Vincenzo Cappello
c. 1550/1560
Painter, Venetian, 1488/1490 - 1576
Painter

Vincenzo Cappello stands in full armor, grasping the baton of command, in this portrait designed to express the authority of a venerable military leader who had passed a lifetime in the faithful service of the Venetian state. Cappello was a member of a Venetian patrician family, several of whose members pursued distinguished careers in the navy. Vincenzo’s authority as a naval commander brought him political honors and responsibilities: he was knighted by Henry VII of England, nominated as ambassador to the papal court, and served as procurator of San Marco (the second-highest lifetime appointment in the Republic, under the doge).
Cappello’s celebrity as a military commander led to a demand for painted portraits of him both before and after his death in 1541. A number of artists met that demand. This Titian composition is preserved in at least four other contemporary versions or copies. Of these extant versions, the Gallery’s picture is now generally accepted as the earliest and the finest. Titian’s design changes can be seen in x-radiographs of the painting’s underlayers, indicating that the Gallery’s picture precedes the other known versions. Historic documentation and the painting’s broad brushwork suggest that it was executed in the 1550s. Titian was likely to have been aided in this task by his workshop, which would then have been entirely responsible for subsequent versions of the composition.

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 23
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 141 x 118.1 cm (55 1/2 x 46 1/2 in.)
framed: 169.2 x 135.3 x 10.2 cm (66 5/8 x 53 1/4 x 4 in.) -
Accession
1957.14.3
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Probably William Beckford [1760-1844], Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, and Bath, England;[1] by inheritance to his son-in-law, Alexander Hamilton, 10th duke of Hamilton [1767-1852], Hamilton Palace, Strathclyde [near Glasgow], Scotland; by inheritance to his son, William Alexander Anthony Archibald Douglas, 11th duke of Hamilton [1811-1863], Hamilton Palace; by inheritance to his son, William Alexander Louis Stephen Douglas-Hamilton, 12th duke of Hamilton [1845-1895], Hamilton Palace; (Hamilton Palace sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 17, 19, and 20 June 1882, no. 410, as Portrait of an Admiral in Armour by Tintoretto); (P. and D. Colnaghi, London and New York); sold 1882 to Henry Bingham Mildmay [1828-1905], London, Shoreham Place, Kent, and Flete House, Devon; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 24 June 1893, no. 73, as Portrait of a Venetian Admiral by Tintoretto); purchased by (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London) for Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th earl of Rosebery [1847-1929], Dalmeny House, Midlothian, Scotland; probably Albert Edward Harry Mayer Archibald Primrose, 6th earl of Rosebery [1882-1974], Dalmeny House; sold 1954 through (Wildenstein & Co., New York) to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1957 to NGA.
[1] The picture was first certainly recorded in the Hamilton Palace sale of 1882, but the most important part of this collection was inherited by the 10th Duke of Hamilton from his father-in-law, William Beckford. An inventory of Beckford’s collection at Lansdown Crescent, Bath, of 1844 includes in the Great Drawing Room an item described as a “Portrait of a Spanish Admiral in armour holding a Baton, Tintoretto” (Bodleian Library, Oxford, Beckford Papers, c.58, 13 September 1844; information kindly provided by Jeannie Chapel). Since the Gallery’s picture was attributed to Tintoretto in the sale of 1882, it is likely that it corresponds to the Beckford picture: see Fern Rusk Shapley, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV–XVI Century, London, 1968: 181-182; Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, 1979: 1:485–488, and the correspondence between Fern Rusk Shapley and R.E. Hutchison, Keeper, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, March-April 1967, in NGA curatorial files. When in Venice on his Grand Tour in 1780, Beckford particularly admired the work of Tintoretto, and it is possible that he acquired the picture then. See Jeannie Chapel, “William Beckford: Collector of Old Master Paintings, Drawings, and Prints,” in William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent, ed. Derek E. Ostergard, exh. cat. Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, New York; New Haven and London, 2001: 234.
