Portrait of an Olivetan priest and a member of the Pueroni family inscribed 'Molto R.mo Sig.r Mio E. ss. mo la carica a Vs [...] R. bene di proclamrsi con [...]' (on the letter) oil on canvas 56 1/4 x 38 1/8 in. (142.5 x 97 cm.)
London, New Gallery, Exhibition of Spanish art, 1895-6, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. London, Guildhall, The Corporation of London Exhibition, 1901, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. Varese, Castello di Masnago, Il ritratto in Lombardia: da Moroni a Ceruti, 21 April - 14 July 2002.
Literature
V. von Loga, 'Los cuadros de la "Hispanic Society of America"', in Museum, 1913, 3, p. 135, illustrated, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. A.L. Mayer, 'Zurbarán in America', in Arts and decoration, March 1916, 6, p. 222, illustrated, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. B. Murdock, 'The Hispanic Museum, New York', in The Connoisseur, September 1917, p. 27, illustrated, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. H. von Kehrer, Francisco de Zurbarán, Munich, 1918, pl. 20, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. J. Cascales y Muñoz, Francisco de Zurbaran; his epoch, his life and his works, New York, 1918, frontispiece, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. V. von Loga, Die Malerei in Spanien vom XIV. bis XVIII, Berlin, 1923, no. 139, illustrated, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. E. du Gué Trapier, Catalogue of paintings (16th, 17th & 18th centuries) in the collection of the Hispanic Society of America, New York, 1929, pp.128-9, no. A. 97, pl. XXXIV, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. M.S. Soria, 'Zurbaran, Right and Wrong', in Art in America, 32, July 1944, pp. 136-9, fig. 9, as 'Daniele Crespi'. R. Longhi, in the exhibition catalogue, Mostra del Caravaggio e dei Caravaggeschi, Milan, 1951, p. 61. M. Gregori, 'Alcuni aspetti del Genovesino', in Paragone, 59, 1954, pp. 25-6, fig. 19. A. Moir, The Italian Followers of Caravaggio, II, Cambridge, 1967, p. 88, no. 9, pl. 369. M. Tanzi, 'Un ritratto del Genovesino', in Ricerche di Storia dell'Arte, 33, 1981, p. 88. M. Gregori, 'La presenza del Genovesino', in Pittura a Cremona dal Romanico al Settecento, Cisiniello Balsamo, p. 295, fig. 133. Jane Turner et. al., The Dictionary of Art, London and New York, 1996, vol. XXI, pp. 701-2. F. Frangi and A. Morandotti, exhibition catalogue, Il ritratto in Lombardia: da Moroni a Ceruti, Milan, 2002, pp. 194-5, no. 75, illustrated.
Provenance
with George Donaldson, London, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'. with Ehrich Galleries, New York, from where purchased in 1911 by Archer M. Huntington for the Hispanic Society of America, as 'Francisco de Zurbarán'.
Notes
Property of the Hispanic Society of America, deaccessioned by order of the trustees to benefit the acquisitions fund
The present work was long considered a masterpiece by Zurbarán until Roberto Longhi correctly re-attributed it to Luigi Miradori in the catalogue of the exhibition, Mostra del Caravaggio e dei Caravaggeschi in 1951. Subsequently, Mina Gregori recognized the sitter, a Carthusian monk who appears in the Miracolo del beato Bernardo olivetano, an altarpiece commissioned for the church of San Lorenzo in Cremona (today located in the church of Siro in Soresina). In the Accademia de' pittori scultori e architetti cremonesi, the Abbott Desiderio Arisi notes that in the the background of the altarpiece stands '[...] un monaco con occhiale, ed un altro ritratto d'uno della nobile famiglia Pueroni' (XVIIIth century manuscript, Cremona, National Library). Mina Gregori dates the Miracolo del beato Bernardo olivetano to around 1650, which can be considered as a tentative date of execution for the present work.
Luigi Miradori was born in Genoa, hence his nickname 'il Genovesino', but was trained in the Milanese tradition of Morazzone, Tanzio da Varallo and Francesco del Cairo. His naturalistic rendition of detail and subtle use of spotlit effect point to the influence of Caravaggism. He is also indebted to Spanish artists, whose works were well known in Lombardy, where the Habsburgs ruled.
Miradori is first documented in Genoa in 1630 before he moved on to Piacenza, Rome and finally settling in Cremona circa 1640. There, he produced numerous paintings for the prominent religious orders such as his first known Cremonese work, dated 1640, of the Immaculate Conception in the parish Church of Castelleone. Other such works include paintings for Cremona cathedral, San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Magdalena, Santa Marcellina, San Imerio and the parish churches of Soresina and Casalbuttano to name a few. Miradori also had secular patrons such as Don Alvaro de Quiñones, the Spanish governor of the city, who sent Miradori's paintings to Spain as gifts for the king. In the late 1640s and early 1650, he produced further religious works for towns in Lombardy, including Milan. Miradori gave his religious imagery a human face by including everyday contemporary life in the fore and background scenes such as beggars and the poor. He died sometime before 1657, and received a grandiose burial at the expense of Don Alvaro.
Miradori was also celebrated as a portrait painter, and his talent is confirmed by rare surviving works such as the present one, in which he depicts a prominent Olivetan monk seated in a snow-white cowl, staring impassively, with a letter in his hand. The vigorous handling of the features of the sitter, the boldly contoured folds of the robe, and the dramatic chiaroscuro effects are a prominent instance of Lombardy's response to Caravaggio and to Spanish Naturalism. The present painting is close in style to Zurbarán's Portrait of Gian Giacomo Teodoro Trivulzio (formerly with Kleinberger Anderson Gallery, New York) and the Portrait of a Girl (formerly with Chaucer Fine Arts, London). Mina Gregori notes that 'Il modo in cui è ottenuta l'opposizione tra l'ombra e la luce... ha molte affinità con le stratificazioni luminose dello Zurbarán. L'impressionante e concentrata potenza del viso fa ricordare altresì certe teste giovanili del Velásquez'. [The manner in which the contrasts between light and dark are articulated... has many affinities with Zurbarán's way of rendering light. The impressive and condensed power of the face does indeed recall certain of Velásquez's young heads].
