The Adoration of the Magi
William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent, Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, New York, October 18, 2001-January 6, 2002; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, February 6-April 14, 2002, no. 131.
Possibly Olimpia Aldobrandini (1567-1637), Rome, by 1626 [1];
William Beckford (1760-1844), Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire and Lansdown Crescent, Bath, as by Marcello Venusti, by October 15, 1822-1844 [2];
By descent to his daughter, Susan Euphemia Hamilton (née Beckford, 1786-1859), and her husband, Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852), Portman Square, London, as by Marcello Venusti, 1844-1859 [3];
By descent to their son, William Alexander Anthony Archibald Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton (1811-1863), Hamilton House, London, as by Marcello Venusti, 1859-1863;
By descent to his son, William Alexander Louis Stephen Douglas-Hamilton, 12th Duke of Hamilton (1845-1895), Hamilton House, London and Hamilton Palace, Scotland, as by Marcello Venusti, 1863-June 24, 1882 [4];
Purchased at his sale, The Hamilton Palace Collection, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, June 24, 1882, lot 403, as by Marcello Venusti, by The Honorable William Frederick Barton Massey-Mainwaring (1845-1907), London, 1882;
Christopher Beckett Denison (1825-1884), London, by 1884 [5];
Purchased at his posthumous sale, Ancient Pictures of the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch and French Schools, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, June 5, 1886, lot 81, as by Marcello Venusti, by Thomas Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London, Picture Stock Book 5, no. 4097, 1886 [6];
Purchased from Thomas Agnew and Sons by Sir M. Stewart, Bt., June 5, 1886 [7];
Private collection, United Kingdom, by 1983;
Purchased at Old Master Pictures, Christie’s, London, April 24, 1998, lot 127, by Hall and Knight Ltd., New York, 1998-2004 [8];
Purchased from Hall and Knight by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2004.
NOTES:
[1] According to the sale catalogue for The Hamilton Palace Collection, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, June 24, 1882, this painting was once part of the Aldobrandini collection in Rome. This may be the picture recorded in the 1626 inventory of Olimpia Aldobrandini’s collection as “un quadro con la natività di N.S., copiato da Girolamo da Carpi.” See P. della Pergola, “Gli inventari Aldobrandini,” Arte antica e moderna 19 (1962): 428.
[2] This painting was published in the catalogue for Beckford’s sale, Magnificent Effects at Fonthill Abbey, Wilts., Christie’s, Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, October 15, 1822, lot 94, as by Marcello Venusti, but the sale was never held. According to Godfrey Evans, Principal Curator of European Decorative Arts, National Museums Scotland, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, November 14, 2015, NAMA curatorial files, the painting is recorded as in the Dining Room of Lansdown Crescent in the 1844 post-mortem inventory of William Beckford’s properties in Bath (Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Beckford c. 58, p. 11).
[3] According to Godfrey Evans, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, November 14, 2015, NAMA curatorial files, the painting is recorded in the list of “Furniture, Pictures, China, &c &c at Portman Square from Bath Feby 1850,” Lennoxlove House, East Lothian, Scotland, Hamilton Archive, M12/51/1, p. 8.
[4] According to Godfrey Evans, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, November 14, 2015, NAMA curatorial files, the painting is recorded as in the Yellow Drawing Room at Hamilton House in 1864 (Lennoxlove, Hamilton Archive, M4/79, 1864 Hamilton House Inventory, p. 100). The painting may have left Hamilton House in 1870, when the Hamiltons gave up Hamilton House and sent a large number of items to Hamilton Palace. It is recorded as in the Boudoir at Hamilton Palace in 1876 (Hamilton, Hamilton Town House Library, 1876 Hamilton Palace Inventory, p. 28).
[5] According to Godfrey Evans, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, October 21, 2015, NAMA curatorial files, Massey-Mainwaring passed on 35 of his own 63 purchases at the June 24, 1882 Hamilton Palace sale to Beckett Denison, possibly as a friend bidding on Denison’s behalf. This painting was probably one of them. According to Jeff Pilkington, Christie’s Archives, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, March 11, 2015, NAMA curatorial files, this painting was offered for sale at Denison’s posthumous sale, The Valuable Collection of Pictures, Works of Art, and Decorative Objects, of Christopher Beckett Denison, Esq., Christie, Manson and Woods, London, June 6, 1885, lot 912, as by Marcello Venusti, but failed to sell.
[6] According to Jeff Pilkington, Christie’s Archives, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, March 11, 2015, NAMA curatorial files.
[7] National Gallery London, Thomas Agnew and Sons Archive, NGA27/1/1/7, Picture Stock Book 5, 1881-1891, p. 92-93.
[8] According to Nicholas Hall, Christie’s, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, February 13, 2015, NAMA curatorial files.
Magnificent Effects at Fonthill Abbey, Wilts (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, October 1, 1822), 67, as by Marcello Venusti.
The Hamilton Palace Collection: Illustrated priced catalogue (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, June 24, 1882), 57, as by Marcello Venusti.
Catalogue of the valuable collection of pictures, works of art, and decorative objects of Christopher Beckett Denison, esq. (London: Christie, Manson and Wood, June 6, 1885), 96, as by Marcello Venusti.
Catalogue of the valuable collection of ancient pictures of the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, and French Schools of Thomas Kibble, esq; Also forty pictures by Old Masters from the late Marquis of Breadalbane; Also ancient and modern pictures from the collections of the late Henry Goding, esq., the late Christopher Beckett Denison, Esq., the late Joseph Sandars, esq., the late Mrs. Deborah Cooper (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, June 5, 1886), 14, as by Marcello Venusti.
William Roberts, Memorials of Christie’s: A record of art sales from 1766-1896, vol. 2 (London: George Bells and Sons, 1897), 17, 82, as by Marcello Venusti.
Paola della Pergola, “Gli Inventari Aldobrandini,” Arte antica e moderna, no. 12 (January-March 1960): 428n5.
Francis Russell, “A late work by Girolamo da Carpi,” The Burlington Magazine 125, no. 963 (June 1983): 359, (repro.).
Catalogue of Old Master Pictures: The Properties of the Dr. E. Hunna Foundation, The Federations of the Jewish Communities of Austria, To be sold for the benefit of victims of the Holocaust; The Hon. Robert Mosley, Sold for the benefit of the Pierpont Morgan Library, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington; The University Trustees of the William Rockhill Nelson Trust, Kansas City, Missouri, and from various sources (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, April 24, 1998), 122-23, (repro.).
Nicholas H. J. Hall et al., Hall and Knight, Ltd. (London: Hall and Knight, 2001), 82-85, (repro.).
Derek E. Ostergard, ed., William Beckford, 1760-1844: An Eye for the Magnificent, exh. cat. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001), 393, (repro.).
Carole Vogel, “Inside Art: A Prize is Snagged,” The New York Times (April 2, 2004).
D. Goldstein, “100 Top Treasures,” Art and Antiques 27, no.10 (Fall 2004): 68, (repro.).
“Renaissance Work Strengthens Collection,” Member Magazine (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (Spring 2005): 16, (repro.).
