Company Celebrating Bacchus
Artist/Maker
DatesMade: Executed probably 1500-talet
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 107 x 173 cm
Inventory numberNM 28
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Martelli 1804)
Other titlesTitel (sv): Bacchusfirande sällskap Titel (en): Company Celebrating Bacchus Titel (en): The Triumph of Bacchus
DescriptionRes. Katalogtext: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 43: FORMER INV. NOS.: 15 (M. 1796–97); 333 (F. 1798); 293 (M. 1804); KM 249. TECHNICAL NOTES: The support consists of a single piece of coarse, sparsely woven, plain-weave (10 x 8 threads/cm2) linen fabric. It is not lined, and is mounted with staples on a typical Martelli strainer. The ground is thick and red, and covers the whole support. The paint layer is cracked, and there are some paint losses and a tendency to flaking. There are some retouches in the background. Otherwise the painting is untouched. Documented restorations: Before 1816; 1836: Restored by Heideken. PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804. BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. 2 (as Pietro da Cortona); Sander 1872–76, III, p. 120, no. 293 (as Pietro da Cortona); NM Cat. 1990, p. 416 (as anonymous, 16th century). This painting is, by extension, a copy of Pietro da Cortona’s painting in the Louvre. The Louvre work was virtually forgotten until the 1990s, mainly owing to its abysmal condition.¹ It was commissioned by Cortona’s patron Matteo Sacchetti in 1644 as a gift for Cardinal Mazarin. ² Before the rediscovery of the Louvre painting, the well-known painting in the Pinacoteca Capitolina was considered the original.³ Today the judgement on that work ranges from studio replica to later copy.⁴ There is a pendant to the Louvre painting, a Flora painted by Nicholas Poussin, which remained in Sacchetti’s collection and which is now in the Pinacoteca Capitolina⁵. When the original was gifted to Mazarin, Sacchetti could possibly have had the Capitoline Bacchus painted as a substitute. The composition of the Nationalmuseum painting is the exact reverse of the original, suggesting that it was executed after an engraving, most likely one by Pietro Dell’Aquila.⁶ In Fredenheim’s catalogue, the painting is listed under Pierre de Cortone; Copies.⁷ Despite its very poor condition, with particularly conspicuous paint losses, it is still evident that the overall quality of its execution is quite high. DP 1 Michel 1999, pp. 135, 151, notes 23–26, 243, 244, 253, 315, 323–333, 380–381, 580–581; Loire 2006, pp. 122–124. 2 Loire 2006, pp. 122–124. 3 Ibid.; Briganti 1962, pp. 165–166, cat. no. 9. 4 Loire 2006, pp. 122–124. 5 Ibid.; Briganti 1962, pp. 165–166, note 3, cat. no. 9. 6 Loire 2006, pp. 122–124. 7 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à Rome). [END]
Motif categoryReligion/Mythology
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword