Head of Christ
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 30 x 30 cm h x w x d: Ram 42 x 42 x 6 cm
Inventory numberNM 208
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Martelli 1804)
Other titlesTitle (sv): Kristushuvud Title (en): Head of Christ
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 6: FORMER INV. NOS.: 79 (M. 1796–97); 2 (F. 1798); 211 (M. 1804); KM 301. TECHNICAL NOTES: The support consists of a single piece of fine, densely woven, plain-weave linen fabric. The ground is red. The support has been lined with glue and mounted on a non-original stretcher. There are some old retouches, and the varnish is thick and yellowed. Although the painting is square, the frame covers the corners and it is shown as circular. The painting is in fairly good condition. Documented restorations: 1868, 7 Oct.: Restored by Chaquis. Rentoil/Lined; 1868–72: Restored by Brunkal. PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Af Sillén 1790; NM Cat. 1867, p. 14 (as Leonardo da Vinci); Sander 1872–76, III, p. 111, no. 211 (as Leonardo da Vinci); Göthe 1910, p. 20; NM Cat. 1990, p. 21 (as Giovanni Bellini, free copy after); Prytz and Eriksson 2010, p. 79. The head of Christ is depicted in a frontal position, with the light coming from the upper right of the picture. Christ is looking straight at the beholder like a Byzantine Majestas Domini or Salvator Mundi, or perhaps even more like the famous but now lost Volto Santo, executed by Jan van Eyck in 1440.¹ Christ is depicted with dark hair and a thin beard. He is wearing an originally blue gown, now turned green by several layers of varnish. The interplay of light and shadow (chiaroscuro) on Christ’s face is set against a very dark background. There are some visible retouches on the throat, and IR radiation confirms extensive retouches in the lower part of the painting. Otherwise the work is in a relatively good state of preservation. The painting is mentioned as a tondo in Sander 1872–76, III, and is consequently referred to as such a work in the 1990 Nationalmuseum catalogue of European paintings.² This is due to the fact that the painting is mounted in a circular frame dating from the mid 19th century, also visible in the illustration.³ The original painting, however, has a square format (30 × 30 cm), and there is no reason to question that it was originally inserted into a square frame, especially as neither Martelli nor Fredenheim mentions the form of a tondo in their letters or catalogues.⁴In Fredenheim’s catalogue of 1798, based on the original one prepared by Martelli, the painting is listed as “Une tête de Christ. Tableau de Cabinet”, and attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.⁵ In Martelli’s letter to Fredenheim dated 1799, it is listed as the third painting, referred to as “Testa di Gesù Nazzareno (Leonardo da Vinci)” and, further on: “Questa testa è preziosa. Essa è veramente di Leonardo”.⁶ Already in 1790, when the architect Gustaf af Sillén (1762–1825) isited Nicola Martelli, he saw a painting by da Vinci, which was probably the present painting.⁷ And when he gets the opportunity to see the Martelli collection exhibited at the Palazzo Chigi alla Colonna a year later, in 1791, he especially takes notice of the head by da Vinci.⁸ The attribution to Leonardo was preserved in the early catalogues, but questioned by Sander in 1874. The painting has some similarities with the head of Christ in Giovanni Bellini’s altarpiece The Baptism of Christ in the church of Santa Corona in Vicenza. Painted for the funerary chapel of the Garzadori family in the early years of the 16th century, the altarpiece is Bellini’s last major painting with a narrative theme. In it, Christ is standing in the river Jordan looking straight at the viewer. Although this is a scene showing Christ’s baptism, the features of his head are very close to the Head of Christ in the Nationalmuseum. Another Head of Christ, previously attributed to Bellini,¹¹ but later referred to his workshop or considered a copy after a lost original,¹² is now in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa .¹³ In the recent exhibition catalogue, Giovanni Bellini, it is reattributed by Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa as an autograph work by Bellini and dated on stylistic grounds to the end of the first decade of the 16th century.¹⁴ The Head of Christ in Canada is in fact a head-and-shoulders portrait (50 × 40.6 cm), showing a benedictory Christ raising his hand and pointing with two fingers. This painting is even closer to the Head of Christ in the Nationalmuseum and may in fact be the original on which the present work is based. It is also possible that the Nationalmuseum version has been cropped and that it originally had the same measurements and features as the Head of Christ in Ottawa. Although the altarpiece in Vicenza is executed on a much grander scale and in a somewhat brighter colour shade, the Nationalmuseum canvas seems to have been painted either after the head of that painting, after the Ottawa Head of Christ, or after a lost original following a type of Head of Christ established by the late paintings of Giovanni Bellini. JE 1 For depictions and the meaning of the Salvator Mundi, see Ringbom 1965 (II rev. ed., 1984). For the Volto Santo by Van Eyck, see for example Harbison 1991, p. 162. 2 Sander 1872–76, III, p. 51; NM Cat. 1990, p. 21. 3 Sander 1872–76, III, p. 7. 4 Fredenheim 1798, p. 1; NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à Rome); NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F :1, letter from Nicola Martelli to Carl Fredrik Fredenheim, received 3 July 1799. 5 Fredenheim 1798, p. 1, NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à Rome). See also Prytz and Eriksson 2010, p. 77. 6 Letter from Nicola Martelli to Carl Fredrik Fredenheim, received 3 July 1799, NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, see Appendix 1. See also Sander 1872–76, III, p. 49; Prytz and Eriksson 2010, p. 79. 7 Gustaf af Sillén, Diaries, pp. 480, 484–486, 521, Uppsala University Library, 1790. 8 Ibid., pp. 506–507. 9 Sander 1872–76, III, 1874, p. 51. 10 Goffen 1989, pp. 163–166. 11 Berenson 1957; Hubbard 1961; Ghiotto 1969, p. 106. 12 Ghiotto 1969, p. 106. 13 Giovanni Bellini, workshop of, The Head of Christ, no. 4421, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. 14 Lucco and Villa 2008, p. 290. [end]
Motif categoryReligion/Mythology
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword