Lot 80: CIRCLE OF TOMMASO SALINI, CALLED MAO

BOYS PAUSING FROM A HUNT AND PLAYING AT ODDS IN A FOREST CLEARING

144.7 by 221 cm.; 57 by 87 in.

oil on canvas, in a carved gilt wood frame

Cardinal Marco y Catalan (1771-1841) Governor of Rome, (according to information provided by Ethel, 10th Lady Beaumont);
Sir Charles Henry Tempest (1834-1894), Broughton Hall, Yorkshire;
By descent to his daughter Ethel Tempest, who married Miles Stapleton (1850-1895), 10th Lord Beaumont in 1893;
Thence by direct family descent.

The painting was traditionally attributed to Bartolomé Estebán Murillo but has more recently been associated with the Roman painter Tommaso Salini, called Mao (1565-1625).

The painting appears to be by the same artist as that of a group of works which were ascribed to Salini in a series of articles in Paragone (1989), and which have more recently been associated with Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio. These paintings include: A boy with an overturned basket of apples being surprised by dogs in Budapest,   Szépművészeti   Múzeum, and its pendant of A boy being attacked by a ram in Modena, Galleria Estense (;1) and Children playing with a cat and a mouse in the Drury Lowe collection, Locko Park (Derbyshire). (2) Also by the same hand, and of very similar dimensions as the present picture, is the painting of Boys playing cards in a forest clearing sold at Christie's, London, 3 December 2008, lot 262 (as Circle of Salini). (3) Although the theory was put forward in 1989 that these were all late works by Salini, datable to the last five years of his life (1620-25), it is now generally accepted that the paintings must date towards the middle of the 17th century and therefore cannot be by Salini himself. The Spanish influence is clear, but the elegance of the figures and naturalistic attention to detail in the animals and still life elements point rather to an Italian artist.

1. V. Markova, "Alcune nuove proposte per Tommaso Salini", in Paragone, year xl, no. 17, vol. 475, September 1989, pp. 26-41, and G. Papi, "Un tema caravaggesco fra i quadri di figura di Tommaso Salini", in ibid., pp. 42-51, reproduced plates 46 and 47 (as Tommaso Salini). More recently published by R. González Ramos, Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio. Caballero Pintor, Seville 1999, pp. 139-41, cat. nos. 12 and 13, reproduced pp. 178-82, figs. 14 (in colour) and 15 (as Pedro Núñez).
2. Markova, op. cit., reproduced plate 36 (as Salini) and González Ramos, op. cit., pp. 147-48, cat. no. 21, reproduced p. 182, fig. 18 (as Pedro Núñez?). Another painting, also tentatively given to Núñez by González Ramos, is in a private collection and is clearly by the same hand: A boy with an overturned basket of pears being attacked by two dogs (p. 148, cat. no. 22, reproduced p. 183, fig. 19).
3. The canvas measures 144.8 by 195 cm.