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Provenance

Said to have been found 1877-1878 in Naples;[1] Alessandro Castellani [1823-1883], Rome; (his estate sale, at his palace by H. Hoffmann and Charles Mannheim, Rome, 17 March - 10 April 1884, 12th day [29 March 1884], no. 540); Corvisieri; (Ciampolini, Florence); sold by 1902 to (Stefano Bardini [1836-1922], Florence); sold 1909 to (Jacques Seligmann, Paris);[2] sold October 1909 to Thomas Fortune Ryan [1851-1928], New York;[3] his estate; (his estate sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, 23-25 November 1933, no. 416); (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[4] gift 1937 to NGA.

[1] Wilhelm von Bode, "Desiderio da Settignano und Francesco Laurana: Zwei Italienischen Frauenbüsten des Quattrocento im Berliner Museum," Jahrbuch der Köninglich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 9 (1888): 216.

[2] Information on the sculpture's early provenance, its acquisition by Corvisieri and Ciampolini (the latter a Florentine art dealer), the sale to Bardini, and Bardini's ownership, comes from Chrysa Damianaki, The female portrait busts of Francesco Laurana, Rome, 2000: 106-108, 182-184 nn. 113-130. She cites a 1910 court declaration by Italo Palmerini of the Ufficio per l’Esportazione degli Oggetti di Antichità e d’Arte of the Florentine Soprintendenza, elaborating on the provenance and declaring the bust a skillful fake.

It is possible that "Corvisieri" is Costantino Corvisiersi (1822-1898); see https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/CostantinoCorvisieri, accessed 27 December 2019. A Vincenzo Ciampolini is referenced in "Giurisprudenza Contemporanea: Giudicati Italiani," Rivista Penale di Dottrina, Legislazione e Giurisprudenza II of 2nd serie, vol. 22, fasc. 4 (26 October 1885): 318 n. 1-2, and may be the same dealer discussed by Damianaki.

[3] The invoice for the NGA bust and its companion bust of a man, dated 4 October 1909, is in the Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington (available on-line: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/jacques-seligmann--co-records-9936): Series 2.1, Collectors, Box 203, Folder 1: Ryan, Thomas F., 1909-1926, undated; copy in NGA curatorial files.

[4] The original Duveen Brothers invoice is in Gallery Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files.

Exhibition History

1920
Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1920, unnumbered catalogue.
1923
Italian Renaissance Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1923, no. 56.
1996
Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 44-45, color repro.

Bibliography

1888
Bode, Wilhelm von. "Desiderio da Settignano und Francesco Laurana: Zwei Italienischen Frauenbüsten des Quattrocento im Berliner Museum." Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 9 (1888): 216, 222.
1933
"Duveen Enhances Laurana Bust by Cleaning." The Art News (December 9, 1933): 123, repro.
1937
Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 27.
1937
Wittkower, Rudolf. "Sculpture in the Mellon Collection." Apollo 26, n. 152 (August 1937): 79, 81, fig. 6.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: A-8, .
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 253, repro. 230.
1942
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Laurana's Portrait Busts of Women." Art Quarterly 4 (1942): fig. 10.
1944
Duveen Brothers, Inc. Duveen Sculpture in Public Collections of America: A Catalog Raisonné with illustrations of Italian Renaissance Sculptures by the Great Masters which have passed through the House of Duveen. New York, 1944: figs. 75-77, as Ippolita Maria Sforza, Duchess of Aragon.
1947
Petrovitch, Rastko. "Questi Schiavoni (II), Luciano and Francesco Laurana." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 31 (March-April 1947): fig. 10.
1948
Comstock, Helen. "Quattrocento Portrait Sculpture in the National Gallery, Washington." The Connoisseur 122, no. 309 (September 1948): 48, repro.
1948
Kurz, Otto. Fakes: A Handbook for Collectors and Students. London, 1948: 136.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 153, repro.
1949
Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 176-177, note 24, repro. 87, 89, 90.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 79.
1958
Pope-Hennessy, John. Italian Renaissance Sculpture. London, 1958: 330, pl. 105.
1962
Kennedy, Ruth Wedgwood, and Clarence Kennedy. Four Portrait Busts by Franceso Laurana. Northampton, MA, 1962: not paginated, repro. as Ippolita Maria Sforza d'Aragona, Duchess of Calabria.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 159.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 141, repro.
1969
Hersey, George L. Alfonso II and the Artistic Renewal of Naples. New Haven and London, 1969: n. 23, n. 25, 37-38, fig. 54.
1970
Kraft, Hanno-Walter. "Rezensionen: George L. Hersey. Alfonso II and the artistic renewal of Naples 1485-1495." Kunstchronik 23 (1970): 151-166.
1973
Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 42, 62
1984
Norton, Thomas E. 100 Years of Collecting in America: The Story of Sotheby Parke-Bernet. New York, 1984: 188, 229.
1984
Scalia, Fiorenza, and Cristina de Benedictis. Il Museo Bardini: A Firenze. Milan, 1984: 59-89.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 632, no. 987, repro.
1986
Domonkos, L.S. "The Portrait Bust of a Hungarian Queen in the Art Collection of an American University." Acta Historiae Artium Academiae Scientarium Hungaricae 32 (1986): 60, n. 17.
1994
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 130, repro.
1995
Martinez, Benjamin and Jacqueline Block. Visual Forces: An Introduction to Design. 2nd edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1995: 176, fig. B.
1996
Fusco, Peter. "An Image of Saint Cyricus by Franceso Laurana." In Antologia di belle arti. La Scultura II. Italy, 1996: 8-16.
2000
Damianaki, Chrysa. The female portrait busts of Francesco Laurana. Rome, 2000: 96-101, 106-111, 171-176 nn. 1-50, 182-186 nn. 107-150, pls. 181, 183-190.
2003
Fogelman, Peggy, and Peter Fusco, with Marietta Cambareri. Italian and Spanish Sculpture. Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Los Angeles, 2003: 4, 6, fig. IA, 10 notes 3-4.
2003
Pavicic, Ivana Prijatelj. "Franceso Laurana i razvoj jedne renesansne sheme portreta Laure de Noves." Rad. Inst. povij. umjet. 27 (2003): 73-80.
2008
Damianaki, Chrysa. I busti femminili di Francesco Laurana tra realtà e finzione. Verona, 2008: 241-254, figs. 197-210.
2016
Riesenberger, Nicole. King of the Renaissance: Art and Politics at the Neapolitan Court of Ferrante I, 1458-1494. Ph.D diss. University of Maryland, 2016: 142-143, n. 330, as not Laurana.
2017
Catterson, Lynn. "Stefano Bardini and the Taxonomic Branding of Marketplace Style: From the Gallery of a Dealer to the Institutional Canon." In Eva-Maria Troelenberg and Melania Savino, eds. Images of the Art Museum. Connecting Gaze and Discourse in the History of Museology. Berlin and Boston, 2017: 48, 49 fig. 3.
2023
Schlegel, Konrad, ed. In Love with Laura. Petrarcas Geliebte als Marmorbuste Francesco Lauranas?. Exh. cat, Vienna, 2023: 12, fig. 9, 13, 25, 73, 82 n. 29, 103.

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