The Prophecy of Basilides

c. 1648/1649

Pietro Testa

Artist, Italian, 1612 - 1650

Media Options

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Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Sir Joshua Reynolds [1723 - 1792] London (Lugt 2364); Sir Thomas Lawrence [1769 - 1830], London (Lugt 2445); Samuel Woodburn [1786 - 1853], London; (his sale, Christie's London, 4 June 1860, no. 15, as "death of a saint"); Matthew Holbecke Bloxam [1805 - 1888] (not in Lugt); gift to Rugby School Art Museum; (their sale, Christie's London, 3 December 2018, no. 42; (Benjamin Peronnet Fine Art, Paris)

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1988

  • Pietro Testa 1612 - 1650, Prints and Drawings, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Arthur Sackler Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, no. 110 (catalogue by Elizabeth Cropper).

Bibliography

1939

  • Boase, T.S.R., "A Seventeenth Century Carmelite Legend Based on Tacitus." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes III (1939-1940): 111, note 3.

1964

  • Sutherland Harris, Ann. "The Decoration of San Martino ai Monti - I." The Burlington Magazine CVI, no. 731 (1964): 66.

1967

  • Sutherland Harris, Ann. "Notes on the Chronology and Death of Pietro Testa" Paragone no. 213/233 (November 1967): 51, note 19.

1999

  • Turner, Nicholas, and Rhoda Eitel-Porter. Roman Baroque Drawings c. 1620 to c. 1700. British Museum, London, 1999: 158, note 220.

2003

  • Pagliano, Eric. De Venise à Palerme: dessins italiens du Musée des beaux-arts d'Orléans, XVe-XVIIIe siècle. Exh cat, Orléans. 2003: 158, note 220.

2014

  • Fusconi, Giulia, and Angiola Canevari. Pietro Testa e la nemica fortuna : un artista filosofo (1612-1650) tra Lucca e Roma. Exh cat, Rome, Instituto Nazionale per la Grafica 2014: 257, under IV.20.

Inscriptions

by Bloxam, in brown ink, lower left of mount: MHB Collection Sir J Reynolds--Sir T Lawrence; by Bloxam in brown ink, lower center on mount: Testa Pietro A.D. 1611 - 1650; lower right of mount in brown ink: Rugby School Art Museum e dono Math H. Bloxon; in black chalk to the right of Christ's foot: palmo; in pen and brown ink lower center in image: ------palmi a basso nel' opera crescero mezo, sopra tre. slargherò per lunghezza / tre due [crossed out] palmi le figure come + e così dalla testa / slargherò quattro palmi si che le figure verranno 9 palmi; on Justice in red chalk: slarga;in the squares at top numbering 3 to 27 and 199; in black chalk on the sole of Christ's foot: X; in pen and brown ink on the drapery above Christ's foot: X

Markings

Sir Joshua Reynolds [1723 - 1792] London (Lugt 2364); Sir Thomas Lawrence [1769 - 1830], London (Lugt 2445);


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