(Treviso born in the 15th Century – 1529 Venice)
Christ and the Adultress,
oil on canvas, 93 x 152 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Filippo De Filippi (1814–1867), Turin;
thence by descent to his daughter Elisa Richiardi (born in 1843), Bologna;
where acquired by Ludwig Wilhelm Schaufuß (1833–1890), Dresden;
Private collection, Southern Germany;
art market, Germany;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for confirming the attribution of the present work.

The present painting belongs to the corpus of works of the Venetian painter Rocco Marconi. Another version of the composition is known, on panel, with variations, formerly in the Corsini Gallery, Rome and now conserved in the Museum of Palazzo Venezia, Rome, and restored to Marconi by Bernard Berenson (see B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 329).

The present painting displays a pentimento in the left hand of Christ, which was initially conceived higher, and another in the man’s turban centre-left of Christ, which has been slightly reduced.

Lucco has dated this painting to the late phase of Marconi’s activity, shortly before his death in 1529, and he also compares it to another late work by the artist, the Blessing Christ in the Museo Civico, Padua.

Marconi is documented in Venice only from 1504. The painter’s career probably began in the workshop of Giovanni Bellini. Marconi then worked with Jacopo Palma il Vecchio, before embraking on an independent career.