Art Object Page

Provenance

Probably commissioned by the sitter, Cardinal Pietro Bembo [1470-1547], Padua and Rome; by inheritance to his son, Torquato Bembo [1525-1595].[1] probably (Ferrante Carlo [1578-1641], Rome), and acquired from him before 1631 by Don Fabrizio Valguarnera [d. 1632], Rome.[2] Leone Galli; acquired 1636 by Cardinal Antonio Barberini [1608-1671], Palazzo Barberini, Rome; by inheritance to his nephew, Maffeo Barberini, Principe di Palestrina [d. 1685], Rome; by inheritance to his son, Urbano Barberini, Rome;[3] still in the Barberini collection, Rome, c. 1904-1905;[4] Elia Volpi [1858-1938], Florence; sold 1905 to (Colnaghi's, London and New York), on joint account with (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); sold 1906 to Charles M. Schwab [1862-1939], New York;[5] (his estate sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 3 December 1942, no. 32); purchased by Stephen Pichetto for the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1952 to NGA.

[1] In his final testament, drawn up in 1544, Bembo left his entire art collection to Torquato, and instructed him to integrate the objects then in Rome with the bulk of the collection in Padua. For about the next twenty years it remained complete; but thereafter Torquato began to dismantle it, sending important parts of it back to Rome for sale in 1581 and 1583. See Sabine Eiche, “On the Dispersal of Cardinal Bembo’s Collections,” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Instituts in Florenz 27 (1983): 353–359. Perhaps Titian’s portrait was sold from the Bembo collection around this time.

[2] As pointed out by Jeremy Wood, “Van Dyck’s Cabinet de Titien: The Contents and Dispersal of His Collection,” The Burlington Magazine 132 (1990): 681 n. 9, the picture is very likely to be identical with the portrait of Bembo by Titian acquired by the Sicilian nobleman Don Fabrizio Valguarnera from the dealer Ferrante Carlo before 1631. The portrait is mentioned twice in the documents relating to Valguarnera’s trial for theft in that year: first in an inventory of his possessions (“Il Ritratto di Monse Bembo è di mano di Titiano è quell’istesso che hò detto di sopra d’haver compro da Ferrante de Carolis”); and second in Carlo’s testimony to the court (“Un’ritratto dicono del Bembo di mano di Titiano grande dal mezzo in su’ del naturale”). See Jane Costello, “The Twelve Pictures ‘Ordered by Velasquez’ and the Trial of Valguarnera,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 13 (1950): 273, 276.

[3] According to an inventory of Cardinal Barberini, the picture was acquired on 20 November 1636 from Leone Galli. See Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, Seventeenth Century Barberini Documents and Inventories of Art, New York, 1975: 41 no. 334: “Uno in tela con cornice di noce alto pmi cinque in circa un retratto di un Cardinale mano Chredosi della prima maniera de Titiano.” Despite the vagueness of the description, which fails to identify the sitter, the portrait is clearly identical with the one of Bembo listed in subsequent Barberini inventories. These include Cardinal Antonio’s inventories of 1644 (Lavin 1975, 166 no. 232) and 1671 (Lavin 1975, 295 no. 71), and the inventory of his bequests of 1672 (Lavin 1975, 345 no. 230), according to which it was inherited by his nephew. The portrait duly appears in the posthumous 1686 inventory of Maffeo’s legacy to his son (Lavin 1975, 409 no. 342). The evidence of the seventeenth-century Barberini inventories published by Lavin disproves the attempted identification by Wethey of the picture with a portrait of a cardinal by Titian that had been acquired for the family by Bernini before 1631; see Harold Wethey, The Paintings of Titian, 3 vols., London, 1969-1975: 2(1971):83.

[4] According to the Getty Provenance Index, the painting is recorded in a 1730 inventory of Cardinal Francesco II Barberini (p. 35, no. 218): "3695 Un Ritratto del Cardle. Bembo a sedere alto pmi 5, largo pmi 4 incirca, con barba longa, e libro nella mano manca, con cornice liscia dorata, si dice mano del Titiano [attribution crossed out] in cattivo stato 50." The painting is still recorded in the Barberini collection by Oskar Fischel, Tizian: Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart [u.a.], 1904: no. 72, and by George Lafenestre and Eugène Richtenberger, La Peinture en Europe. Rome: Les musées, les collections particulières, les palais, Paris, 1905: 157.

