Venus discovering the beauty of Psyche,
inscribed with the monogram of Prince Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rietberg lower right,
oil on canvas, 56 x 86 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Prince Wenzel von Kaunitz-Rietberg (1711–1848), Vienna;
probably by descent and inheritance to his grandson Prince Alois Wenzel Kaunitz (1774–1848), Vienna;
sale, Fischer Lucerne, 28 May 1932, lot 1152 (as Garofalo);
sale, Dorotheum Vienna, 27 March 1933, lot 39, withdrawn (as Garofalo);
with Galerie Silberman, Vienna, 1933;
sold to Heinrich Hardmeyer (1873–1938), Milan and Lucino near Lugano, by 1933;
by inheritance to his daughter Ida Semmler-Hardmeyer (1905–1988), Breganzona, Switzerland;
thence by descent;
sale, Schuler Zurich, 19 June 2015, lot 3301 (as Follower of Garofalo);
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
V. Farinella, in: V. Farinella (ed.), Dosso Dossi. Rinascimenti eccentrici al Castello del Buonconsiglio, exhibition catalogue, Milano 2014, p. 190, mentioned under cat. no. 44 (as Garofalo);
L. Ciammitti, Dosso as a Storyteller: Reflections on His Mythological Paintings, in: L. Ciammitti/S. F. Ostrow/S. Settis (eds.), Dosso’s Fate: Paintings and Court Culture in Renaissance Italy, Los Angeles 1998, pp. 95

The present painting can be compared to the work by Dosso Dossi, in the Galleria Borghese, Rome (inv. no. 304), dated to circa 1529. A nude, sleeping nymph is attended by an old woman, to whom a younger female figure, leaning on an urn, gestures with a raised hand. In both works the group is sheltered by trees, and a river landscape extends beyond them. The Borghese painting has previously been described as a scene from the story of Callisto, as has the present work, which has also been identified as a scene from the myth of Pandora. The Borghese picture is now thought to depict ‘Venus Discovering the Beauty of Psyche’.

The collector’s monogram, lower right, has been identified as that of Prince Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rittberg, chancellor and foreign minister of the Austrian Empire under Maria Theresa and her sons, Joseph II and Leopold II. He was a patron of the Arts and assembled a notable collection; he also served as Protector for the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna.

When offered for sale in 1933 an attribution to Garofalo was endorsed by Wilhelm Suida.