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Res. Katalogtext: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, 
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 13:

FORMER INV. NOS.: 148 (M. 1796–97); 215 (F. 1798); 277 (M. 1804);
KM 539.

TECHNICAL NOTES: The support is a single piece of coarse,
plain-weave linen fabric. It has been lined with glue and mounted
on a non-original stretcher. The lining process has reinforced the
structure of the original canvas, which can be seen as a pattern of
squares through the paint layers. Impastos have been flattened.
There are numerous old retouches. The varnish is yellowed. Documented
restorations: 1844: Restored by Mandelgren; 1929: Lined,
flaking paint layer consolidated, repair of paint layer. Cleaning
and varnish; 1951: Severe water damage to paint layer and canvas
fixed.

PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. 12 (as Gian Giacomo Caprotti,
called il Salaì); Sander 1872–76, III, p. 118, no. 277; NM Cat. 1990, p.
421 (as anonymous, 17th century).

This painting is a rather poor copy of Cagnacci’s
famous representation of the subject in a Bolognese
private collection.¹ It is painted on a coarse
kind of canvas that was also used for several of the
other paintings of lesser quality in the Martelli
Collection. Interestingly, in Fredenheim’s catalogue
the painting is referred to as a “Copie par Luc.
Cagnacci”.²

The original of the present painting was earlier
attributed first to Girolamo Forabosco by G. Fiocco,
and later to Lorenzo Pasinelli by, in succession,
R. Longhi, C. Boroncini and C. Volpe.³ It was exhibited
as by Pasinelli in 1959, as part of the display
Maestri della pittura del Seicento emiliano in Bologna.
Reviewing this exhibition, Dwight C. Miller
proposed an attribution to Cagnacci, owing to “the
clarity of the representation and the coldness of the
background”.⁴ Pasini regarded the painting as typical
of Cagnacci’s Venetian activity around 1655, and
as one of the masterpieces of his maturity.⁵ Like
the closely linked painting of David by Cagnacci
in the Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina
(USA), formerly of the Colonna Collection and
the Kress Collection, New York, the Bolognese
painting found great popularity in the 18th century.
Attesting to this popularity are the many extant
copies, such as the ones in Milan and Trento and
others that have surfaced on the Italian art market.
Perhaps the Nationalmuseum painting should be
considered a typical 18th-century copy and as such
a natural part of the Martelli Collection, which
overall reflects that century’s range of taste. Although
of lesser quality than the previously known
copies, had it been published sooner it could of
course have helped to confirm the attribution of
the original to Cagnacci at an earlier stage.
DP
1 Pasini 1988, pp. 268–270, cat. no. 62; Benati and Paolucci
2008, pp. 308–309, cat. no. 79.
2 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet
de Martelli (à Rome).
3 Pasini 1988, pp. 268–270, cat. no. 62.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Pasini 1988, pp. 263–268, cat. no. 61; Benati and Paolucci
2008, pp. 308–309, cat. no. 80. [END]

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2012

David med Goliats huvud