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'Come La Carne Al Macello': Butchering a VeroneseAuthor(s): Brendan CassidySource: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 149, No. 1252, Italian Art and Architecture (Jul., 2007),pp. 483-485Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20074904 .

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'Come

la

carne

al

macello':

butchering

a

Veronese

by

BRENDAN

CASSIDY,

University

of

t Andrews

the

great altarpiece

(some

four and

a

half

metres

in

height)

painted

by

Paolo Veronese

for the Petrobelli altar

in

the church

of S.

Francesco

in

Lendinara

near

Rovigo

was

dismembered

at

some

point during

the late

eighteenth

century

(Fig.

31),

and is

now

divided

between

Edinburgh,

Dulwich

and Ottawa.1 While

still

intact and

in situ it

was

described

by

the

local historian

Gioacchino

Masatto

as

showing

'the

dead Redeemer above

supported by

angels,

and below

St

Michael the

Archangel

in

the

act

of

trampling

Lucifer

in

the midst of

various

saints'.2 The

saints

were

identified

as

Jerome

and

Antony

Abbot

in

an

inventory

drawn

up

at

the

time

of the church's

suppression

in

1769.3

In

1782

S.

Francesco and the

adjoining

convent

were

demolished

and the

contents

dispersed.4

By

1795,

when Pietro

Brandolese

wrote

his

account

of the

'valuable

paintings' ?pregevoli

pitture')

recorded

in

Lendinara,

Veronese's

altarpiece

had

disappeared.5

Further information

on

its

fate

can now

be

provided

from letters written

by

Gavin

Hamilton,

the Scottish

artist,

dealer and

antiquarian,

to

his Venetian

agent

Giovanni

Maria

Sasso.6

Writing

from

Rome

on

26th

July

1788,

Hamilton alludes

to

the

imminent

dissection of

the

altarpiece

and

gives

the

name

of

the

perpetrator

as

Pietro

Concolo:

Concolo

has

returned

[to

Rome],

he

says

he has

got

a

Tin

toretto,

bigger

and

more

beautiful

than

mine

and

representing

Lazarus

Risen,

and another

smaller

one

of the

same

subject,

we

shall

go

to

see

these

marvels.

In

a

short

time

they

will

begin

the

cutting

of the

great

picture

of

Paolo,

it

will be sold

just

like

meat

in

a

butcher's

shop,

poor

Paolo,

poor

painting.7

Soon

afterwards

Veronese's

canvas was

divided.

In

a

letter

of

24th

January

1789

Hamilton

tells

Sasso

that

he had offered

Concolo

a

pictureby

Polidoro

because

it

as

unsuitable

for

export

to

England,

31.

Reconstruction

by

Linda

Murray

of the

Petrobelli

altarpiece, by

Paolo

Veronese,

from P.

Murray:

Dulwich

Picture

Gallery.

A

Catalogue,

London

1980,

fig.270.

and one hundred scudi in

exchange

for 'the St

Jerome

with the

Devoto,

being

part

?f his

large

picture by

Paolo'

(Fig.33).

The

offer,

however,

was

initially

declined.

Concolo

was not

prepared

to

sell

My

thanks

to

Peter

Humfrey,

Caterina

Novello,

Margaret

Reid,

Paul

Joannides,

Aidan

Weston-Lewis and

Paul Matthews for

information

and

help

of

various

kinds.

1

Fig.

31

illustrates the

probable

appearance

of the

original

altarpiece

with

the three

surviving

fragments

indicated.

This

montage

by

Linda

Murray

was

first

published

in

P.

Murray:

Dulwich

Picture

Gallery.

A

Catalogue,

London

1980,

no.270

and

fig.270.

The central

figure

of

St

Michael

was

probably

destroyed

when the

picture

was

cut

up.

On

the

altarpiece,

see

most

recently

the

entry

by

P.

Humfrey

in P.

Humfrey,

T.

Clifford,

A. Weston-Lewis and M.

Bury,

eds.:

exh.

cat.

The

Age

of

Titian:

Venetian Renaissance

Art

from

Scottish

Collections,

Edinburgh (Royal

Scottish

Academy Building) 2004, pp.168?69, p.43 5.

