#c17th

[heracliteanfire]

Guitar. Ebony and ivory veneer back and sides, pine soundboard, ebony and mother-of-pearl neck and brass frets. Italian, Venice, Matteo Sellas, 1623

(via V&A Explore The Collections)

[after-zeno]

Image: via @alanspazzaliartist

Bathers at San Niccolò on the Arno (1600) by Domenico Cresti, called Passignano (1559-1638).

Question:

Is the provenance and chain of authenticity of this work assured?

It ‘feels’ too modern, the spirit of the renaissance notwithstanding.

Answer:

(Courtesy @ganymedesrocks )

Authenticity?

It is believed that this work moved rapidly into the collections of Marchese Filippo  Niccolini (1655-1738) who was the third Marquis of Ponsacco and  Camugliano. Not only did this family gain from alliances with the House of Medici but also from those with many well-heeled families such as the Riccardis, the Da Filicaias and others in the great cities of Florence, Sienna, Lucca, Pisa and the like.   Alas, from the era of the 8th Marquis, the family saw the economic ruin of the house. The Niccolinis were forced to sell their very rich artistic collections and dispose of the palace in Via Dei Servi. The next generation, however, rebuilt and created  new alliances, meaning that many artists in their collections remained with the family until the 1950's at which time paintings such this one found collectors in England.  Based on this evidence, the work’s chain of authenticity is ‘assured’. 

Modern ‘Feel’?

This work is less one of the Renaissance, than the Baroque. It forms part of the Mannerist movement that took place at the very end of the Renaissance.  This means there is far greater ‘enlightenment’ and ‘liberalization’ in the manner by which the senses are expressed in painting and art.

[heracliteanfire]

Pattern-book pages from A View of the Creation, published by Robert Walton, 1666. (via the British Museum)

[heracliteanfire]

Grotesque panel, blackwork with small silhouetted figures, bandwork, foliage and flowers. Engraving. Matthias Beutler, Germany, ca.1582-1616

(via British Museum)

[heracliteanfire]

Cittern. Joachim Tielke, Hamburg, ca. 1685

(via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

[heracliteanfire]

Print by Esaias van Hulsen, plate from a suite of 6 designs for goldsmith's ornament, Dutch, 1617

(via V&A)

[heracliteanfire]

Portrait of Margaret Layton probably by Marcus Gheeraerts (the Younger), Britain, ca.1620.

‘This is an extremely rare example of a portrait featuring a garment that still survives.’ 

(via V&A)

[heracliteanfire]

Pendant in the shape of a toad. Baroque pearls, gold and enamel. Spain (?), c. 1600 - c. 1620.

(via Rijksmuseum)