Fenway Court: 1979 by Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Fenway Court

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Pub! ished by t he Trustees of the Isabe ll a Stewart Ga rdner Museum, Incorpora ted Bos con , Massachuse tts Copyri g ht 1980 Desig ned by Sametz Blackscone Associates Type set br Monotype Composition Co. Printed by W. E . Andrews Cover: detail of Titi an's Rape of Europa. Fronrispiece: Co11cha111 Lion , Venetia n , X IV cenrur y, marbl e, in the Wes t Cloister.

Contents

3 The Rape of Europa and Related Ovidian Pictures by Titian (Part I)

Philipp P. Fehl 24 Notes on the Spanish Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Eric Young 36 What Mig ht Have Been: Pictures Mrs . Gardner Did Not Acquire Rollin van N . Hadley 54 Second Thoug hts

Gabrielle Kopelman The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , Incorporated Fifty-fifth Annual Report for the Year 1979 60 Report of the President Malcolm D. Perkins 6 r Report of the Director Rollin van N. Hadley 64 Report of the Curator Deborah Gribbon 66 Publications 68 Trustees and Staff

Fig ure 1 Titian , The Rape of Europa, oil , 178 x 205 cm . Inv. N o. P 26e l , Titian Room , Isabell a Stewart Gardner Museum .

The Rape of Europa and Related Ovidian Pictures by Titian

The second pare of this arci cle will appear in the next issue of Fenway Court .

Ne d'aftro si pregio Vulcan mai tanto, ne 'I verso stesso ha piu def ver che questo; e quanto l'arte intra se non comprende, la mente imaginando chiaro intende. 1

"Vulcan never esteemed any other of his works so high ly, truth irselfhas nor more truth than this; whatever rhe arc in i rself does nor contain , the mind imagining, clearly understands ." From Angelo Poliziano's description of the pictures ca rved on rhe gares of the palace of Venus , in Stanze Cominciate

per la Giostra de! Magnifico Giuliano de' Medici , (I , 119), translation by David Quint. For the full text and cranslarion see his The "Stanze" of Angelo Poliziano, Amherst, 1979, pp. 60-61. 2

For the complete story see Ovid , Metamorphoses 11 .83575; 111.1-2 ; transl. Sandys , pp . 102-03, 127.

There are few stories celebrati ng the power of Love over gods and men which can equal the srory of The Rape of Europa in the significance of its abs urdity, its mirth joined ro majesty, pity, and fear, and above all , its happy ending. It is Ovid who gives us its richest and most affecting poetical account . H e tel ls his srory so vividly in meter that, as we read it , we not only hear but see it unfo lding before us. Our eyes as well as our ears are enchanted by Ovid 's honeyed words. They tease , as becomes the depiction of the foolishness that love inspi res butresponsive ro ~he god-they also take our breath away and lead us, throug h tears and laughter, in compassion, ro the sorrows and the ultimate glory of love. No matter how often we may read O vid 's verses , his art keeps us in delig htful suspense . Ever anew, with a willing heart , we cease tO be readers and become participating witnesses who stand, as it were , on another shore of the Phoenician coast and look in on the scene the poet paints and sings. Europa, the daug hter of Agenor, king of the Phoenicians , has gone to the sea side with her maidens . It is but the work of a moment that Jupiter sees the princess from on high and falls in love with her. He orders Mercury tO drive a herd of cattle to the strand:

Love and high Majestie agree not well; Nor will together in one bosom dwell. That Powre, from whom, what-ere hath being, springs; That King of Gods , who three-fork't lightening flings; Whose nod the World's unfixt foundation shakes The figure ofa sensual! Bull nrJW takes. And lowing , walkes upon the tender grasse Amongst the Heard; though he in Forme surpasse 2 The princess and the maidens are attracted ro the bull who is as beautiful as he is docile . Europa feeds him flowers; the bull kneels down ro her and she wi nds garlands about his horns . And then

The royal! Maid, who now no courage lackt, Ascends the Bull, not knowing whom she backt . He, to the Sea approaching, by degrees First dips therein his hoofes, and his knees; Then rushing forward, beares away the prize. Shee shreeks, and to the shore reverts her eyes: One hand his horne, the other held behind, Her lighter garments swelling with the.wind.

Bur n e the rea h the h re f re re-rha r roo 1 the wo rk of a m m e nr . fo r 1d' a cou nt udde nl beco m e ab rupt- the g d rhr w 路 ff h1 d 1 g u1 e a nd io1n u r pa 1n I e~ Thu , a 1rruall pr erb1al lo re rea he . ca m e a o nt1 nent r bea r the na m e f the maide n a nd rhu tr I g p r p e . w rea red rhe (, rm f t he bu ll ( 1a11m s) as a 1g n 1n rhe k 4 And ur pa' and J up1rer路 n i\l1 no be ame the g reat a nd w1 e rul e r of rere, rhe (, un cl ing fa ther f ur pea n 5 t\ tl1 za t1 n

igg ly fo rm and rhe amp le fullness of her beaut y rha r perhaps m akes us underta nd be tter the sudden passio n of the god o r e e n rhe particu lar choice of his d1 g u1 e. 1d n r on! y rel I u rhe rory of Europa but recapttu Ia re i r fo r u o nce m ore when he tell the ro ry of Arachne who chall enged 1inerva ro a contes t of weaving. e ee the rwo conres rants a t their wo rk . ach 1 making a hi ro ria red tape rr . o fin ely wroug ht , o deli ca tely haded. o ne would mis take rhe p ictures fo r n rure. A~

chne weaves Eu ropa's rape by J ove: The 8111/ appears to live, the sea to move. Back to th shore she cam a heavy eye. To her d1s1raaed damsels seems 10 cry,路 A nd jl'Ofn the spr111k/111g waves, that skip to meet 1th such a burden , shrinks her trembling f eel . 6

n r ee a p1 rure b ut d e el me nt of the r ry rhar 1 e e r poi ed a r rhe m om ent f pas 1ng,a h1g hp inttha r 1t elf p 1nr to ard ha r h happened JU r before a nd what will happ n nexr. e hea r, we ee. we feel. End le ne 1 before u , her m aid en - s nea r ju t a m om ent ago-- hour ro Europa ro o m e ba k ( ft ure 2). The upid in the air com fo rt rhe prince wh ee rhem , and rhe bull , rog ui sh a nd yet m aJe t1 , look at u with an eye rha r bet ray t he a m o rou g d (fi g ure ). A g rea t ru h ru n throug h rhe cene. uropa (who mu r have been riding "s id e add le") now ve ry nea rly fa lls off rhe bac k of the bu ll as he energeri ca ll y move fo rwa rd . Precari ously poi sed , she a maze u wit h her

Thi pi c tu re- t he triumph of rhe ea e r' a rr a rep re ented by rhe p oer1 the immediate ource of Titi a n 路 ~ painting. bur , of cou r e, hi purpose is no r ro dlu rrate O vid ' ro ry bur ra ther ro bring it ro life . o r fo r a m oment does Titian p retend rha r h i pa inting is a tapestr y rha r lo k like a pi cture tha t looks like nature. In read hi s picture is the sror y, t he whole ro ry, concentrated inro one Aee ring g ra nd scene. H e paints rrurh ir elf and , g uided by O vid , dipped hi s bru he (ro repea t a Re naissance compli me nt) no r in pai nt bur in the colors of na tu re.

5 Ovid , Met . v11.456-83; Vlll.I 7-43 , 95- 125; IX-4 34 46. For other classical sources as well as fo r the medi eva l trad iti on of the sro ry and its pictorial representation see H ei nz R. Hanke, Die Entfuhrung der

Europa: Eine Ikonographische Untersuch11ng, Di ss., Cologne, 1963. ee also Carl a G reenhaus Lord , Some

Ovidian Themes in Italian Rena1ssanceArt, Diss., Columbia University, 1969, pp . 17-19, 137-40, 15152 , and passim.

In the late fifties of the sixteenth century, when Titian was working on The Rape of Europa, Ovid was available in Italian in several translations .. The oldest , the Ovidio metamorphoseos vulgare of 1497, is based on a medieval paraphrase of the Metamorphoses. It is not concerned with the poetry of Ovid but ratl:ier with his tales and the exploration of their didactic usefulness through a variety of sometimes perhaps necessarily quite strained, allegorical and quasi-historical interpretations. The stories are re-told in a simple prose that would suit a popular audience but the paraphrase still is , after a fashion, true to Ovid. From time to time his words are translated rather faithfully and the poetic charm of his work still can be perceived , as if through a fog , perhaps . This work was richly illustrated with fairly artless woodcuts which represent the stories tellingly

Figure 2 Titian , The Rape of Europa, detai I of figu re 1.

3 Ovid , Met . 111.1 -2: "Iamque deus pos i ta fallacis imag ine tauri/ se confessus era t Di ctaeque rura tenebat." The lines permit a, perhaps st rained , translation whi ch suggests that Jupiter made himself known to the maiden while sti ll on the open sea. See Ovid: Metamorphoses, transl. Ro lfe Humphri es, Bloomingron , Ind ., 1955 , p . 57路

4 Ovid , Fasti v .603- 18. Fora translation of the Fasti avai lab le tO Titian see Vincenzo Cartari , I Fas ti di Ovidio

tratto a/la lingua volgare, Venice, 15 5i. Note also Cartari's co mmentary on hi s own work , // Flaviointornoa ifasti volgari, Veni ce, 1553. For his bri ef remarks on Europa and the orig in of the sign of taurus see pp. >,22-2>,.

Ovid , Met. v1.1 03- 107, transl. andys , p . 268. The choice of th e subjects of the pictures is as important in the outcome of th e co ntes t as the sk i II of the weavers . The goddess places a picture in the center of her tapestry which shows a contes t between two gods that greatly benefitted mankind Ir is th e contes t between herself and eptune in which she produced the olive tree and won . The twelve Olympian gods are shown , Jupiter presiding among them , "the image of royalty. " In the fou r corne rs of the tapestry Minerva weaves stories of human beings who were punished by the gods because of their impudence rowards them. The first pictu re which Arachne weaves is a prime example of her own impudence because it shows Jupiter ridiculous ly transformed into a bull for the love of a mortal . H er other pictures follow su it but her strongest point is made with TheRapeo/Europa .

rather in the manner of modern comic strips . The book not only was immediately popular (it continued to be reedited throughout all the first half of the sixteenth century) but also helped to establish, through its illustrations , a basic repertoire of mythological painting for Venetian art. A new version of this translation, in rhymed verse, by Nicolo di Augustini, was first published in 1522 and repeatedly re-edited . It is true that the work now presents the Metamorphoses in the form of a poem, but it does not get us any closer to Ovid than did the paraphrase from which it descends. The first Italian trans lation of the complete Metamorphoses into an Italian which truly reflects the life and the spirit of Ovid's Latin appeared in 1553路 It is the work of Lodovico Dolce, a literary figure of some distinction and a ready Latinist - and also a close friend of Titian and Pietro Aretino? Dolce deliberately eschewed an exact translation; his Trasformationi is a free version of the Metamorphoses in ottava rime that tries to transmit the spirit of the origi nal in the form of a copia, that is, a free development of the original in the terms of the potential of the new language and the range of the imagination of the modern reader. Thus the freedom of the original , the audacious ease with which Ovid rules his 1yre is preserved, or better, recreated in the new idiom rather than precisely exhibited in a strict (and therefore false) accuracy.

Fig ure 3 Tirian , The Rape of Europa, derail of fi g ure 1.

In 1561 this feat of poetical daring , which is also an act of devotion to Ovid , was repeated in an even more elaborate (though, perhaps, less spirited translation of the Metamorphoses) by Giovanni Andrea dell'Anguillara, Le Meta.morfosi di Ovidiri. 8 Both of these new translations in the form of copie were immediately successful and continued in popularity well into the eighteenth century. An exact translation of the Metamorphoses , with the Latin text on one side and the Italian on the other, was published in 1569 by Fabio Marretti, but it was by no means so successful as the copie by Dolce and d'Anguillara. The straight translation shows Ovid and his gods as members of another, a Latin, world . In the copie, on the other hand, we are at home . Dolce, in particular, engages in a g reat and spirited roaming in which he establishes, wherever it is appropriate , links between our world and Ovid 's.

The Trasf ormationi are d edica red ro rhe emperor Charles V. When O vid , in rhe Metamorphoses speaks of Aug usrus, Dolce ex rends rhe range of Ovid 's p raise and addresses Charl es , rhe Chri sri an emperor who, "in our cenrury even ourshines Aug usrus in his g lory." And when O vid speaks of rhe crea rio n of rhe earth Dolce shows , in a woodcu r , rhe pi crure of rhe world as we know ir now, including rhe Americas (i nsc ribed "Nueva Hispania"). Ar rhe very end of rhe book , as Ovid invokes Aug ustus again , ro praise rhe age of peace he has es rab lished (we may see rhis as rhe ul t imare rransfo rmari on , rhe crearion of rhe kosmos of a well ordered empire our of rhe chaos of rhe civil wars), Dolce happil y returns ro Cha rles and also addresses his complimenr ro Prince Philip who will co nti nue to main ra in rhe feli city and peace Charl es has broug hr ro rhis modern world . H e even manages, wirh a lovely p iece of double entendre rhar is quite Ovid ian , to in rroduce , ar rhe ver y end of rhe poem , rhe phoe nix who ever returns fro m dear h and thus to salute his publi sher, Gabriel Gioliro , whose printer's mark is the phoeni x, wirh rhe device "sem per eadem ." There are many other such allusions and links (on several levels of reference) rhat help to make the work li vely and challeng ing in irs t ransgression of the bound aries of rime. Characteris rically Dolce rakes littl e inrerest in the explicat ion of allegories, the main srock in rrade of rhe Ovidio metamorphoseos vulgare ro show the timeless usefulness of rhe Metamorphoses . At first he does not ad mir rhem inro his work at all. Onl y with the ed ition of 1561 (perhaps at the urg ing of the publisher) do they come in , a few lines at rhe

Lt Trdrfom1dZ10111 dt M . WrnJtro Dolce di!' mv1/1JJ1mo e xlortOJIJJ. I mperdlore drlo V. Veni ce, 1553 Theded 1carory Jercer is .iddressed ro Anro1ne Perrenor de ran vel le, "" Ve covod1 Arra e pnmo del on 1glio d1 es.ire,'" but Jt is pnmanly devoted ro rhe praise of ( h.irk v Thi s Jercer 1 followed by a·· nerro d1 I Pierro Arenno .i 'Sare ·· Ar rhe end of the book is a poem by Dolce in pr.use of Charle The work(\\ 1thour rh<: Jdded poemi.) ".is rt-published man)' nme A rev1 ed po rhumous edmon "as publ1 hed by France co ~Jnsovino Crhe son of J.icopo an ovinol "1rh .i rouch1ng memorial of Doke in 1568 Ir nil contains Do i e' d<:d 1 at1on ro Perre not de ranvcllc Dolce" p.ir .iph rase is 1n 011ai<1 runa and d1v1ded 1nro thirty (dnlOJ An earlier <:ffort ofh1 at cranslat1ng rhe Mt1amorphow is resmcced co 1d ' fir r book (in nm mo///),

II pmno /Jbro de/le Tra1fon11auo111 do M . Wrn 1ro Dolce 111 r'olxare 1rado110. Venice , 15w l e 1sded1 ared co Gu1dobaldoJJ della Rovere , duke of rbino . l e 1 w rth no t1 ng that 1n che pre 1ous year u1doba ldo had obrained the VenuJ of Urbmo fromT1rianand , 1n 1536, La Bella. On rhe fri ends h ip which un i red T man , Arenno, a nd J acopo a nsovino and Dolce's p lace 1n ic ee Roskdl, Dolce$ "'Are/1110.·· pp. 32-36. See also Ltuere Jllll'ar/e d1 Pielro Are/mo, ed. Fidenz10 Perri le a nd Ec ro re Cameras a , 3, part 2, Mi la n , 1959, p . 600 (index) . Dolce"s tra nsla t ion of Ca tullus' epi rhala miu m (Carmma LX IV). coge che r w ith a cra nsla ri o n of Juvena l"s s1xrh satire a nd a dialog ue of h is own on ma rri age , is ded ica ted co Tirian.

The ep1th.ilam1um is a pnnC!pal ource for Tman "s BarchuJ and A r1adne , and Dolce's pa raphrase, 1n curn , offers a copld chat has conul ced the paint1ng For derails and che relevant pasages 1n rhe paraphrase see che appendix co · rlo inzberg' ""Tiz1ano e Ov1d10 ,'" pp . 23, 24

8 Published 1n Venice , 1561 , "1th a ded1cac 1on co harles IX of Fran e Thi was p receded by che pub I1cat1on of Anguilla ra"s rranslanon of che firsc chree books of che

Mttamorphow. De le Me1amorfou d'011d10 , l1br1 111. Pan , 1554 (w1ch an elaborate ded1c.mon co Henn II) l e would eem rhat D lce"s and Anguillara' poetical ompecic1on 1 reAecred also 1n che1r appeals for rhe favor of the rwo m1ghc1e c contending ourts in urope, Dolce add re ing h i m elf co pain and Anguillara co France A copy of Dolce's Tra1forma110111 is reported co have been in the libra r y of Philip 11 e Werhey, Patn1Jng1 ofTi11an, 3, p. 71, n _ 348 On Anguillara and h is French connections ee rhe a m cle by G De ro in

D1Z1onar10 81ografa"o tkgli /ta/Jam . 3, pp 306-309 The m le page of the copy of the edrnon of 1561 wh1Ch 1s availab le to me incongruously cdl repeats the dedicat1 on of che book ro H enn 11.

