Admission is always free Directions

Open today: 10:00 to 5:00

Home » Collection » The Conversion of Saint Paul
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography
Provenance

Probably Palazzo Pisani a Santo Stefano until c. 1809.[1] George William Fox, 9th baron Kinnaird [1807-1878], Rossie Priory, Perthshire, Scotland, by 1857.[2] Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi [1878-1955], Florence, by 1939;[3] sold June 1954 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1961 to NGA.

[1] As proposed by Lino Moretti, “I Pisani di Santo Stefano e le opere d’arte del loro palazzo,” in Il Conservatorio di musica Benedetto Marcello a Venezia: 1876–1976: Centenario della fondazione, edited by Pietro Verardo, Venice, 1977: 170. The 1809 inventory by Pietro Edwards of the painting gallery of the Palazzo Pisani a Santo Stefano lists a Conversion of Saint Paul attributed to Andrea Schiavone, measuring 157 x 235 cm. Tintoretto’s early paintings have often been attributed to Schiavone. In addition, the collection included one other major early painting by Tintoretto (the Visit of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, now Château, Chenonceaux) as well as a Crucifixion from Tintoretto’s studio in the mid-1550s (now Museo Civico, Padua). The origin of the paintings in the Pisani galleria, a large majority of which date from the Cinquecento, is unknown. The palace itself dates from the first two decades of the 17th century. In 1679 Almorò Pisani (1615-1682) bound the paintings along with the palazzo and the rest of its contents to pass by inheritance without division according to male primogeniture. In the late 18th century, the palace was restored and decorated by Almorò Alvise Pisani (1754-1808) after his marriage to Giustiniana Pisani di Santa Maria del Giglio, who brought as her dowry the possessions of that line, which was extinguished with her. Almorò Alvise and his brother Almorò Francesco (1759-1836) fell into debt and in 1781 divided up all the family property not bound by the trust. They were forced to sell their villa on the terra ferma to Napoleon in 1807. In 1809, after Almorò Alvise’s death, his son, also named Almorò Francesco, and Almorò Francesco (the brother of Almorò Alvise) divided up the remaining undivided assets, the trust having been invalidated by Napoleonic law. The inventory was prepared at this time. The paintings were sold and dispersed, along with many of the other treasures of the palace, much of which was also sold off over the following decades. See Moretti 1977, 138-139, 166, 170. The fact that the Pisani galleria contained at least two early paintings by Tintoretto, along with one from the mid-1550s, raises the possibility that these three pictures were originally purchased by the same early patron of Tintoretto, either a member of the Pisani family or someone from whom the Pisani eventually acquired them. However, no link can be established between the Pisani painting and the first documented appearance of the NGA’s painting in the Kinnaird collection in 1857.

[2] Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of more than Forty Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Mss., &c.&c., London, 1857: 448.

[3] Published by William Suida, “Zwei unbekannte Werke Tintorettos,” Pantheon 23 (1939): 122, as in the Contini-Bonacossi collection.

[4] On 7 June 1954 the Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini-Bonacossi for sixteen paintings, including the NGA painting. In a draft of one of the documents prepared for the Count's signature in connection with the offer this painting is described as one "which came from my personal collection in Florence." The Count accepted the offer on 30 June 1954; the final payment for the purchase was ultimately made in early 1957, after the Count's death in 1955. (See copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files.)