As a possible alternative early provenance, it is worth noting that the inventory of the collection of Bartolomeo della Nave, Venice, acquired by the Marquess of Hamilton in 1638, includes an item described as “A Picture of General Capello Pal 2 & 1 Titian.” Hamilton (later 1st Duke) was an ancestor of the 10th Duke; and although the bulk of the ex-Della Nave collection was sold to the archduke Leopold Wilhelm after Hamilton’s execution in 1649, it is possible that this particular picture remained in the family until the 19th century. (This possibility is not disproved by a marginal note on the inventory, implying that the ex-Della Nave portrait of Cappello passed from the Hamilton collection to that of the Duke of Devonshire, since as pointed out by Ellis Waterhouse, “Paintings from Venice for Seventeenth-Century England,” _Italian Studies_ 7 ([1952]): 7, these marginal notes are highly unreliable.) On the other hand, there is no trace of anything corresponding to the Gallery’s picture in the various Hamilton inventories of the 17th and 18th centuries; see Waterhouse 1952, 7, and the Shapley-Hutchison correspondence cited above. Furthermore, the dimensions given in the Della Nave inventory (2 x 1 palms = c. 44 x 22 cm) do not correspond; and although the measurements given in the inventory are often very inaccurate, the reference here appears to be to a much smaller picture.
Shapley 1979, 1:485-488, also hypothetically identified the Gallery’s picture with one recorded by Ridolfi, a work by Titian then in the collection of Senator Domenico Ruzzino in Venice: “Il ritratto di Vicenzo Cappello General di Mare, in arme brunite tocche con belle osservationi di lumi, nelle quale reflette il manto purpureo, che gli attraversa alle spalle, afflibato co’ globbi d’oro, celebratissimo per il soggetto e per l’Autore;” Carlo Ridolfi, _Le maraviglie dell’arte, overo Le vite de gl'illustri pittori veneti, e dello stato_ (Venice, 1648), ed. Detlev von Hadeln, 2 vols., Berlin, 1914-1924: 1(1914):200. But the reference to the fixing of the cloak with “globbi d’oro” does not correspond to the present picture, and suggests rather the arrangement seen in Palma Giovane’s later portraits of Niccolò Cappello (Stefania Mason Rinaldi, _Palma il Giovane: L’opera completa_, Milan, 1984: 80, no. 57; 101, no. 207).
[2] See letters of 14 March and 24 April 1967 from Fern Rusk Shapley to Mr. R.E. Hutchison (from the correspondence cited in note 1), in NGA curatorial files. The painting was included in a Wildenstein bill of sale for fourteen paintings (copy in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2447), dated February 10, 1954; payments by the Foundation continued to March 1957.
Associated Names
- Beckford, William
- Hamilton, Alexander, 10th Duke of
- Hamilton, William Alexander Anthony Archibald, 11th Duke of
- Hamilton, William Alexander Louis Stephen, 12th Duke of
- P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd.
- Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
- Mildmay, Henry Bingham
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd.
- Rosebery, Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl
- Rosebery, Albert E.H.M.A. Primrose, 6th Earl
- Wildenstein & Co., Inc.
- Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Exhibition History
1883
Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, no. 180, as by Tintoretto.
1894
Exhibition of Venetian Art, The New Gallery, London, 1894-1895, no. 219, as by Tintoretto.
1997
Venezia Da Stato a Mito [Venice: From a State to a Myth], Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, 1997, no. 22, repro., as by Tintoretto.
2004
The Age of Titian: Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections, Royal Scottish Academy Building, Edinburgh, 2004, no. 35, repro.
Bibliography
1894
Berenson, Bernard. The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance. New York and London, 1894: 136.
1901
Thode, Henry. Tintoretto. Bielefeld, 1901: 80.
1909
Lafenestre, Georges. La vie et l’oeuvre de Titien. Rev. ed. Paris, 1909: 183-184.
1915
Osmaston, Francis P. B. The Art and Genius of Tintoret. 2 vols. London, 1915: 2:190.
1956
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection 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: 182-185, no. 72, repro.
Walker, John. "The Nation's Newest Old Masters." The National Geographic Magazine 110, no. 5 (November 1956): 622, color repro. 638.
1957
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:189.