Anguillara equa ll y a t first refrained from adding allegorie ro his rranslation . In the edi n on of 1563, however, are annotationi by ano ther hand , G. H orologg i; later yet are added argoment1 by F. Tuschi ( 157 _0). These may well be sig ns of a publisher's war, each offeri ng more "frills " as the competiti on increases . 10

A typical enrry of the sorr is a t the end ofCa nro JV (ed. 1561 , p. 52) whi ch conrains the stori es of Phaeton , Jupiter and Cali sro, Diana and Ca lisro (abou t which more below) , and Apoll o, roni s, and the Raven: A!le-

goria: Per ii Corvo, chi per e.rser me.rsaggiero di ca ffive nouelle ad Apollo, onde ju cagione, che egli la J11a cara amica occidesJe, /11 d1 bianco traJ/omzato in nero, JI dimoJtra , di quanta danno Jia le piu 110/te una maluagia lingua: dellaquale none COJa peggiore; e che el/a non Jo/amente ad altr111, ma a nco a Je mediJJma nuoce. Delle afire fauole contenute di Jopra JI p110 dire, che Jeruino piu al di/mo, che al/a morali1a. II

ee Guthmuller, "Di e l 1terarische Uberserzung ," pp. 233ff.

end of each canto, entitled allegorie. 9 And then , quite often , in so many words, Dolce says that while this or that fable may have such and such a didactic applicability, or may hisrorically be explained in quite a prosaic fashion, most often the other fables in the canto have no purpose other than that we take pleasure in them! 0 This is quite a radical break with tradition , but it is in keeping, as Bodo Guthmiiller has pointed out , with the shift in concern that characterizes the Latin editions of Ovid 's text 11 What matters is the life of Ovid 's poetry and its universal sense, not the universality we may be able tO read into a story through symbolic interpretation. Among the many extensions or allusions t0 modern life which Dolce introduces into Ovid 's srories the most interesting tO us- and not rhe least among the weapons in rhe poetic arsenal ofDolce's Trasformationi-are his references to the visual arts of hi s day and in particular to the arr of Titian. In this respect, as in the daring displayed throughout his work , a certai n charming effrontery joined t0 moments of lyrical or dramatic beauty, he is unique among Ovid 's translators , and perhaps rhe closest t0 Ovid-as surely (also for the obv ious reason of their friendship) the translaror who most directly influenced Titian's app roach ro Ovid . Dolce puts down rhe ground rules for his joining of antiquity and modernity in the dedicatory epistle of the Trasformationi , nor by explaining them bur by their immediate application. He introduces a

friendly paragone, a competition between the ancients and the moderns that enriches both parries in the contest: Titian, "the painter beyond compare," is presented as the painter of the two g reat portraits of Charles V and therefore readily appears as a new Apelles , just as Charles is greeted as a new and greater Alexander the Great. But it is in Dolce's version of the story of Europa rhar we encounter Titian's name in an aside that was surely calculated tO make him smile and, perhaps , through playfulness , also advance still more his standing with the emperor. Dolce, unlike Ovid , who only describes the beauty of the bull , in fairness (and , perhaps , also tO show a good reason for Jupiter's sudden burning in love) also expatiates on the beauty of the maiden . He declares that no other beautiful girl could claim she was more beautiful than Europa ,

Never did Zeuxis or Apelles Nor Raphael or Titian paint so rare an object, Nor are there works worthy of comparison with her Among the marbles of the ancients or moderns. 12 What a challenge ro a painter! And what a way Titian found to meet it! As we read on about Europa and come tO rhe contest between Minerva and Arachne we may note also rhar Dolce , as he describes the skills shown by the contestants in the weaving of their pictures , speaks more tO the point of painting than does Ovid .

Ovid prai es the technique of rhe weavers in the blending of their colors , one shade of color blends with the next o delicately that the transition i imperceptible ro rhe eye , as in a rainbow. Dolce keeps all that , but his weavers also seem to paint with their colors and to observe the distribution of light and shade in the forming of their figures which are so skillfully vari ed that each is different in pose and aspecr~ 3 And Dolce's description of Arach ne's pi cture of Europa , thoug h quire close ro Ovid 's, is perhaps a little m ore relaxed and in its last words , m ore readily inviting a smile:

Maeonis elusam designat imagine tauri Europam: verum taurum, /reta veras putares; ipsa videbatur terras spectare relictas et comites clamare suas /actumque vereri adsilientis aquae timidasque reducere plantas. Ovid , Met . VI. 103 - 107 Disegna A ragne, come sotto aspetto Di /also Toro Europa ju ingagnata . Che uero /osso ii Toro hauresti detto, Vero if mar, e la Donna ispauentata . Pareua, ch'ella con tremante petto Guardasse ii lito, che /uggi , turbata; E chiamasse piangendo le compagne, Alzando i pie, che l'onda non gli bagne. Tras/ormazioni , Canto XII; ed.

1561 ,

132

( Arachne draws how Europa was deluded By the sight of a pretended bull. You would have said the bull was real, Real the ocean and the maiden full offear. It seemed that with a trembling bosom She looked back to the fleeing shore, full of trouble, Tearfully calling on her companions And lifting her feet to save them from the ocean's wave. ) 14 9

deprnit gia mat Zt11fl , od Apt/lo Rafael, nt Tt11an fl raro oggtllo, t degna d' agguagltart a qutJta pam11 Opra d' ant 1ch1 . o d1 moderm

ote also Dolce' pa raphrase of 1d , Met 11 870 75 and 111 1-2 which he JOâ&#x20AC;˘n cogecher in onto v Ced 1561 p. 61) The second canu 1 alcogethe r .i free development of a mere hint of v1d'

mam11

CTraJ/om1a11on1. anto ed 1561 p 6 )

Frn cht lo u1de EuropJ ram1nart

Dt porpora t ti conttJIO, t con /'rnganno 01 dtut'l'fl color grat1a It danno . Pl"l'cht /orma ndo rn ltt uartt figu re D'aJpetto ogn'1111J t d' atto dtf/trcnlt, 0JJtruan l&mbre t t lumt , con ltJIUrt 1 buont, tcOJt poJ// 11n11amentt, ht non fl ued. Jtgno. o commw11rt, Perche fao 111 Jlta l'rxch10 t la mentt. EJump10 a q11tJ10 ugual 11etkr potrtJlt, t guardatt talhor /'arco celtJtt. (TraJ/orma1to111, anto XII. ed 1561, p . 1,1 )

I 11 puaol acqua ti ror ttmJ non moJJt Pot, cht portar Jt urt:U rn alto 11liJrt,

r tennt morta t tu/la Jpa11ento11e r uolga a ttrra , t uedt ti 1110 andar; Et hJ It agl1a lagrimoJt t roJJt. na man 1tmt al corno. altra a la Jthena. onfio ti umto la gonna. t rn dutro mena r fl urlou ua prr l'A rta Augello. omt ti Toro D1urn ptr l&nda porta II caro puo. r I pn:11wo t ht/lo Thuoro. ond'tglr Jolo t ladro t JCQrta. Tanto. rh 'rn rt/a al 1uo pru raro hoittllo. Out nudrtto ju. ntl /111 l'apporta Qu1111. laJrandlJ It /ertgnt Jpoglre, Fur. chtJ'arrhtta, tullt 1ut tU!glu.

The cupids, the sunrise (or, perhaps, a sunse t , bu r sunrise seems robe the more likely rime of day fo r p rincesses of the heroic age ro st roll by the sea), the boar in the ocean , the fis h risi ng fro m the water in wonder are, of course , nor in O vid , nor are they in Dolce's parap hrase . And yet , when we look at T itian's picture and remem ber O vid we fee l that O vid saw them roo bur simp ly did nor choose ro speak of them , so readi ly do the two accounts of the Rape of Europa, Titian's pi cture and O vid 's poem merge into one in our i mag ina ri o n ~ 5 Bur the cupids in the air and the cupid on the dolphin (figure 4)-presumably Cupid himself who with sat isfact ion views the success of his p lor--a r home as they are in T itian's picture, did , in fact , invade it from a painting by Raphael, the Galatea in the Vill a Farnes ina in Rome (fi g ure 5). When Titian was in Rome, from 154 5 to 1546, Vasari once accom panied him on a visit ro this celebrated villa and the two painters undoubtedl y looked at the Galatea with keen interes t and discussed i rs meri rs. 16 The picture was nor onl y fa mous in its own rig ht (and well known throug h engrav ings) bur Titian's fri end , Pierro Arerino, probab ly also had especiall y recommend ed it to him when he went ro see the wonders of Rom e ~ 7 The story of Galatea is in Ovid 's Metamorphoses (xm. 738-897) . The g iant Polyphemus loves the sea nymph Galatea bur she loves nor him bur another, the beautiful and , alas mortal youth Acis upon whom Polyphemus rakes a terrible revenge. Raphael , however, did nor rake

the srory from Ovid d irectl y bur , as Dolce tells us in hi s Dialogue on Painting entitled "Aretino," Raphael's source was a stanza from Poli ziano's La Giostra (I.II8). T he passage in Dolce's book is d irectl y ro ou r theme. Arerino is speaking :

And it happens interchangeably that the painters often draw on the poets for their inventions, and the poets on painters . I could make the same point to you about Raphael 's Galatea, which competes with the lovely poem by Poliziano (che contende con la bell a Poesie de! Poli ciano) , and about many other extremely delicate fancies of his. 18

15 O ur bes t gu ide ro the "invis ible" presence of the cupids in O vid--and conseq uently ro the visible ones in T itian's picture-remains Dolce's paraphrase. If Dolce does not incl ude the cup ids in the abd ucti on scene they still are not fa r away from it . When the p rincess offers flowe rs ro the bull he kisses both her hands (i n O vid it is one hand onl y) and he is transfixed with love. " J da resay," Dolce interpolates , "that now cupi ds shoot a thousand arrows at the bull " (Poi per le bianche man la ling ua stende ,/ Le bacia: e ben uo

Dolce , in other words sees in Raphael's picture nor a tra nslati on of his source into paint , bur another poem (in paint) which is t he source's eq ual in orig inality and beauty. Fig ure 4 Titi an , The Rape of Europa, derail of fig ure 1.

cn·dcr, <ht gli Jmon Dr11 ur nd Torn Jlhor milk aecrt .· El lcuo cJI <ht poi bJ.S o min >C<·nc ) '-oon after cht bull on the chr<><·' of love ptr;uadt [urup.1 co f'Jl hos ch~t "char upod <ruelly as aulcs" (" H or 1nu1tJ J pa.lpar la bell.1 mano al ptrro u chc'A mo r cruddt as a.lea") Th tn ht gtt\ Europa co cro" n ho ht:Jd v. 1th Ao" er> and cht \tllr) contonu~ J.S on 'od In hon. "hac for Dokt '' .1 poecoc figurt of 'f'l<-..h J 'ehocle a 1t \l.trt for h" own commtnt on 'od\ stOr)'. on T1t1an ·s ponurt turns onto a ""d re.1.l1t)' J grand c ntonu.m on of the cu pod> ' work on land 11 ocher cexc muse b<: n.imtd co 1ust1fy cht presen<e of cupids on T1t1an s paontong we might turn co LuuJn' D1alogutJ of !ht u G xv , ("Zephyrus and ocu ') and co foschus' Id)// a/ Europa . ( oce ceph.inu\ cranslat1on on co Lacon . 1oschus, Theocritus and Bo o n Veni ce. 1555) I do not wish co propose these rexes J.S sources for T1t1 an but rathtr chat we chink of chem as ollumonacong parallel , precious derails from the great canvas of ant1que source , both lo cerary and piccona.1 (in our case especial!)' classical sarcophagi wnh aquatic themes) which , on cheor exuberance, were delightfully exemplary for the poet1cal mvmz1on1 of modern poets and painters . See al o note ~ above for another (though unlikely) "opening " through which co lee on the cupids chat may be found on Ovid 's text proper. For an immediately practical oncent1ve for Tma n co dispose the cupids 1n the ao r as he did , see the second part of chis essay. Much has been said oflace about the impo rtance of a descropnon of a

,,J,.

paonong of Tix R.ipt of Fu rnp.i on Achalln TatJU\ Lmupp, ,111J /11,.pf.on a' a \ouru: for T1ti.in' p.11nc1ng Doke did ondt:t:d , puhl"h .1 crJn\IJtoon of tho' \\ork on 1546 but It 'hould he rt'l.liltd tl1Jc cht'< \\t:rt nnh tht lase fnur book' ol the ughc boob on" h1<h rhe ;corr I'> told-and rht: r•<rurt of Tht R.ipt a/ f'1m•P.J " ;poktn of .u the \tr) beginning of Book I Doke did not kno" Greek Jnd depended for hi\ \Upp<l\ed cranslanons from the Greek

on earlier cran,la11on 1nt<l l.i1ron TI1c l.mn rt r I Book ,. thr u •h \Ill ol /.11, -

.lit {''"''· "111 h Dolu er.in l.11<-<l onw It oloan v.,1 puhli hnl on •'111 Jt. "•" b.t <-<l on 1 (,rt'<l; m.inus..np1 rh.11 \\J t 1u.1ll\ omompkrc The <om1 lee< I< c "' Adullc' l.uou '"" nor ,I\ .11 l.1hk w l 1lu or w Tm.on until 15(1 v.hcn fr.intn<o n.i:do ( u<C1<> puhl"h<d .in lc.iloJn cr.in,J.i· coon v.ho<h t\t:n prt·«J<·d chc puhl1t.H1<>n ol .1 tom pktt: Lmn rr.1ml.rnun B\ 1~(1 , hov.t\U T10.1n h.od for ,omc romt be-en \H1rk1ni: R"p' uj F1m,p.1 , .md on chc JppeM.tmt: ol cht "orl.. hi Ad11lln T.Hou,(ol ht tH·n notott:d or )" nut lokd\ co hJH· g rt:.ttl) .1tlt:ut:d ch< <omp1l\ 1rn>n of T1r1.1n\ p•<rurt for lurcher ob,tn Jnons on ch" Jnd othtr 'tx on.i: '\ou rt t' \tt: fd1l O"do.in Dcloghc " pp 24 28. '>t:t ·""' (,on1burg 'T1L1Jno, O\ldoot 1ui<l ou . pp 9. I

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In Poliziano's La Giostra-"the joust"the palace of Venus and its gardens are described in some detail . On the entrance gate of the palace are scenes carved in relief by Vulcan himself. They represent a number of Ovidian srories which demonstrate the power of love 19 Among them , very close tO Ovid , and surely an inspiration to Dolce's own paraphrase of Ovid , is the srory of Europa as Arachne wove it~ 0 Another of the fields on the doors (we might do well tO imagine them fashioned like Ghiberti 's Gates of Paradise) shows , in considerable detail , the srory of Galatea and Polyphemus. We see the giant seated on a rock overlooking the sea , wooing Galatea with an awkward song. She just now approaches on the waters:

Two shapely dolphins pull a chariot: on it stands Galatea and wields the reins,- as they swim, they breathe in unison,- a more wanton flock circles around them: one seems to cavort and play for love,- with her faithful sisters, the fair nymph charmingly laughs at such a crude singer [i.e. Polyphemus). 21

the sea and takes hold of the outer rein of the dolphin closer to us to keep Galatea from making her turn. Surely he wants her to fall in love just now with someone she will now see for the first time , someone who is outside the picture. It must be Acis, the lover whose death, in the Metamorphoses, she inconsolably mourns. Perhaps he is just now approaching through the garden towards which she looks. And, in order that Cupid 's plot will not on any account fail, Raphael has Galatea ambushed by his minions in the sky. Whichever way she wi ll turn , her heart will be transfixed with love. Should these three warrior putti run out of 路arrows another stands by in the sky with a handful more . It is evident that Raphael developed Poli ziano's "picture" in the form of a copia. We not only see Galatea avoiding Polyphemus' attentions but also Cupid's revenge. Cupid has decreed that Galatea must beco me love's victim. The decree takes effect before our eyes. Cupid seizes the dolphin's reins-the putti have not yet.shot their arrows-and Galatea's face (a moment ago sti ll turned away in disdain) now is bathed in love~ 3

Raphael's picture is a fresco on the wall of a loggia. Direct! y next ro it , to our left , is A composite x-ray picture of Titian's The another painting, of equal size, Rape of Europa which is here published for by Sebastiano de! Piombo (fig ure 6). It the first time and still awaits further shows Polyphemus on his rock turning study, may show us in a detail how direct his gaze longingly cowards Galatea as she appears to us and tO him- in the painting by Raphael 22 Galatea is about tO execute a complicated turn with her sea chariot drawn by dolphins , away from us, away from the hated sight of Polyphemus. But Cupid has just landed on

19 The po" er of Jo, c (.1, 1n O\ldl 1 p.1 m cu lMI dc:monsrrared by rcfo rt:nct" rn up1d'o '1 ro ry O\ er _J o' c: A gi rl" hoe Jo, c 1u lt .ino re1encd cri es ouc ro C.up1d co avenge her "rong " up1 d " as noc de.if ro chc p1ou om p la1nc , laughing cruell y, he beg.in 'Am I noc chen a god' Is my fi re " 1cl1 "h1 h I bu rn che t: nt 1rt world already penc' Indeed. I m ade Jove bello" among the herd, I cau ed Ph oebu ro ru n \\ t:ep1ng after Daphne, I d re\\ Pl uco from hi s infernal sea r .ind what crea cu re dcx:s nor obe) my la",." Pol1 z1;ino, 101tra 1. 22-2~. cran I tanze. pp. 12, 1~ ·e als I 125, where Venus asks up1d " Whac deeds have you done' hat god. "h.1t man have you caug h t in your sna res' Do you make J ove be ll o" again in Ty re'" CQuinc , tanze. p 65) 20 Polmano. G 1011ra I 105106 (Quint , t anze, pp 51. 54). Polmano's version of che story is so simil ar in its imagery co O vid's a nd Dolce's that 1t is 1mpo 1b lc co say whether Tman consul red chi s descn p n o n of Europa or noc. There 1 o ne striking resem b lance, however. Th e drape o r veil of Titian's Europa waves behind her in the wind and curns back upo n n se lf, a nd according co Polm ano " La vesca ondegg 1a, e 1nd1etro fa rirorno." Ovid resmcrs himself co "cremulae s1nuantur Aamine ves ces." Dolce cranslaces 1n keeping wich Ovid :" onfia ti uento la gonna, e in di erro m ena." Sci II , one cannoc m ake much of thi s. Ti n an , after all , as a painter also was a poec and may have hie upo n the m ocifby himself, o r he,

J' "ell ·" Polt£1Jno . m.1) Ju, ... c.ikt:n 1c ll\cr from another pou1cJI \OUrct: or .1norht:r fHcturc ur .in .1nr 1quc \\urk of \culpcurc , .i coin. or J gem \t ort:"' er. T1t1.1n 'drape in chc "ind would \ccm co Ix ,uffi ut:ntl) t:xpl.iint:d ,,, J contrappmco m.H<h co che "po't of the red \,l\h of Pcr \CU., an T1t1Jn' Ptnt11J ,111J t\dm111td1 n chc rd.irwn-

,h1p of tht:\t r'"' p.11ncing' \ct tht 'econJ p.irr of rh" t:\>J) 21 Poltt1.tno. Jallr.i 1 11~ cQuinc 51.m;t pp (1:), 61) I h;ivt: ch.rngt:d u1nr' rr.iml;it1on "h1ch h,1, (,.d.1tt:J '\1c on cht: chMJOC ( J,,,

fomlfJJI de/fim 1111c.trr&11ro111 I w11rtHtJ t' 11lulft1 ihe'/ jrtfl <orrtgxt) co ,c.ind

\\'c m.t) re.id Jo11retro c1chcr "J\ ''>c.ind 1ng "1n ku:ping "1ch R.1ph.u:J's p1crurt: .ind, pn:sum.1bl) hi> n.:.id1ng of the rexr 22

In a recent clt:.in1ng of the wo rk J dog \\,1~ d1 <O\t:rcJ cared ar chc: fccc of Poi)'phemu This dog .ippears 1n Polm.ino'o poem <Poltz1ano bo rro\\c:d him .l'> 1t we re, from Tht:oc m u>' Id>// x 1(" Polypht:mus .ind GaJ.1rea"), b u c nor in "d uch as rh c p1ccure of a dog can, 1t confi rms rha c Arcnno (as p rescnred by Dolce) tel l the cru rh abou t Raphael · (a nd, by 1mp lt anon , Sebasci ano' ) Jnerary sou rce. Fo r a m o re de cad cd d iscus ion of Raph ae l's and cbasna no' pa intings, in their own n g ht , see Phili pp Feh l, " Raphae l as Archaeolog ist ,"

A rchaeoloJ!.iral Neu~, 4, 1975, nos . 47-48.

