ARTS OF THE RENAISSANCE
AT SOTHEBY’S IN JANUARY 2001
(Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child, Est. $700/900,000)
SPECIAL AUCTION TO FEATURE PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, PRINTS AND SCULPTURE DATING FROM
1300-1550, INCLUDING WORKS BY BOTTICELLI, DÜRER AND VERONESE
New York, N.Y. – On January 25, 2001, Sotheby’s will present a theme sale entitled Arts of the Renaissance. The
sale of 91 lots will feature paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture from the great artistic reawakening known as the
Renaissance in conjunction with the annual January sales of Old Master Paintings and Drawings. Presented
chronologically, with works from 1330-1550, highlights of the special theme auction include works by Botticelli,
Hoffman, Dürer, Giambologna and Veronese.
Christopher Apostle, Director of the Old Master Paintings department, said: “The Renaissance, more than just the
“rebirth” of ancient art and ideas, was the dawn of the modern era. Art that finds inspiration from man and his
achievements is a thoroughly modern concept that rings as true today as it did in the fourteenth, fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. But, although the Renaissance is considered the benchmark of the modern era, it was a period
of almost dizzying change and cultural activity. We have assembled an array of paintings, drawings, and objects for
our Arts of the Renaissance sale, which we believe reflects the diversity of the era.”
Arts of the Renaissance opens with works from the early Renaissance including a number of Gold-ground paintings
representing the end of the Late Middle Ages and dawn of the Renaissance. In panel paintings of the thirteenth,
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, the background behind the figures and the haloes around the heads of saints
were almost always gold leaf. One of the important early gold ground works included in the sale is Don Silvestro dei
Gherarducci’s Madonna and Child estimated at $300/500,000. This tempera on panel with an arched top is
representative of the style found in 14th century Italian paintings, and the size and shape of the panel suggests that it
may have been part of an altarpiece. Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339-1399) was a monk of the Camaldolese
order at the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence. He was a prior in the monastery and would have
guided the younger painters’ activity until his departure after 1391 to set up an independent studio. From being
considered mere craftsmen in the mid to late 14th century, artists were to gain respect for their skills through the
Trecento.
The Renaissance marked the beginning of an increase in commerce and the development of a merchant class that
led to greater private and aristocratic patronage of the arts. The genre of desco da parto, literally meaning birth
salver, was almost exclusively present in Florence from about 1380 to the mid-16th century. This luxurious domestic
object was commissioned for the significant moment of the birth of a couple’s first child. Included in the sale is a
desco da parto by the Master of the Sant’Ivo (active at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century)
entitled The Garden of Love (detail pictured left) estimated to sell for $600/800,000. It is clear from the condition of a
number of salvers from this period that their use evolved into a more ceremonial and decorative function, and that
they were most likely hung in the home as a memento of the birth. This twelve-sided tempera on panel depicts a
courtly chivalric scene – a link to medieval courtly life -- yet it also bears the influence of Boccacio’s idealized notion
of society as described in his Decameron, one of the most influential pieces of literature from the Renaissance.
Similarly, cassoni were bestowed as wedding gifts to members of the aristocracy. Giovanni di Paolo’s Scenes from
the story of Esther (early 1440’s, est. $800/1.2 million) is a rare and beautiful example of the artist’s early work, and
is the earliest known painted cassone in Siena. It was originally part of a cassone, or painted marriage chest, which
became popular in Tuscany during the fifteenth century. While the Book of Esther was outside the standard Christian
canon, the tale would have been very familiar to the educated classes of 15th century Siena, and would have been
considered a highly suitable subject for a cassone panel. The particular innovations of cassoni in Renaissance art
are twofold. Firstly, a simple wooden chest was elevated from a craft, or utilitarian object, to a unique and distinct
work of art. Secondly, their innovative pictorial structure and compositional harmony present a clear multi-scene
narrative, which allows for easy comprehension of the story by the viewer. The current work demonstrates Giovanni di
Paolo’s genius for dramatic narrative.
