1550s-1610)--the notary of the Bolognese Company of Painters--lavished praise on the artist, and in particular singled out the portrait of Olimpia Luna as one of his greatest achievements. Faberio explained that the portrait was especially impressive as Agostino had never seen Olimpia:
There was, for instance, the portrait he made of Signora Olimpia Luna, the deceased wife of the Most Excellent Melchiorre Zoppio, on the basis of the description given to him by her husband--a portrait that was so excellently painted that the figure seems alive, while also revealing, to the eternal praise both of Olimpia Luna and of the painter, her modesty, her wisdom, beauty, and chastity--rare qualities that made her worthy of such a fine man (ibid., p. 204).
Faberio's description of the painting does not specify that Agostino represented Olimpia in the guise of Judith, nor that he included a portrait of Zoppio as Holofernes's decapitated head (see below). As Anderson has argued, however, visual clues within the painting itself allow us to identify it as the picture in question (1985, op. cit., p. 19 ff.). Judith's distinctive face, with her double chin, narrow mouth and large eyes, was clearly intended as a portrait of an individual. The key to her identity is her extraordinary gown, which is ornamented with celestial motifs. Encrusted with pearls and extensively embroidered in gold brocade, the dress features a pattern of full moons with rays surrounded by a diamond pattern of pearls. Blue sapphires are sewn at the corners of these lozenges, with emanating rays denoting falling stars among the constant celestial bodies. This heavenly design is perfectly appropriate for the name Olimpia, which as Melchiorre himself often observed in his writings, is derived from the word Olympus and thus denotes a celestial place. The central motif of the moon alludes to her family name, Luna, which is of Spanish origin. Zoppio would write of his wife in a 1634 poem, "The world calls you moon, but to me, you seem the sun" (see ibid., p. 25).
Olimpia was the daughter of Francesco Luna, a member of the Tribunale di Bologna, and of Flaminia Bolognini. Her marriage to Melchiorre was brief. They wed in 1591 and she died on 1 November 1592, presumably while giving birth to twins. Following her death, she became the Laura to Zoppio's Petrarch, often appearing in his literary works. Most relevant to present painting, as Anderson has noted, is Zoppio's Consolatione di Melchiorre Zoppio Filosofo Morale nella Morte della Moglie Olimpia Luna Z (Bologna 1634), in which the poet recounts how Olimpia visited him in a dream to converse on the subject of death (op. cit., 1985, p. 24). While lying in his bed, overcome with grief due to the loss of his wife, Zoppio sees a radiant woman with a complexion like the Milky Way, who proclaims herself to be his Olimpia. Melchiorre's description of her is strikingly similar to that of the woman in our picture: "Her dress was stormed with pearls, divided by little flames denoting the falling stars, which move from place to place among those that are fixed, and everything about her was heavenly" (J. Anderson, op. cit., 1987, p. 67).
Further evidence that this is a disguised portrait of Olimpia is the head of Holoferenes, whose features correspond to those of Melchiorre, as seen in an engraved portrait of the poet from the Collezione dei Ritratti in the Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio (fig. 1). The two faces share the same curly hair and beard, thick eyebrows, and full lips, though in Agostino's painting his features are somewhat idealized. Being shown in this way would have appealed to Melchiorre, who would have been familiar with the humanist conceit of being undone by love. Moreover, the choice of Judith was especially appropriate, as according to the biblical account, Judith visited Holofernes's tent during a full moon.
Malvasia, the great biographer of the Carracci, saw this painting when it was in the collection of the painter Lorenzo Pasinelli (1629-1700), and mentions it in his Felsina pittrice. Although he does not write that the portrait showed Olimpia as Judith, Malvasia's description is crucial, in that he specifies that Zoppio's likeness was included in the painting. Malvasia writes that Agostino painted for Melchiorre "a portrait of his wife, already dead and buried, from memory, with a small portrait of Zoppio himself in her hand" ("...con un ritrattino di lui stesso in mano") (C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice, Bologna, 1678, I, p. 100).
While there was a longstanding tradition of using biblical stories for disguised portraits, for the present picture Agostino was most directly influenced by the art of Paolo Veronese, which he would have seen during his 1587-89 visit to the Serenissima. As Anderson has observed, the two painters knew each other, and many passages in Agostino's painting, such as the turbaned maidservant cast in shadow and the sophisticated treatment of light in the landscape seem to derive from his works. Veronese painted the subject of Judith on several occasions, with the versions in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna being particularly close to Agostino's portrait. Daniele Benati has also commented on this painting's strong connection to Veronese, praising its "taut and luminous forms, dimly lit, [which] have a severe and turgid eloquence" (loc. cit., 1986). While Benati fully accepts the Judith as an autograph work by Agostino, he has expressed some reservations as to the sitter's identification as Olimpia, preferring to leave the question open. Both Benati and Anderson date the present painting to shortly after Agostino's return to Bologna from Venice, in the early 1590s.
(fig. 1) Portrait of Melchiorre Zoppio. Founder of the Accademia dei Gelati. Engraving. From Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio, bologna, Collezione dei Ritratti, 54, LXI, No 1554.