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Fig ure 7 X-ray montage of The Rape of Europa.

24 On a sunny day parts of this pentimento can be d iscerned with the naked eye. 25 Ocher interes ti ng elements of rhe x- ray pi ctu re are what may orig inall y have been a g rande r d isplay of Europa's head of hair and , on rhe shore, rhe unmi stakable presence of ar least rwo , possib ly rhree members of rhe herd Mercu ry (in O vid) drove there roge rher with rhe metamorphosed J upiter. See Fehl, "O vidian Delig h t ," p . 26. 26 Translati on U lrich Midd eldorf, Raphael's Drawings, N ew York , 1953 , p . 13. See also Robert Klein and H enri Zerner, Italian Art 15001600, Eng lewood Cli ffs , N.] ., 1966, pp . 32, 33. On rhe importance of rhe letter in lacer developments in rhe hi srory of Renaissance arc see Erwin Panofsky, Idea: A Concept in A rt Theory (transl. J oseph J. S. Peake), Columbi a, S.C., 1968. For an attem pt to assess what it may have meant to Raphael and Castig lione see Fehl , "Raphael as Archaeolog ist ," pp. 32-33. Raphael's pl ayful "if I wanted to paint a beautifu l woman , I would have to look ar more than one" all udes to rhe story of Zeux is' procedure in painting a pi cture of H elen (Ci cero , De l nventione II.1.1. ). T hi s story was a well known topos among painters and lovers of arr . See Do lee's "Letter to Gasparo Ball ini ," (Roski ll , Dolce's "Aretino," pp. 204-206, 343-44) where it is directl y related

was Ti tian's response to Raphael's picture (figure 7). W here now we see the end of the bull's rail lashing the waters is a pentimento of a rather large dolp hin , his back in convoluted curves , the t woparrite end of his tail raised above the waves~ 4 T here is another pentimento in the tail of the bull. Its energetic downward curve was origi nally bent up , as if to allow space for a somewhat larger development (includi ng a sash or some other fl oating garment) of the fig ure of Cup id below. T itian may have begun wit h a huge dolphi n and a Cup id who lands directl y on the water, as he does in Raphael's picture. O n second thoug ht , however, T itian moved the dolp hin to the foregro und and let Cupid ride on him , an aq uatic horseman , as it were, supervising the amorous triumph of J upiter on the sea. As a result of th is t ra nsfer T itian also was able to increase the swishing range of the bull 's impetuous tai l and give the bull more power still ~ 5

Mos t ext raordina ry, however (if we now return to the picture proper), is the life of the water in Titian's picture, and the g litter, the wetness of the dolphin and t he exotic fi sh who comes up from the deep to marvel at the bull traversing the ocean , and wi th such a cargo . If we accept the notion that Titian in painting the Europa competed in a joyous contest wi th Raphael (who himself, as Dolce said , "competed " with Polizian? when he painted the Galatea ), the difference between the two pictures on the level of veracity, such as bravura (and the g reater range of freedom which oil painting offers) alone can achieve it , is indeed astounding and we may the better be able to follow Dolce's arg ument in The Dialogue on Painting entitled ''Aretino" in which he leads the reader, step by step , from a comparison between Michelangelo and Raphael to one between Raphael and Titian . In the process Dolce uncovers the elements of the unique g reatness of the arr of Titian which he celebrates in this extraordinary book. Dolce published the work in 15 57, at a time when Titian may already have been contemplating painting The Rape of Europa. Certainl y his arg ument reflects

conversations in Areti no's and T itian's circle that must have been particularly rife after the p ublication ofVasari 's Lives of r550 which si ng le out the twin peaks of Michelangelo and Raphael as the high poi nts of modern pai nting, and Michelangelo's peak as t he higher of the two. A "contest" therefore was in order. Among Raphael's mythological pai nti ngs the Galatea was perhaps the most obvious fo r Titian to pick up as a challenge. Not only does it show a much admired beautiful nude in grand contrapposto, but Raphael himself had offered , in a let ter to Baldassare Castiglione, an explanation of his way of painti ng the Galatea that suggested an artistic program. "I assure you ," he says to Castiglione in implied reference to the examp le ofZeuxis at Crotona,

if I wanted to paint a beautiful woman, I would have to look at more than one. And I wish that you were here to help me in making a choice of the best. But since we lack good judges here as well as beautiful women, I make use ofa certain idea which is present to my mincE 6 This letter was published by Dolce in 15 54 , in a context t hat refl ected on the work of T itian 27 Piet ro Aretino may have known of the letter fro m the time it was written . It has even been suggested t hat he helped Raphael compose i t~ 8 For our purpose, however, it suffices that Titian knew the letter at t he t ime he pai nted The Rape of Europa. His Europa, in the terms of such a contes t would seem to be his answer not only to the challenge of Raphael's picture, but to the notion of "ideal" beauty to which Raphael's letter makes allus i on~ 9

to the a rt of Raphael and D o Ice's Dialogue on Painting 24-25 (Ros kill , Dolce'J '/\ retino," pp. 130-35) with a direct reference to T itian. See also pp . 288-289. When D olce praised the beauty of Europa in the TraJ/ormationi and established a parall el between Zeuxis and Apelles on the one hand , and Raphael and Titian on the other (s urely a paragone between the ancients and the m oderns a nd Apelles the g reatest of the painters of antiquity parall eled by Titi an) he may also have had chis passage in mind . See note 12, above.

am , my dear P ietro , that Mi chelangelo helps out this new competitor of mine by personall y maki ng drawings for him , for in chi s way the report that hi s works do not stand up co compari son with mine wi ll make it ex tremely plain to Michelangelo that it is not Sebastiano wh om I defeat-it being small credit to me to defeat someone who does not know how to drawbut rather him who sees in h imself (and justifiably) the very Idea of the art of D rawing [che Ji reputa (emerita-

27 Lettere di divmi eccellentiJJ . huomini, raccolte da divmi libri, .. ., Venice , 1554. pp . 227-28. See part 11 of

minor cha nges to make the translation more li teral in the part that here matters. See also Roskill , Dolce'J ''.Aretino, " pp. 235-38. On page five of the Dialogue on Painting Dolce's Aretino also notes with satisfaction that Baldassare Castig lione ranks Raphael fi rst am ong painters in the Cortegiano ( 1. 1). Castig li one was of grear interest co Dolce who prepared a new edition of the Cortegiano in 15 56. See Roskill , Dolce'J ''.A retino," pp . 92, 231-32. On Castiglione and Aretino see Lettere

this essay fo r a discussion of the arti sts' letters in thi s co ll ect ion .

28 Roski ll , Dolce'J "Aretino," p. 309.

29 Nore also a parallel si ruarion in the beginning of Do Ice's Dialogue on Painting which matters much to the development of his argum ent by which he later es tablishes the superiority of Titi an even over Raphael. The Aretino of the dialogue reca lls with pleasure what Raphael himself had said co him about a concorrenza in the art of drawing ( diJegno) to which Michelangelo had chall enged him. Michelangelo was supplying Sebastiano del Pi ombo (who contes ted Raphael in pai nting) with drawings by his own hand : "Oh , how pleased I

mente) la Idea del diJegno ]" ; transl. Roskill , Dolce'J ''.Aretino," pp. 94-95, with

JUll'arte di Pietro A reti no, 3, part II , pp . 25, 27, 254, 409, 424 n . On Titian's porrrai t of Castig li one (d ated 1523) see Wethey,

PaintingJ o/Titian, 2, pp . 17 , 85. We may look upon chi s picture (now in the National Gall ery of Ireland) as Titian's fi rst and m ost obvious paragone with Raphael whose fa m ous portrait of Cas tig li one is now in the Louvre. Nore also Titian's response to the arr of Raphae l in his work for the Jtudiolo of Alfonso d 'Esre at Ferrara. See Fehl , "Worship of Bacchus a nd Venus ," pp. 53-54.

30 Thi s is exac tl y the burden of Ca rrari 's commentary on the passage in the Flavio. See note 4 above.

31 Mari e Tanner, Titian: The Poesiefor Philip 11 , Diss., N ew York U niversity, 1976. The auth or's arg ument in favor of a p rog rammat ic unity of the poesie that involves the srars wi ll be d eveloped furth er in a fo rthco mi ng monog rap h . See also her "Chance and coinci dence in Titian's Diana and Actaeon," Art Bulletin, 56, 1974 , pp . 535-50.

32 The dots also appear in the x-ray ph otograph and , obviously, we re pl aced with care.

We may look at Titian's so amazing ly real and fleshy nude as his answer to the perfect beauty- the beauty that surpasses nature--ofRaphael's Galatea . In the comparison (and , we must stress, only in this comparison which , it appears, Titian desired) Galatea's beauty looks contrived . It is superior to nature exactly as is a work of art (we can get no closer to a likeness of an "idea"), but as a result of this superiority over nature Galatea also is not natural. She is , as it were, perfect . Titian's Europa, however, is all woman, a particular woman of fl esh and blood (as the fis h and the dolphin are all truth in the glitter of their wetness in the water-even if no exact counterpart of them can be fou nd in nature), the woman, in short , with whom Jupiter, in the reality of Titian's Ovidian fi ction , fell in love (figure 8). Screaming, trembling , and suddenly comprehending she is before us in the p icture and altogether

turns from picture t0 life (as in fact does Raphael's Galatea once we remove her from the paragone Titian imposed on her), to a tife so real that we forget that Titian had tO contrive his art so energetically that he not only overcame all semblance of contrivance but-by seeming ly contrad icting all semblance to ideal beauty-in fact managed to place it before us; "ideal," that is , in the terms of the precise moment , the place, the cunning, the danger, the passion , the pity, and the joy of so unlikely-yet throug h hi s view so plausible--abduction of a maiden across the ocean by a bull that is a god . There are other wonders in the picture, the g reatest among them unquestionably the exq uisi te simplicity, and the daring, with which he defines forms in motion and renders vagueness accurately, his colors all aglow with the refractions of ligh t and the subtle muteness of twilight and distance , the joining of sky and land and sea in an embrace of mutual infinity, relaxed understanding, the ful!ness of the morbidezza of nature when it is most giving , most supportive of the happiness of a trusting eye. Only here and there are there very decisive accents. They give life and texture tO the cupids ' bows and arrows, to an outline that melts into shadow, the g litter of a fish, the soul in

Figure 8 Titian , The Rape of Europa, derail of figure l.

Figure 9 T irian , The Rape of Europa, derai l of figure 1.

love, and rog ui shness shining for th from the eye of the bull. The objects accentuated spring into a blurry life, scintillating in motion , the res t recedes and yet is all there. There is no other canvas by Titian quite like that.

If we look careful! y we can see above the. right hand of Europa a number of vague white dots (fig ure 9). If the p icture were hung fairly low, which I believe (if for no other reason than the sing ular g lance of the bull) must have been Ti tian's intention , then these dots, as a viewer came upon them unawares, most likely resolved themselves into the p resence of so many stars that fo rm a COQStellation. Under the circumstances we readily identify them as Taurus, the sign of the very bull that deceived Europa which, in memoriam of the affair, was instituted in the sky by a g rateful Jupiter. The story is told by O vid in the Fasti and would have been available to T itian in a translation by Vincenzo Cartari-but there was no need fo r Titian to read up on it ; the sig nificance of the bull in the sky was (and has remained) prove rbi al~o

We owe it to Marie Tanner that our attention has been drawn to these dots? 1 I must leave it to the reader to move around the image of Taurus on the star chart until it more or less coincides with the stars in Titian's picture. With a good wi ll it can be done , particu larly if we concede that both in the painting and on the diagram the stars must be imagined in space and not , as at first we might , on a flat surface~ 2 Clearly Titian gave us the stars because he wanted to stress that there is an aspect of immortality to the bull and his ridiculous proceedings and that t he story has a happy end. It is probably enough to see the stars as an attribute of the bull , that is Jove , rather than as an explication of a myth or a new allegorization of it . In the background we see a ship approaching in full sail. If we look at Dolce's allegoria of t he story of Europa we find the tired explanation that there once was an enterprising man of Crete named Taurus who went to Tuscany (in the text of the poem proper the locale is Phoenicia) and abducted a number of beautiful girls among whom was Europa, the daughter of the king~ 3

33 Dolce , Trasfarmationi, ed . i561, end of Canro v , p . 6 3. Cf. also rhe Ovidio metamorphoseos vulgare and Boccaccio's Genealogia deorum gentilium 11 , ch . 62 . The rradirion of chis prosaic exp lanarion of che srory of Europa and comparab le myrhs may be craced ro H erodorus , !. J- 2 .

On the one hand , then , a bandit, on the other a sign in the sky. Titian , it would seem , g ives us an option of both , or better, the two together. We can read the story as we will; it has , as it were , an accordion stretch that unites the burlesque on the one hand and the sublime on the other. But what really matters are not those overtones, the sq ueak and the starry light that is barely there, but rather the story of Europa , the maiden and the bull, the companions on the shore, the cupids , the sunrise; in short , the poem-picture of Ovid which, in its own way (agai n wi thout making it explicit) contains and g ives its due to both , our skepticism and the laug hter which it invites, and the majesty of the god which it celebrates. A true understanding of the power oflove, or better, its fully accurate representati on as only poetic ficrion on a wide horizon can present it , would seem to require a joining of the two extrem es--exactly, we might say, as Cupid ordains it for Jove and Europa in Titian's picture.

Philipp P. Fehl University of Illinois at Urbana -Champaign

34 See Giorgio Vasari , "Li fe of T itian ," Opere, ed . Gaetano Mil anes i, Fl orence, 18781882 , 7, pp. 446-48; see also 7, pp. 677-82. Vasari arri ved in Rome from N aples sometime between the end of September and early December 1545 路 H e may have mi staken the year he g ives for Titian's arri val ( 1546) because he associated it with the rime in which he began to see Titi an sociall y. Vasari became involved in the Cancell eri a project soon after he came to Rome and received his contract fo r the frescoes on March 29, 1546. See "JI li bro delle Ricordanze di Gi org io Vasari ," I! VaJari, 1, 1927, pp . 54, 79, 109-1 1. 35 Vasari , "Life of Vasari ," Opere, 7, pp . 670-7 1. 36 Aretino, LettereJul!'Arte, 2, pp . ro6-ro7 (264). 37 Roskill , Dolce's ''Aretino," pp. 94-95, 238-39. 38 . Vasari , "Life of Ti ri an ," Opere, 7, pp. 447-48. 39 Vasari , Opere, 4 , pp. 59394 . The visit probab ly rook place in earl y spring when the gardens were inviting . On March 24 , Vasa ri obliged himself \O finish the Cancell eria frescoes "in one hundred days ." H e probably had no rime for social call s after this dare. See note 34 , above.

Excursus: Titian and Vasari at the Villa Farnesina

Titian was in Rome from late September 1545 to early June 1546. He was received there with great honors and given living quarters in the Belvedere of the Vatican . During most of the time of Titian's stay Vasari was also in Rome , in the service of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese for whom he was preparing the frescoes in the Cancelleria ho.noring Pope Paul m? 4 Vasari , as he tells us himself, was chosen by the cardinal to attend on Titian, and lovingly showed him the sights of Rome. Vasari had met Titian before, during his visit to Venice (December 1541-August 1542). He took that journey, he says, because Pietro Aretino ("a poet then of high renown and one of my dearest friends ") anxiously wanted to see him and because the visit gave him the opportunity to see the works of Titian and of other Venetian painters?5 Another artist with whom Titian evidently took walks in Rome was Sebastiano de! Piombo, a man closer to Titian's age, and a protagonist of Venetian painting in Rome. Pietro Aretino fondly recalled Sebastiano's work in the Rome of his youth and, in a moving letter to Titian in Rome (Venice, October 1545), in which he tells him he cannot wait to see him again and to hear what he thinks of the wonders of Rome (and whether Michelangelo is better than the ancients in sculpture, and whether or not he has outdone Raphael in painting), he singles out Sebastiano in particular ("i i nostro fra' Bastiano") among the famous

painters whose works Titian should carefully note , also for Aretino's sake?6 Dolce, in his Dialogue on Painting, tells an anecdote which confirms at least in one instance that Titian and Sebas tiano looked at works of art togethe2 7 They were in Raphael's stanze in the Vatican and when they came to look at certain heads that had recently been restored Titian violently complained about the dauber who had ruined them . But that restorer, it turned out , was Sebastiano himself. Dolce says that Titian himself told the story. We may, perhaps , assume that Dolce embellished it in the retelling but it is not likely that he invented it in its entirety. Since Titian lived and worked in the Belvedere it stands to reason that Sebastiano called on him (as did , on another occas ion , Michelangelo in the company ofVasari) to look at his work ;3 8 and it is not far from the Belvedere to the stanze. What an opportunity (if the stanze happened to be accessible) to go there and look together at the work of Raphael! Vasari recalls Titian's and his own visit to the Villa Farnesina in the "Life" of Baldassare Peruzzi , the arc hi teer of the palazzo and its chief decorato2 9 Titian , says Vasari, was perfect! y amazed at the trompe-l'oeil effect of the painted decoration of Peruzzi 's Perseus and Andromeda and other paintings (including a Rape of Europa) on the ceiling of the loggia opening towards the gardens and on the spandrels of the vau lting 40 Titian just would not admit that the seeming stucco was only painted and not in relief until he looked at the cei ling from another point of view, and then he was amazed. The two painters were standing directly by Raphael's Galatea and Sebastiano de! Piombo's Polyphemus, but

Th ese paintings are nor just simpl e stori es bur rather a horoscope, presumabl y rhar of Agostino Chig i, in rhe fo rm of myth olog ica l paintings . They are, surely, deliberately artifi cial in aspect so char we may be alerted co th eir esse ntiall y mechanical sig nificance. ee F. ax!, La fade aJtrologica di Agostino Chigi, Rome, 1934 . There are rwo ocher represenrari ons of The Rape of Europa in the palazzo; one in the stanza de/ f regio (by Peru zzi in a relaxed , "nonas rrolog ica J" style, fi g ure 10), and a norher, pai need on a caJSetone of the cei Ii ng of Agos tino Ch1g i's bedroom . ee E. Gerlini , La Villa Farnesina m Roma, Rome, 1949, pp . 23 , 24 ,39 , figs . 21, 45 路

Fig ure 10 Peruzzi , The Rape of Europa, fresco , Vi ll a Farnes ina, Rome .

41 Vasari , Opere, 4 , p . 340.

42 Vasa ri , Opere, 5, pp.

566-67. 43 "Sono in ques ro lu ogo a Jeune cose fa ere d e fra Sebas ti an Vini ziano, d ella p rima mani era; e di mano d e! divino Raffaell e vi e (come si e d etro) una Galatea rapita dag li Dii marini " (Vasari , Opere, 4 , p . 594). "Come si e d ecro" evidently refers to Vasa ri 's descripti on of the painting in the "Life of Raphae l ." 44 See our tex t , note 17.

Titian evidently did not say anything by far as as tonishing about the two paintings that g ive the loggia (and the whole palazzo) its most positive distinction as what he had said about Peruzzi's illusions. It is , after all , quite so mething (almost like Parrhasius ' deceiving Zeuxis with hi s painted curtain that seemed to cover a painting [Pliny xxxv. 36.65]) that the eye of one of the world's g reates t painters wou ld be foo led so perfectly. Vasari had no particu lar reason to record the obvious laudatory com ments which Titian undoubtedl y made about the frescoes by Sebastiano and Raphael . That kind of tribute, surely, every artis t paid these works , and from the heart , and there was no particular place for it in the "Life" of Peruzzi. Vasari does go on , however, to speak , first about the Galatea, and then the Polyphemus. He had referred to both 20

works earlier. In the "Life" of Raphael he says that Raphael painted Galatea in the sweetest mode (con dolcissima maniera) and then describes what he sees, "she is in the ocean on a chariot pulled by two dolphins around which are Tri tons and many marine deities ." 4 1 Of the Polyphemus he speaks in the "Life" of Sebastiano de! Piombo~ 2 He says Sebastiano was brought to Rome by Agostino Chigi who soon put him to work in the loggia which faces the garden in his villa in Trastevere. There , in the lunettes of the arches, Sebastiano painted sorriepoesie (that is , to the extent that we can identify them , metamorphoses from Ovid). H e did it in hi s Venetian manner which

TI1t d1Jngt v. JS on iri Jccc.l hy hen T1r1an . g uided by V~a ri , saw rh e R1chJrc.l ·or ccr Farnm n..1 rwo pa rure 1de by 1de. Va.sa ri · \ 111Jn n f m Bctt r<J~ .11r f raxr approac h co chem , whi ch m ay e ll a l o n.itl• Jrm Vrrh.iltnll Jrr Rm.111JJn« zur \ nit Pt Rcr.cc>c k , ha e been rhar f eb n ano (e en 1 fr o m a d1 erenr a nrage po 1nr), probabl1 d o m - 188 1na red rhe1r con e r a r1 o n n rh e le e l of i(1 R•plutl proluhl) l<>Unttc.l whar we c,111 ryl1 ra c analp 1 (rhe o rr of on rht: t\ cnruJI cxrcnswn of rhang o ne ca n ralk o w 1rh r<:a surancc: th< 'rJg< of ho hl\tur) cu be au e rwo p1 c rure are ho wn 1d t b rht p.1ntl on ch· ltlr If JC hr" uni} •PorJIJ of (,JIJCt:J 1de a nd we m ea ure "'ha r is 1n o ne: Iv. orhouc Pol)phtmu\) hJc.l again r v.ha r 1s no r 1n rh e o rh<:r ) a\ar1 bun inrcnc.ll·J RJphJtl e en had a go d c e fo r rngag 1ng 1n v. oulJ proh.1hl1 ha\t pJonrcJ her on cht: hr-r ab olure compari o n Ht:re w ~ eba ra rha thJn cht \t~onJ fullnano' be r .. e ne r1 an m anne r a nd rhe re We now rerurn ro Vasan · de crapn on of "'t p.intl un cht v. all Jr was rhe wo rk o rhe "" d1 v1no Ra ae ll o · v. oulJ t't:m rhJc •O\!lno rhe Loggia as he offer i r once he ha ( ho •1 from rhc hr, r had on eb r1 a no him elf had c: r up rhe co m recorded Ti rian' ascon1 hmenr ar Bald monJ •p.ir.ixonc hcc\l.l't:n chc pa ri o n In o rder r ho " rhe 1ndepe nsare's illu ionisric effecr . Vasa n ay "" In rv.o p.11nrtr' !c-J h l"><:on • den e ofh1 p1 rure fr o m Raph ael \ h<. J'" •ncd rht part ut rht rhis place a re everal picrure made by \Cllr) rhJc Ix r .1grct:J v. l!h e e n ho ea ho riLo n line fo r ha s pi cure Fra ebasriano of Venice which he h" ,r, Id. bur h~r1Jno '" cha r was lower rha n Raph ae l· Thi \\ as. painred in hi s early [i.e . Veneraan] man t du,l\d) Jt,urcd hom\tll u h . n r a bad de 1 1 n , h1 ho ri LO n cu cht 'f'"I! of cht comr<:oner, a nd by rh e hand of rhe divine cwn rl1Jc .., .1 rc,ulc chlag ree berrer w1rh rhe t }'e level of one Raphael rhere is (as I have aid before) a mcmor) of rht: 'uh1cc r 43 wh approa he rhe loggw fr o m rht ga rRape of Galatea by the Gods of the ea ."" "htlh hc.>ch p.1 onrtr' v.crc den--a nd ar g 1 e rh e fi g ure of Po l Thar is all. Vasari obviou ly did nor '"f'f>"'l-<l w t:n c v. a' .ti rt.id lo 1 1n rlit ll mt of phemu g rearer pro minen e Bur 1n o know whar D olce knew (p re umably \'J Jll doing he derra red fr o m rhe un1r y of rhe from Arerino) abou r rhe ubjecr of 4 cory of P lyphemu a nd a la rea whi ch Raphael's picrure~ no r need we assume r ·t.: nn.imJnJ 1\1 1 'nrn.1 rake 1r for g ra nred , of cour e , cha r rh e rhar Ti rian knew i r when he saw rhe TJncsl lo • Rc\CJUrt allJ FJ r· rwo pr ragon1 r re 1n o ne e ne and Galatea, or even rha r he cared overmuch nnonJ , BollttmoJ'.irlt , ~~. ha re rhe ame ocea n 46 Ir 1 19~2. pp . H . H when he found o ur from D olce or Arerino char 1n rhe cour e of a la cer re rora(l o n whar , in facr, ir was. Vasari , considering rhe level of rhe warery horizon of h1 pa rhe circumsrances, had nor accepred or cure was rai ed in order ro ma ke rhe rwo invenred a bad subjecr fo r Raphael's picscenes one p1crure . Only a re enr re corarure . In facr, hi s ri rle held i rs sway over rhe imaginari on of arr hi scor y unril abour rion once more broug hr before ur eye rhe beaur1ful delicacy of ebasriano' a hundred years ago~ 5 Vasari saw rhe "" Venerian" land cape which join rhe ea marine crew swarm, as i r ofren does o n as o ri gina ll y he pa inred ir, and rhe classical sarcophagi, abo ur rhe g lori ous wea l rh of his color m dularion . rhe very nymph and her correge, heaping rheir co lor of narure, of which he mu r have loving arrenrions on her no r relucranr been jusrly proud 47 eba riano urely arrendanrs, and, lo a nd behold , Cupid and his minions a rrack rhe nymph herself rhoughr rhar he had ourdone Raphael in painring , jusr as Vasari probably rhoughr who is jusr now surrendering co Love. cha r , co mpared co Raphael , he was a Veneri an rimer.

was quite ddferenr fr m rhe manner 1n which painred rhe w rrh y am r rhen living in Rome . Then ame Raphael wh pai nred rhe Galatea on rhe wall pr per and rhen, nexr co 1r- r mply w1rh rhe commi ion of Ago nno h1g1- ebas riano pai nred Polyphemus. "" In rh1 work , no ma rrer how he uc eeded :· ay Vasari , "" he oug hr road an e hi repurarion as be r he could, ha 1ng fir r been spurred on co a com per an n w1 rh Bald assare Peruzzi and now w1th Raphael ...

Poor Sebastiano could not even attempt to match Raphael's figure of Galatea . His com mission required that he paint an uncouth giant . Alt he could do, in order to show his mettle , was to concentrate on effects of color. Small wonder that later on he delighted in the prospect of defeating Raphael by combining Michelangelo's form (suppl ied ro him in drawings by the master) with the coloring ofVenice~8 It would seem robe a foolproof combination were it not that t here is in art- as in chemistry--a difference between a mere mixture and a union of elements . The loggia of the palazzo of the Villa Farnesina evidentl y offered an excellent opportunity to lovers of art and to painters to discuss the vagaries of style, and to explore, or g loat over, the superiority of disegno over co/ore or vice versa . It is hard to believe that Vasari would have missed this chance to rehearse his concl usions or to sound out Titian on this interesting topic. Titian , as we know from Vasari's account , looked up to the ceiling and addressed himself with conviction to a problem in art that , indeed, is capable of being solved mechanically. One need but walk around the gallery. But , to the more profound questions of truth and beauty wh ich are at the heart of the contest between Sebastiano and Raphael , Titian responded not in words but with his works. If Titian recalled Raphael's Rape of Galatea when he had occasion to paint a Rape of Europa he also reopened the paragone between Venice and Rome in the Villa Farnesina and painted his contribution to it in a manner that transcends the comparison of styles.

48 Vasa ri , Opere, 5, pp . 56771; Roskil l, Dolce's "Aretino," pp. 94-95, 236-38.

Bibliographical Note

In the above essay I attempt to pull together and develop further certain ideas on Titian's approach to works of poetry which I have presented on earlier occasions. I have eliminated, as best I was able, errors that crept into the earlier publications and I hope I have not committed new ones . Readers interested in a wider range of documentation than is here offered may wish to consult the following essays: "The Worship of Bacchus and Venus in Bellini 's and Titian's Bacchanals for Alfonso d'Este ," Studies in the History of Art (National Gallery, Washing ton , D .C.), 6 , 1974 , pp . 37-95 and "Ovidian Delig ht and Studies in Iconology: Notes on Titian's Rape of Europa," Storia dell'Arte, 26, 1976, pp . 23-30. Two papers which I read at conferences will, I trust , soon appear in the Proceedings of these meetings: "Titian and the Olym pian Gods: The Camerino for Philip u ," Convegno Tiziano e \knezia, (Universita , degli Studi di Venezia), 1976, and "Beauty and the Historian of A.rt: Reflectior..s on Titian's \knus and Adonis,"

XX/ Ve Congres International d'Histoire de !'Art, Bolog na , 1979路 Like all other students of the work of Titian I am greatly indebted to H oward Wethey 's indispensable The Paintings of Titian, London , 1969-75, and the late Erwin Panofsky 's Problems in Titian, Mostly lcoriographical, New York , 1969, even if what I present here concerns questions raised by Titian's poesie which these scholars either did not ask or approached differently. All references to facts concerning the works or the life of Titian-unless otherwise notedare based on information offered in Wethey's Paintings of Titian , 3 (The Mythological and Historical Paintings). W hat I have to say of Titian's correspondence and other literary or docu-

527 5 6, Pau l <mon "T1t1an ' Rape of Europa . A Bn Je Sm p1 <:J Ba r<: ' f{Jrta d. ll'A rte. 28, 19 6, pp 2 9 258 ; rl o 1nlbu rg, "T wano, \ 1J 10 , <: i

menrary 1den e ne e ard y await co rrection in rhe l1g hr of harl e H ope' forrhcom1n g b ok n rha r ubJ e r . Th e mo r explic1r a o unr f rhe l 1fe a nJ work of rhe poe t Lodov ico D ole<: (ro whom I refe r aga in a nd aga in in rh1 es ay ) rill rem ain mma nuele Anto ni o icogna' " fem o n a 1nto rno la vn a a g li crirri d1 1e er Lod v1 o D I e,"

Memon ede/f' / . R. l nst1t11to Venetod1 aenze, Le11ere, edArt1 , 11, 1862, pp 91 200. o re also hi co rrecr1 o n and add1 rion 1n hi comm11111cauone in rhe A111 of rhe l nst1t11to Veneto, , 1 62-61. pp 1290-93. For a n a nno ta ted ed1t1 o n of rhe rex r of D olce's D1alogo def/a pt1tura . .. intitolata /'A retmo, Ven ICe, 15 5 , roge rhe r

phom Enj!,ltshed. l) tholovz 'd and Reprem11ed 111 F11!,11reI, London. 16~2 (eJ Karl

wirh a rra nslario n and a rud y f the work a nd irs infl uence , ee Mark Roskill , Dolce's ''Arettno" and Venetian Art Theory of the Cinquecento, ew Yo rk , 1968. The pioneering rudy ofT1t1 a n' poesie fo r Ph ilip II , as a cohere nt sequence , is undoubtedly H a rald K ell er's ''Tizians Poesie fo r Konig Philipp II vo n panien ," Si twngsberichte der W w enschaft-

lichen Gesellschaft an der J ohann Wolfgang Goethe Universitat , Frankfurt/ Main , 7, 1968 , no . 4 . On rhe role of poerry and poeti cal theory in Renaissance painting see above all Renssellae r W . Lee U t ptc-

tura poesis: The Humanistic Theory of Painting, N ew Yo rk , 1967 . Fo r im porta nt cautio ns in rhe a nalogy of poetr y and painting see Jud ith D u ndas ," ryle a nd rhe Mind 's Eye ," j ournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 37, 1979 , pp . 325- 33 . Among recent publi cati o ns rhe fo ll owing in particul ar a re rela ted ro rhe arg ume nt here developed and m ay engage rhe reader's furth er interes t : David R osand , "Ur picror poera: Meaning in Titian's Poesie," New Literary History, 3, r971-72,

coJ 1u J<:I la figu r;ll1onc eroc1t.1 ntl unq ue cn co," Paraj!,one. 29 , no 119, May. 1918, pp .1 24 n it)~ ()( her w1 c: ~ratcJ the cra n I an on from \ 1J in rh1 c:~~a>' a re from corgc andy 011d'I Aletamor-

K H u ll e and ra nlcyT andc r all, Lin o ln , cb raska, 19 ) T he pas age: q uo red rep rc enc rhc: Lann a u ra rcl} eno ug h a nd yer . al I o a nd \\ rk, are p mted in the rrad1t1 on of a Rena1 a nce parap hrase The rra n !a n o n from rhe p e n al wo rk of Ice are m ow n n the re pon e co \ 1d 1n rhe M1JJle Age ee Fra nco l u nan , 011d 1111 Mme/alter, Zun h , 1960 n the chang ing approac h ro rhe 1etamorphoses 1n rh e Rena1 a n e, parr1 cula rl y as 1r 1 refle reJ in rhe I ral 1a n rra n lar1 n f rh e 1 reenr h centur y ee the b 1c ru d 1e b Bodo urhmull er (ro who e wo rk a nJ n era r1 on I a m much bliged ), " Lare1n1 che und Volk pra hlIChe Komme n ra re zu v1ds Me ta m o rphosen ," Der Kommentar tn der Renaw ance ( Komm1 io n for H uma n1 musfor chung, M1rredung 1), pp . 1r9ff a nd " Di e l1re ran che .. ber e rzung im Bezugsfeld Ong inall eser (a m Beispiel Iral1 ent cher Uber e rzungen d er Meram o rpho e n 0 id 1m 16. J ahrhunderr )," B1blrotheque d'Huma nrsme et Renaissance: Travaux et Documents, 36, 1974 , pp . 233ff Rollin van . H adley a nd D ebo rah G ribben made ir possibl e for m e ro exam ine T itian's Rape of Europa fro m close up a nd ve ry generously responded ro m y interest in rhe x-ray phorog raphs of rhe wo rk . T hey also assis ted m e kindl y and pari en rl y in m a ny other ways and I wis h ro t ha nk t he m w ith all m y hearr . P. P.F.

Notes on the Spanish Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Fig ure 1 Comes, The Virgin a nd Child, S. George and S. Martin, rempera, 75. 1x 114-11 6cm. Inv. N o. P 16e 16, Raphae l Room , Isa bell a Srewarr ~ rdn e r Museum .

The earl iest Spanish painting in the collection is the triptych catalogued as by Francese Co m es~ which was the subject of an ad mi rab le articl e in Fenway Court by Judith Berg Sobre, to which very little can be added (figures r and 2)~ Sobre menti oned and reprod uced a sing le panel of S. George Killing the Dragon (fig ure 3) which she described as a key-work of Comes, in style cl ose to the Gardner panel. This is certainly true and it is worth pointing out also that the Palma work is much larger than the panel in the Gardner triptych. Yet in this smaller one Comes has resolved his composition with g reater clarity, in addition ro including the subordinate background incident of the angel presenting S. George to Christ.

The differences in these compositions are sufficient to suggest not so ipuch the repe;ited use of a basic composition as the refinement of a large overcrowded one into a smaller one, in which the main figure seems to be advancing into the picture instead of dominating it from the middle. In fact in the smaller Gardner panel the spatial relationships between S. George, the dragon, the princess, and the castle in the background are resolved perfectly into a balanced composition with the minor incident, avoiding any such awkward juxtaposition as the overlapping of the saint's halo with the castle behind , that tends to mar the larger composi tion. And in advancing towards the princess rather than away from her, S. George now appears to be coming more obviously to her aid and the story is thus told more clearly.

This increase in cl arity of the small er work over the larg er suggests a g rea ter marurity of the artist afrer a lapse of several years , and this time-l apse will have to be taken into acco unt if ever an attempt is made to work out a chrono logy of this painter's work ? Painted probably within a few years of the Gardner B e rm ejo~ the S. Michael by Pedro Garcia de Benabarre was also the subject of a useful article by obre in Fenway Court (figure 4)? Like ir Philip Hend y and Chandler Post earlier, she scares that thi s large panel , together with four others of scenes from the Lif e of S. john the Baptist (figure 5) and another of S. Jerome (figure 6), all of approximately the sam e dimensions as the S. Michael, came from the parish church of the town of Benavente in the province ofHuesca in Aragon 6 Sobre , followed by Hendy in 1974 , also states that the orig inal location of all these panels had been the church of San Juan de! Mercado in Lerida , without however g iving the source of this addi ti onal information . On the basis of thei r view that all the panels mentioned are of much the same size , Hendy, Post , and Sobre have concluded that they must all have been parts of one enormous retable , of which the central panel would have contained a representation of S. ) ohn the Baptist .

P H endy, European and

Amencan Pe11ntmg1 m the IJahella teu•art Gardner M11mm1 , Bo ron, 1974, pp 57, 58 I belie erhJc 1rv.tll nor come amiss ro co nsider wherher rhe painrer should be permanenrly tJiled by rh1 name in rhe Mu cum' caraloguc~ and orhcr publ1cat1ons In rhe 1nscnpr1on on h1 one 1gned work , ome wrore his fir c name as " Francesch" in rhe Valen1an form, and 1r 1 as " Frances h ·ome " rhac he 1s recorded 1n rhc acalogue of rhe exh1brnon of laiorcan Gochie Pa1nc1ng ( Pmt11ra Got1ca Mallorqu1na) held Jc Palma de Mallorca in 1966. rhe only occasion on which a number ofh 1s works have been exh1bHt-d togerher Cnos 28-4 in che exh1b1t1on) Thi form of che name is cherefore che logical one co adopr 1f 1r is rhoughc appropnare rouse rhe regional fo r m of rhe first name Bue in publicarion of wider 1nteresr rhan the reg1 nal , panish wn cer are accustomed co use the CJJian version " Fran 1sco omes," and I belie e rh1 to be che one mosr uHable fo r che Museum co u e. 2

). B. ob re. "A T ri ptych by Francesc omes ," Fenu'a) Court, ~.no. 2, December, 1969..

I find this conclusion difficult ro accept on two grounds. The first is iconographical. It would be most unusual for a retable to be dedicated to three different saints each represented on a separate, single panel , and furthermore to include narrative scenes from the life of only one

Ano rhe r inte rest ing a pee r of chi s sm a ll ver ion by Com es is cha r it a nt1 cipaces in compos ition rhe masterp iece of fi free nch century Ma jorcan painting, the e no rmous . George Kil/mg the Dragon (284 x 187 cm) of Pedro isarc , painted be tween 1468 a nd 1470 a nd n ow in the Di ocesa n Museum a t Palma de Ma ll o rca.

4 The next in chronolog1cal order of rhe pan1sh pa1nt1ngs is probably Barrolome Bermeio·s . Engraaa of the 147o·s. buc I will noc deal w1 rh 1c here as I have d 1scu ed 1c comprehensively in the concexr of the recable of wh1Ch 1t was ong1nally che central compos1c1on, in my book on chi amsc

<Bartolomi Btrme;o. The Grl!dt H11pano-Flemuh Ma11er. London , 1975, pp 50-62) Instead , I wtll cake up a fev. point of wider cope connected w1ch chi pa1nrer 1n a eparace conrnburion co rhe next number of Fenua) Court. 5 ) B bre. "A ralan l 1chJel ,' Fenua) Court, ~. no 4 . Aprtl , 1970 H endy, op at.· PP 9~· 95

6 Jnformari n wh1Ch acco rding co H endy came from a calan arc Jeerer from che h1sronan , Joe Pqoan 1n 1929

Fig ure

Comes, S. George Killing the Dragon, image: 50.3 x 34.3 cm ., derai l of fig ure

of them . And if S. Jerome and S. Michael were placed balancing each other next to the missing central panel of S. john the Baptist, the narrative scenes of the life of S. John would either be separated by a calle, or vertical division of the rerable , from the central panel in which he was represented , or would have some scenes above those other saints and other scenes at their sides , all of which would be highly unusual. One retable is known in Aragon in which three titular saints are represented , each one with narrative scenes of his own life surrounding his representation as a full-length figure , the retable thus being divided into three separate sections of several calles each . This is the re table of Ss. Lawrence, Prudentius and Catherine by Juan de Levi in the Calvillo chapel ofTarazona Cathedral, which dares from ca. 1403. But it is hardly realistic to take this as a possible antecedent for the retable formerly at Benavente with which we are concerned here. For if the latter had contained two more sets of narrative scenes of the same size as those of S.} ohn the Baptist it would have been too large for any church less spacious than one of the great cathedrals at that rime.

The second ground on whi ch I find the usual assumptions difficult to accept is the uncritical acceptance of the view that all the panels under consideration are of approximately the same size and therefore must have originated in the same retable. A glance at the photographs of the S. john the Baptist panels is enough to show that they are of a different format, tall and narrow by comparison with the S. Michael, which is closer to a square shape (compare figures 5 and 4). And the S. j erome is noticeably squarer than the other panels in Barcelona, but not far from the format of the Gardner panel. Thus, even though the S. john the Baptist panels seem tei have been cut down a little at the sides, it is difficult to believe that originally they could have had the same format and size as the S. Michael, because they are in any case taller, and there is no reason to suppose that the Gardner panel has been cut down at the top and bottom by as much as 16 cm. I think therefore we must consider the possibility that the S. Michael, and perhaps also the Barcelona S. J erome, do not come from the same retable as the S. john the Baptist composi tions , even though they are undoubtedly by the same painter, and the S. Jerome seems to have come from the same church . There would be nothing unusual in the supposition that there could have been other rerables in the same church as the principal one dedicated to S. john the Baptist. Parish churches in villages or towns in Spain, even when they lack transepts or side chapels sometim.es display retables on their side walls, whether or not accompanied by al tars, and the panels of S. Michael and S. Jerome could each have been placed in the center of a smaller retable originally in Benavente or San Juan de! Mercado , Lerida, or in the case of the S. Michael somewhere else.

Another point to note about the Gardner S. Michael is the unfinished state of the composition on its rig ht-hand side. On this , Sobre makes the following comment: "A strip of the panel to the rig ht , now disturbing ly blank and incomplete , was originally covered by an elaborate gilt frame , as was the corresponding lefthand side." With this statement I must regretfully disagree . We cannot know now whether any part of the panel was once covered by an elaborate g ilt frame, but it is easy to see that , if the unfinished portion on the right of the panel was covered only to its average width, the corresponding coverage on the opposite side, where the finished composition extends up to about one inch from the edge , would render invisible most of the cross at the top ofS. Michael's staff, together with much of the angel's wing and nearly half of his body, thus seriously impairing the balance of the composition. This could certainly not have been the case, and we must clearly leave out of the question any assumption of the e?(istence originally of a covering frame . Instead we have to accept that the composition was left unfinished on the right side and the original intention would have been to complete it also up to about an inch from the edge . Thus something must have occurred , that we can only g uess at now, a long illness or death of the pai nter or his patron , a disagreement , a change of intention or interest on the part of the patron , or a natural disaster that damaged or destroyed the church or chapel for which the work was destined .

The clearest indication that work on it was suspended from one day to the next , or even at a moment's notice, is provided by the fac t that the front tile on the right is not completed on the right side, while above it the next one has been barely begun and from there upwards the space where the adjoini ng tile, half-tile and lowest moulding of the throne were to be painted has been left at the stage of the pink underpai nting. At the top, too, the gold background with its raised thistle desig n comes to an end at a vertical line at som e distance from the right edge, while the wing-tip below it extends further towards the edge. (On the opposite side the wi ng -tip is clumsily covered by the angel's wi ng and the cross at the top

Figure 3 Comes, S. George Killing the Dragon, rempera, 232 x 146 cm . Sociedad Arqueo!6g ica, Palma de Mallorca.

anything that could have been added in the blank space on the right . This might have led to disagreement between patron and painter, who perhaps also had not kept stri ctly to the terms of the contract that he would without doubt have agreed with the private individual or church council concerned .

Fig ure 4 Ped ro Ga rcia de Benabarre, S. Michael, tempera(>), 18 4 x 144 cm . Inv. N o. P 19s7, Tapes tr y Room , Isabell a Stewart Gard ner Museum . Fig ure 5 Pedro Garcia de Benaba rre,

Presentation ofj ohn the Bapti1t's Head to Herod by Salome, 2oox wo cm . Th e Museum of Arr of Caralonia , Barcelona.

of his staff is almost indisting ui shable fro m the pattern of the gold backg round -wh ich tends to make t he compos iti on unclear.) Thus t he irregular edge from top to bottom of the comp leted porti on of the compos iti on rei nfo rces the view that the pai nters or craftsm en (whether one or more of each) working on it apparentl y sim ul taneously had all bee n caused to stop suddenly and unexpected I y. Perhaps a clue to the reason fo r the unfinished state of the panel can be seen in an unusual aspect of the compositi on . Thoug h the figure of S. Mi chael is certai nly impressive, even if he lacks the solemn dig nity usuall y associated with an Archangel, the other elements are not worked into the sort of balanced symmetri cal compos iti on that was so popular in Spain in the fifteenth ce ntury, a defect that could not have been remedied by

But even more likely would seem to have been the death of the painter, so that this S. M ichael would have been his last work at the end of a long career (suggested by the large quantity of extant works) , when his powers, especially in composition, were not equal to those he had displayed in hi s youth . This would account, too , fo r what I see as a difference in quality, and therefore of probable date, between this work and the series of scenes from the Life of S.j ohn the Baptist with which it has hitherto been associated . But as we do not know when Pedro Garcia died , it

is not possible to suggest a date at which this composition might have been executed.

Fig ure 6 Ped ro Ga rcia de Benabarre, S.}erome. The Museum of Art of Caralonia, Barcelona.

The most problematical of the Spanish paintings in the Museum is the doubleportrait acquired by Mrs. Gardner through Berenson as a Titian , but later 路attributed by him to Alonso Sanchez Coello or Juan Pantoja de la Cruz , and catalogued by Hendy as Juana of Austria, with (?) her Niece Margaret by Sanchez Coello (figure 7)? This identification of the ma jor fig ure is confirmed by the portrait of Juana of Austria by the Dutch painter Anthonis Mor, in which she is shown similarly dressed as a widow, but turned slightly to the right from the onlooker's point of view (figure 8). So similar are the upper portions of Juana's figure in these two paintings , that one is virtually the mirror-image of the other. The problems beg in with Hendy's tentative identification of the smaller fig ure as Margaret , daug hter of the Emperor Maximilian II and Marla , Juana's eldest sister, for his text tells us this Margaret was not brought to Spain before 1576, three years after Juana's death . The position of Juana's right hand in the portrait would make it most unlikely that the smaller figure could have been added some years after Juana's portrait was painted . So the identification must be considered most doubtful.

Hend y, op. cit ., pp . 218 .

There may perhaps have been some confusion with Margarita Ruiz , a dwarf who worked for a number of the princesses at the Spanish court , including Juana of Austria , and was painted much later with another of her royal mistresses , Isabel Clara Eugenia, also a niece of Juana , by an unknown painter(figure 9). This portrait can be dated in or soon after 1580, whereas the Gardner work seems from Juana's apparent age to date from the l55o's. The authorship of the Gardner portrait also presents problems. The pi nk tinge of the flesh is foreig n to the work of both Mor and Sanchez Coello, and as Juana apparently did not travel outside Spain and Portugal, there are no other candidates , among painters known to have been in Spain in the l55o's, who can seriously be considered . There may be something in Hendy's suggestion of a "studi o replica of a portrait lost or destroyed ," though a copy seems more li kely than a

216,

Fig ure 7 Foll owe r of Anthon is Mor, J uana of A ustria and an unknown girl, oil , 193 x 108 cm . Inv. N o. P 26w1 5, Titi an Room , Isabell a Stewart Ga rdner Museum . Fig ure 8 Anrhonis Mor.Juana of Austria. The Prado, N o. 2 u 2, Madrid .

replica , and we cannot exclude the possibil ity that the Gardner portrait is a copy ofMor's portrait of Juana of Austria in the Prado (perhaps from an engravi ng as it is in mirror-image) with small changes in the hands and what they are holding, and with the small er figure added in place of the chair occupyi ng the corresponding position in the Prado work . In this case we should need to explain also where the portion of sky at top left came from, and my answer to thi s would be that it is in any case so poorly painted that it must be a later addition , probably added to give it a Venetian aspect when it was decided to offer the painting as a Titian. An even later addition must be the inch-wide crimson strip which is seen

not only at the top, as mentioned by Hendy, but all round the picture, and has been painted on top of the portion of s ky~ Hendy refers to this strip as being naked priming of a color peculiar to Spanish painting, still to be seen in the Philip IV by Velazquez , but it is in fact far from the reddish brown ground used by Spanish painters and clearly visible in the shadow cast by the King in the Velazquez portrait to be discussed below (fig ure ro).

Other aspects of the Gardner double portrait such as the strange shadow or pentimento that surrounds most of Juana's figure , and the insensitive repainting of a large portion of her dress and much of the background, leave the smaller figure as the most satisfying and best painted portion of the whole painting , which cannot usefully be discussed any further in its present state. After the brief mention of the Velazquez Philip IV already made, it is convenient to deal with that work first out of the four seventeenth-century paintings (figures IO and rr)~ Most of the serious cataloguers ofVelazquez's oeuvre have curtly dismissed this Gardner portrait as being a copy of the undoubtedly autograph version in the Prado Museum (figure 12), or have not mentioned it at all, like Jose Lopez-Rey in his lates.t catalogue~ 0 Only Jose Gudiol has "felt obliged to restore [it] to the list of authentic works by Velazquez," 11 but the mere fact that he states this without qualification makes one wonder if he has examined the whoie painting closely, for apart from the head and hands the execution is of nothing better than undistinguished workshop quality. The vital question is the status of the head and hands . Having had the opportunity to examine it off the wall, I fully agree with Hendy's view that the head and hands are of sufficiently high quality to be acceptable as autograph work, though glazes have disappeared from a number of areas on the face and left hand . As the relationships between the various versions of the early portraits of Philip IV by Velazquez are not fully described in the 1974 Museum catalogue, a few clari-

fi cations are offered here. The earliest portrait of Philip IV of 1623 is still in existence but not visible, having been covered by a later autograph portrait of Philip IV of 1626-28 in the Prado Museum~ 2 The Gardner portrait 13 is a partly autograph version of the later portrait . The earlies t visible portrait is the bust of 1623-24 now in the Meadows Museum , Southern Methodist University, Dallas~ 4 The full-length in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts 15 is a good workshop version based partly on the Dallas picture. The Metropolitan Museum work 16 is an autograph version of the earliest portrait now concealed beneath the Prado portrait , showing the king in a slightly different pose from the later Prado portrait and the Gardner version .

8 My thanks to Gabriell e Kopel man , conservator of pai mi ngs, fo r thi s observation . 9 Hendy, op. cit., pp. 27 1, 272. IO

) . L6pez-Rey, Velazquez, Lausanne, 1978. 11

J. Gudiol , Velazquez, London , 1974, p. 83, cat . no . 40. 12

) . Lopez-Rey, Velazquez,

A Catalog11e Raisonne of his Oeuvre, London, 1963, no . 241. 13 Ibid., no . 242. 14 Ibid., no .

232.

15 Ibid., no. 237. 16 Ibid., no.

236.

Figure 9 Pupils of Alonso Sanchez Coello, Isabel Clara Eugenia . The Prado, Madrid . (A portrait of the same sitter by Frans Pou rbus II ha~gs in the Dutch Room.)

Fine in quali ty t hough it is, the bust port rait of Pope Innocent X (figure 13) 17 is in my opinion correctl y catalogued as "after Velazquez ," as it is not quite the eq ual of the Wellington Museum, London , version which it resembles very closely in composition , and also in the sketchiness of the collar and cape (figure 14) ~ 8 W ith Francisco Z urbaran's port rait of A Doctor of Law, there is no p roblem of authenticity but onl y of date (fig ures 15 and r6) 19 In recent years it has become usual to date this fi ne work late in the p ainter's career, but those who do so are not in ag reement as to whether it should be placed before or after his removal from Sev ille to Madrid in 1658, when a renewal of the influe nce of Velazquez could be expected to have occurred . H endy follows this custom fo r the interesting reason that , whil e comparison with Velazquez 's Philip IV shows the cl ose connection between these two masters that is usually apparent in Z urbaran's rare lay portrai ts , "the hand of Zurbaran's doctor is remi niscent of Velazquez at a

Fi g ure 10 Velazq uez, Philip I V, oi l , 2o t x 109 cm . Inv. No. P 26e 18 , Titi an Room , Isabell a Stewart Gardne r Museum . Figure 11 Velazquez, Philip I V, derail of figure 10.

Fig ure r3 Afrer Velazq uez, Pope Innocent X , oil , 83.5x62 cm. Inv. N o. P19e26, Tapestr y Room , Isabella Srewarr Gardner Museum . Fig ure 14 Velazquez, Pope Innocent X . Welling ton Museum , London .

Fig ure 12 Velazquez , Philip IV. The Prado, Madrid .

rather later date ." Then he further justifies his support for the dating 1658-60 by the statement that "though the influence is from the earlier style of Velazquez, the actual painting suggests the later manner ofZurbaran." I take this to imply his belief that the simplicity of the setting and the monumental pose ofZurbaran's doctor are derived from the earlier court portraits of Velazquez that Zurbaran would have seen on his first visit to Madrid in 1634 , but the handling , particularly of the hand of the doctor, is close to that of the works that he executed after settling in Madrid in 1658, when he had seen the later works of Velazquez .

17 H end y, op. cit., pp . 272-74. r8 Ir is surpri sing to find rhar Gud iol (op. cit ., p . 337) who is normally willing to accepr as autograph a wider range of works rhan orher wri ters , catalogues onl y rhe small er Washing ton version , which he scares "is supposed to be a preparatory srudy fo r rhe g reat portrait" in rhe Doria Gall ery, Rome , avoiding discussion of rhe idenriry of rhe copy said to have been raken back to Madrid by Velazq uez himself, fo r which rhe We lling ron work seems to be rhe mosr likely candidate. 19 H endy, op. cit., pp . 301, 303.

Without entering into the question of where doccors of law of alamanca University might have been easiest to find in the seventeenth century, I will express once again the impressions that I have gained from seeing the painting concerned in a good light at close quarters and off the wall. The handling of the face and the subtle modelling of the cheek and forehead are very similar in Velazquez's Philip IV (figure II) and Zurbarin's Doctor of Law, but the sharper contrast of the shadow on the right side of the doccor's face, as we see it , is entirely in keeping with Zurbarin's style of the 163o's. The handling of his hand is, however, soft but at the same time it is subtly modelled and the main shadow on his middle fingers is sharp. Zurbaran's handling of the hands of many of his monks and saints in the 163o's , especially the Guadalupe series , is similar and I see no reason co suppose that this doctor's hand could only have been painted by Zurbaran after seeing the late works of Velazquez . We must assume that Zurbaran was a realist in his portraits and if he pai need the doccor's hand softly it was because that is how he saw it. After all , the doccor was a scholar and not a laborer! It is interesting co find that Zurbaran's

Doctor of Law is reproduced with a dating ca. 1625 in a book in the series Costume of 15 franu,co<lc Zurbar.in , A 0f>tlt!.- aff411 oil , 19~' 1 -1 cm Im '\io . P21,2 Dutd1 Room 1'.1b<:l la '>tc\\ art (,arJncr \ fu,cum fl}.(Ufl

the Wertern World~ 0 Thus a specialist on costume has seen reason co believe that the academic dress in Zurbaran's portrait was in use before the date of ca. 1635-40 that I propose , thereby placing it among the earliest of his lay portraits . A small confirmacory derail of an early date is perhaps the placing of the green hat of

the doctor against the background of a g reen cu rtain , a juxtaposition that Zurbaran wou ld surely have avoided ifhe had been more accustomed to paint such port rai ts .

