National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Saint Cecilia and an Angel
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Provenance

Probably Natale Rondinini, Rome [1540-1627]; his son, Alessandro Rondinini [d. 1639], Rome; his wife, Felice Zacchia Rondinini [1593-1667], Rome, 1662; by inheritance to their grandson, Alessandro Rondinini [1660-1740], Rome,[1] and inventoried at his death;[2] to the Del Bufalo Della Valle Cancellieri family, Rome, probably by inheritance through Alessandro's sister, Felicità Rondinini, who married a Marchese del Bufalo della Valle;[3] by inheritance to Marchese Paolo del Bufalo Della Valle, Rome, by 1840; by inheritance to Monsignor Federico Fioretti, Rome, by 1944;[4] sold 1952 through (Vitale Bloch, Netherlands) and (Victor Spark, New York)[5] to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1961 to NGA.

[1] A painting of Saint Cecilia attributed to Gentileschi and Lanfranco and measuring 3 x 5 palmi (approximately 70 x 116 cm) is listed in the 1662 inventory attached to the will of Felice Zacchia Rondinini and published by Luigi Salerno, Palazzo Rondinini, Rome, 1965: 280; see also note 12, below. As no paintings by artists active after c. 1630 appear in the later inventories, Salerno concluded that this collection was amassed by Felice's father-in-law, Natale Rondinini, during the first decades of the seventeenth century. An inventory of 1639 lists paintings inherited by Felice from her father Laudivio Zacchia, cardinal of San Sisto (Archivio di stato di Roma, 30 notai capitolini, not. T. Pizzutus, Sept. 1649). The present work is not included. In 1623 Natale established a fideicommissum stipulating that his heirs maintain his art collection intact. The 1662 inventory indicates that the works of art were distributed throughout the family palace, with the Saint Cecilia "nella Galeria del S.r. Cardinale," Paolo Emilio, second son of Natale and Felice and the most illustrious member of the family. Felice's will maintained the fideicommissum and decreed that the works of art, including those in the apartments of the cardinal, would pass to her heirs Bonaventura (her eldest son, who died without issue) and Nicolò (1623 1670). Nicolò's son Alessandro carried on the male line. The history of the family is recounted by Salerno 1965: 29-44.

[2] It was lent by the Rondinini to the art exhibitions in the cloister of San Salvatore in Lauro of 1694 and 1710 (see NGA systematic catalogue entry and note 13). It also appears in Alessandro's inventory of 19 January 1741: "Altro [quadro] in tela di cinque e tre per traverso rapp.te S. Cecilia che sona l'organo in cornice dorata et intagliato mano del Lanfranco con la testa del Gentileschi della sud.etta eredità." The "sudetta eredità" refers to Natale's fideicommissum inherited via Felice. The inventory is in the Archivio di Stato di Roma, 30 notai capitolini, Domenicus Palmerius, uff. 37, fol. 116v, and was discovered by Franca Camiz (letter of 20 October 1992, NGA curatorial files).

[3] It is not known when Natale's fideicommissum was violated, but this could easily have occurred during the difficulties that the family experienced in the eighteenth century. Like many others, the painting does not reappear in the 1807 inventory compiled after Alessandro's second son Giuseppe had died without an heir. In the litigation for the inheritance, the descendants of Felicità Rondinini del Bufalo Della Valle were unsuccessful, further suggesting that the painting had passed to that family some time earlier. Salerno 1965: 283-315 and 73-74, published the 1807 inventory and chronicled the dissolution of the family collection. The line of descent from Felicità Rondinini remains unclear in the complicated history of the Del Bufalo Della Valle Cancellieri. On this family see Teodoro Amayden, La storia delle famiglie romane, Rome, 1914 (reprinted Bologna, 1979): 187-197.

[4] According to Federico Hermanin, "Gli ultimi avanzi di un' antica galleria romana", Roma (1944): 45, the paintings owned by Monsignor Fioretti in 1944, including the Saint Cecilia, had been inherited from his mother, a Marchesa del Bufalo Della Valle. These were included in a list, dated 23 February 1840 and then in the possession of Monsignor Fioretti, of paintings belonging to Marchese Paolo del Bufalo Della Valle.

[5] See Archives of American Art, Victor Spark Papers, Box One for correspondence between Bloch and Spark concerning this painting (copies in NGA curatorial files)

[6] According to Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection, Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-1956, Washington, D.C., 1956: 82.