Exhibition History
2007
Tintoretto, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2007, no. 3, repro.
Bibliography
1857
Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of more than Forty Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Mss., &c.&c., visited in 1854 and 1856, ..., forming a supplemental volume to the "Treasures of Art in Great Britain". London, 1857: 448.
1939
Suida, Wilhelm. “Zwei unbekannte Werke Tintorettos.” Pantheon 23 (1939): 122, repro., 123-125.
1942
Bercken, Erich von der. Die Gemälde des Jacopo Tintoretto. Munich, 1942: 96, 100, fig. 46.
1950
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. La giovinezza del Tintoretto. Milan, 1950: 86-87, figs. 113-115.
1952
Morassi, Antonio. “Review of La giovinezza del Tintoretto, by Rodolfo Pallucchini.”
Emporium 115 (1952): 240.
1956
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Colllection 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: 174, no. 69, repro.
1956
Walker, John. "The Nation's Newest Old Masters." The National Geographic Magazine 110, no. 5 (November 1956): color repro. 620-621, 631.
1957
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:176.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 200, repro.
1960
Arslan, Edoardo. Le pitture del Duomo di Milano. Milan, 1960: 20, 32 n. 34.
1962
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Treasures from the National Gallery of Art, New York, 1962: 36, color repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 128
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:192, color repro.
1967
Ballarin, Alessandro. “Jacopo Bassano e lo studio del Rafaello e dei Salviati.” Arte
Veneta 21 (1967): 98.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 115, repro.
1970
De Vecchi, Pierluigi. L’opera completa del Tintoretto. Milan, 1970: 88-89, no. 27.
1971
Freedberg, Sydney J. Painting in Italy 1500-1600. Harmondsworth, 1971, rev. ed. 1975: 519-520.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 201.
1972
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. “Due nuove opere giovanili di Jacopo Tintoretto.” Arte Veneta 26 (1972): 57.
1973
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 49-50, fig. 91.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 342, repro.
1977
Moretti, Lino. “I Pisani di Santo Stefano e le opere d’arte del loro palazzo.” In Il Conservatorio di musica Benedetto Marcello a Venezia, 1876–1976: centenario della fondazione. Edited by Pietro Verardo. Venice, 1977: 170.
1978
Martone, Thomas. "The Theme of the Conversion of Saint Paul in Italian Paintings from the Earlier Christian Period to the High Renaissance." Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1978. New York, 1985: 214-215.
1978
Rossi, Paola. “Per il catalogo di Jacopo Tintoretto: nuove opere giovanili.” Arte Veneta 32 (1978): 202-203.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:468-470, II:pl. 334
1982
Pallucchini, Rodolfo, and Paola Rossi. Tintoretto: le opere sacre e profane. 2 vols. Venice, 1982: 1:20-24, 26, 139, 140, 141, 142-143, 168, 229, no. 79; 2:figs. 97-99.
1984
Rossi, Paola. “Andrea Schiavone e l’intoduzione del Parmigianino a Venezia.” In Cultura e società nel Rinascimento tra riforme e manierismi. Edited by Vittore Branca and Caralo Ossola. Florence, 1984: 198-199, 204-205.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 230, no. 291, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 393, repro.
1985
Valcanover, Francesco, and Terisio Pignatti. Tintoretto. New York, 1985: 72.
1991
Rearick, W. R. "Titian Drawings: A Progress Report." Artibus et Historiae 12, no. 23 (1991): 31-32.
1993
Echols, Robert. "Jacopo Tintoretto and Venetian Painting, 1538-1548." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park, 1993. Ann Arbor, MI, 1994: 138-143.
1994
Krischel, Roland. Tintoretto. Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994: 16-18.
1996
Cassegrain, Guillaume. “‘Ces choses ont été des figures de ce qui nous concerne’: une lecture de la ‘Conversion de Saint Paul’ du Tintoret.” Venezia Cinquecento 6 (1996): 55-85.
1999
Nichols, Tom. Tintoretto: Tradition and Identity. London, 1999: 6, 28, 29-30 34, color fig. 8.
2000
Krischel, Roland. Jacopo Tintoretto, 1519–1594. Cologne, 2000: 10-11, fig. 4.
2001
Rearick, William R. Il disegno veneziano del Cinquecento. Milan, 2001: 118, 219.
2007
Dunkerton, Jill. “Tintoretto’s Painting Technique.” In Tintoretto. Edited by Miguel
Falomir. Exh. cat. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2007: 140.
2007
Falomir, Miguel, ed. Tintoretto. Exh. cat. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2007: 33-36, 122, 184-185, 198, 297, 348.
2009
Echols, Robert, and Frederick Ilchman. “Toward a New Tintoretto Catalogue, with a Checklist of Revised Attributions and a New Chronology.” In Jacopo Tintoretto: Actas del congreso internacional/Proceedings of the International Symposium, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, February 26-27, 2007. Madrid, 2009: 121, no. 32.
2009
Goldberg, Jonathan. The Seeds of Things: Theorizing Sexuality and Materiality in Renaissance Representations. New York, 2009: pl. 2.
2009
Ilchman, Frederick, et al. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Musée du Louvre, Paris. Boston, 2009: 108.
2010
Cassegrain, Guillaume. Tintoret. Paris, 2010: 12-14, 31, 34, fig. 1.