Provenance

Count Marczipáni (Marczibányi?) before 1908. Guido von Rhò, Vienna, before 1908-1911.[1] Rudolf von Gutmann [1880-1966], Vienna;[2] by descent until 1987; (Sotheby’s London, 10 December 1987, no. 33); private collection, London; (Daniel Katz Gallery, London); purchased December 2003 by Robert H. Smith; Clarice R. Smith Revocable Trust; bequest 2022 to NGA.
[1] Provenance adapted from Nicholas Penny, et al., Recent Acquisitions made to the Robert H. Smith Collection of Renaissance Bronzes (Hampshire, England, 2007: 10, 14).
Die Bronzen der Sammlung Guido von Rhò in Wien, E. W. Braun, ed. (Vienna 1908: 12, pl. 111), indicates that the bronze came from the collection of “Graf Marczipáni.” An important collection of Italian bronzes was formed by the Marczibányi family of Hungary in the nineteenth century. Imre Marczibányi [after 1753-1824] reportedly acquired 48 bronzes through a Canova pupil resident in Rome, István Ferenczy. Imre’s collection was divided among family members after the death of his heir Antal Marczibánhi [1783-1872]. See Géza Entz in J.S. Turner, ed., Dictionary of Art (London and New York.1996): vol. 2, 400-401 and idem, “I bronzetti della collezione Marczibányi,” Acta Historiae Artium, vol. 2 (1955): 215-223.
[2] The bronze is no. 478 in the inventory of Gutmann’s collection confiscated by the Nazis in 1938 (copy in NGA curatorial files) and brought to the so-called Central Depot for Seized Collections in the Neue Burg. No. 478, which had been at Gutmann's Perlhof villa in Giesshübl outside Vienna, was selected for the planned Führermuseum in Linz. It was restituted to Gutmann in 1947. (Rudolf Gutmann, Restitutionsmaterialen, Bundesdenkmalamt [BDA] Vienna, reference no. 4853/47, copy in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Bibliography

2007