2

'Nell'altro

Altare

in

fondo

alla chiesa

in tavola

con

il

morto

Redentore

in

alto

sostenuto

dagli

Angeli,

e

sotto

S. Mich?le

Arcangelo

in

atto

di

calpestareLuc?fero

in

mezzo

a

varj

santi';

Masatto's

description,

from

a

manuscript

now

in

the

Accademia

dei

Concordi,

Rovigo,

is

published

in P. Brandolese: Del

genio

de'

lendinaresi

per

la

pittura

e

di alcune

pregevoli pitture

di

Lendinara,

ed. V.

Sgarbi,

Rovigo

1990,

p.247.

For other

accounts

of the

altarpiece

while

it

was

still in

place,

see

P.L.

Bagatin,

P.

Pizzamano

and B.

Rigobello:

Lendinara.

Notizie

e

immagini

per

una

storia

dei beni

artistici

librari,

reviso

1992,

pp.13?14

and

212?15.

3

'Contiguo

al

pulpito:

Un altare

di

pietra

dolce

con

palla,

che dicesi

dipinta

da Paolo

Veronese,

esp?mente

S.

Mich?le

arcangelo,

S.

Gerolamo,

S. Antonio

Abbate

(digiuspatronato

della

Casa

Petrobelli

di

Lendinara)';

see

A. Sartori:

Archivio Sartori. Documenti

di storia

e

arte

francescana.

11/1:La

provincia

del Santo

e

dei Frati

Minori

conventuali,

d. G.

Luisetto,

Padua

1986,

p.910.

4

The altars and

pictures

from

the church

passed

to

the cathedral

and

elsewhere,

and

the

contents

of the

convent

were

dispersed

at

auctions

between

1785

and

1789;

see

Sartori,

op.

cit.

(note 3),

pp.909-1

o.

5

P. Brandolese:

Del

genio

de'

lendinaresi

er

la

pittura

e

di alcune

pregevoli

pitture

di

Lendinara,

Padua

1795,

p.XIV;

and

idem,

op.

cit.

(note 2),

p.39.

Brandolese

was

unaware

of

what had become

of the

picture. Having

discussed its

attribution

to

Veronese

by

the

antiquarian

Francesco

Bartoli he

says:

'Ma

cosa

mai

posso

aggiungere

d'una

pittura,

sopra

la

quale

non

?

ora

possibile

fare quegli

esami

che

bramerei,

er

essere

sventuratamente dal Paese

sparita?'

His

description

of

it

was

based

on

the reduced

copy

in

the

church

of the

Rosary,

Lendinara.

6

On

Hamilton,

see

most

recently

B.

Cassidy:

'Gavin

Hamilton,

Thomas

Pitt and

Statues for Stowe', the Burlington magazine 146 (2004), pp.806-14; A. Ces?reo:

'Gavin Hamilton

(1723-1798):

a

gentleman

of

probity,

knowledge

and real

taste' ,

Saggi

e

memorie di

storia

dell'arte

26

(2002),

pp.211?322;

and for

Sasso,

see

R.

Callegari:

'II

mercato

dell'arte

a

Venezia

alia fine del Settecento

e

Giovanni Maria

Sasso',

in

G.

Pavanello,

ed.:

Antonio Canova

e

il

suo

ambiente

art?stico

fra

Venezia,

Roma

e

Parigi,

Venice

2000,

pp.95?104,

with

bibliography.

7

'E

tomato

oncola,

dice

di

av?re

portato

un

Tintoretto

grande

e

bello

piu

del

mio

rapresenta

Lazzaro

resuscitato,

d

un

altro

piu piccolo

del

medemo,

staremo

vedere

questi maraviglie,

in

breve i comincia

l

taglio

el

gran

quadro

di

Paulo,

si vender?

in

somma

come

la

came

al

macello,

povero

Paulo

povera

pittura';

letter

from

G.

Hamilton

to

G.M.

Sasso,

24th

July

1788;

Venice,

Biblioteca

del

Seminario

Patriarcale,

Sasso

Papers,

inv.i

144.14.

The

two

Tin

torettos

mentioned

in

the

letter,

f

they

were

indeed

by

him,

may

possibly

be identified

among

the

five

representations

of

the

Raising of

azarus of uncertain

provenance

from

the

seven

that

survive

by

the

artist;

see

R. Pallucchini and

P.

Rossi:

Tintoretto.

