Lot 110: Polidoro da Lanciano (Lanciano c. 1515-1565 Venice)

The Madonna and Child with Saint Mark oil on canvas 291/2 x 43 in. (75 x 109.2 cm.) PROVENANCE Von Widakovich, from whom acquired by the present owners on 6 July 1944 for 100,000 Reichmarks. NOTES The traditional attribution of this canvas to Polidoro is fully convincing. The artist, who was in Venice by 1536, is best known for his sacre conversazioni of the present kind. These draw their inspiration from Titian - although Polidoro was never a formal pupil of that master - but also reflect Bonifazio de' Pitati's adaptation of the style pioneered by Palma Vecchio, and, in his final decade, the influence of Paolo Veronese. Private devotional commissions, these clearly enjoyed a considerable popularity as the number of such pictures now extant attests. The present example was clearly painted for a Venetian as the introduction of the city's patron saint implies. While not among the greatest protagonists of Venetian quattrocento painting, Polidoro in his variations of the sacra conversazione theme justifies the place accorded to him by his contemporary, Ludovico Dolce, as one of the dozen outstanding painters of the city.