The Della Robbia studio was a major fixture in Florence during the Renaissance. During that time there was only one
well-established atelier apart from Della Robbia that produced a similar class of works in glazed terracotta, the
director of which was Benedetto Buglioni. Included in sale is a Florentine glazed terracotta of the angel of the
Annunciation (pictured right) attributed to Benedetto or his pupil and successor Santi Buglioni. After Bendetto, Santi
Buglioni was the last practitioner of the art of the Della Robbias. He aided Giovanni Della Robbia on the Ospedale
del Ceppo in Pistoia (1525) and later executed portrait medallions for the funeral of Michelangelo. In addition to
fulfilling a number of commissions in Florence, Santi Buglioni was well known for his production of polychrome
altarpieces, such as the Annunciation group from which this angel appears to have once been part. Circa 1515, the
angel is estimated to sell for $70/90,000.
Pictorial innovations, the cornerstone of Renaissance painting, were found not only in Italy, but in Northern Europe as
well, and owed as much to new ideas as to the revival of Antiquity. On a technical level, oil rather than the egg-based
tempera came into use, first in Northern Europe, and then in Italy in the late 15th/early 16th century. Quick drying
tempera appears hard-edged and does not allow for much blending or shading, whereas oil paint dries more slowly,
and allows for more nuances in color. Gold-ground backgrounds, typical of 14th century Italian paintings, gave way to
more naturalistic backgrounds. Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna and Child (pictured on page 1) demonstrates the impact
of the change of medium. The figures are delicately modeled through light and shadow. In the vista beyond the
window is a naturalistic landscape, and the use of gold paint is limited to the halos around Mary and the Christ
Child’s head. This classic scene of the Madonna and Child, dating to around 1500, is estimated to sell for
$700/900,000. Botticelli is one of the most recognizable artists of the Renaissance. His most famous work
Primavera, a work commissioned by the Medici and in the Uffizi in Florence, remains one of the most enduring
images of the Florentine Renaissance.
At the same time in Northern Europe, artists in reaction to the Renaissance in Italy began to incorporate the ideas of
humanism and greater naturalism into their work. Bernard van Orley’s Virgin and Child displays many important
characteristics of the Romanist style, a northern style derived from the Italian Renaissance. The influence of Italian
painting is evident in the figure’s muscularity and monumental scale, as is a knowledge of classical art, seen in the
pediment in the lower left corner of the composition. While there is no evidence that van Orley ever traveled to Italy,
he most definitely would have had an opportunity to study Raphael’s tapestry cartoons for the Acts of the Apostles
which between 1514 and 1519 were in the Brussels workshop of the tapestry weaver, Pieter van Aelst. As in
Botticelli’s Virgin and Child, van Orley (active by 1515) fills the background with a lush landscape, thrusting the
figures into the foreground of the canvas. Estimated at $400/600,000, the oil on panel measures 23 1/2 by 17 7/8
inches.
The greatest proponent of the northern traditional of naturalism was Albrecht Dürer, whose Three Great Woodcut
Series: The Apocalypse, The Large Passion and the Life of the Virgin from 1511 (est. $300/400,000) will be offered
on January 25, 2001. In this volume of the three complete sets, one can see the entire development of Dürer’s
woodcut style from about 1496-1511. During this period, Dürer gradually moved from a graphic style, very dependant
on the illustrative tradition of his teacher Michael Wolgemut in Nuremberg, to a grander style strongly influenced by
the art of the Italian Renaissance. In doing so he changed his compositional structure, his figurative style and his use
of line.
