Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 66 x 63 cm
Inventory numberNMDrh 287
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Martelli 1804)
Other titlesTitle (sv): Magdalena vid Kristi fötter Title (en): Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 97: FORMER INV. NOS.: 482 (M. 1804); KM 809. TECHNICAL NOTES: Labelled on verso: “Luti. Nozze Samaritane Mart. 482”. The support is a single piece of medium-coarse, plain-weave linen fabric. It has been lined with glue onto a coarse, sparsely woven linen canvas and mounted with staples on a Martelli strainer. This was probably done in Italy before shipping to Sweden. The ground is red and covers the whole support, including the tacking edges. There is extensive retouching. Some of the figure outlines have been reinforced. The painting is in fair condition. Documented restorations: 1953: Described as in need of restoration; 1984: Consolidation of paint layer. Removal of varnish. Filling of paint losses, retouching and varnish. PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sander 1872–76, III, p. 138, no. 482 (as Luti). The Martelli inventory includes six paintings under the name of the Florentine artist Benedetto Luti, three of them with subjects from the life of Christ, namely Christ in Gethsemane, the Wedding at Cana and the Supper at Emmaus. In Louis Masreliez’s 1810 list of the collection, with concordance numbers referring to Martelli’s original inventory, we find eight paintings given to Luti, seven of which were identified in the original list. The painting with the unidentified motif was listed separately by Masreliez among the works that were delivered to Sweden without having previously been announced by Martelli. The present painting, whose subject does not appear in either the 1798 or the 1810 list, may be identified with this surplus one. As to the motif and its composition, the Nationalmuseum painting is indebted to the oils on copper featuring the Supper at Emmaus and Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee which Luti painted for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in 1707–08.¹ The small scale of the pair suggests a particular use for a more private collecting context, which became increasingly important in the course of the 18th century. The Ottoboni paintings also offered compositional novelties that appealed to the market. In comparison with the large-scale version of the subject, painted in 1692–1693 and acquired on the market in 1757 by Sir Nathaniel Curzon of Kedleston Hall, the smaller versions show a less formal structure and greater emphasis on details and human sentiment. The small size challenged the artist’s ability to handle the drama of the scene and a relatively large number of protagonists. Luti’s proficient bottega produced a great many versions of the Ottoboni paintings,² of which the Nationalmuseum canvas is one. Some of the figures, in particular that of Christ and the apostle on the right-hand side, bear an evident similarity to Luti’s manner. Yet there are too many weak details to allow the possibility of his authorship: the crowded scene is crammed into the composition, and the presence of food, in the specific natura morta style that had brought novelty to Luti’s handling of this particular motif, is indicated with little skill. A typical bottega product and fully in line with the idea of a canonical Luti work, it fits perfectly into the collection of Nicola Martelli. sne 1 Maffeis 2012, p. 157. The paintings are in the collection of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. 2 Maffeis 2012, p. 157 [End]
Collection
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