Eastlake MS. notes, National Gallery Archives, 1859, vol. III, folio 2v (as Michelangelo); C. Clément, Michel-Ange, Léonard de Vinci, Raphael, Paris 1861, p. 326 (as Michelangelo); H. Delaborde, Le Département des Estampes à la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 1875, p. 251, under no. 70 (as Michelangelo); P. Mantz, "Michel-Ange, Peintre", in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XVIII, 2nd series, XIII, 1876, pp. 123-24, footnote 1 (as doubtfully by Michelangelo); A. de Montaiglon, "La Vie de Michel-Ange Peintre", in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XVIII, 2nd series, XIII, 1876, p. 227, footnote 1 (as Michelangelo); H.F. Grimm, Leben Michelangelos, Hannover 1860-63, ed. Berlin 1879, vol. I, pp. 90 and 542 (without having seen the picture); J.A. Symonds, The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, based on studies in the archives of the Buonarroti family at Florence, London 1893, vol. I, p. 11 (citing Grimm); K. Frey, Michelagniolo Buonarroti. Quellen und Forschungen zu seiner Geschichte und Kunst, Berlin 1907, p. 19 (without knowing the picture firsthand); H. Thode, Michelangelo Kristische Untersuchungen über seine Werk, Berlin 1908, vol. I, p. 5 (as not by Michelangelo; believing the work was actually a drawing); G. Crivellari, "Altre notizie e chiarimenti sul quadro di Michelangelo Buonarroti La Tentazione di S. Antonio", in La Nazione, 3 August 1920 (with the Bianconi version as Michelangelo's original); H. Mackowsky, Michelangelo, Berlin 1908, ed. Berlin 1925, p. 387 (as not by Michelangelo); E. Camesasca, L'opera completa di Michelangelo pittore, Milan 1966, p. 85, under cat. no. 1, reproduced (as probably autograph or at least a good copy after Michelangelo); M. Hirst, in Making and Meaning. The Young Michelangelo, exhibition catalogue, London, National Gallery, 19 October 1994 - 15 January 1995, p. 128, footnote 5 (as a product of Ghirlandaio's workshop); L. Treves, in K. Weil Garris-Brandt et al., La Giovinezza di Michelangelo, exhibition catalogue, Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, Sala d'Arme, and Casa Buonarroti, 6 October 1999 - 9 January 2000, pp. 329-30, cat. no. 45, reproduced in colour on p. 331, and details in colour on pp. 332-33 (as Workshop of Ghirlandaio); C. Acidini, Michelangelo pittore, Milan 2007, pp. 20-21, footnote 31, reproduced in colour on p. 21 (as anonymous 15th-century hand).
Provenance
With Galleria Scorzi, Pisa, 1830s; From which acquired by Baron Henri-Joseph-François de Triqueti (1804-1874), Paris, in 1837 (in whose collection it was seen in 1859 by Sir Charles Eastlake who considered it to be by Michelangelo); Thence by descent to his daughter, Mrs. Lee-Childe, Baroness de Triqueti; Her deceased sale, Paris, Féral, Petit & Mannheim, 4 May 1886, lot 5 (unsold); Mr. Lee-Childe, by whom given to Sir Paul Harvey, before 1905; Thence by descent to the family of the present owner; Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Lady'), London, Sotheby's, 7 December 1960, lot 17, unsold (as by Michelangelo).
Notes
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN It is an anecdote frequently referred to in the literature on the artist that the young Michelangelo, whilst a pupil in Domenico Ghirlandaio's workshop, produced a painted, coloured copy after Martin Schongauer's print of The Temptation of Saint Anthony (fig. 1). Ascanio Condivi, generally regarded as the most reliable source for Michelangelo's biography, wrote: "Et essendogli messa inanzi dal Granacci una carta stampata, dove era ritratta la storia di Santo Antonio, quand'è battuto da diavoli, della qual era autore un Martino d'Ollandia, huomo per quel tempo valente, la fece in una tavola di legno et, accomodato dal medesimo di colori e di pennegli, talmente la compose et distinse, che non solamente porse maraviglia è chiunche la vedde, ma ancho ividia, come alcuni vogliono, à Domenico [Ghirlandaio]...In far questo quadretto, per cio che oltre all'effigie del santo c'erano molte strane forme e mostrosità di demoni, usò Michelagnolo una cotal diligenza, che nessuna parte coloriva, ch'egli prima col naturale non havesse conferita, si che andatosene in pescheria, considerava, di che forma e colore fusser l'ali di pesci, di che colore gli occhi et ognaltra parte, rappresentandole nel suo quadro."υ1 Condivi's account, apparently written under Michelangelo's direct supervision, includes such unlikely anecdotes as the artist's trip to the fishmonger to study the fish more closely: the scales in this painting do appear to be particularly well observed but they are not significantly more detailed than in Schongauer's print. The biographer Giorgio Vasari referred to the same episode, erroneously recording that the print was Albrecht Dürer's: "Imperoché, essendo venuta in Firenze una istoria del detto Alberto, quando i diavoli battono Santo Antonio, stampata in rame, Michele Agnolo la ritrasse di penna, di maniera che non era conosciuta, e quella medesima coi colori dipinse; dove, per contraffare alcune strane forme di diavoli, andava a comperar pesci che avevano scoglie bizzarre di colori, e quivi dimostrò in questa cosa tanto valore, che e' ne acquistò e credito e nome".υ2 Whilst it is perhaps overly optimistic to believe that such a work might have brought Michelangelo fame, the exercise would certainly have brought him to the attention of his master, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and to those who frequented the workshop. Finally, Benedetto Varchi wrote on the occasion of Michelangelo's funeral: "La prima cosa, che egli ancora fanciullo, disegnò, e colorì; fu un quadretto di legno, nel quale egli ritrasse di penna da una carta stampata in rame, di mano chi dice d'Alberto Duro, e chi di Martino d'Ollandia; la storia di Santo Antonio, quando egli fu dagl' Avversarij nostri battuto".υ3 In favour of the story told by both Condivi and Vasari, is the existence of both this and another painting, in oil, which was in the Bianconi collection, Bologna, by 1840. It appears however that a much stronger case can be made for the present work to be Michelangelo's original. The painting was quite well-known when in the collection of the distinguished sculptor, Baron Henri-Joseph-François de Triqueti (1804-1874), where it was seen in 1859 by the then director of the National Gallery, Sir Charles Eastlake, who seemingly accepted its attribution to Michelangelo: 'The M.Angelo copy from M.Schoen'. An admirer of 15th-century sculptors such as Benedetto da Maiano, whom he regarded superior to Lorenzo Ghiberti, De Triqueti produced numerous drawings and paintings after sculptures he had seen in Milan, Venice, Padua and Florence. He also owned a Madonna and Child with angels by Fra Angelico, also seen by Eastlake in 1859. Clément accepted the present picture as a work by Michelangelo and published it as such, although the painting was not unanimously accepted when it was exhibited as a Michelangelo in Paris in 1874. The painting was evidently the source of much debate at the time. The mixed media technique and colouring of the picture are certainly typical of Ghirlandaio's workshop practice during the last quarter of the 15th century, and in particular of Benedetto Ghirlandaio who returned to Florence in 1494, just months before the death of his brother Domenico. The landscape and flesh tones are clearly executed in tempera, whilst the rocks and demons are painted in oil: this is not unique in Michelangelo's own oeuvre for both the Doni Tondo and the Deposition are painted in mixed media. Michael Hirst, in The Young Michelangelo exhibition catalogue (see Literature), judged it - at best - to be a product of the Ghirlandaio workshop and remarked that if it were Michelangelo's original 'it would be disappointing'.υ4 On the other hand, Everett Fahy, who has had the opportunity to study the painting in the original a number of times since its appearance on the market nearly fifty years ago, believes the painting to be by the young Michelangelo himself. Of particular note is the landscape which, very different from that in Martin Schongauer's print, is very Ghirlandaiesque and Fahy has noted its similarity to the landscape in the panel of Saint John the Baptist Preaching ascribed to Francesco Granacci in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which he believes may also be a youthful work by Michelangelo.υ5 Dr. Paul Joannides, after recent inspection of the painting, has independently suggested an attribution to the young Francesco Granacci. Infra-red reflectography of the panel reveals the presence of extensive underdrawing as well as various pentimenti in the painting. The underdrawing is characeterised by two distinct types: the first, a careful brush drawing (for example on the stick held by the demon upper left) and the second, a delicate pattern of hatching (notably on the rock formation lower left). The pentimenti affect the positioning of certain figures within the group (for example the re-definition of Saint Anthony's cloak centre left) and the overall effect is more restrained than that in Schongauer's print. The wings of the demons have been clipped in order to bring the figures closer together, in a more compact circular arrangement; a factor very much in Michelangelo's mind at this time when even his paintings strive for an almost sculptural tightness of form. A copy of Martin Schongauer's print accompanies this lot and will be made available to the buyer. 1. 'And having been put by Granacci before an engraving, where the story of Saint Anthony is told, when he is beaten by devils, by Martino d'Ollandia [Martin Schongauer], a gifted man for those times, he painted a copy of it on a wooden panel, and given by the same [Granacci] colours and brushes, he did it so well, that anyone who saw it not only marvelled at its beauty but, according to some, Domenico [Ghirlandaio] was also filled with envy... In producing this work, for which there is not just the figure of the saint but also many strange and monstruous forms for the demons, Michelangelo used such diligence, that he did not colour in any part without having first gone back to look at nature, and so he went to the fishmonger's to consider which form and colour the wings of the fish should be, and the colour of their eyes and all their parts, which he then faithfully represented in his painting'; A. Condivi, Vita di Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florence 1553. 2. 'Having arrived in Florence a tale of the aforementioned Alberto [Albrecht Durer], when the demons beat Saint Anthony, in the form of an engraving, Michele Agnolo copied it in pen and ink, in a manner that was unrecognisable, and he coloured that same drawing in, where, to imitate the strange forms of demons, he went to buy fish which had strange scales of bizzare colours, and in so doing displayed such a gift, that he gained credit and a reputation from it'; G. Vasari, Le Vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori et scultori italiani..., Florence 1550, ed. Einaudi 1986, p. 882, and footnote 9. 3. 'The first thing he drew, when he was still a boy, was a small painting on a wooden panel, in which he drew in pen from an engraving, by some considered to be by Alberto Duro [Albrecht Durer], by others Martino d'Ollandia [Martin Schongauer], the story of Saint Anthony, when he was beaten by his Opponents'; B. Varchi, Orazione Funerale fatta e recitata da Lui pubblicamente nell'Essequie di Michelagnolo Buonarroti in Firenze, nella Chiesa di San Lorenzo, 1564. 4. Prof. Hirst has reiterated such an opinion more recently, after firsthand inspection of the painting. 5. Inv. no. 1970.134.2; see K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by artists born in or before 1865. A Summary Catalogue, New York 1980, vol. I, pp. 78-79, reproduced vol. II, p. 36. Everett Fahy and Charlotte Hale plan to publish an essay in the Metropolitan Museum Journal in which The Temptation of Saint Anthony will be discussed.