Fig ure 17 rud1 0 ofZurbaran ,

The Virgin of Mercy,

oi I , 14 2x 108cm . lnv. N o. P6 n 2, panish Chapel , Isabell a rewarr Ga rdner Museum .

The Virgin of Merry from the Studio of Zurbaran raises p roblems because of i rs obviously cur-down state (fi g ure 17)~ 1 But while strips to complete and balance all the angel musicians of which parts are seen have clear! y been lost at the sides, I do nor believe char this work as we see i r could be only a portion cur from the top of a large altarpiece . When Zurbaran divided such a large work into horizontal zones , rhe celestial one is never separated fro m the terrestial one below by a landscape view bur by dense clouds . In chis work the clouds already divide the Virgin fro m the landscape and there could not have been a sti ll lower zone below the latter. All that is probably missing at the bottom , therefore, is the rest of the gardens, the crown and the rree of which the foliage is seen at bottom lefr 22 Figure 16 Zurbaran , A Doctor of Law, derail of figure 1y

20 B. Read e, The Dominance of Spam 1550-1 660, London , 195 1, pl. 52.

In my view the Gardner picture is nor close in quality to Zurbaran and , though Zurbaranesque , is distinctive enough in st yle to offer the prospect char ir may eventually be poss ible to attach a different name to it , when intensive study has been mad e of the many painters who were Zurbaran's pupils , coll aborators or close contemporary followers , abo ut whom at the moment we know regrettably little. Moreover, I regard the proposed daring of 1630- 35 as far too earl y, and wou ld propose instead a dating afrer 1640, in rhe period when Zurbaran was certainly surrounded by a large number of collaborators.

Eric Young

21 H endy, op. a t. , pp . 303, 304 . The Gardner work is also cacalog ued and reproduced in rhe recenr book by Julia n Ga ll ego and J ose Gudi ol (Z urbara n, 1977, no. 317 and fi g. 307 as Our Ladyof Ramom ), bur rheca ralog ue by Gud1 ol makes no an empr ro di sring ui sh berwee n works by Zurbara n himself, hi s workshop , circle, and fo ll owers. 22 or could rhe Gardner pi cture have been a copy of rhe Monrpensier picrure, whi ch now belongs ro rhe Marques de Valdererrazo. This can now be seen in rhe reproducri on in rhe book by Gal lego and Gudi ol (Ibid., fi g. 310).

What Might Have Been: Pictures Mrs. Gardner Did Not Acquire

"All my remaining capital (alas , very dwindled now) is in investments and far below par," Mrs . Gardner wrote Bernard Berenson in 1903 , the year after the museum was completed. He had sent her a photog raph of a painting by Roger Van der Weyden which was up for sale. "So I must open my hand and let the beautiful annunciation slip out of it .. . I almost hope some other American may get it . . ." In the ten previous years she had bought about fifty paintings on the advice of Berenson , and several from other sources . Nine came through Berenson in 1898 alone , more than she would get from him in the remaining twenty years of her life. For the years 1903-5, Mrs . Gardner bought only Degas' Portrait of Mme. Gaujelin which he had found in New York , although several pictures came to her on the advice of Ralph Curtis , Joseph Lindon Smith and John Singer Sargent . Again in 1903 she wrote: "When I wrote to you that I hoped I could have the picture [El Greco's Adoration of the Shepherds] I never dreamed of such a price." By the end of 190 5 Berenson became allied with Duveen who soon dominated the American market for old masters . Much has been written about the paintings that came to Fenway Court; briefly examined here is a list of pictures which were discussed in the correspondence between Berenson and Mrs . Gardner but , for one reason or another, weren't bought. Not all paintings can be identified, so that there are twenty-five pictures without provenance , or for which the present location is unknown. Of the fifty others , the provenance has been shortened for lack of space.

The collaboration began in 1894 when Mrs. Gardner asked Berenson's advice on two paintings, sending photographs which he identified as works by Bonsignori and the studio of Francia. He went on to offer her Botticelli 's Tragedy of Lucretia, which, after several months of deliberation, she bought. It was a major purchase for her, and thereafter the offers came thick and fast. At first several pictures were lost when she hesitated and her letters arrived too late. Berenson would at times suggest extended payments: "I am so anxious to have you own the Bellini that I am sure I could arrange for you to take it and pay for it at any time you would fix. " But from the beginning, she often found herself with insufficient funds at the wrong moment and Mr. Gardner would "advise" her not to borrow beyond a point which he deemed sensible. "You are really the unkindest human being," Mrs. Gardner wrote when Berenson urged her to buy Rembrandt's Portrait ofa Young Artist in 1896. "I have not one cent and Mr. Gardner (who has a New England conscience) won't let me borrow even one more! I have borrowed so much already, he says it is disgraceful . . . So this morning I simply wept when I saw the photograph .. ." She had just bought Titian's Rape of Europa; frequently a recent purchase would make his new offer financially impossible.

Occasionally Berenson would underes timate the price at which a picture could be had (as with the Bellini mentioned above) and not infrequently an owner would refuse to sell. Thus , Giorg ione's Tempesta remained with its owners until 1932, the Gainsborough and Reynolds portraits until 1921 , the Holford Velazquez until 1928 , while Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, the Torlonia Perugino, and the Marquis of Bristol's Velazquez remained in the same house . Of Holbein's portrait of Sir Thomas More Berenson wrote: "I have a chance of getting you perhaps the very finest portrait by him in existence & by a very great deal the finest yet remaining in any pri vate hands." A week later he wrote , "Money can't get it now." A greater disappointment was Rembrandt 's Mill: "After leading me a danse macabre for eight weeks, I now hear that after all that , at no price will Landsdowne sell his 'Mill '." In one case, Benvenuto di Giovanni's portrait of Alberto Aringhieri, he decided that the picture was a forgery: "Meanwhile, let me tell you that this Knig ht is so beautiful , apparently so 'all right ' that I questioned whether anyone in the world excepting myself & one or two others would dream of doubting it ." Likewise, Mrs . Gardner was at first enthusiastic when offered a Holbein portrait of Edward VI as a Child, from the collection of the Earl of Yarborough: "Yes Yes Yes I must have the darling Holbein child." The portrait was not immediately available . By the time it was again for sale Berenson had called her attention to a finer version in Hannover and she was indignant in refusing the Yarborough picture.

Isabe ll a Stewart Gardne r, 1907

Bernard Berenson , ca . 1909

Several p ictures offered to Mrs . Gardner by other dealers were dismi ssed by Berenson . "The point is that in the Candelabra Madonna there is of Raphael nothing but the idea of the compositi on ." In similar terms he advised agai nst the Colonna Altarpiece as a "squat, crowded composition with a top heavy baldachin . . . ," but later sold her one of the predella panels. In another letter he wrote , "I know it well . It has nothing to do with Carpaccio ... " Again , he wrote, "The George and the D ragon ascribed to Uccello at Bardini 's which I would not let you buy fo r ÂŁ 200 was sold at Christie's last week fo rÂŁ 1420 !" Rejected by Mrs. Gardner when offered to her at prices which were m ore than she was willing to pay were paintings by Watteau , Romney, El G reco, Bro nzino, Lorenzo di Cred i , Cos ta , Perug ino and Raffaellino de! Garbo. The Warren Tondo , which Berenson wanted her to

purchase , she declined in the vain hope that it wou ld go to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts . In 1917 Berenson pied with her to buy the Feast of the Gods: "It is my conv iction that in the lifetime of either [of] us nothing can appear that would be comparable ... you wi ll be crowning the work of your life." To which Mrs. Gardner replied : "I am terribly excited because I wi ll not abandon hope although I may have to." But it was not to be. "I have saved a nest egg but that is now dwindling . The war tax wi ll finish me." Thereafter, nothing of great importance was added to the collection although smaller purchases were made almost up to Mrs . Gardner's death in 1924. From her letters to Berenson one senses the agonies of refusals and decision that Mrs. Gard ner suffered, at one time referring to the "picture-habit .. . [like] whiskey or morphine." Berenson's abiding interest in her collection increased as the years went on. After 1909 he refused his comm ission but continued to offer some p ictures , and provided fine oriental and medieval objects for lesser amounts than pictures were then fetching. In the end, many of those pictures which she fai led to acquire came to American collections and the standard they established ' influenced the collectors who built great museums on this side of the A tlantic.

Rollin van N . Hadley

Frans H als , Portrait ofa Man Holding a Branch. Then in the Bonomi-Cereda collection, Milan; after passing through many hands, acquired by the National Gall ery of Canada , Ottawa , i~ 1969. 2

Bellini, Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Child. Then at Richter's , Florence; purchased by Theodore Davis, Newport, in 1895; g iven to the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York ; in 1915 . 3 Tintoretto, Portrait of a Man [once thoug ht to be Benedetto Varchi] . Purchased by Theodore Davis; given to the Metropolitan in 1915; sold at Parke-Bernet, New York, in 1973 路 4 Giottino , Crucifixion. Not identified .

5 Bellini , Madonna. ". . . owned by a gentleman .. . " Not identified. 6and 7 Gainsborough, The Blue Boy and Reynolds, Lady Siddons as the Tragic Muse. Then in the Duke of Westminster's collection, London; purchased by Duveen for H.E . Huntington in 1921; now in rhe Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino.

8 Rembrandt , Portrait ofa Young Artist. Then in Lord Carlisle's collection , London ; passed through Colnaghi , London; purchased by Henry Clay Frick in 1899; now in The Frick Collection , New York.

Aldeg rever, Portrait ofa Man. P rovenance and present location unkown . IO

Giorg ione, La Tempesta. Then in the G iovanelli coll ection , Venice , it went to the Accademia, Venice in 1932. II Velazquez, Philip IV. Then in the H olford collection; purchased from Christie's, London , by John Ringling in 1928; now in the J ohn and Mable Ring ling Museum of Art , Sarasota . JO

9 (detail)

12 Romney, Lady Milner. In the Chamberlain collection in l9ro ; present location unknown . 13 Rembrandt, The Mill. Then in Lord Lansdowne's collection; later purchased by Joseph E. Widener, Philadelphia, in l9 II; g iven to the National Gallery of Art , Washington , D.C. , in 1942.

14 Pieter de H ooch, A Woman Sewing, with a Serving Girl and a Child. Then at Colnaghi (recentl y acquired from the Princess de Polig nac's collection , Paris); it passed throug h a number of hands, now owned by G. Dou wes, Amsterdam and D .M. Koes ter, Zurich .

Vermeer, Painter in his Studio. Then in the Czernin collection, Vienna, it went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna , m 1942 . 17

Holbein , Sir Thomas More. Then in the Edward Huth collection , Dublin; purchased from Knoedler, New York , by Frick in 1912; now in The Frick Collection.

15 Watteau , not identified. 18b

18a-b Goya , Charles IV and Queen Marie-Louise. Offered by Durand-Ruel , Paris; the latter purchased from the Denys Cochin collection , Paris , by Charles P. Taft in 1912; now in the Taft Museum, Cincinnati .

19 Raphael , Candelabra Madonna. Th en in the H. A.M. B. J oh nsrone collec ti on , Scotland; purchased by H enr y Walters in r9or; now in the Walters Arr Gallery, Baltimore. 20

Piero di Cos imo, Battle of the Centaurs and Lapithae. Then in the John Burke coll ection , London; in the Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon coll ect ion , London , by 190 5; bequeathed ro the National Gallery, London , in 1937路

Le t te r fro m Be re nso n rn Mrs. G a ron e r, <l a re<l Aug ust 11, 1897, a<l v1s 1ng he r no t ro purc hase Raph ae l's Cr111dclc1brr1 /\l c1drn111t1.

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Holbein, Edward VI as a Child [now considered a copy of the portrait in the Nationa l Gall ery, Washingron, D.C. ] . Sold from the Earl ofYarboroug h's collection at Chri srie's in 1929.

Raphael , Madonna and Child Enthroned with SS. Catherine, Peter, Cecilia , Paul and the infant S. john the Baptist [Colonna Altarpiece] . Then at Sedelmeyer, Paris; purchased by J.P. Morgan , New York ; given to the Metropolitan in 1916. 23

Gherard David , Madonna. Provenance and present location unknown . 24 Watteau ," ... musicians and two couples , one dancing , one flirting in the open air ... " Not identified .

25 Holbein , The Merchant Hermann Wedigho/ Cologne. Then in the Schon born collection ,

Vienna; passed through the collections of F. Stout, Chicago, and E. Harkness , New York; bequeathed to the Metropolitan , 1940.

(detail)

Rembrandc , Portrait of a Boy. or idenci fied .

29 Vigee-Leb run , elf Portrait after Rubens' "Chapeau de Paille." Provenance unknown; now in rhe Rorhschild collecci on , Pari 30 Raphael , Portrait ofa Young Man with Long Hair and a Black Cap. Purchased from Agnew, London by . Whirney, ew York , in 1938; now in rhe Hyde ollecrion , Glens Falls.

26 J acopo de! all a10, The tory of 01phem and E11nd1ce [ rwo ca oni panel ] . Pre enr loca c1 on unknown. In Beren on' 1957 lic ,ca on1panel w1rhche cor y f Orpheu are 1n R ccerdam , Ki ev, and Vi enna.

27 Di.irer, Portrait of a Clergyman. Th en in th e ze rnin oll e ti on , Vi enna; purchased from ewhou e all eri e , ew York , by amu el H. Kre in 1950; now in the N ari onal Gall ery, Was hing ron .

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Lerre r from Berenson ro Mrs. ardn er, <laced January 4 , 1899 . offering a Venenan porcraic, fo rmerly accribured ro Giorgione bur _l(aven by Berenson ro a fo llower, ap ri oli .

32 Benvenuto di Giovanni[)] , Alberto Aringhieri, Knight of Malta . Then owned by Berenson . Offer withdrawn in 1899 (forgery).

33 Perugino, The Nativity with SS. Michael, john the Baptist, Jerome and George. Then in the Villa Albani , Rome , where it remains. 34 Uccello, S. George and the Dragon. Then at Bardini, Florence; purchased by N. Jacquemart in 1899; now in the Musee J acquemart-Andre, Paris .

31 Caprioli , Portrait of a Man [once thoug ht to be Gattamelata] . Not identified . The portrait of Gattamelata in the Uffizi, given by some authorities to Giorgione, does not fit the description . 35

35 Titian , Sacred and Profane L()l)e. Then in the Villa Borghese Gallery, Rome, where it remains .

32 4'i

36 Perugino, Bust of . Sebastian. Then 1n che Walkonsk1 collecnon, Madrid, now in che Hermicage, Leningrad .

37 followe r ofFdippino Lippi [now che Mascer of che Lachrop Tondo], Madonna

and Chrld wrth . Jerome(?), Catherrne and Donor. In che Lachrop colleccion, ew York before 1906; Wildenscein from 1929-69; purchased by che J. Paul Geny Museum, Malibu, in 1969.

1900

roco, Holy Family rn a Landscape. oc 1dennfied.

39 rpacc10, Persew and Andromeda and Bellerophon and Pegasus[?]. Perhap chese are che panel , formerly owned by Mr . cand1 h, Pan , acmbu ced co a close follower of arpacc10 in Berenson's 1957 Ii (.

40 Bronzano, '". . bu c of a 1ed1c1 infant, hdd of o 1mo, che fir c rand Duke . .. oc 1denr1fied

Lono, Vrrgrn and Chr!d Enthroned wrth arnts . Then ac edelmeyer; afrer pas 1ng chrough many hand , purchased by J. . John on an 191 l, now 1n che Johnson ollecnon, Philadelphia fu eum of An . 42 uard1, t. iark 's q11are. Provenance and pre enc locanon unknov. n

Bolcraffio, P(Jrtrart (If a Youth. Purch c:d from T Ktrr-1..av. on by John on on Beren on re ommendanon an 1909 ; nov. an che john on olleccion , Phdadelphi.i Mu c:um of Arc.

44 Francia, Pieta. Perhaps then in the Cellamare Palace, Naples ; purchased by George Salting ca. 1901; bequeathed to the National Gallery, London in l9ro. 45 Velazquez , Balthazar Carlos as a Hunter and Three Dogs. Then in the collection of the Marquis of Bristol at Ickworth Park ; now part of the National Trust , Ickworth House , Bury St. Edmond 's.

Bonfigli, notidentified .

47 Ercole Roberti , Abraham and Melchizedek. Then at Colnaghi (recently acquired from the Chigi collection, Rome); present location unknown . 45

48 Lorenzo di Credi , Ascension o/S. Louis with Two Angels. After passing through

many hands , purchased from Duveen by Huntington; now in the Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

·l <) ( o ra , M.1~ 1m.1 . Proh.1hl) rhc: pi nu re: clacn ov.ncJ b · Bc:rcn,on , 1 urth.i,c:J h · John,on in 19 , nov. in the: John,on ( ollc:ui o n , Phil. Jdphi.1 .\tu,t·um of re. <j O

Peru •i no , ,\l.1Jo11n.1 ,111d IJtld u 11/J J u .11/ou . Thrn uv. nc:J by lkrt·n-.on (Jt4u1n:J from .\1.1nur1, Flort·nu , " · 19 :>0) purth.1 c:J O\ John,on in H) 0 9 , now in rhc: John on ( ollc: rion, PhdJJc:lph1a :-.fu,t'um of re <jl

R.1.f.1dlino Jtl C1Jrho \l..ido1111..i W'orih1pp111 tf,, CI mt l·dd [con Jo) . oc i<lt'nrific:J .

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dippino l.1ppi , /fol f·:mul; u 11h In .int 5 j Im wJ ~ \l.ir .mr. Tht·n ov. ncd b ( \Var rt n .tnd f: P \\1arrc: n, IC f ,1 \t·J rhrou1-:h orhtr hand afrtr '' l•J, urh 't I h rht ( Jt,danJ ,\tu c:um of Arc in l :J ~

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58 Velazquez, The Toilet of Venus . From the ]. B. S. Morrice collection , Rokeby, Yorkshire , it went to Agnew in 190 5; purchased from Agnew by the National Art-Collections Fund and presented to the National Gallery, London, in 1906.

59 Master of Flemalle [ Campin]. Not identified .

60 Baldassare Estense, Uberto de' Sacrati , his Wife and their Son Tommaso. Then at Volpi , Florence (purchased from the Palazzo Sacrati-Strozzi , Ferrara); purchased in the Munich art market by the Alce Pinakothek , Munich, in 1913.

6r tagno, Portrait ofa Man. Then owned by Duveen (purchased from the Kann collection); purchased by Morgan; passed from Morgan to A. Mellon ; now in the ational Ga ll ery, Washington.

