The Triumph of Galatea, c. 1650

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

original canvas: 148.3 × 203 cm (58 3/8 × 79 15/16 in.)
with extensions: 152.1 × 205.1 cm (59 7/8 × 80 3/4 in.)

framed: 178.75 × 234.32 × 15.24 cm (70 3/8 × 92 1/4 × 6 in.)

Credit Line

Patrons' Permanent Fund

Accession Number

2000.61.1

Artists / Makers

Bernardo Cavallino (artist) Neapolitan, 1616 - 1656

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

Art market, Genoa, c. 1974.[1] Private collection, Switzerland; (Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, London), 1981-1982; Saul P. Steinberg [1914-1999], New York; purchased 1 June 2000 through (Richard Feigen and Co., New York) by NGA.

[1] This painting has been linked to a commission from Don Antonio Ruffo, an important art collector from Messina, to Artemisia Gentileschi: arguments in favor of this provenance can be found in Nicola Spinosa's essay in Bernardo Cavallino (1616-1656), exh. cat., Museo Pignatelli, Naples, 1985: 188 and 219; Jozef Grabski, "On Seicento Painting in Naples: Some Observations on Bernardo Cavallino, Artemisia Gentileschi and Others," Artibus et Historiae 11 (1985): 23-63 (41-55); and especially R. Ward Bissell, Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art. Critical Reading and Catalogue Raisonné, University Park, 1999: 287-288. However, a number of discrepancies between the inventory description of the Ruffo canvas and the NGA painting call this provenance into question. Furthermore, technical examination of the work has found no evidence of the separate hands of both Artemisia, to whom the commission was awarded, and Cavallino. It is therefore unlikely that the NGA painting is the one described in Ruffo's collection.

More recently, Christopher Marshall put forward another possible provenance for the work. The collection of Antonio Arici in Naples held "a Galatea, with various putti, who rides on the sea...by Bernardo Cavalliero." This connection, however, proves equally problematic. While the recorded dimensions correspond with those of the NGA 2000.61.1, it is rather surprising that the inventory, probably drawn up by Arici's own sister in 1744, would mistake the adult seafaring tritons in the NGA painting for putti (Christopher R. Marshall, "An early inventory reference and new technical information for Bernardo Cavallino's 'Triumph of Galatea'," The Burlington Magazine CXLVII (2005): 42-43. The connection with Arici was first suggested by Stefano Causa, "Risarcimento di Onofrio Palumbo," Paragone 37-8 (1993): 36 n. 29.

Associated Names

Art market, Genoa
Feigen, Richard L.
Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox Ltd.
Private Collection, Switzerland
Steinberg, Saul P.

Exhibition History

1982: Painting in Naples 1606-1705: From Caravaggio to Giordano, Royal Academy of Arts, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Fondazione Agnelli, Torino, 1982-1983, no. 33, repro. (not shown in Paris).

1984: Bernardo Cavallino of Naples, 1616-1656, Cleveland Museum of Art; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; Museo Pignatelli Cortes, Naples, 1984-1985, no. 68, repro.

2009: Ritorno al barocco : da Caravaggio a Vanvitelli [Return to the Baroque. From Caravaggio to Vanvitelli], Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples, 2009-2010, no. I.96, repro.

2016: Artemisia Gentileschi e il suo tempo, Palazzo Braschi, Rome, 2016-2017, no. 91, repro.

Bibliography

1985: Grabski, Józef. "On Seicento Painting in Naples: Some Observations on Bernardo Cavallino, Artemisia Gentileschi and Others. II. The Ruffo Triumph of Galatea." Artibus et Historiae 6, no. 11 (1985): 41-55, repro.

1985: Stoughton, Michael. "Bernardo Cavallino. Fort Worth." The Burlington Magazine 127 (March 1985): 194.

1986: Enggass, Robert. Review of Ann Percy, Ann T. Lurie, et al., Bernardo Cavalino of Naples, 1616-1656, exh. cat. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984. The Art Bulletin LXVIII, no. 1 (March 1986): 168-169.

1999: Bissell, R. Ward. Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art. University Park, Pennsylvania, 1999: 287-292, no. 49, as by Artemisia Gentileschi and Bernardo Cavallino.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 162-163, no. 122, color repro.

2005: De Vito, Giuseppe. "A note on Artemisia Gentilieschi and her collaborator Onofrio Palumbo." The Burlington Magazine 147 (November 2005): 749.

2005: Lattuada, Riccardo. "New Documents and Some Remarks on Artemisia's Production in Naples and Elsewhere" in Artemisia Gentileschi: Taking Stock, ed. by Judith W. Mann. Turnhout, 2005: 89.

2005: Marshall, Christopher R. "An early inventory reference and new technical information for Bernardo Cavallino's 'Triumph of Galatea'." The Burlington Magazine 147 (January 2005): 40-44, fig. 34.