Lot 25: Attributed to Bernardino Capitelli (1589-1639)

Portraits of Carlo Orsini and Giordano Orsini, bust-length, in armour, the borders decorated with military and floral motifs inscribed 'CARLO. ORSINO ( SIC ). IL. SIGNORE.DELL'A. ANGUILLARA' and 'VIRTUS.FACIT HOMINEM.VIVUM' (1) AND 'GIORDANO. ORSINO ( SIC ). SIGNORE. DI. MONTE. ROTONDO' and with inscription 'Perugino' (2) black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash heightened with white on inscribed roundels prepared green 63/4 x 63/4 in. (172 x 172 mm) (2) PROVENANCE Cassiano dal Pozzo, 1633, with associated numbering '3' and '12', by descent to Cosimo Antonio dal Pozzo. Pope Clement XI Albani, 1703. Cardinal Alessandro Albani, 1714. James and Robert Adam, by whom purchased in Rome in 1762 for King George III, Windsor Castle. Probably Robert Dalton; Greenwood, London, 11-8 May 1791. C.R. Rudolf, from whom purchased by the present owner in 1962. LITERATURE C. von Prybram-Gladona, Unbekannte Zeichnungen alter Meister aus europ„ischem Privatbesitz, Munich, 1969, nos. 46 and 47, illustrated (as Italian School, circa 1560). N. Turner, European Drawings, The John Paul Getty Museum, IV, (awaiting publication), under no. 19. NOTES Part of a group of about twelve drawings with roundel portraits of the Orsini family. One of these drawings, of Napoleone Orsini II, is in the Getty Museum, another two are in a private collection in Paris and another, of Paolo Giordano Orsini I, was with Alister Matthews in 1964. Nicholas Turner, in his catalogue, proposes an attribution to the Sienese artist Bernardino Capitelli, one of the artists employed by Cassiano dal Pozzo to execute copies for his Museo Cartaceo. Cassiano's Paper Museum was bought by Pope Clement XI Albani (see lot 52), whose family sold it to King George III. Richard Dalton, who was in charge of the transaction, seems to have removed this drawing from the collection along with a number of others. Nicholas Turner suggested that this series of drawings reproduced 16th Century maiolica dishes or plaquettes illustrating members of the Orsini family. Another drawing from Cassiano dal Pozzo's collection, with his characteristic numbering, was sold at Christie's New York, 28 January 2000, lot 18. The Orsini family from Bracciano was granted the eponymous Dukedom by Pope Pius IV in 1560. One of Stendhal's most celebrated short stories, Le Duc de Bracciano, is devoted to the Orsini family.