National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: A Genoese Noblewoman and Her Son
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

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Provenance

Possibly Pier Francesco Grimaldi, Genoa, 1780;[1] acquired probably by 1787 by George Greville, 2nd earl of Brooke and Warwick [1746-1816], London and Warwick Castle;[2] by inheritance to his son, Henry Richard Greville, 3rd earl of Brooke and Warwick [1779-1853], Warwick Castle; by inheritance to his son, George Guy Greville, 4th earl of Brooke and Warwick [1818-1893], Warwick Castle; by inheritance to his son, Francis Richard Charles Guy Greville, 5th earl of Brooke and Warwick [1853-1924], Warwick Castle, until at least 1900. (E.M. Hodgkins)[3] on joint account with (M. Knoedler and Co., New York); sold 1909 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] Carlo Giuseppe Ratti, Instruzione di quanto può vedersi di più bello in Genova in pittura, scultura, ed architettura ecc... nuovamente ampliata e accresciuta, Genoa, 1780: 134, lists two paintings in the collection of Pier Francesco Grimaldi as representing "Dama con un bimbo per mano," a description that could refer to NGA 1942.9.91. One of these two paintings is listed with a pendant of a man in armor ("Uomo in armatura"), now in South Brisbane, Queensland Art Gallery, listed in their catalogue as Marchese Filippo Spinola. Although Piero Boccardo, "Ritratti di Genovesi di Rubens e di van Dyck: contesto e identificazioni," in Susan J. Barnes and Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., eds., Van Dyck 350, Hanover and Leiden, 1994: 101 note 8, relates the description in Ratti to the National Gallery's double portrait, he thinks it is more probable that the male portrait is a pendant to A Genoese Noblewoman with her Child from the Cleveland Museum of Art. For this painting, see Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Susan J. Barnes, et al., Anthony van Dyck, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1990: no. 37, 178-179.

[2] The painting was first recorded in this collection in 1801, as Lady Brooke and Her Son. However, David Buttery, "George Romney and the Second Earl of Warwick," Apollo 124 (August 1986): 108, 109 note 36, argues that it must have been in the collection by 1787 since it served as a model for George Romney's painting of Lady Warwick and Her Children, which was painted in that year. The Earl may have acquired it as early as 1775. Buttery quotes a letter written in that year by Richard Cumberland that refers to Van Dyck paintings in the Earl's collection. It is also possible, however, that the painting was still in Genoa in 1780. See note 1.

[3] Hodgkins may have acquired NGA 1942.9.91 from the Earl of Warwick, since he is known to have acquired Margareta Snyders, now in The Frick Collection (09.1.42, New York), from the Warwick collection. Both paintings were then handled by M. Knoedler and Co. Margareta Snyders was sold to Henry Clay Frick in 1909, the same year that Widener bought A Genoese Noblewoman and Her Son. The reference to Hodgkins was supplied by the Getty Provenance Index.

Exhibition History

1862
Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French, and English Masters, British Institution, London, 1862, no. 36, as A Lady and Child.
1871
Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1871, no. 155, Portrait of the Countess of Brignolé and Child.
1878
Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1878, no. 158.
1887
Exhibition of the Works of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1887, no. 18, as The Marchesa de Brignolé-Sala and her Son.
1909
Exhibition of Portraits by Van Dyck from the Collections of Mr. P.A.B. Widener and Mr. H.C. Frick, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1909, no. 2, as Marchesa Brignole-Sala and Her Son.
1909
National Loan Exhibition, Grafton Galleries, London, 1909-1910, no. 55, as Marchesa di Brignole-Sala and Her Son (shown only at the beginning of the exhibition).
1990
Anthony van Dyck, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1990-1991, no. 43, color repro.
1999
Van Dyck 1599-1641, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1999, no. 37, repro.
2004
Anton van Dyck: Riflessi italiani, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2004, no. 18, repro.

Bibliography

1913
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis, and Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early German, Dutch, and Flemish Schools. Philadelphia, 1913: unpaginated, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole-Sala, and her Son.
1923
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole-Sala and Her Son.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 116, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole-Sala and Her Son.
1935
Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 156, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939: 156, repro.).
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 7, as Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole-Sale and Her Son.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 70, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 82, as Paola Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 10, repro., as Marchesa Paola Adorno and Her Son.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 311, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 47, as Paolo Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 39, repro., as Paolo Adorno, MArchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 120, repro., as Paolo Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 263, no. 332, color repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 145, repro.
1994
Cataldi Gallo, Marzia, "Per una Storia del Costume Genovese nel Primo Quarto del Seicento." Studies in the History of Art 46 (1994): 115.
1994
Jaffe, Michael. "On Some Portraits Painted by Van Dyck in Italy, Mainly in Genoa." Studies in the History of Art 46 (1994): 141-142.
2004
Barnes, Susan J. Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings. New Haven, 2004: II.73
2005
Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2005: 66-70, color repro.

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