Camesasca, Ettore, ed. Lettere sull’Arte di Pietro Aretino. Commentate da Fidenzio Pertile. 3 vols. Milan, 1957-1960: 1(1957):CIX; 3(1960):489.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 190, repro.
Morassi, Antonio. “Titian.” In Encyclopedia of World Art. 17+ vols. London, 1959+: 14(1967):col. 139.
1960
Valcanover, Francesco. Tutta la pittura di Tiziano. 2 vols. Milan, 1960: 1:102.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 307, repro.
Jullian, Philippe. “La fausse abbaye de Fonthill et les collections de l’extravagant William Beckford.” Connaissance des arts 133 (March 1963): 98.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 130.
1967
Fomichova, Tamara. “I dipinti di Tiziano nelle raccolte dell’Ermitage.” Arte Veneta 21 (1967): 70.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 117, repro.
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 181-182, fig. 427.
1969
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. 2 vols. Florence, 1969: 1:90.
Valcanover, Francesco. L’opera completa di Tiziano. Milan, 1969: 141 no. 631.
Wethey, Harold. The Paintings of Titian. 3 vols. London, 1969-1975: 2(1971):25-26, 83-84.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 203, 511, 647.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 346, repro.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:485-488; 2:pl. 345.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 206, no. 249, color repro.
Mason Rinaldi, Stefania. Palma il Giovane, L'opera completa. Milan, 1984: 171.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 397, repro.
1987
Wethey, Harold E. Titian and His Drawings, with Reference to Giorgione and Some Close Contemporaries. Princeton, 1987: 79 n. 64, 83 n. 80.
1992
Fomichova, Tamara. The Hermitage Catalogue of West European Painting, Vol. 2: Venetian Painting of the Fourteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. Florence, 1992: 349.
1997
Venezia da stato a mito. Exh. cat. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, 1997: 335-336.
1999
Burke, Peter. “Il ritratto veneziano del Cinquecento.” In Pittura nel Veneto. Il Cinquecento. Edited by Mauro Lucco. 3 vols. Milan, 1996-1999: 3(1999):1102-1103.
2001
Chapel, Jeannie. “William Beckford: Collector of Old Master Paintings, Drawings and Prints.” In William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent. Edited by Derek E. Ostergard. Exh. cat. Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, 2001-2002. New Haven and London, 2001: 234.
2004
Humfrey, Peter, et al. The Age of Titian: Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections. Edited by Aidan Weston-Lewis. Exh. cat. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2004: 124-125.
2005
Mason Rinaldi, Stefania. “Tiziano nelle collezioni scozzesi: Note in margine alla mostra di Edimburgo.” Studi Tizianeschi 3 (2005): 85.
2006
Titien: Le pouvoir en face. Exh. cat. Musée du Luxembourg, Paris. Milan, 2006: 136.
2007
Humfrey, Peter. Titian: The Complete Paintings. Ghent and New York, 2007: 182.
2008
Garton, John. Grace and Grandeur: The Portraiture of Paolo Veronese. London and Turnhout, 2008: 103.
2009
Mack, Rosamund E. "When Armor Was Art: Exploring Images of Armor in the National Gallery of Art Collections." Washington, 1990: cover, verso, color repros.
Ilchman, Frederick, et al. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Musée du Louvre, Paris. Boston, 2009: 210-213, 284.
Bodart, Diane H. “Le reflet et l’éclat. Jeux de l’envers dans la peinture vénitienne du XVIe siècle.” In Frederick Ilchman, et al Titien, Tintoret, Véronèse: Rivalités à Venise. Exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2009: 236.
2012
Hale, Sheila. Titian: His Life. London, 2012: 417.
2013
Evans, Godfrey. “‘Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself’: The Dukes of Hamilton and Titian.” In The Reception of Titian in Britain: From Reynolds to Ruskin. Edited by Peter Humfrey. Turnhout, 2013: 148, 149.
Nichols, Tom. Titian and the End of the Venetian Renaissance. London, 2013: 113.
2018
Krischel, Roland, ed. Tintoret: naissance d'un génie. Exh. cat. Musée du Luxembourg, Paris; Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne. Paris, 2018: unnumbered fig. under no. 45 (not in exhibition).
Wikidata ID
Q20176286