[5] Details of ownership by Volpi, Colnaghi, and Knoedler, and the Schwab purchase date, are according to the Getty Provenance Index and the M. Knoedler & Co. archives, the latter courtesy in 2002 of Edye Weissler, Knoedler archivist and librarian (see the e-mail of 12 September 2002, in NGA curatorial files). The painting is in Colnaghi's private ledgers, and was Knoedler's London number 3828 and New York number 10755. The Knoedler archives citation reads "4/30/06, stock no. 10755, Titian Cardinal Bembo." See also M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Sales Book 8, 1900 November-1907 April, page 332, copy in NGA curatorial files.

[5] According to the Getty Provenance Index; Pichetto was the Kress Foundation's curator and conservator.

Exhibition History

1920: Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1920, unnumbered catalogue.

1946: Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1946, no. 826.

1990: Tiziano [NGA title: Titian: Prince of Painters], Palazzo Ducale, Venice; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990-1991, no. 31, repro.

1996: Treasures of Venice, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 1996, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2013: Pietro Bembo e l'invenzione del Rinascimento, Palazzo del Monte di Pieta, Padua, 2013, no. 6.1, repro.

Bibliography

1877: Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. Titian, His Life and Times. 2 vols. London, 1877: 1:417-419; 2:28-29.

1877: Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. Tiziano: la sua vita e i suoi tempi. 2 vols. Florence, 1877–1878: 1:496-497; 2:422.

1879: Heath, Richard Ford. Titian. New York and London, 1879: 48, 91.

1884: Burckhardt, Jacob. Der Cicerone: eine Anleitung zum Genuss der Kunstwerke Italiens. Band 2, 2: Mittelalter und Renaissance. Leipzig, 1884: 761.

1886: Lafenestre, Georges. La vie et l’oeuvre de Titien. Paris, 1886: 185.

1890: Morelli, Giovanni. Kunstkritische Studien über italienische Malerei: die Galerien Borghese und Doria Panfili in Rom. Leipzig, 1890: 406.

1897: Morelli, Giovanni. Della pittura italiana, studi storico-critici: le Gallerie Borghese e Doria-Pamphi in Roma. Milan, 1897: 314-315.

1900: Morelli, Giovanni. Italian Painters. Critical Studies of their Works: the Borghese and Doria-Pamfili Galleries in Rome. London, 1900: 309-310.

1901: Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 9, part 3(1928):142.

1904: Fischel, Oskar. Tizian: Des Meisters Gemälde. Stuttgart [u.a.], 1904: no. 72.

1904: Gronau, Georg. Titian. London, 1904: 126.

1905: Lafenestre, Georges, and Eugène Richtenberger. La Peinture en Europe. Rome: les musées, les collections particulières, les palais. Paris, 1905: 157.

1907: Moon, George Washington. The Long-lost Titian Portrait of Bembo: Private Secretary to Pope Leo the Tenth. Brighton, 1907: 7.

1909: Lafenestre, Georges. La vie et l’oeuvre de Titien. Rev. ed. Paris, 1909: 164-165, 182.

1910: Ricketts, Charles. Titian. London, 1910: 100.

1914: Coggiola, Giulio. “Per l’iconografia di Pietro Bembo.” Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti 74, pt. 2 (1914–1915): 484, 493.

1918: Basch, Victor. Titien. Paris, 1918: 162.

1920: Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition. Loans and Special Features. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1920: 8.

1932: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and their Works with an Index of Places. Oxford, 1932: 573.

1933: Suida, Wilhelm. Tizian. Zürich and Leipzig, 1933: 85, 111.

1936: Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento: catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere con un indice dei luoghi. Translated by Emilio Cecchi. Milan, 1936: 493.

1936: Suida, Wilhelm. “New Light on Titian’s Portraits, II.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 68 (1936): 281.

1936: Tietze, Hans. Tizian: Leben und Werk. 2 vols. Vienna, 1936: 1:133, 168, 304.

1950: Tietze, Hans. Titian. The Paintings and Drawings. London, 1950: 337.

1951: Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 88-90, repro.