Le

opere

sacre

eprofane,

ilan

1982,1,

nos.217,

223, 242, 327

and

452;

and

R. Pallucchini:

'Una

nuova

Resurrezione di Lazzaro

dijacopo

Tintoretto',

Arte

v?neta

31

(1977),

pp.95?103.

THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXLIX JULY 2007

483

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'COME

LA

CARNE

AL

MACELLO':

BUTCHERING

A

VERONESE

32. St

Anthony

Abbot and a donor,

by

Paolo Veronese, c.1565. Canvas,

198.5

by

117.8

cm.

(National

Galleries

of

Scotland,

Edinburgh).

33- St

Jerome

and a donor,

by

Paolo Veronese, c.1565. Canvas, 224.5

by

120 cm.

(Dulwich

Picture

Gallery,

London).

the

Jerome

separately,

preferring

nstead

to

dispose

of the

remaining

fragments

of

the

altarpiece

together,

and

for

a

high

price.8

Pietro

Concolo,

a

Venetian,

remains

a

rather

shadowy figure

among

the

cast

of

dealers,

agents

and middlemen who made

up

the

settecento art

world.

In

1800

he sold twelve

pictures

to

the Russian

Prince

Nikolai

Yusupov,

including

two canvases on

the theme of

Cleopatra by Tiepolo

now

in

the

Arkhangelsk

StateMuseum.9

He

reputedly acquired

the Barberini

Venus

and

Adonis,

sometimes

attributed

to

Titian,

from

St

Petersburg

on

the death of

Tsar

Paul

I,

bringing

it

ack

to

Venice

before

selling

it

n

Rome.10 And his

name

crops up

occasionally

in

the

correspondence

of

Angelika

Kauffmann

and Goethe in reference to antiquities and gems

they

had

purchased

or were

trying

to

acquire

from

him.11

To

Hamilton,

of

course,

he

was a

business rival who

was

not to

be

trusted;

as

he warned Sasso:

'I

never

tell

him

anything,

I

know

his character'.

He

suspected

that Concolo would

try

to

prevent

him

getting

his hands

on

other

paintings by

Veronese

in

order

to

pressurise

him into

buying

all the Lendinara

fragments.12

But

his

suspicions

proved

unfounded

as we

learn from

a

letter

written

by

Sasso

to

Pietro Brandolese

in

1795.

Borrowing

the

same

colourful

phrase

that Hamilton had used

in

writing

to

him

seven

years

previ

ously,

Sasso recalled that Veronese's

great

canvas

had been 'sold

in

quarters

like

meat in

a

butcher's';

the

upper

part

with the ead Christ

being acquired by

Colonel

John Campbell,

and the lower

part

divided between Hamilton and another

Englishman.13

Hamilton's

portion,

we

may

reasonably

assume,

was

the

Jerome

in

which he had

8

'Ricevo in

questo

ordinario e

ue

due letteren data

li

17

corte,

oservo

l

tratto

pulitico

del

Sigre.

Concolo,

ed accioche lla

si

regoli

iro che vendo

io

un

quadro

di Polidoro

puoco

adattato

per

Inghil

terra

ereo

disfarmene,

lo

avevo

offerto

l Concolo

in

cambiodel S. Girolamo

con

il evoto essendo

parte

del

suo

quadro

rande

di

Paulo,

e

piu

gli

ho

offerto

ento

cudi in

denaro,

ma

lui vorrebbe armi

tutto

l

r?stente

el

quadro,

e non

il

.

Girolamo

solo,

a

caroprezzo';

G. Hamilton

to

G.M.

Sasso,

24th

January

1789;

Venice,

Biblioteca del Seminario

Patriarcale,

inv.i

144.14.

9

On Concolo's

dealings

with

Yusupov

and the

Cleopatra

canvases,

see

S. Loire and

J.

de Los Llanos:

exh.

cat.

Giambattista

Tiepolo

1696-1770,

Paris

(Mus?e

du Petit

Palais)

1998,

pp.

180-83;

and K. Christiansen:

'Tiepolo,

Theater and theNotion ofTheatri

cality',

The Art Bulletin 81

(1999),

p.691,

note

26.

10

See R. Vodret:

'Primi

studi sulla collezione di

dipinti

Torlonia',

Storia dell'Arte

82

(1994),

p.376.

11

For references

to

Concolo in letters of

1788, 1789

and

1796,

see

K.-H.

