Atalanta and Meleager with the Calydonian Boar

Roberto Strozzi (d. 1566), Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi, Rome, as Mars and Venus, by 1563 [1];

Bandini family, Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi, Rome, 1563-at least September 16, 1613 [2];

Valdina Cremona family, Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi, Rome;

Niccolini family, Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi, Rome, by 1819;

Professor Vincenzo Amici, Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi, Rome, by 1841;

Purchased from the owners of the Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi by an unknown dealer, Rome, after 1881-about 1890 [3];

Purchased from the unknown dealer by Edward Perry Warren (1860-1928), Rome and Lewes House, Lewes, Sussex, England, as Mars and Venus, possibly 1895 [4];

Acquired from Warren, by exchange, by Harold Woodbury Parsons (1882-1967), New York, as Mars and Venus, by May 24, 1914-January 20, 1928 [5];

Purchased from Parsons by Brummer Galleries, New York, stock no. N2253, as Mars and Venus, January 20, 1928-by 1934 [6];

Purchased from Brummer, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1934.

NOTES:

[1] According to Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, vol. 2 (Florence: Giunti, 1568), 344, this sculpture was made for Roberto Strozzi and located in the courtyard of Strozzi’s Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi. According to Christoph Luitpold Frommel, Die römische Palastbau der Hochrenaissance (Tübingen: E. Wasmuth, 1973), 201, Strozzi sold the Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi to Pierantonio Bandini (1504-1592) in 1563, so the sculpture was most likely placed in the Palazzo prior to that date.

[2] Included in a Bandini inventory of the Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi dated September 16, 1613 as “Nel secondo Cortile le due statue di marmo con le loro braccia tutte intiere moderne sopra un'rocchio di Colonna che vi sono in piedi doi draghi che gettano l'acqua della Fontana,” published in Silvia Danesi Squarzina, La collezione Giustiniani, vol. 3, Documenti (Torini: G. Einaudi, 2003), 166.

[3] In G. C. Sansoni ed., Le vite de’più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori, scritte da Giorgio Vasari, Pittore Arentino, con nuove annotazioni e commenti di Gaetano Milanesi , vol. 6 (Florence: Carnesecchi, 1881), 309n4, Milanesi indicates the sculpture is still in situ at the Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi. For the sculpture’s sale to a dealer in Rome following the demolition of the Palazzo Gaddi-Strozzi ca. 1890, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Cloisters Library and Archives, Brummer Gallery Records, Gothic and Renaissance bronzes, dinanderie, iron, ivory and silver, object description (probably written by Harold Woodbury Parsons) accompanying inventory card number N2253.

[4] According to Harold Woodbury Parsons, in a letter to Herbert V. Jones, NAMA Trustee, May 23, 1934, NAMA Archives, William Rockhill Trust Office Files, RG80-15, Box 1, Parsons 1934. Alternatively, Parsons gives the date of Warren’s purchase as 1890 in a letter to Helen Bigelow Merriman, April 28, 1921, Worcester Art Museum Records, Harold Woodbury Parsons correspondence, and in the Brummer records, see note 3. The export of the sculpture from Italy to Warren’s home at Lewes House, Sussex, England, likely took place in 1897 or 1898, as described in a book of handwritten notes by Edward Perry Warren, Warren/Marshall archives, Von Bothmer Study Centre, Antiquities Department, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom, box 14, unpaginated (page 16). The book is inscribed “1897-to-8” and note reads “group by Francesco Moschino for 18,000 Export cassa gruppo rischio franco a Lewes.” With thanks to Eliot Rowlands for bringing this documentation to the attention of the Nelson-Atkins.

[5] According to Harold Woodbury Parsons, in letters to Frederic Allen Whiting, May 24, 1914 and March 28, 1921, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives, Records of the Director’s Office, Frederic Allen Whiting, box 22, folder 232. Parsons describes the sculpture as in the possession of his brother, Ernest M. Parsons, although it was most likely owned by Harold Woodbury Parsons at the time. With thanks to Eliot Rowlands for bringing these letters to the attention of the Nelson-Atkins.

[6] The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Cloisters Library and Archives, Brummer Gallery Records, Gothic and Renaissance bronzes, dinanderie, iron, ivory and silver, Object inventory card number N2253.