Echoes of the Past: Property from an Important Private Collection

Dott. Riccardo Lattuada has previously confirmed the attribution of the present work, dating it to the 1740s and noting that it is one of the best extant versions of the composition by the artist.

Provenance:

Private Collection, Spain

Jean-Luc Baroni, Ltd., London, 2011

Private Collection

Sold: Christie's, New York, April 27, 2017, Lot 44

Lot Essay:

In 1503, following the defeat of French forces at the Battle of Garigliano, Spain took control of the city of Naples, establishing it as an important center of their empire. This occupation created opportunities for painters living and working in the city to expand their markets and for increased artistic exchange between Italy and Spain.

One of the most successful artists in Naples to profit from the Spanish rule during the mid-17th century was Andrea Vaccaro. By the 1630s, Vaccaro, a native of the city, had become one of its leading painters, working frequently for Spanish patrons and regularly exporting his work to the Iberian Peninsula (as a result, the Museo del Prado in Madrid has a significant collection of his works). His paintings graced all of the major local collections of the day, including that of the Viceroy of Naples, Gaspar de Bracamonte (c. 1595-1676).

Vaccaro was drawn early on to the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio, whose Flagellation he copied (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples). The present Magdalene elegantly combines the drama and color of Naples and Rome with the restrained classicism of Guido Reni and Domenichino, who strongly influenced Vaccaro from around 1630, as seen in the Magdalene’s delicate, porcelain features and lyrical pose and expression. The stark tenebrism of the Spanish painter Jusepe de Ribera, who had moved to Naples in 1616, is also particularly evident in the present painting, in the still life at lower left and the somber simplicity of the background.

The evident popularity of the Magdalene as a subject during this period is attested to by the number of paintings Vaccaro produced of the saint. Vacarro's paintings of female figures for his Neapolitan patrons, usually on a more profane theme, were much demanded and have been described as presenting a female ideal combining latent sensuality with a classically derived composure. This figure of Mary Magdalen, as befits her historical character, occupies the territory between sensuousness and piety.

There are several autograph and studio versions of this composition, of varying quality, including paintings in the Museo del Capodimonte, Naples; the Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo; the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; the Palacio de Liria, Madrid; the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janiero; and the Alte Pinakothek, Munich. The present canvas and one in a private collection in Naples are the only two to bear Vaccaro’s distinctively elegant monogram. Additionally, as Riccardo Lattuada has noted, with its qualities of refinement and noticeable delicacy, both in the execution and characterization of the saint, the present painting is one of the best extant versions.