Exhibition History

1694
Cloister of San Salvator in Lauro, Rome, 1694.
1710
Cloister of San Salvator in Lauro, Rome, 1710.
1945
Mostra dei pittori del seicento, Rome, 1945, no. 4.
1951
Mostra del Caravaggio e dei Caravaggeschi, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1951, no. 107, 65.
1999
Caravaggio's 'The Taking of Christ': Saints and Sinners in Baroque Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999, brochure, no. 7, repro.
2001
Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi: Father and Daughter Painters in Baroque Italy, Museo del Palazzo di Venezia, Rome; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, 2001-2002, no. 31, repro.

Bibliography

1944
Hermanin, Federico. "Gli ultimi avanzi di un' antica galleria romana." Roma (1944): 45-46.
1956
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Colllection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 82, no. 29, repro., as by Orazio Gentileschi.
1958
Emiliania, Andrea. "Orazio Gentileschi: nuove proposte per il viaggio marchigiano." Paragone 103 (1958): 43.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 218, repro., as by Orazio Gentileschi.
1959
Judson, J. Richard. Gerrit van Honthorst. The Hague, 1959: 177.
1960
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Later Italian Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Six in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 20, color repro.
1962
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Treasures from the National Gallery of Art, New York, 1962: 44, color repro., as by Orazio Gentileschi.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 309, repro., as by Orazio Gentileschi.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 56, as by Orazio Gentileschi.
1966
Bissell, R. Ward. "The Baroque Painter Orazio Gentileschi: His Career in Italy." 2 vols. Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1966.
1967
Moir, Alfred. The Italian Followers of Caravaggio. 2 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967: 1:70, 72, 83, 118; 2:76, fig. 71.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 49, repro., as by Orazio Gentileschi.
1969
Herzog, Erich. Die Gemäldegalerie der staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Kassel. Hanau, 1969: 85, no. 43.
1971
Bissell, R. Ward. "Orazio Gentileschi: Baroque without Rhetoric." The Art Quarterly 3 (1971): 277.
1971
Spear, Richard. Caravaggio and His Followers. Exh. cat. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1971: 103.
1973
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 83, fig. 148.
1973
Wittkower, Rudolf. Art and Architecture in Italy 1600 to 1750. 3rd rev. ed. Harmondsworth, 1973: 340, n. 5. (Reprinted 1980)
1974
Mirimonde, Albert P. de Sainte-Cécile: Metamorphoses d'un thème musical. Geneva, 1974: 44, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 148, repro., as by Orazio Gentileschi.
1976
Santi, Francesco. "Una tela di Orazio Gentileschi in Umbria." Bollettino d'Arte 5th ser., 41 (1976): 43-44, figs. 3, 6.
1979
Nicolson, Benedict. The International Caravaggesque Movement: Lists of Pictures by Caravaggio and His Followers throughout Europe from 1590-1650. Oxford, 1979.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:199-200, 543-544, II:pl. 138, 378, 379, as by Orazio Gentileschi.
1981
Bissell, R. Ward. Orazio Gentileschi and the Poetic Tradition in Caravaggesque Painting. University Park, Pennsylvania, 1981: 39-40, 165, 166-167, no. 37, fig. 86.
1982
Bernardini, Maria Grazia. Arte Sacra in Umbria. Mostra di dipinti restaurati 1976-1981. Exh. cat. Galleria Nazionale, Perugia, 1982: 100-101.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 232, no. 296, color repro.
1985
Camiz, Trinchieri. In Cinque secoli di stampa musicale in Europa. Exh. cat. Palazzo Venezia, Rome. Naples, 1985: 254.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 172, repro.
1988
Emiliani, Andrea. "Il viaggio marchigiano di Orazio Gentileschi." In Giovan Francesco Guerrieri. Dipinti e Disegni--Un accostamento all'opera. Exh. cat. Palazzo di Città, San Severino Marche; Chiesa di San Giorgio in Poggiale, Bologna.Bologna,1988: 47.
1989
Nicolson, Benedict. Caravaggism in Europe. 2nd ed. of International Caravaggesque Movement, revised and enlarged by Luisa Verrova. 3 vols. Turin, 1989: 1:114, no. 207; 2:fig. 207.
1994
De Grazia, Diane, and Erich Schleier. "Saint Cecilia and an Angel: 'The Heads by Gentileschi, the Rest by Lanfranco." The Burlington Magazine 136 (1994): 73-78, color repro.
1994
Townsend, Richard P. Botticelli to Tiepolo: Three Centuries of Italian Painting. Exh. cat. Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Joslyn Art Mus., Omaha; New Orleans Mus. of Art; Birmingham Museum of Art; Dayton Art Institute. Tulsa, 1994: 143-145, cat. 16.
1996
De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 103-112, color repro. 105.
1997
Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA: One Hundred Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. St. Louis, 1997: 38-39, color repro.

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