The earliest and most complete description of this painting comes from Lucio Faberio's oration given at Agostino's funeral service, which was held on 18 January 1603 at the church of the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Morte in Bologna. Faberio (1550s-1610)--the notary of the Bolognese Company of Painters--lavished praise on the artist, and in particular singled out the portrait of Olimpia Luna as one of his greatest achievements. Faberio explained that the portrait was especially impressive as Agostino had never seen Olimpia:
There was, for instance, the portrait he made of Signora Olimpia Luna, the deceased wife of the Most Excellent Melchiorre Zoppio, on the basis of the description given to him by her husband--a portrait that was so excellently painted that the figure seems alive, while also revealing, to the eternal praise both of Olimpia Luna and of the painter, her modesty, her wisdom, beauty, and chastity--rare qualities that made her worthy of such a fine man (ibid., p. 204).
Faberio's description of the painting does not specify that Agostino represented Olimpia in the guise of Judith, nor that he included a portrait of Zoppio as Holofernes's decapitated head (see below). As Anderson has argued, however, visual clues within the painting itself allow us to identify it as the picture in question (1985, op. cit., p. 19 ff.). Judith's distinctive face, with her double chin, narrow mouth and large eyes, was clearly intended as a portrait of an individual. The key to her identity is her extraordinary gown, which is ornamented with celestial motifs. Encrusted with pearls and extensively embroidered in gold brocade, the dress features a pattern of full moons with rays surrounded by a diamond pattern of pearls. Blue sapphires are sewn at the corners of these lozenges, with emanating rays denoting falling stars among the constant celestial bodies. This heavenly design is perfectly appropriate for the name Olimpia, which as Melchiorre himself often observed in his writings, is derived from the word Olympus and thus denotes a celestial place. The central motif of the moon alludes to her family name, Luna, which is of Spanish origin. Zoppio would write of his wife in a 1634 poem, "The world calls you moon, but to me, you seem the sun" (see ibid., p. 25).
Olimpia was the daughter of Francesco Luna, a member of the Tribunale di Bologna, and of Flaminia Bolognini. Her marriage to Melchiorre was brief. They wed in 1591 and she died on 1 November 1592, presumably while giving birth to twins. Following her death, she became the Laura to Zoppio's Petrarch, often appearing in his literary works. Most relevant to present painting, as Anderson has noted, is Zoppio's Consolatione di Melchiorre Zoppio Filosofo Morale nella Morte della Moglie Olimpia Luna Z (Bologna 1634), in which the poet recounts how Olimpia visited him in a dream to converse on the subject of death (op. cit., 1985, p. 24). While lying in his bed, overcome with grief due to the loss of his wife, Zoppio sees a radiant woman with a complexion like the Milky Way, who proclaims herself to be his Olimpia. Melchiorre's description of her is strikingly similar to that of the woman in our picture: "Her dress was stormed with pearls, divided by little flames denoting the falling stars, which move from place to place among those that are fixed, and everything about her was heavenly" (J. Anderson, op. cit., 1987, p. 67).
Further evidence that this is a disguised portrait of Olimpia is the head of Holoferenes, whose features correspond to those of Melchiorre, as seen in an engraved portrait of the poet from the Collezione dei Ritratti in the Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio (fig. 1). The two faces share the same curly hair and beard, thick eyebrows, and full lips, though in Agostino's painting his features are somewhat idealized. Being shown in this way would have appealed to Melchiorre, who would have been familiar with the humanist conceit of being undone by love. Moreover, the choice of Judith was especially appropriate, as according to the biblical account, Judith visited Holofernes's tent during a full moon.
Malvasia, the great biographer of the Carracci, saw this painting when it was in the collection of the painter Lorenzo Pasinelli (1629-1700), and mentions it in his Felsina pittrice. Although he does not write that the portrait showed Olimpia as Judith, Malvasia's description is crucial, in that he specifies that Zoppio's likeness was included in the painting. Malvasia writes that Agostino painted for Melchiorre "a portrait of his wife, already dead and buried, from memory, with a small portrait of Zoppio himself in her hand" ("...con un ritrattino di lui stesso in mano") (C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice, Bologna, 1678, I, p. 100).
While there was a longstanding tradition of using biblical stories for disguised portraits, for the present picture Agostino was most directly influenced by the art of Paolo Veronese, which he would have seen during his 1587-89 visit to the Serenissima. As Anderson has observed, the two painters knew each other, and many passages in Agostino's painting, such as the turbaned maidservant cast in shadow and the sophisticated treatment of light in the landscape seem to derive from his works. Veronese painted the subject of Judith on several occasions, with the versions in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna being particularly close to Agostino's portrait. Daniele Benati has also commented on this painting's strong connection to Veronese, praising its "taut and luminous forms, dimly lit, [which] have a severe and turgid eloquence" (loc. cit., 1986). While Benati fully accepts the Judith as an autograph work by Agostino, he has expressed some reservations as to the sitter's identification as Olimpia, preferring to leave the question open. Both Benati and Anderson date the present painting to shortly after Agostino's return to Bologna from Venice, in the early 1590s.
(fig. 1) Portrait of Melchiorre Zoppio. Founder of the Accademia dei Gelati. Engraving. From Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio, bologna, Collezione dei Ritratti, 54, LXI, No 1554.