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In the left half of this horizontal painting, a bare-chested, seated woman, Venus, is tended by three nude women and several child-like, nude, winged putti. All the women and putti have pale, peachy skin. To our right, a statue of a man stands on an ornately carved pedestal on a veranda in front of a distant landscape. Venus sits facing our right and she looks into a rectangular, black-framed mirror she holds up with her left hand. Her blond hair is braided and she has delicate features. A sky-blue cloth wraps around her waist and lap, and covers her legs. One foot rests on the lap of a seated putto, who ties on a sandal. Another putto helps hold up the mirror. A third putto near us, in front of Venus, pulls strings of pearls from a gold box and the fourth, in the lower left corner, lifts a comb and long needle out of a gilded, rectangular box. Two of the women behind Venus tend to her hair and the third holds up and gazes at a teardrop-shaped pearl. A dusky rose-pink curtain falls behind the women and putti. The view opens onto a terrace on the right half of the painting. A gray stone sculpture of a nude man holding up a bunch of grapes with one hand and bracing a tall stick with the other stands facing our left on an ornately carved base. The base is made up of a wide, shallow bowl above a single pedestal foot. In the distance, two people sit against a tall balustrade. The person on the left wears gold-colored armor, a helmet, and holds a long spear. The bearded man to the right appears to be nude as he leans to the side toward his companion, resting his hand and chin along a staff propped on the bench's seat. Trees and mountains in the landscape beyond are painted with brown, deep gray, and forest and sage green. A sliver of white sky along the horizon brightens an otherwise steel-gray sky.

Annibale Carracci

Venus Adorned by the Graces, 1590/1595

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 33

Medium

oil on panel transferred to canvas

Dimensions

overall: 133 x 170.5 cm (52 3/8 x 67 1/8 in.)

framed: 162.6 x 200 x 8.6 cm (64 x 78 3/4 x 3 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1961.9.9

Artists / Makers

Annibale Carracci (artist) Bolognese, 1560 - 1609

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Alessandro Tanari [1548-1639], Bologna, by 1638;[1] purchased 1828 from the Casa Tanari, Bologna, by (James Irvine, London and Rome) for Sir William Forbes, 7th bt. of Pitsligo [1773-1828];[2] by inheritance to his son, Sir John Stuart Hepburn Forbes, 8th bt. [1804-1866]; (sale of his father's pictures at Alexander Rainey's, London, 2 June 1842, no. 29).[3] Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro, of Novar, by 1854;[4] (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 1 June 1878, no. 19); bought by "Dyer" [probably the dealer and restorer William Dyer] for Sir John Charles Robinson [1824-1913], London;[5] sold 1878 to Sir Francis Cook, 1st bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey;[6] by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House, and Cothay Manor, Somerset; sold February 1948 to (Gualtiero Volterra, London) for (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence);[7] purchased 1949 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[8] gift 1961 to NGA.

[1] Inventory of May 1640 by Vicenzo Pisani (Archivio di Stato di Bologna), published by Luisa Ciammitti, Tre artisti nella Bologna dei Bentivoglio. Ercole Robert: La cappella Garganelli in San Pietro, Bologna, 1985: 204, 215. Pisani described the painting thus: "l'altro d'Annibale Carracci nel quale è dipinta Diana con le sue Vergini che gli acconciano la testa a bon'hora," and "Diana con altre figure che si fa conciare la testa ad un fonte di mano d'Annibale Carracci." Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice. Vite de' Pittore Bolognesi con aggiunte correzioni e note inedite dall-autore de Giampietro Zanooti e di altri scrittori, 2 vols., Bologna, 1841: 1:357 (reprinted 1974, originally published 1678), also misread the subject as "Diana con le sue Vergini, che le acconciano il capo presso ad una fontana, e diversi amorini," as did Marcello Oretti at the end of the eighteenth century: in Marcello Oretti, "Le pitture...della Città di Bologna", 3 vols., Biblioteca Comunale Bologna, MS B104, in Marcello Oretti e il patrimonio artistico privato bolognese (Document 22), ed. by Emilia Calbi and Daniela Scaglietti Kelescian, Bologna, 1984: 90. Thomas Martyn, who had visited Italy in 1787, referred to the painting as "Venus attired by the Graces" (Thomas Martyn, A Tour through Italy, London, 1791: 110).

[2] Hugh Brigstocke, William Buchanan and the Nineteenth-Century Art Trade, London, 1982: 27, 481.

[3] The painting was probably sold through the efforts of William Buchanan, who was called in to dispose of the pictures remaining from the unsuccessful 1842 auction of Sir William's collection (Brigstocke 1982: 30).

[4] Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 3 vols., London, 1854: 2:135. A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings...in the Collection of the Late Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro, Esq. of Novar, London, 1865: 4.

[5] Catalogue of the Ancient Portion of the Celebrated Collection of Pictures Known as the Novar Collection...which will be sold by Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods on Saturday June 1, 1878, London, 1878: 6, with marginal notation of sale to "Mr. Dyer" (in the NGA copy). The identification of William Dyer was kindly suggested by Martha Hepworth of the Getty Provenance Index (letter of 26 April 1990 in NGA curatorial files). The painting sold for 180 guineas. In his account book (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford), Robinson writes that the painting "bought by Dyer for me" (copy of releveant page in NGA curatorial files).