1957: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:192.

1959: Morassi, Antonio. “Titian.” In Encyclopedia of World Art. 17+ vols. London, 1959+, 14(1967): col. 139.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 193, repro.

1960: Dionisotti, Carlo. “Bembo, Pietro.” In Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Edited by Alberto Maria Ghisalberti. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 8(1966):139.

1960: Valcanover, Francesco. Tutta la pittura di Tiziano. 2 vols. Milan, 1960: 1:71.

1964: Morassi, Antonio. Titian. Greenwich, CT, 1964: 38.

1965: Garas, Klara. Italian Renaissance Portraits. Budapest, 1965: no. 14.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 130.

1968: Ballarin, Alessandro. “Pittura veneziana nei Musei di Budapest, Dresda, Praga e Varsavia.” Arte Veneta 22 (1968): 246-247.

1968: European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 117, repro.

1968: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 180-181, fig. 433.

1969: Matteoli, Anna. “La ritrattistica del Bronzino nel ‘Limbo.’” Commentari 20, no. 4 (1969): 304-305.

1969: Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. 2 vols. Florence, 1969: 1:100-101, 274.

1969: Valcanover, Francesco. L’opera completa di Tiziano. Milan, 1969: 111.

1969: Wethey, Harold. The Paintings of Titian. 3 vols. London, 1969-1975: 2(1971):26, 82, 83 cat. 15.

1970: Garas, Klara. “Die Bildnisse Pietro Bembos in Budapest.” Acta Historiae Artium 16 (1970): 63, 66 n. 22.

1972: Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 203, 510, 646.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 346, repro.

1975: Howard, Deborah. Jacopo Sansovino: Architecture and Patronage in Renaissance Venice. New Haven and London, 1975: 18-19.

1976: Krsek, Ivo. Tizian. Prague, 1976: 65.

1977: Tiziano, le lettere. Edited by Clemente Gandini from materials
compiled by Celso Fabbro. Cadore, 1977: notes to pls. 24-25.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:482-483, II:pl. 343

1980: Fasolo, Ugo. Titian. Florence, 1980: 41.

1982: Alsop, Joseph. The Rare Art Traditions: The History of Art Collecting and Its Linked Phenomena Wherever These Have Appeared. Bollingen series 35, no. 27. New York, 1982: fig. 85.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 206, no. 247, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 397, repro.

1987: Berenson, Bernard, and Isabella Stuart Gardner. The Letters of the Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stuart Gardner, 1887–1924, with Correspondence by Mary Berenson. Edited and Annotated by Rollin van Hadley. Boston, 1987: 386-389.

1987: Burke, Peter. The Historical Anthropology of Early Modern Italy: Essays on Perception and Communication. Cambridge, 1987: 157-158.

1987: Wethey, Harold E. Titian and His Drawings, with Reference to Giorgione and Some Close Contemporaries. Princeton, 1987: 83 n. 80.

1990: Titian, Prince of Painters. Exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Venice; National Gallery of Art, Washington. Venice, 1990: 238.

1990: Wood, Jeremy. “Van Dyck’s Cabinet de Titien: The Contents and Dispersal of His Collection.” The Burlington Magazine 132 (1990): 681.

1991: Morelli, Giovanni. Della pittura italiana, studi storico-critici: le Gallerie Borghese e Doria-Pamphi in Roma. Edited by Jaynie Anderson. Rev. ed. Milan, 1991: 325.

1991: Zapperi, Roberto. “Tiziano e i Farnese: Aspetti economici del rapporto di committenza.” Bolletino d’arte 76 (1991): 39, 43.

1996: Burke, Peter. “Il ritratto veneziano del Cinquecento”. In Pittura nel Veneto. Il Cinquecento. Edited by Mauro Lucco. 3 vols. Milan, 1996-1999: 3(1999):1100.

1996: Gasparotto, Davide. “La barba di Pietro Bembo.” Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Ser. 4, Quaderni 1–2 (1996): 192-193.

1996: Mozzetti, Francesco. Tiziano: Ritratto di Pietro Aretino. Modena, 1996: 13.

1996: Robertson, Clare. “Cardinal Pietro Bembo.” In The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane
Turner. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 3:698.