Hahn,

I. Schmid

et

al,

eds.:

Briefe

an

Goethe.

Gesamtausgabe

in

Regestform,

Weimar

1980?2004, I, nos.264,

306

and

337; II,

no.

136;

and A. Kauffinann: 'Mir

tr?umte

vor

ein

paar

N?chten,

ich hatte

Briefe

von

Ihnen

empfangen':

Gesammelte

Briefe

in den

Originalsprachen,

ed.W.

Maierhofer,

Lengwil

2001,

pp.127?28,

no.75.

12

'Siehe

non

siamo restati

d'accordo

[in

negotiations

over

the

Lendinara

fragments],

costui

dunque

per

obligarmi

di andar?

apresso

a

lui,

cerchera

forse

ehe

non

abbia

per

lemani

di

nessun

altro

un

quadro

di

Paulo,

e sa

che

mi

sono

cogniti uelli

di

Soranzo

ma non sa

che

le vado

cercando,

erche

non

gli confido

mai

niente,

e so

il

carattere';

G. Hamilton

to

G.M.

Sasso,

24th

January

1789; Venice,

Biblioteca

Seminario

Patriarcale, 1144.14.

13

'Cos?fu

venduto

a

quarti

come

sifa

della

carne

da

macello';

quoted

by

Callegari,

op.

cit.

(note 6),

p.

102.

484

JULY

2OO7

-

CXLIX THE

BURLINGTON

MAGAZINE

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'COME

LA

CARNE

AL

MACELLO':

BUTCHERING

A

VERONESE

originally expressed

an

interest and which is

now

in

the Dulwich

Picture

Gallery

(Fig.33).

How it

got

there rom

Rome is

a

matter

of

conjecture

but

it

is

probable

thatHamilton sold

it

to

the French

picture

dealer

Noel

Desenfans,

whose considerable collection

was

to

form

the

core

of theDulwich

gallery.14 lready

in

1785-86

Hamil

ton

was

supplying

him with

pictures

from

Italy.

In

the

catalogues

of

the

1786

sales

at

which

Desenfans

sold

part

of his

stock,

three

paint

ings

are

described

as

having

come

from the Palazzo Barberini

in

Rome and

having

been

imported

to

London

by

Mr

Hamilton.15

It

would

seem

that the

two

men

had

regular, occasionally

tense,

business

dealings.

In

September

1788

Hamilton

wrote to

Desenfans:

I

have

many

pictures

that

are

worthy

being proposed

to

you

but

I

have been

so

unlucky

of late in what

I

have

already

sent,

that

I

am come

to

a

resolution of

sending

no

more,

as

one

not

onely

risques

ones

money

but likewise

ones

reputation,

but

believe

me

my

dear Sir that

you

will

never

be

out

of

pocket

by

any

picture

that

I

send

you.

[.

.

.]

I

hope

soon

to

be

in

England

&

onely

wait

to

hear

of

a

good

house

to

go

to

on

my

arrival,

I

shall

bring

with

me some

fine

pictures,

&

people

will

see

&

judge

for themselves before

they lay

out

their

money.16

It is

likely

that

among

the fine

pictures

that

he

brought

with

him

to

England

some

months

later,

in

the last week of

June

1789,

was

the

Veronese thathe had

just

acquired,17

which

presumably

was

bought

by

Desenfans

and

eventually passed

to

Dulwich.18

As for the other

fragments

of the

altarpiece,

Colonel

Campbell,

as we

learn from

Sasso,

acquired

the 'dead Christ' which is

now

in

Ottawa;19

the

original purchaser

of the

Edinburgh fragment,

with

St

Antony

Abbot and

a

donor

(Fig.32),

remains

unknown.20

14

On

Desenfans,

see

exh.

cat.

Collection

for

a

King.

Old

Master

Paintingsfrom

the

Dulwich

Picture

Gallery,

London

(Dulwich

Picture

Gallery), Washington

(National

Gallery

of

Art)

and Los

Angeles

(County

Museum of

Art)

1985?86.

15

See

the

catalogues

of

the

sales held

at

Christie's, London,

on

8th

April

and 8th

June

1786.

The

pictures

were

Parmigianino's Holy Family

visited

by angels

(8th

April

1786, lot 161; and

again

8th

June

1786, lot

127);

a Guercino St

Jerome

(8th

June

1786,

lot

235);

and

Salvator Rosa's St

John

in thewilderness

(8th

June

1786,

lot

178).