[6] Tancred Borenius, A Catalogue of the Paintings in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, Bt., London, 1913: 100, no. 85; Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook, Bart., London, 1932: 68, no. 85. A Toilet of Venus by Annibale Carracci, 51 x 64 1/2 inches, was in the sale of "N. N." in 1886 according to George Redford, Art Sales, 2 vols., London, 1888: 223. Martha Hepworth of the Getty Provenance Index has suggested that this is one of the many mistakes in Redford (letter of 26 April 1990).

[7] See copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files, from the Cook Collection Archive in care of John Somerville, England. Volterra was Contini Bonacossi's agent in London.

[8] The Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini Bonacossi on 4 March 1949 for a group of twenty-one paintings, including the Carracci; the offer was accepted on 10 March 1949 (see copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2420).

Associated Names

Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Contini Bonacossi, Alessandro, Count
Cook, 1st bt., Francis, Sir
Cook, 2nd bt., Frederick Lucas, Sir
Cook, 3rd bt., Herbert Frederick, Sir
Cook, 4th bt., Francis Ferdinand Maurice, Sir
Dyer, William
Forbes, Sir John, 8th bt. of Pitsligo
Forbes, Sir William, 7th bt. of Pitsligo
Irvine, James
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Munro, Hugh Andrew Johnstone
Rainey, Alexander
Robinson, John Charles, Sir
Tanari, Alessandro
Volterra, Gualtiero

Exhibition History

1908: Winter Exhibition, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1908, no. 20.

1986: The Age of Correggio and the Carracci: Emilian Painting of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986-1987, no. 93, color repro.

2000: Faszination Venus: Bilder einer Göttin von Cranach bis Cabanel, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne; Alte Pinakothek, Munich; Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, 2000-2001, no. 15, repro.

2002: Tiziano/Rubens. Venus ante el espejo, Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2002-2003, no. 3, repro.

2012: Da Vermeer a Kandinsky. Capolavori dai musei del mondo a Rimini, Castel Sismondo, Rimini, 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Technical Summary

The original support was a wood panel, probably consisting of two members with a horizontal join about 54 cm from the bottom of the composition. The ground is a dark layer overall and shows through in thinly painted areas. The paint layer was fluidly applied and, in general, is of medium thickness, with greatest buildup in the highlights of the figures and drapery. Venus' left arm was initially slightly higher, as indicated by pentimenti. Similar changes occurred in the left leg of the foreground Grace, whose left arm was also closer to her body.

Already in 1828 James Irvine noted that large losses had occurred in the figure of Venus and in the Grace behind her, and that the middle hues had sunken into what he called the dark brown ground.[1] The transfer was probably carried out in the early twentieth century (according to Mario Modestini) and was poorly executed. Damage incurred during the transfer process has resulted in a very uneven paint surface. Severe abrasion throughout also contributes to the generally poor condition, and particularly to the loss of modeling in the figures. The thinly applied middle tones, particularly those of the curtain, floor rug, and landscape, have become transparent and sunken into the dark ground, greatly reducing the painting's tonal contrasts. Mario Modestini removed discolored varnish and restored the picture in 1954-1955. He adjusted the inpainting in 1959. The inpainting was adjusted again in 1986 by Jia-sun Tsang.

[1] Report to Sir William Forbes (from the Irvine letters, private collection) kindly communicated by Hugh Brigstocke (letter of 20 December 1978, NGA curatorial files), who reports that the letters may now be in the National Library, Edinburgh (letter of 13 February 1990, NGA curatorial files).

Bibliography

1841: Malvasia, Carlo Cesare. Felsina Pittrice. Vite de' Pittori Bolognesi con aggiunte correzioni e note inedite deel'autore di Giampietro Zanotti e di altri scrittori. 2 vols. Bologna, 1841: 1:357 (originally published 1678, reprinted 1974).

1924: Voss, Herrmann. Die Malerei des Barock in Rom. Berlin, 1924: 503.

1932: Brockwell, Maurice W. Abridged Catalogye of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook. London, 1932: no. 85.

1951: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 136, no. 58, repro.

1957: Longhi, Roberto. "Annibale 1584?" Paragone 89 (1957): 41.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 214, repro.

1961: Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 138, repro. pl. 129.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 23.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 16, repro.

1971: Posner, Donald. Annibale Carracci. A Study in the Reform of Italian Painting Around 1590. 2 vols. London, 1971: 1:51, 2:35, pl. 85.

1972: Pepper, Stephen. "I limiti del positivismo: 'L'Annibale Carracci' di Donald Posner." Arte Illustrata 5 (1972): 267.

1973: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 73-74, fig. 132.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 56, repro.

1976: Malafarina, Gianfranco. L'opera completa di Annibale Carracci. Milan, 1976: 75, no. 79, repro., color pl. 37.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:121-122; 2:pl. 83.

1980: Anderson, Jaynie. "Giorgione, Titian and the Sleeping Venus." In Tiziano e Venezia. Convegno internazionale di studi. Venezia, 1976. Vicenza, 1980: 340.

1983: Freedberg, Sydney. Circa 1600: A Revolution of Style in Italian Painting. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1983: 33-36, pl. 46.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 313, no. 411, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 76, repro.

1986: Christiansen, Keith. "Lorenzo Lotto and the Tradition of Epithalamic Painting." Apollo 124 (1986): 171.

1996: De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 49-54, color repro. 51.

1999: Klessmann, Rüdiger. Johann Liss: A Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné. Translated from the German by Diane L. Webb. Doornspijk, 1999: 60, 64 fig. 57, 79 (as "The Toilet of Venus").