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| Artist | Attributed to Bastiani, Lazzaro (Italian painter, born before 1430, died 1512) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to Bellini, Giovanni (Italian painter, born 1431-1436, died 1516) |
| Title | Madonna and Child |
| Date earliest | probably 1480 |
| Date latest | probably 1510 |
| Material | oil on panel |
| Measurements | 71.2 x 53.4 cm |
| Description | Once thought to be by Giovanni Bellini, this painting is now believed to be probably by Lazzaro Bastiani. Bastiani began painting in Venice around 1450, working on altarpieces, devotional works and portraits. He first painted in a manner similar to Andrea del Castagno before moving towards the style of Gentile Bellini, Giovanni’s brother. The use of a hierarchical frontal pose in this piece suggests that the artist was trying to combine old forms with the new attention to details like landscape. The clothed Christ may indicate that the piece was painted for a nunnery. |
| Subject | religion (Virgin Mary, Christ Child); landscape (Italy) |
| Collection | Harewood House, Leeds |
| Current accession number | HHTP:2001.1.4 |
| Previous accession number(s) | 6 (Borenius) |
| Acquisition details | Acquired from Arthur Ruck, 1919 |
| Provenance | Collection of a family from Legnano, Verona; collection of Messrs Grandi of Milan by 1915 |
| Principal publications | Venturi, A., Storia dell'arte italiana, Milan, 1915, vii, p. 262, ill. plate IV; Gronau, G., Giovanni Bellini, Berlin, 1930, cat. no. 39, p. 202, ill. pl. 112; Borenius, T., Catalogue of the Pictures and Drawings at Harewood House, Oxford, 1936, cat. no. 6, p. 5, ill. plate IV, as Madonna and Child by Giovanni Bellini; Heinemann, F., Giovanni Bellini e I Belliniani, 3 vols, Venice, 1962-1991, I, no. 13, pp. 3-4, ii, ill. fig. 29; Pignatti, T.,L'opera Completa di Giovanni Bellini, Milan, 1969, cat. no. 8, ill. |
| Notes |
See Harewood document HHTD.2003.1.7c, receipt from Arthur Ruck, Agent for the Private Sale of Important Works of Art, 4 Berkeley Street, Piccadilly, London, dated 17th February 1919 'To: §Virgin and Child' on Panel by Giovanni Bellini§, includes provenance information. Purchased by Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, for £7000.' See also HHTD.2003.1.43: letter of 14/8/1931 with details of enquiry to see Bellinis in Harewood collection at Chesterfield House, London. Attributed to Lazzaro Bastiani (probably) by Jill Dunkerton, National Gallery, London, 2005 on the basis of a very striking resemblance with a work in the National Gallery, NG 1953, dated to the 1480s: Harewood House correspondence, 2005. |
| Rights status | By kind permission of the Earl and Countess of Harewood and the Trustees of Harewood House Trust |
| Author | Dr Phillippa Plock |
