(Venice or Padua circa 1430–1516 Venice)
Madonna and Child,
oil on panel, transferred to canvas, 79.5 x 59.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Achillito Chiesa (1881–1951), until 1927;
possibly his sale, New York, 1927;
Collection of Conte Alessandro Contini Bonacossi (1878–1955), Rome and transferred to Villa Vittoria, Florence in the 1930s;
Private European collection

Literature:
G. Gronau, Giovanni Bellini. Des Meisters Gemälde in 207 Abbildungen, Stuttgart/Berlin 1930, mentioned p. 205, note 76 (as ‘ein zweites gleichwertiges Exemplar’ [‘a second version of the same value’]; wrongly identified with the copy at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Piove di Sacco);
L. Dussler, Giovanni Bellini, Frankfurt am Main 1935, p. 152, no. 594a (as ‘Wiederholung mit veränderter Landschaft’ [‘repetition with modified landscape’]);
S. Moschini Marconi, Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia. Opere d’arte dei secoli XIV e XV, Rome 1955, p. 69, mentioned under no. 69 (as ‘un’altra [variante]’ [‘another version’]);
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. A List of the Principal Artists and their Works with an Index of Places. Venetian School, vol. I, London 1957, p. 31 (as partially autograph);
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i belliniani, Venice 1962, p. 6, mentioned under no. 23 (as ‘copia di bottega’ [‘workshop replica’]);
L. Puppi, Bottega di Giovanni Bellini, in: Dopo Mantegna. Arte a Padova e nel territorio nei secoli XV e XVI, exhibition catalogue, Venice 1976, p. 50, mentioned under no. 26 (as a replica from Giovanni Bellini);
M. Tamassia, Collezioni d’arte tra Ottocento e Novecento. Jacquier fotografi a Firenze 1870–1935, Naples 1995, p. 175, mentioned under no. 50593, p. 176, fig. 50593 (shows the painting in the Villa Vittoria, Florence);
F. Zaninelli, Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Antiquario (1878–1955). The Art Market and Cultural Philanthropy in the Formation of American Museums, ms. Diss., Edinburgh 2018, pp. 200, 332, fig. 82 (as Giovanni Bellini, shows the painting in the Villa Vittoria, Florence);
M. Lucco/P. Humfrey/G. C. F. Villa, Giovanni Bellini. Catalogo ragionato, ed. by M. Lucco, Treviso 2019, p. 412, mentioned under no. 68, pp. 413–414, no. 69 (as ‘Giovanni Bellini e aiuto’ [‘Giovanni Bellini and assistant’]);
A. Tempestini, Giovanni Bellini e i pittori belliniani, Florence 2021, p. 91, no. 35a (as ‘Giovanni Bellini e bottega’ [‘Giovanni Bellini and workshop’])

The present composition relates, with variants, to the Madonna Contarini by Giovanni Bellini, conserved in the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice (inv. no. 594). The principal compositional difference between the two paintings is in the depiction of the landscape background, which in the present painting reveals an atmospheric lightness of depth that appears to anticipate the landscape in Giovanni Bellini’s Madonna conserved in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (inv. no. F61-66), which is considered to be an entirely autograph work.

The present painting has a prestigious recent provenance. At the beginning of the twentieth century it belonged to the Argentinean collector Achillito Chiesa, from where it entered the collection of Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, one of the most important art dealers and collectors of the first half of the twentieth century. However, it is difficult to reconstruct the painting’s early history, since in the past this work has been confused with a copy conserved in the Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Piove di Sacco. Gronau (see literature) believed the two paintings to be a single work, erroneously suggesting the painting’s removal directly from the church to the Contini Bonacossi collection.

Berenson maintained that this Madonna and Child was a partially autograph work by Bellini. Subsequently, some years later it was considered to be a studio copy by Heinemann who, however, may have confused it with another version, since he gives it a provenance from the Meazza collection, Milan, however there is no confirmative suuport in the sale catalogues of that collection. It was believed to be a studio replica by Dussler, Moschini Marconi and Puppi, but in each instance described with various errors given in the dimensions and in the provenance, perhaps owing to the impossibility of studying the painting in the original, or because of the presence of old overpainting.

Following diagnostic analysis (see analysis below by Gianluca Poldi) and restoration, this painting was published as a work by Bellini and Assistant in the Giovanni Bellini catalogue raisonné by Mauro Lucco, Peter Humfrey and Giovanni C. F. Villa; this opinion was also independently confirmed by Tempestini (see literature).

Giovanni Bellini was one of the most important painters of Venetian Renaissance. The son of Jacopo Bellini, he trained in his father’s studio alongside his brother Gentile Bellini and his activity is documented from the 1450s. His formative years were also shaped by his close relationship with Andrea Mantegna who became his brother-in-law. The reciprocal influence between the two great painters is apparent in their respective treatments of the Agony in the Garden, both in the National Gallery, London, which are both datable to the second half of the 1450s and reveal numerous points of contact between Giovanni Bellini and Mantegna.

Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi:
Diagnostic investigations undertaken on the present painting have clarified that the preparatory underdrawing was most probably executed with the same cartoon as the one used for the Madonna Contarini using the pouncing or spolvero technique to transfer the design to the panel.

Following this initial phase of transfer, possibly undertaken by an assistant, Bellini then intervened to complete and perfect the design, employing parallel diagonal hatching which is typical of his drawing technique.

The master’s direct intervention in the present painting can also be detected in various details of the painted surface, as well as the use of extremely precious pure natural ultramarine (from lapis lazuli stone) for the Virgin’s mantle and for the sky, instead of the more common use of a thin coat of lapis over a base of the less precious azurite. This detail confirms that the painting was made for a prestigious patron, and it is possible that Bellini used this work for experimenting with certain innovative techniques.

The present painting was transferred from panel to canvas some years ago, and this is clear when examining multispectral imaging. The panel, with vertical grain, was probably composed of a single board, in fact there is no evidence of cracks due to joins in infrared images, similar to the Madonna Contarini (Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice), which has the same iconography, though a different landscape and it has been carefully examined (see Il colore ritrovato. Bellini a Venezia, edited by R. Goffen and G. Nepi Scirè, Milan 2000).

Reflectographic images, carried out in different IR bands, do not show compositional changes, with the exception of the external profile of the left leg, right for the viewer, of the Child, which is slightly different below the knee compared to the Contarini version: but this is an area that has been subject to restoration. The presence, on the other hand, in the Madonna Contarini, of small pictorial corrections readable on X-Rays, in the right shoulder of the Child (originally a little higher) and in the left one of the Mother (which is enlarged by the fold of the mantle that surmounts it), seem to confirm that it is a version that precedes the present painting, as proposed recently (see M. Lucco, P. Humfrey, G.C.F. Villa, Giovanni Bellini. Catalogo ragionato, Treviso 2019, pp. 413–414).

If the images of the two versions are overlaped, some differences in the figures are apparent: the two most relevant concern the gaze of the Madonna – who in the Contarini painting looks at the observer, like the Child, while in the present painting she looks at a point in the void towards the left of the picture – and the shoulders of the Child, slightly higher and wider, similar to the first version prepared under the Contarini painting. It is probable that both versions derive from the same cartoon, or rather from the same original drawing for the figures, which were then adapted in the pictorial phase.

The most interesting technical aspect that emerges from the reflectographs conducted on the painting concerns the presence of an underlying drawing in brush and ink, not only in outline, but also in hatching, the latter which does not seem to have emerged in the Contarini painting. The outline underdrawing is more evident, probably due to a more concentrated carbon black ink, suggesting that the hatching was made with a slightly different ink, in a second moment. It is possible that the transfer of the drawing from the cartoon took place by pouncing, that was then brushed off as the painter did for a long phase of his career. The fine outline drawing by brush is typically identifiable in Bellini’s works.

Absolutely characteristic of Giovanni Bellini’s working practice is the accurate and regular short diagonal hatching found under the flesh tones which positions shadowing in such a way as to enhance finished pictorial work, as well as the study of the effects of light on the skin of the figures (see G. Poldi e G. C. F. Villa, Indagando Bellini, Milano 2009).

Technical analysis demonstrates continuous development in Giovanni Bellini’s works, which is evident on an iconographic level when comparing this painting to the Madonna Contarini. There is diversity in the handling of the landscape and the sky – here seen in the clouds above the mountains, as well as in the chromatic tone which is colder and more metallic. The modified expressiveness of Christ, is generated by a rounder profile of the face and by a different treatment of light and shadow.

Pigments:
Original pigments, examined by non-invasive spectroscopies and digital microscopy, include natural ultramarine, quite finely grinded, the only blue used in the sky and in the Virgin’s cloak, while azurite was employed in the mountains towards the horizon, mixed with a few malachite, both coarsely grinded, and some amounts of lead white, ochre and brown earth.

Lead-tin yellow, to imitate gold, was used in the fragmentary decoration of the red robe and in the light of the edge of the mantle that acts as a veil, on the head. The same yellow is mixed with verdigris in the background meadows, while to vary the colours of the trees the painter alternates malachite and azurite with verdigris, often used in glazes.

The small buildings in the background on the right side are built with touches of lead white mixed with a little azurite, to match the atmosphere, or with vermilion for the roofs.

The usual blend of lead white and fine vermilion grains, with small additions of brown ochre, makes up the complexions, over a lead white priming covering the white gesso ground. Red lake was employed in the lips and, of course, in the Virgin’s dress, which underlayer also contains bright vermillion.

The painting technique and pigments are coherent with Giovanni Bellini’s working practice.