1998: Kaminsky, Marion. Titian. Cologne, 1998: 83.

1999: Sarti, Maria Giovanna. “Muta predicatio: il San Giovanni Battista di Tiziano.” Venezia Cinquecento 9, no. 17 (1999): 17.

1999: Valcanover, Francesco. Tiziano: I suoi pennelli sempre partorirono espressioni di vita. Florence, 1999: 267.

2001: Pedrocco, Filippo. Titian: The Complete Paintings. New York, 2001: 50, 172.

2004: Kidwell, Carol. Pietro Bembo: Lover, Linguist, Cardinal. Montreal, 2004: 391-392.

2005: entili, Augusto. “Il gesto. L’abito, il monaco.” Studi Tizianeschi 3 (2005): 50-52.

2005: Mancini, Matteo. “L’uso della copia del trivial pennello e l’attualità cronologica nella ritrattistica di Tiziano.” In Tizian versus Seisenegger: die Portraits Karls V. mit Hund. Ein Holbeinstreit. Edited by Sylvia Ferino-Pagden and Andreas Beyer. Turnhout, 2005: 138-142.

2006: Carratù, Tullia. “La société contemporaine.” In Titien: Le pouvoir en face. Exh. cat. Musée du Luxembourg, Paris. Milan, 2006: 157-158.

2006: Titien: Le pouvoir en face. Exh. cat. Musée du Luxembourg, Paris. Milan, 2006: 172.

2007: Humfrey, Peter. Titian: The Complete Paintings. Ghent and New York, 2007: 177.

2007: Romani, Vittoria. Tiziano e il tardo rinascimento a Venezia: Jacopo Bassano, Jacopo Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese. Florence, 2007: 53, 56, 114.

2008: Allen, Denise, with Peta Motture. Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze. Exh. cat. The Frick Collection, New York. London, 2008: 44, 45, fig. III.5.

2008: Dal Pozzolo, Enrico Maria. Colori d’Amore. Parole, Gesti e Carezze nella Pitture Veneziana del Cinquecento. Treviso, 2008: 102, 181.

2008: Pincus, Debra. “Giovanni Bellini’s Humanist Signature: Pietro Bembo, Aldus Manutius and Humanism in Early Sixteenth-Century Venice.” Artibus et Historiae no. 58 (2008): 98-99, 102.

2008: Trentini, Francesco. “Questioni di carattere: il gioco del ritratti tra Erasmo, Sperone e Tiziano.” Venezia Cinquecento 18, no. 35 (2008): 117-119.

2011: Biferali, Frabrizio. Tiziano: Il genio e il potere. Rome, 2011: 140.

2011: Séris, Émilie. “La renaissance du nu antique à Venise: Pietro Bembo et le Titien.” International Journal of the Classical Tradition 18 (2011): 204 n. 16.

2012: Gentili, Augusto. Tiziano. Milan, 2012: 201-203.

2012: Hale, Sheila. Titan: His Life. London, 2012: 118, 416.

2013: Beltramini, Guido, Davide Gasparotto, and Adolfo Tura, eds. Pietro Bembo e l’invenzione del Rinascimento. Exh. cat. Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, Padua. Venice, 2013: 368-369.

2013: Firpo, Massimo. “Il cardinale Pietro Bembo.” In Pietro Bembo e le arti. Edited by Guido Beltramini, Howard Burns and Davide Gasparotto. Venice, 2013: 24.

2013: Humfrey, Peter, ed. The Reception of Titian in Britain: From Reynolds to Ruskin. Turnhout, 2013: 16.

2013: Marinelli, Sergio. “Pietro Bembo nella storia della pittura.” In Pietro Bembo e le arti. Edited by Guido Beltramini, Howard Burns and Davide Gasparotto. Venice, 2013: 475.

2013: "Vasari and the National Gallery of Art." National Gallery of Art Bulletin 48 (Spring 2013): 20, repro.

2013: Villa, Giovanni C.F., ed. Tiziano. Exh. cat., Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome. Milan, 2013: 182-183.

2017: Nalezyty, Susan. Pietro Bembo and the Intellectual Pleasures of a Renaissance Writer and Art Collector. New Haven, 2017: 78-82.

National Gallery of Art

Provenance

Exhibition History

Bibliography

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