FJK 010
Bellini Gentile (Italian, Venice 1429–1507 Venice)
Crucifixion
Before 1479
9 41/64 × 14 49/64 in. (245 × 375 mm)
Medium
Pen and brown ink on parchment with outlines in brown ink
Certificate
Letter from Prof. Dr. Jürg Meyer zur Capellen, Münster, undated
Certificate from Prof. Anchise Tempestini dated May 28, 2004, Florence
Certificate from Prof. Mario di Giampaolo, dated May 2004, Florence
Letter from Mrs. Melissa Hughes, conservator, dated April 5, 2004, Waterloo
Origin
Baron de Cosson Collection (dead in 1922), England
Private Collection, Oxfordshire, England (by descent)
Mr. Gabor Kekko, Monte Carlo
Jan Krugier Collection, Monaco (acquired from previous owner on July 13, 2004), JK 626
Jan Krugier Foundation
Exhibitions
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Das Ewige Auge - Von Rembrandt bis Picasso. Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, exh. cat., 2007, p. 28, no. 6, color ill. p. 29.
Notes
The present drawing is a free hand copy after a drawing by Jacopo Bellini, executed on parchment, in the Louvre sketchbook (consisting of 93 sheets), page 41. The album, which is made up entirely of parchment sheets, except for a single inserted page of paper, passed to Jacopo’s widow after Jacopo’s death in 1471. She subsequently willed it to her eldest son, Gentile. Called to work as a court portraitist in Constantinople in 1479, Gentile took the album with him as a gift for his new patron, Sultan Mehmet II. The album disappeared from view for almost three centuries. In 1728, the artist Guerin, acting as agent for King Louis XV, rediscovered it in Smyrna and the Louvre finally purchased it in 1884. This exclusive history of the album indicates that the present drawing was executed prior to 1479.
The Attribution to Gentile Bellini has been confirmed by Dr. Anchise Tempestini, in a letter dated May 28th 2004, of Florence, a specialist in Bellini and his period. Dr. Tempestini dates the drawing to about 1472.
The attribution has also been confirmed verbally by Prof. William Rearick of Venice, after having seen the drawing in original on the 27th of May 2004. Prof. Rearick stated that he knows now three of these type of parchments after the Louvre sketchbook. The present parchment, one in the Collection of [Jan Krugier Foundation] representing the “Funeral Procession of the Virgin” located in Geneva, Switzerland, and another in a private collection. Prof. Rearick dates the drawing to the 1460’s.
The attribution has been confirmed by Mr. Mario di Giampaolo of Florence, in a letter dated May 2004, upon having seen the drawing in original. Mr. di Giampaolo is the most acknowledged specialist for old master Italian drawings in Italy, specialized in the early sixteenth century Emilian and Bolognese artists.
The dating of the materials, the parchment, has been made by Mrs. Melissa Hughes, professional paper restorer, Brussels. […]
Anonymous author
Request for information/loan
The Jan Krugier Foundation is devoted to increasing the impact of the collection of drawings through regular loans to major exhibitions. Loan applications should include a complete presentation of the project.