62 Benozzo Gozzol i, S. Zenobius Raises a Boy from the Dead. Then owned by Duveen (purchased from the Kann collection); purchased by the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum in 1909, now in the BerlinDahlem Museum .

63 Van Dyck, Marchesa Elena Grimaldi, wife of Marchese Nicola Cattaneo. Then in the Cattaneo collection; purchased by Widener; given to the Nationa l Gallery, Washington, 1942.

64 Albert Bouts, not identified . Then at Dowdeswell , London; present location unknown .

65 Barna da Siena, not identified .

66 Goya , The Countess of Altamira and her Daughter. Then at Kleinberger, Paris (purchased from the Goldschmidt collection); purchased by Robert Lehman; now in the Lehman Collection , Metropolitan.

68 a

67 Roger van der Weyden , Francesco d'Este. Then at Colnaghi ; after passing through many hands, purchased by M . Friedsam, New York , in 1918; bequeathed to the Metropolitan in 193!.

68a-b Raffaello dei Carli , Tobias , SS. Raphael and Catherine and SS. Stephen, Apollonia and Genesius . Then in the Crawshay collection; purchased through Berenson by G. Winthrop, New York , in l9u; bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum , Cambridge, in 1943路

66 ~ I

69 Bellini, S. Francis in Ecstasy. Then in M.A. Driver's collection; passed through Colnaghi and Obach, London , in 1912; purchased from Knoedler by Frick in 1915; now in The Frick Collection.

Piero della Francesca , Crucifixion. Then owned by Duveen; passed through the collections ofC. W. Hamilton , New York, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., New York; given to The Frick Collection in 1945路

71 Bellini and Titian , The Feast of the Gods. Then in the Duke of Northumberland 's collection; purchased by Widener in 1921; now in the National Gallery, Washington .

1922

72 Cimabue, Christ'with SS. Peter andJ ames. Then in the H amilton collection ; purchased by Duveen about 1924 , and by Mellon in 1937; now in the N ational Gallery, Washington . 73 Filippi no Lippi , Madonna and Child. Then owned by Duveen; purchased by J.S. Bache, New York; bequeathed to the Metropolitan in 1949路

Second Thoughts

Glimpses of the creative process that enters into the conception and execution of a pai nting are rare indeed . Preliminary sketches and models therefore are often valued as much for the light that they shed on this process, as for their intrinsic worth. Helpful though preparatory studies may be in the understanding of completed paintings, nothing brings us quite so close to the workings of an artist's mind than evidence in a finished work of second thoughts that occurred during its execution. Such alterations, changes made only when the artist is already at work on a painting, are referred to as pentimenti . Of course, pentimenti were never intended to see the light of day, and in many cases not even X-rays or infra-red photography will reveal their existence. More often than not , however, apentimento is visible to the naked eye, exposed either by unfortunate overcleaning in which the final paint layer is abraded or even removed, or by virtue of the fact that thin paint layers have a tendency to become translucent or transparent with time. Translucence in old paint layers may also reveal an underlying drawing or g uideline. Naturally, the thinner the paint layer, the greater the po_ssibility of eventually revealing evidence of an underlying design .

Figure 1 Peselli no Madonna and Child with a Swallow tempera , 59.7 X 39. 5 cm. Inv. No. P r6wu, Raphael Room Isabell a Stewart Gardner Museum

The scale and importance ofpentimenti vary enormously. Often they enable us to follow the painter as he struggles to position a figure; they may reveal a substitu-

Figure

Madonna and Child with a Swal/()W detail of figure 1. The outline of the Virgin's mantle was altered. Traces of the original contour can be seen above the shoulder. The artist also lowered rhe cornice, ignoring the incised horizontal guideline. Figure 3

Madonna and Child with a Swal/()W derail of figure 1. The original placement of rhe Madonna's fingers is vis ibl e under the flesh rones of the Chi ld's leg .

tion of one element for another, or even a complicated alteration of the whole design. Pentimenti can occur at any stage of execution, and there are instances of the painter returning to his already finished work after an interval of time for an ultimate revision. (Pentimenti should not be confused with later changes by another artist.) Not allpentimenti , however, are the result of aesthetic or painterly considerations by the artist. Changes in costume, architecture or other details may be the result of a patron's demands. Whatever the reason for the pentimento, we can assume neither that it was an arbitrary decision, nor that it was always easy to bring this second thought into harmony with the rest of the painting. Any change, insignificant as it may seem, alerts us to an active creative pro-

cess and may sometimes give us additional information about the artist and his methods. The pentimenti in Pesellino's Madonna and Child are simple, local corrections (figures r-3). They are, nonetheless, of particular significance because they bear witness to the spontaneity of execution . There are several versions of this composition but the presence ofpentimenti here suggests that this is the work of Pesellino himself, because a copy, no matter how free , would faithfully follow the original.

Figure 4 Botticell i The Madonna of the Eucharist tempera , 85 X 64 .5 cm. Inv. No. P27w73 , Long Gall ery Isabella Stewart Gard ner Museum .

Figure 5 The MadlJnna of the Eucharist derai l of fig ure 4. There are numerous pentimenti in this area . The faint ci rculr lines on the Vi rgin's robe are evidence of rhe orig inal pl ace ment of the Child's head , and the vertical strokes running through his face are the folds of the Virg in's mantl e as they wou ld have appeared had the position of rhe Child not been changed . The position of the Child's legs , his hands , and the Virgi n's hands has also been altered , and the drapery across the Child's chest has been lowered.

In Botticelli's Madonna of the Eucharist the pentimenti are major and occur at every stage of execution (figure 4). Far from being unconnected correc tions and alterations , all the pentimenti seem to have been the result of one major second thought: the introduction of a more important landscape and a broader view of the sky. The vigorous umber brushstrokes to the right of the angel's head are remnam s of a free sketch made prior to painting (figure 6). These strokes probably indicate

Figure 6 The MadlJnna of the Eucharist derail of figure 4. T he obvious pentimento in the sky may indicate the first p lacement of the angel's head . (T his photograph shows the panel with retouchi ng removed .) 57

the first placement of the head , althoug h they may have outlined a landscape element-a tree or bush. Whatever its identity, it is clear that this fo rm would have limited the view of the sky and distant landscape. Other traces of the first plan may be seen in the horizontal brushstroke at the rig ht which seems to have placed the original horizon line considerably higher than the present one. The drawing visible under the Virgin's red robe shows that at first the Child 's head was placed closer to the middle of the composition; g uide lines visible under the fl esh to ne indicate a plan fo r the position of his arms and legs that was later discarded (fig ure 5).

Fig ure 7 The Madonna of the Eucharist derail of fig ure 4. T he art ist has searched our the contour of the angel's face , repos iri oning it slightly as he worked . T he placement of the features , especiall y the chin and the proper right eye, has also been altered . Figure 8 The Madonna of the Eucharist derail of fig ure 4. Pentimenti here indicate that the Virg in's collar and mantl e were once a bit full er.

Major outlines of the composition were th us changed before Botticelli began ro paint . He continued to streng then and tig hten his desig n by minor alterations, so there are numerous pentimenti in the paint ing stage as well. The contour of the angel's hair on the rig ht was shifted a bit to the left , leaving a still larger space in the middle of the com pos ition . There are other less striking pentimenti in the angel's face: the outl ine of the p roper left side of the face and the delineation of the featu res were altered shortly before the pai nting was comp leted (figure 7). These small corrections succeed in tilting the head at a slightly more acute angle, increasi ng the tension and sweep of the composi tion . Toward this end and at the same time, Botti cell i ad justed the outline of the Vi rgin's head and shoulders (figure 8), as well as the pos ition of the Child 's drapery. The aim of leading the eye into a distant landscape wi thout

compositional obstruction or hindrance and doing so without lessening the importance of the figural group was thus pursued continuously-from the first decisive change in the preliminary drawing to the final , subtle alteration's inade as the work neared completion . N o matter the importance of apentimento, its discovery is g reeted with c!elight , particularl y when it clearly reflects spontaneity on the part of the artist or points ro the orig inality of the work of art. Pentimenti do, of course , illuminate the genesis of a painting, but perhaps some of our interest and delight stems from the fac t that they are tangible evidence of struggle and difficulty.

Gabrielle Kopelman

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Incorporated Fifty-fifth Annual Report for the Year 1979

Lion of S. Mark , rhe parron sainr of Veni ce , (seve nreenrh cenrury or larer) ar rhe enrrance ro rhe Room of Early l ralian Painrings.

Report of the President

Mrs . Gardner's famous will , in which she gave Fenway Court and her collection to Trustees , as a Museum , contained unusually specific directions. Quite frequently such specific directions about charitable institutions do not succeed ; times change, the prescription no longer fits, and the Trustees or directors have to seek a court's permission to make appropriate adjustments. This has not been true of Mrs. Gardner's directions. In the sixty years since she signed her will , there has been no need to change them. The Museum is exactly as she left it when she died, except that through continuous and expert conservation and restoration the condition of the collection has been considerably improved.

Capi ta l of a Roma n Corinrhian pil asre r (rhird cenrury) in rhe Chi nese Logg ia.

Mrs. Gardner did give some advice in her will that has not been followed , but it is highly pertinent today. She provided that the director "shall in his discretion , charge and collect a fee from visitors to the Museum, as in my opinion the greatest good to the public and the community will be attained by charging such fee ..." Nevertheless , the director and the Trustees have chosen to keep the Museum free to the public. Boston is a

city preeminently for students , and students and others who would have to think twice about paying a fixed admission charge make good and frequent use of the Museum . Although no admission fee is charged , we have in the past two years asked each visitor to make a voluntary contribution in some amount, whatever he chooses . Our preference would have been ro avoid doing even this, but with continually inflating costs , we no longer can hope to support the Museum with endowment income. So far, thanks to contributions from visirors, our operations have been in the black. They will not stay there unless we find new sources of support. In 1979 we turned ro the public at large and asked people ro become Members. The early response has shown that the Museum has many loyal friends , and we hope over time ro build a list of Members who, through annual contributions , will play an important part in keeping the Museum ahead of inflation . During 1979 an amenity has been added ro the Museum , a small cafe where you can get a light meal, a cup of coffee or tea , and before long , we hope , a glass of wine. In fine weather there will be outdoor tables in the garden. I mentioned expert conservation and resroration . It goes on all the time , requiring extraordinary and unsung skills and patience, and the wisdom , taste and integrity that go into deciding what must be done, and what must not be done . Our direcror and staff have these qualities; the Trustees admire and thank them. Malcolm D . Perkim

Report of the Director

For the first time in its history the Museum has invited the public to become members . The intent is to find loyal supporters for the years ahead . The policy and dues schedule adopted by the Trustees was based on a survey of other institutions made by Professor Mason Hammond and his committee, and seems to be working . Shortly before the end of the year, the first checks arrived , and by the new year two hundred had responded. As more than half had sent checks for two, the Museum had over three hundred members , a good beginning . Obviously the Museum has a strong following and a good number could be counted on to join for the pleasure of being associated with Mrs. Gardner's Museum . Elsewhere, support was received from the National Endowment for the Arts for a visiting specialist to study the Museum's textiles in preparation for a catalogue. Adolph Cavallo, the Curator of Textiles and Costume at the Museum of Art , Philadelphia, surveyed the collection and selected the pieces to be included, about two hundred and forty in all, of which thirty-two are tapestries . Further recognition came from two hisVeneti an Well H ead of lscrian scone in the Courtyard .

torical preservation agencies: the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the Boston Landmarks Commission. The Museum's heavy schedule of concerts again drew support from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities , allowing a modest increase in the budget during this period of devastating inflation . This year for Mrs . Gardner's birthday concert Ende! Kalam conducted an orchestra of eighteen in a program of Mozart, Vivaldi , and Britten . Just prior to that, on April 14th , the Cowley Fathers conducted the memorial Mass in honor of Mrs . Gardner. Although the staff and Trustees were able to use the cafe in January, official sanction from the city was not forthcoming until July, after which the public was admitted. The refreshment served is light but well chosen . A dinner or lunch can be served by prior arrangement with a caterer, and on several occasions out-of-town visitors have dined following a morning tour of the collection. The outside terrace was completed in the spring , and for the enjoyment of patrons , further planting was done in the Monks' Garderi . The gardeners received a Gold Medal for their display of azaleas in the New England Horticultural Society Spring Flower Show. Again last year Mrs . James Lawrence designed the display for the exhibition which was remembered for the beautiful geometric shape and the unusual black stones which surrounded the flowers . The gardeners took another Gold Medal in the Camellia Show.

T he g reenhouses have attracted donations in the past years and particularly in 1979路 Robert W. Mill , pres ident of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, gave a group of young Paphiopdilum orchids and John E. Miller a collection of Odontoglossum orchid seedlings. Mrs. E. B. Brewster gave a night blooming cereus (H ylocereus Undatus Selenicerus) . To all of them the Museum 's g rateful thanks for their interest in what we are doing. The parents of David N angle , who died suddenly in an accident , asked that friends contribute in his memory to the Gardner Museum because of what it had meant to him . With sympathy and in gratitude the Museum accepted donations from fifteen individuals and one group .

Cafe rerrace

Studies begun several years ago on the efficiency of the building and its heat sources have led to various modifications in the system . Last year three g reenhouses were insulated and all of them received caulking in further efforts to save fuel. If the present method is as successful as it seems, all the houses

will be covered. Other plans call for insulation in the office wing , on the ends of the court skylight , and ultimately an alternate form of energy if outside funding becomes available. The Museum joined with other institutions in celebratingjapan Today by inviting Hiroaki Sato, the poet , to read contemporary poetry and his English translations of Hagawara Sakutaro on May 4th . The film Isabella Stewart Gardner/Boston, which ran weekly at the museum , appeared on WGBH in Boston again last spring. Efforts are being made to have it shown on other public broadcasting stations across the country. Special visits were granted to the following organizations (attendance in parentheses). April 20: H arvard Uni versiry Press (250) May 2: MGH Deparrmenr of Surgery (150) May 7: The El eccrochemical Sociery (:joo) May 16: Sociery of Photog raphic Scienc is rs and Eng ineers (150) June l : H arvard Business School '59 (200) Ju ne 2: W CRB Scholarship Fund (250) Aug ust 13: Beaucy Barber Supply Instirure (350) Aug usr 17: Theta Del ca Chi Educati onal Foundari on (70) Augusr 29 : Tufrs Universiry Inrernari onal Asrronomica l Uni on (100) Seprember 6: H arvard Medical Schoo l ( 180) O ctober 3: Ameri can Sociery of Mi crobiology (200) October 12 : Ameri can Society for Adolescent Psychi arr y (200) October 24: MG H Deparcmenr ofN eurology ( 150) October 26: Simmons Coll ege Alumnae (4 50) October 29: Sociery of Rheology (300) N ovember 16: Governor Dummer Academy(1 80) N ovember 18: Sociery ofN ephrology ( 150) Decem ber y Boston University Law Revi ew (2 00)

Attendance was slightly higher than last year: 129,386 in 1979 as compared with 123, 213 in 1978. Sales Desk receipts were $49,618. 21, a sizeable jump over last year.

The Museum was represented at the College Art Association by two staff members and at the NEMA conference by the archivist and the assistant director. A course on growing plants for museums at the Smithsonian was attended by the head gardener and a conference on the preservation of brick buildings organized by a French committee and held in Venice was attended by the objects conservator. Joseph Pratt, museum photographer, who began work in 1936 and retired in 1975 , working only a few days a week thereafter, left the Museum at the end of July. His long and faithful service was celebrated at a lunch in August and all of his colleagues wish him well in retirement. The Museum is fortunate to have as his replacement Greg Heins. Rebecca Karo left the staff after completing a checklist of Mrs . Gardner's books which will be printed next year. Leo V Klos , Jr. , conservator and technical liaison, resigned after eleven years of service. His care for the collection and special knowledge of technical matters will be missed. The death of Bernard Doherty is reported with regret. Mr. Doherty had worked as a guard since l97L Anthony Flynn , Jerry Clifford, and David Twomey, guards , retired 30 September. The following also left the Museum during the year: Steve Duffe, Thomas King, and Paul McCurdy, watch; Eric Watmough and Elizabeth Wirth, guards. Thirteen have been engaged for regular duties: Kathryn Hammond, cafe; Louise Olsen, textile conservation; Mary Anne Dignan, membership; Lawrence Williams, objects conservation; Barbara Russell, archives; Bruce Bayleran, Leslie

Gardner, and Stanley Stanul , watch ; Thomas Abraham , Alfred Hazoury, Herbert Kenney, and Cathy Schwartz , guards . Employed in restricted schedules are : Carol Blanchard , Laura DiCurcio, James Hartin, Louise Mattaliano , Eileen Murphy, Susan McHugh , Michael Zeoli , and John Colleran . Both Cathryn Kohrman and Philip Walsh volunteered many hours to help organize the Museum's membership drive . While the Museum continues on a course set by Mrs . Gardner, it has been strengthened and improved by the work of the Trustees and staff members. In her spirit, they have accepted opportunities for service to the Museum which such a collection offers. Much has been done and yet , amazingly, much remains that can be done . It is to their credit that these opportunities are seldom neglected, for which the director is indeed grateful .

Rollin van N . Hadley

Spanish Sranding Bishop in an Arch (firsr q uarrer of rhe fifreenrh cenrury) in rhe Long Ga ll ery.

Report of the Curator

Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner, an exhibition of their correspond nee, was planned by the curator and archivist and opened in the fall. Displayed with the letters were several books and photographs of Berenson , his villa, and obj ects he recommended for purchase . A pamph let with a note on the correspondence and list of obj ects acquired by Mrs. Gardner through Berenson accompanied the exhibition.

Roman Throne (late second cent ury A. O.) , a copy of a work of the late H ell enistic peri od , in t he ce nter of rhe Courtyard .

The staff has continued to transcribe letters in the Museum archives and classify archival photographs in order to provide easier access to this rich material for both students and scholars. This work has already resulted in increased interest in the Museum's holdings: ten of John Singer Sargent's letters to Mrs . Gardner were loaned to the Detroit Institute of Art for the exhibitionjohn Singer Sargent in the Edwardian Age, and several photog raphs were loaned to the National Gallery of Ari: and the Fogg Art Museum for the exhibition Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting.

With Berenson still in mind , the second annual series of lectures by g raduate students in art history took connoisseurship as its theme. Papers were presented , natTapestries have been given particular urally enough , on Italian Renaissance attention this year by the textile conserpai ntings , but they also treated topics as diverse as Copley's portraits and Matisse's vation staff. While the conservator continues to repair and strengthen the sources for La Bonheur de Vivre. Amazon Queens, an important Flemish work dated to ca . 1450-75 , the old backing, linen , straps , and webbing were removed from both the Music and Garden tapestries in the late sixteenth~early sewnteenth-century Chateau and Garden series . After repairs, the former was washed and relined at the Merrimack Valley Textile Conservation Center. The conservator surveyed the entire collection in preparation for a catalogue, reviewed existing storage conditions , and recommended improvements which will be implemented next year. The conservator of paintings has been occupied chiefly by the cleaning and restoration of Piero della Francesca's Hercules . She has also treated the Portrait ofa Woman in Black by Tintoretto and Giotto's Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple.