A subsequent generation of northern artists were undeniably influenced by Dürer’s work. In The Hare in the Forest
(est. $1/1.5 million and pictured on page 2), Hans Hoffmann created a wholly innovative composition, developing and
combining Dürer’s famed prototypes -- Study of a Hare and Large Piece of Turf (both in the Albertina, Vienna) -- into
one of the first oil paintings focusing on an animal in its natural habitat. This work is not only a demonstration of the
northern tradition of naturalism in the Renaissance, but also represents the growth of patronage outside of the church
during the Renaissance. The role of the patron played a significant part in the evolution and continuation of
Renaissance art, and a wider spectrum of society participated in development of art and culture than had done since
Antiquity. The Hare in the Forest was commissioned by Rudolf II Hapsburg, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the
greatest art patron in the world at the time. Many of the greatest living scientists and artists were employed at
Rudolf’s court, and in 1585 Hoffmann was invited and appointed court painter.
Joos van Cleve was one of the principal artists working in Antwerp in the early 16th century. His painting of The Infant
Christ and Saint John the Baptist embracing (est. $300/400,000) demonstrates his high level of craftsmanship and
wonderful sensitivity to color as well as his mastery of perspective and modeling. It also reveals the multiple
influences to which van Cleve was susceptible, including the works of such earlier Renaissance masters as Jan van
Eyck. Widely published, the oil on panel shows the two children seated on lush, velvet, tasseled cushions embracing
beneath a circular canopy. A pomegranate rests on the floor in front of them, a reference to the Resurrection. The
theme of the kissing Infant Christ and St. John the Baptist is derived from a lost composition of Leonardo da Vinci.
The motif was picked up by Northern Italian followers of Leonardo whose works would have been available to van
Cleve in Antwerp.
Increasing naturalism can be seen Veronese’s High Renaissance work, The Symbols of the Four Evangelists
estimated at $350/500,000 (pictured above). Veronese has chosen to represent the four Evangelists by their
traditional symbols, and has done so by assembling them in a single pictorial space: the lion (St. Mark), the angel
(St. Matthew), the eagle (St. John) and the bull (St. Luke). The foreshortening of the figures supports the hypothesis
that this painting formed part of a decorative scheme; this particular canvas may have been intended as ceiling
decoration but its oblong format suggests that it was more probably an overdoor. Dating to the mid-1570’s this oval
oil on canvas is estimated at $350/500,000. Veronese was best known for his work in the palaces and churches of
Venice from 1553-1588. Directly competing with Tintoretto for commissions, Veronese developed his own style that
focused on the splendor of color and form. This work of the 1570’s reflects Veronese’s mastery of form and color.
An important High Renaissance sculpture included in the sale is the very rare and important life-size Florentine
marble group of Adonis and his hound by Giovanni Bandini (1540-1599). (pictured right) Probably commissioned by
Francesco Maria II Della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, the work is signed and dated 1598 and is estimated to sell for
$500/700,000. Giovanni Bandini played a major role in Renaissance Florence, fulfilling a number of commissions for
the Duomo and the adjacent Opera del Duomo in addition to later commissions for the Medici, including the figure of
Architecture for Michelangelo’s tomb in Santa Croce in 1573. It was his work for the Medici Family in Florence that
led to his being recommended to the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria II della Rovere.
Giambolgna traveled to Florence in 1552 and was persuaded to stay under the patronage of the Medici Dukes,
eventually becoming their court sculptor. He dominated Florentine sculpture for half a century and by 1570 was the
most influential sculptor in Europe. Included in the Mannerist section of the Arts of the Renaissance sale is a fine
Florentine Bronze pacing bull, from the Giambologna-Susini workshop dating to the late 16th early 17th century
(pictured left). Estimated to sell for $120/180,000 this statuette (22.5 cm.) is a particularly fine example of a popular
model that emanated from Giambologna’s workshop. The treatment of the surface, the definition of the musculature
and detail of the hair, the brilliant color of the original translucent varnish are characteristic of the work of this famous
studio in Florence.
SALE DATE:
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2001
EXHIBITION DATES:
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2001
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2001
SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2001
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2001
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2001
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2001
For More Information, Please Contact
Matthew Weigman
Lauren Gioia
212 606 7176
fax: 212 606 7381
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