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Inscription

across top: Bloes bin ich auss mutter leib kome. Bloes werd ich wider hingnoe / Anno 1532 Aetatis suae-45 (Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither, year 1532, age 45); lower left coat-of-arms: (argent, a horse salient forcené gules)

Provenance

Possibly Prince Demidoff, San Donato, near Florence.[1] Probably the family of Count Filicaja (or Filicaia), Arezzo, until 1902;[2] purchased by Henry Osborne Havemeyer [d. 1907], New York, 1902;[3] by inheritance to his wife, Mrs. Henry Osborne Havemeyer [née Louisine Waldron Elder, d. 1929], New York; (sale, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, 10 April 1930, no. 54, as by Ludger tom Ring); Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York;[4] gift 1942 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1931
Degas and His Tradition Museum of French Art, New York, 1931, (not in catalogue).
1965
The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

Technical Summary

The painting is comprised of three boards with vertical grain, and each board is cut somewhat differently, varying from radial to tangential. The painting support was thinned, and a cradle was attached. A dendrochronological examination by Peter Klein suggested that the earliest possible felling date was 1529.[1] Since a barbe is visible at each edge of the panel, the panel may have been painted in an engaged frame. During the 1989 laboratory examination the medium was estimated to be egg tempera applied over a white ground. Examination with infrared reflectography did not disclose underdrawing. There are scattered losses and retouchings and abrasion throughout, but losses are particularly evident along the join lines. Until the present varnish and extensive retouchings are removed, the full extent of loss and abrasion cannot be accurately determined. It is possible that the coat of arms at the lower left has been reinforced.

[1] Examination report, 2 April 1987, in NGA curatorial files.

Bibliography

1930
"Havemeyer Sale Brings $296,699 For Parts I and III." Art News 28 (19 April 1930): 4.
1930
"Rush at Auction of Havemeyer Art." The New York Times. 11 April 1930: 23
1955
Riewerts, Theodor and Paul Pieper. Die Maler tom Ring: Ludger der Ältere, Hermann, Ludger der Jüngere. Munich, 1955: 69, no. 20, as by Ludger tom Ring der Älter.
1965
Paintings other than French in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 14, repro., as by Ludger Tom Ring the Elder.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 115, as by Ludger Tom Ring the Elder.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 112, no. 700, repro., as by Ludger Tom Ring the Elder.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue (National Gallery of Art). Washington, 1975: 306-307, repro., as by Ludger tom Ring the Elder.
1980
Hand, John Oliver. "The Portrait of Sir Brian Tuke by Hans Holbein the Younger." Studies in the History of Art 9 (1980): 39-40, fig. 10.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 352, repro.
1993
Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney, et al. Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993: 342, no. 286 [not in the exhibition].
1993
Hand, John Oliver, with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1993: 67-68, repro. 69.
1995
Löcher, Kurt. Review of German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries, by John Oliver Hand with the assistance of Sally E. Mansfield. Kunstchronik 43 no. 1 (January 1995): 16.

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