In addition to assisti ng in work on the Piero the conservator of objects treated an early sixteenth-century figure of S. George and the Dragon and an eighteenth-century Venetian commode (Fusr4). He examined and tested several pieces of polychrome sculpture in order to determine the extent of original pol ychromy and potential fo r treatment . Systematic treatment of all silver in the collection was also begun. The silver is cleaned and then lacq uered to retard tarnishing . Watercolors by George H allowell , Ralph Curtis, and Joseph Lindon Smith were treated in the paper laboratory. Preservation of the Museum's archival holdings continued, particularly musical scores and photographs . The conservator took a leave of absence for three months in order to serve as a consultant at the New England Document Conservation Center. We have been fortunate in the number of volunteers working at the Museum this year. The Department of Art History at Boston University placed two interns: Ellen Longsworth presented a course on Renaissance painting to students from Newton High School, and Amy Lighthill assisted in the docent program, pre-

Berenson and MrJ . Gardner, 10 Ocrober 1979-30 March 1980

Giono , The Presentation of the Infant j esuJ in the Temple, gold and rempera on wood, 45 x4 3 cm . , Inv. No. P3ow9, Gorhic Room , Isabell a rewarr Gardner Museum. Cleaned and resrored in 1979.

paring a tour and slide lecture. During the summer Joan Kisber worked with the curator and June Gardner assisted in the archives. Dusty Logan joined the volunteer staff as docent and research assistant . We are particularly grateful to two students who shared with us their research on paintings in the collection. J anet Black , a graduate student in art history at Boston University, studied Boucher's Car of Venus , and Gwendolyn Owens, a student in Williams College's Graduate Program in the History of Art, re-examined the iconography and patronage of Botticelli's Tragedy of Lucretia.

Deborah Gribbon

Publications

Guide to the Collection . An illustrated g uide fo r visitors, with a brief sketch of the fo under. H ighl ighting the collection , room by room , with attributions and descrip tions reflecting recent publications; revised 2nd ed ition; n6 pp . Paperbound $2 .oo; Postage and packing $ .80 (domestic)$ r. oo (international).

Derail from the N orthern French Retable with Scenes of the Pass ion (ca. 1425) in t he N ort h C loister.

Oriental and Islamic Art in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, by Yasuko H orioka , Marylin Rhie and Walter B. Denny, 1975路 A full y illust rated catalogue; this small collection includes sculpture, paintings, ceramics, lacquer ware, miniatures and carving s. Paperbound $3. 50; Postage and packing $ .80 (domestic)$ r. oo (international).

European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, by Philip Hendy, 1974路 A descriptive catalogue , with biographies of the artists and reproductions of all the paintings; 282 black and white illustrations , 38 color plates . Clothbound $30.00; Postage and packing $2.25 (domestic) $2 .50 (international). Drawings/Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, edited by Rollin van N . Hadley, 1968. A small group of notable drawings ranging in date from the late fifteenth to the early twentieth century; 38 illustrations, frontispiece in color. Paperbound $r.25; Postage and packing $ .80 (domestic)$ r. oo (international). Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum . A Selection of Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors , The University of Chicago Press , 1976. A microfiche with 167 color illustrations, captions, and biographical sketch of Mrs. Gardner. Paperbound $ 19. 50; Postage and packing $ . 50 (domestic)$ r.25 (international). Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court, by Morris Carter. A biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner and a history of the formation of her collection by the first director of the museum-; foreword by G . Peabody Gardner; illustrated; third edition . Clothbound $8.oo; Postage and packing $ .85 (domestic)$ r. 50 (international).

A Checklist of the Correspondence of Isabella Stewart Gardner at the Gardner Museum . Wrirers , compo ers , perfo rmers , p la ncians , hi stori ans, and frie nd from rhe 1B6o's to rhe 192o's , num bering over 1000 names , wirh a g uide ro rhe locarions of collecred lerrer in rhe mu eum , 12 pp . Paperbound $ .IO; Po ra e and packing $ . 15 (dome ric) .40 (inrernarional). Fmway Court . Illusrrared arricles on rhe collecrion and rhe archive , from a rgenr 's warercolors to Mr . Gard ner's rn p to Bayreurh ; museum reporrs by rhe presidenr and director. Annual Reporr for 1970 and 1972 rhroug h 1977 are available . Paperbound 2. 50 (1970: $2. oo); Postage and packing $.Bo (domesric) 1.00 (inrerna rional). Fenway Court, 1966-1970 . ing le issue , illuscrared arricles on rhe coll ecrion . A lisr of subjecrs will be senr on req ues r. 10 cenrs per issue .

ew P11b/1cat1om

a1/p111re rn the Isabella teu rt Gardner Muse11m, by ornel1u . Vermeul e, III , Walrer h n and Rollin va n . Hadl ey, 1977. An illusrrared ca ralog ue f rhe scul pru re collecn on , whi ch include exam ples from rhe class ical and med1 e al periods rhroug h rhe Rena1s ance ro rhe modern era ; 264 black and whire illu crarions. Paperbound 9 .95; lorhbound 15 .00; Posrage and packing .B5 (domesric) 1. 50 (inrernarional). The Isabella Stewart Gardner Mwe11m, 197B. A handsomely illusrra red book , conrain ing essays on rhe fo under and rhe collec ri on by rhe di rector, curator and prominenr scholars; Bo pp., 24 color pl ares . Clorh bound lB .oo; Posrage and packing .B5 (domes ric) 1. 50 (inrernari onal).

C.rJt:eo- RomJn Rd1d o ( J ,\L1cnaJ or Hor.i (hr;c or >t'<. onJ ccncur) /\ 0) ;~ c 1nco J -. all o f chc oUrt)JrJ

A lisc o( tides 1 J\'adable on rl-quesc Libraries Jnd ocher educaC1onal 1nsC1ruC1on are ffered a 40% d is ou n c on masc n em Mad orde r will be sh ipped by 4 rh class . book race (do me c1c) or urface races (incernac1onal) Please make check or money order payable co che Isabella cewarc <fi rdner Museum Manusc ri p ts on su b1eccs relaced co che coll e c1 on will be con 1dered fo r p ub li caCI n . Pl ease end p roposa l to rhe cu rator

Trustees

The Isabell a Stewart Ga rd ner Museu m , Incorporated , Sole Trustee under t he will of Isabe lla Stewa rt Gardner

President

Staff.

ADMI N IST RAT ION

CO NSER VATION

Director

Conservator of Paintings

Roll in va n N . H ad ley

Gabrielle Kopelman

AJJistant Director Linda V. H ew itt

Conservator of Textiles

Curator

Marjori e R . Bullock

Malcolm D . Perkins

Vice-President and Treasurer

Deborah G rib bon

Conservation Assistants, Textiles

J ohn Lowell Ga rdner

A rchivist/Administrative Assistant

Marl ene Eidelheit Lou ise O lse n

Susa n Sinclair

SeniQY Objects ConservatQY

Secretary J am es L. Terry

Administrative Secretary

J ac k Sou lca nian

H ope Coolidge Ell iot Forbes Mason H ammond Francis W. H atch , Jr. J am es Lawrence

Collections Secretary

Conservation Assistant , Objects

Karen E . H aas

Lawrence Willi am s

Membership Secretary

Paper Conservator

Mary Anne Dig nan

Caroline Graboys

Photographer G reg H eins

Peacocks of Imm orca lit y, cast fo r a med allion in J ohn Si nge r Sa rgent's decorat ion of the Boston Pu b li c Library ( 1 90~- 1 6), in t he Blue Room .

SECUR ITY AN D MAINT EN AN CE

Director of Music

SupervisQY of Buildings

J ohanna Gi wosky

J ohn F. Niland

Docents

Security Foreman

Marie L. Diam ond Judith E. H anhi sa lo Clara S. Mon roe Dust y Loga n

Pat rick McCo ll um

Assistant Security Forenzan Charles H eid orn

Sales Clerk

Maintena nce Foreman

Loren L. Benson

Alfred ] . Smith

Shop Technician Mi chael Finn ert y

MA INT ENANCE AN D WATCH

Robert An de rson Bruce Bay leran Eli zabeth Bing Patr ick Burns Wi ll iam Evans D onald Feeney Robert French Loui se Ma ttaliano Susan McH ug h Yvonne Mercer J oseph Min iutti Patri ck T. N il and J onathan Randolph Brian Sca rry Stanl ey Stanul Pieter Vanderbeck Michael Zeoli

G UARDS

T homas F. Abraham Mau rice B. Ahern H enry Barry Pasqua le D 'Alessio Th om as Di rra ne Edwa rd P. Downs Fred erick C. Doyle Dennis Fitzgerald Francis R. Gill is Alfred H azoury J ohn H . H oll and Mi chael H url ey H erbert Kenney J ohn ) . Ki ng Da ni el Mclaug h lin Charl es McStravick J ohn Mu rphy Dani el O 'Connell J oseph Ra junas J ohn C. Ribner J eremi ah Ryan Ca thy Schwartz Mi chae l Shea Patri ck H . Slev in J ames Su ll ivan Loui s Yachetta

GARDENING

Head Gardener Robert M. MacKenzie

Gardeners Charles P. Healy, Jr. Joseph F. Kiarsis Stanley Kozak

CAFE

Cafe SuperviJ()Y Kathryn Hammond

Cafe Assistants James Hartin Ellen Morse

MUSEUM OFFICE

Palace Road Boston, Massachusetts 2

0 2!15

â&#x20AC;˘On regular duty 31 December 1979

Report of the Treasurer

STATEMENT OF NET ASSETS DECEMBER 31, 1979 AN D 1978

1979 Net assets

Investments, (Note l ): Bonds , at quoted market pri ce (cost $3,227,799 in 1979 and $4,542,834 in 1978) Srocks , at quoted market price (cost $6, 129 ,133 in 1979 and $5,674,340 in 1978) Total investments, at market Allowance for unreali zed (appreciation ) deprec iation

.$ 2,816,668

7, 107,982

5, 790 ,812

$ 9 ,924,65 0

$ 10,0 35 ,95 1

(567 , 7 18) 181 , 223 $ 9 ,356 ,9 3 2 $10 ,2 17 , 174

Commercial paper, at cos t which approx im ates m arket

Fund balances

2,40 1,75 0

Total investments, at cost

$ I I , 758 ,682

Cash Prepaid bond interest Accrued income taxes (No te r)

Museum property (No te 1): Museum building and und erl ying land Contents of Museum building Greenhouse and underl ying land Cafete ri a (net of deprec iatio n)

$ 4,245 , l 39

, 355 ,200

$ 11 ,572,374

62,41 l $ 22 ,0 60 46 (18 ,952) ( 19 ,38 3) $1 1,80 2, 187 $ 11,575 ,0 51 $

366,400 4 ,0 15, 000 560 ,5 0 7 48 ,889

366,400 4 ,0 15 ,000 560, 507 47 ,080

$ 4,990 ,796

$ 4 ,988 ,98 7

Net assets

$ 16,792 ,98 3

$ 16 , 564, 0 38

Operating (No te 3) General Maintenance and depreciation (Note r)

T he affompanying notes are an integral part of thesefinancial s/atements .

5,678,0 25 1, 114 ,958

170, 555 5 ,640 ,832 752,65 l

STAT E MEN T OF CASH RE C EIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS FO R TH E YEARS END E D DECE MB E R 3 1, 1979 AND 1978

1978

1979

Investment income: Interest Di vidends

$ $

Other income: Sale of publi cations and other items Visito rs' co ntributions G rants and other co ntribut ions Other rece ipts Membershi p appeal Total income Operating expenses: Museum operating expenses : Maintenance and sec urity Administration Care of co ll ectio ns and paintings Gardening and g rounds Music Catalogue Publication-Co nnoisseur Pensions (No te 2) Professional services Federal income taxes (N ore 1) Insurance Co mpensation of manag ing trustees G ardner Museum film Boston plan membership Boo k ex hibition Spec ial ex hibition Membership appeal Total operating expenses Income from operatio ns N on-operating expenses: Renovations to Museum building Energ y studi es Total non-operating expenses Cafeteri a: Operating loss Depreciation (Note 1) Total cafeteria expenses

Excess of income over disbursements The acromba n vin ~ notes a re a n i nte~ra l ba rf of these fina ncial statements.

55 2, 163 $ 3 19 ,900 872 ,06 3 $

490, 620 309 ,089 799 ,709

50,022 104 ,617 5 ,000 I l, 569 14 , 700

37,6 30 90, 696 28, 141 13, 214

185 ,90 8

169 ,681

$ 1,057 ,971

969 ,390

322,269 $ 243, 1 53 66,455 55 , 593 43 ,96 3 6,22 0

309 ,869 236 , 148 104, 747 54,308 40 ,155 10 ,587 29, 198 17 , 177 39,681 16,ooo 23,424 5, 100 18 , 103

12 ,883 38 ,065 16 ,700 19,333

5,000 6,379

,7 09 8 ,805 840, 148

910,876

217 ,823 " $

58 , 514

11,322

l l, 32 2

7, 060 496 7,556

1, 525

3,426 11 ,323 14,749

191,752

' 525

49A33

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. Summary of accounting policies The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , Incorporated (Museum Corporation), the sole trustee under the will of Isabella Stewart Gardner, is the owner of the property which is located at 2 Palace Road , Bosron , MA ., and the works of art collected there by Mrs. Gardner. The more significant accounting policies of the Museum Corporation not covered elsewhere in this report include the following:

A . Basis ofpresentation The Museum Corporation prepares its financial statements on a modified cash basis of accounting . Under this method , revenues and expenses are recognized when received and paid rather than when earned or incurred , except for Federal income taxes which are recognized when incurred . B. Investments The Museum Corporation presents investments at quoted market price, less an allowance for unrealized appreciation (depreciation). No change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) is recognized for financial statement purposes . However, this information has been included below the Statement of Cash Receipts and Disbursements for disclosure purposes . C. Museum property Museum property is stated at appraised values established on December 24, 1936. Additions made subsequently are stated at cost. The Museum Corporation has consistently followed the practice of charging renovations to expense rather than providing for depreciation of Museum property, except for the newly constructed cafeteria, which is being depreciated over its estimated useful life beginning in 1979路 Allocations to the Maintenance and Depreciation Fund are credited thereto when authorized by the Trustees.

D. Federal income taxes Under the Internal Revenue Code, the Museum Corporation is classified as a private operating foundation and , accordingly, required ro pay a tax of 2% of "net investment income ," as defined . 2. Pension plan The Museum Corporation has a pension plan which covers , substantially, all full time employees who meet certai n age and employment req uirements. The Museum Corporation's policy is to fund pension costs accrued . Costs charged to operations in 1979 and 1978 were$ 12 ,883 and $ 17 ,777, respectivel y, which represents the total or portions of each year's normal costs plus the amortization of prior service costs over a fifteen year period . Unfunded pas t service costs amounted to $25 ,944 as of J anuary 1, 1979. The actuarially computed value of vested benefits did not exceed the assets of the plan as of January 1, 1979路

3. Restriction on operating surplus The Trustees are directed under the will of Isabella Stewart Gardner to pay to certain desig nated hospitals any surplus of income which , in the opinion of the Director and Trustees , will not be needed for the proper and reasonabl e maintenance of the Museum . These amounts , if any, are payable at the end of successive five-year periods , the next of which ends December 31, 1984. At December 31, 1979 the accu mulated surplus for the five year peri od then ended was transferred to the Mai ntenance and Depreciation Fund to provide for future Museum renovations .

REALIZED AND UN REALIZED GAIN (LOSS) ON INVESTMENTS (NOTE I)

___ Proceeds from sale of investments Cost of investments sold

____ 1979

1978

$2 ,0 14, 340

$3, 0 16, 735

___;..

_s_i_,_2-2_?_~~=1:-7L <2 , 8 7 5 ,9 l i i $ 38,093 s 140 ,824

___________i2-~'?J____ S?3 5掳 i

Capital gai ns tax (Note r) Net realized gain on sale of investments

unrealized app reciation (dep rec iation) Begi nning of period End of period Increase (decrease) in unrealized appreciation

$ (181 ,223) $ (181,223) 567 ,718 ------$ (262 ,77 9) $ 748,94 1

路----

37, 193

137,874

Net realized and unreali zed gain (loss) on investments

STATEMENT OF FUND BALANCES FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1979 AND

Operating Balance, December 31, 1977 Net income Net reali zed gain on sale of investments Maintenance and depreciation all ocation Balance, December 31, 1978 Net income Net realized gain on sale of investments Maintenance and depreciation allocation T ransfe r (Note 3) Balance, December 31, 1979

1978

General

$II 3,566 $15,502,958

Maintenance and Depreciation

Total

760, 207

$ 16 ,376,73 1

49.433

49A33

137,874

137,874 (7,556)

7,556 $17 0, 555 $ l 5 ,640,832

752,651

191 ,752

37, 193

37,193 (11,322)

11 ,322 (373,629) $

-0-

$ 16 ,564,038

373,629 $ 15 ,678, 02 5

$ 1, 114 ,958

$ 16 ,792,983

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

To the Trustees of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , Incorporated, Trustee Under the Will of Isabella Stewart Gardner: We have examined the statement of net assets of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Incorporated (a Massachusetts co rpo ration , not fo r profit), Trustee Under the Will of Isabella Stewart Gardner as of December 31, 1979 and 1978 , and the related statements of cash rece ipts and disbursements , fund balances and changes in net assets fo r the years then ended. Our exami nations were made in accordance with generall y accepted audit ing standards and , acco rding ly, included such tests of the accounti ng reco rds and such other aud iting procedures as we co nsidered necessary in the circum stances, including co nfirmation of secu rit ies owned at December 31, 1979 and 1978 by co rrespondence with the custodian. As described in Note r, the Museum Co rporation's fi nancial statements are prepared on a modified cash basis of accounting. Under this method , revenues and expenses are recog ni zed when rece ived and paid rat her than when earned or incurred, except fo r Fede ral incom e taxes which are recog ni zed when incurred. According ly, the accompanying financial statemen ts are not intended to present financia l position, res ults of ope rations and changes in net assets in conformity with generally accepted account ing principles.

In our opin ion , the acco mpanying fina ncial statem ents present fai rl y the net assets of The Isabella Stewart Ga rdner Museum , Incorporated , Trustee Under the Will of Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as of Dece mber 31, 1979 and 1978, and the cash receipts and disbursements , and changes in its net assets fo r the years then ended, on the basis of accounting as described in Note 1 , applied on a consistent basis . Arthur Andersen & Co. February 1, 1980 Bosto n , Massachusetts