Lot 20: GIROLAMO DA SANTACROCE

SANTA CROCE, BERGAMO 1480/5-1556 VENICE CHRIST AND THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA oil on panel 9 7/8 by 13 7/8 in.; 25.1 by 35.2 cm.

With Mortimer Brandt Galleries, New York; Mr. Gabriel; His sale, New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 15 November 1945, lot 7; Where acquired by David Goldmann; Thence by descent to the present owner.

A pupil of Gentile Bellini, Girolamo da Santacroce was likely employed in the workshop of Giovanni Bellini after his master’s death. Born in Santacroce near Bergamo, the artist was active in Venice as early as 1503, when he was documented as witness in the will of Bellini’s wife.1 Another version of Santacroce's Christ and the woman of Samaria, of almost identical dimensions, can be found in the Museo Borgogna, Vercelli along with a pendant, Noli me tangere, begging the question whether the present painting may also have initially formed part of a pair.2 The Vercelli paintings were attributed to Girolamo da Santacroce by both Federico Zeri and Bernard Berenson, though Fritz Heinemann lists them as the work of his son, Francesco III da Santacroce.3 The landscape in the Vercelli panel varies slightly from that of the present painting, showing more of the river valley and omitting the pathway with riders at the center of the composition and the figures and animals to the right of the woman of Samaria. At the time of its 1945 sale, the painting had been authenticated verbally by W. R. Valentiner and was accompanied by a letter from George Richter, dated New York, 28 June 1940, who considered the work to be from Santacroce's mature period and dated it between 1530 and 1540. 1. F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice 1962, pp. 161-162. 2. Ibid. pp. 167-168, nos. S.524 and S.532. 3. F. Zeri, Fototeca archive, no. 39400; B. Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, vol. I, p.157.