I

am

grateful

to

Paul Matthews for

bringing

these

catalogues

to

my

attention.

16

Letter

from G.

Hamilton

to

N.

Desenfans,

20th

September

1788;

Dulwich

College

archives,

London.

17

Hamilton

wrote to

Sasso from Florence

on

9th

May

1789

to

tell

him

of his travel

plans.

He

was

going

to

leave

Florence the

next

day

and head forVenice via

Bologna,

Modena,

Ferrara and Padua

and

was

travelling

in the

company

of

a

Mr

Stuart.

He

then

wrote

again

from London

on

7th

July

1789

saying

he had been

in

his

patria

for

fifteen

days.

He

must,

therefore,

have landed

in

England

on or

around

23rd

June.

Both letters

are

in

Venice,

Biblioteca del Seminario

Patriarcale,

inv.i

144.14.

18

Desenfans, however,

may

have tried

to

sell his Veronese

in

1795.

In the

catalogue

of theDesenfans sale held

by

Skinner

&

Dyke

inLondon

on

28th

February

ofthat

year

lot 108 is described asA Cardinal

Blessing

the ounder

of

Lorretto,which is

generally

thought

to

be

a

reference

to

the Dulwich

Jerome;

see

H.

Brigstocke:

Italian and

Spanish

Paintings

in

the

ational

Gallery of

cotland,

2nd

ed.,

Edinburgh

1993,

pp.198?99.

19

For

the

original buyer

of the

Ottawa

picture,

see

Callegari,

op.

cit.

(note 6),

p.

102;

and

for

the

painting

in

general,

see

M.

Laskin

Jr

and

M.

Pantazzi,

eds.:

Catalogue of

the

ational

Gallery of

Canada,

Ottawa.

European

and American

Painting,

Sculpture

and

Decorative

Arts,

vol.

I,

1300-1800,

Ottawa

1987,

pp.293-95, ng-47

20

The

history

of the

Edinburgh

fragment

is

known

only

from

1815;

see

Brigstocke,

op.

cit.

(note 18);

and

Humfrey,

op.

cit.

(note 1).

The

early history

of Benedetto

Gennari's 'Death of

Cleopatra'

at

the

Victoria

Art

Gallery,

Bath

by

SUSAN

STEER,

University

of

Glasgow

the splendid

Death

of Cleopatra (Fig.34)

in

the

Victoria Art

Gallery,

Bath,

has

always

been considered

one

of the collection's

most

attractive

paintings, although

its

authorship

had

long

remained

unresolved. The National

Inventory

Research

Project

(NIRP)

has

made it

possible

to

research the work for the first

time,

and its

remarkable

history

can

now

be revealed

as an

autograph

painting

by

the

Bolognese

artistBenedetto Gennari

(1633?1715),

a favourite

painter

at

the

courts

of both Charles

II

and

James

II.

34-

Death

of

leopatra,

by

Benedetto Gennari.

1686.

Canvas,

129.5

by

101.2

cm.

(Victoria

Art

Gallery,

Bath).

My

initial

investigation

of theDeath

of

leopatra

at

theVictoria

Art

Gallery,

Bath,

was

undertaken

as

part

of

my

research

on

behalf of theNational

Inventory

Research Pro

ject

(NIRP),

which is

supported by

the

National

Gallery,

the

University

of

Glasgow,

and Birkbeck

College,

University

of

London,

and is

funded

by

the

AHRC,

the

Getty

Grant

Program

and the Kress Foundation.

I

would like

to

thank Susan Foister

of the

National

Gallery,

London,

and Andrew

Greg, Project

Director

of

the

NIRP,

for

sup

porting

my

research;

Angus

Trumble of theYale Center for British

Art

for

his

astute

comparisons

of theBath and Yale

paintings; Mary Rogers

for her advice and

support;

and Anna Maria Scardovi of the Biblioteca Comunale

dell'Archginnasio, Bologna,

for

advice and for

providing

facsimile

copies

of the relevant sections of Gennari's

manu

scripts.

My

particular

thanks

to

Ruth

Moppett,

Katharine

Wall and all

my

colleagues

at

theVictoria Art

Gallery

for their enthusiastic

support

of

the

research

project.

THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE CXLIX

JULY 2007

485

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