Almost 590,000 euros for a rediscovered painting by Vasari

The launch of the procedure by the Superintendency to declare the work of particular artistic and historical importance – announced just a few days before the auction – did not dampen the bidding war between four telephone bidders, who on 28 October vied for an unpublished painting by Giorgio Vasari put up for auction by Il Ponte in Milan. ‘The Carrying of Christ to the Tomb’ – the title of this 159 x 185 cm oil on panel – was thus hotly contested through a series of bids until it was sold for 588,800 euros, a figure including auction fees that is more than double the initial estimate of 200–250 thousand.

The work, from a private collection in Lombardy, has re-emerged after centuries of obscurity. Although there is as yet a lack of documentation enabling us to identify the patron or pinpoint its exact place in the Aretine artist’s biography, the attribution to Vasari has been confirmed by the art historian Carlo Falciani, who dates it to around 1545. The scholar has attributed the panel to Vasari on the basis of its exceptional quality and close stylistic correspondence with a series of other works by the artist that are definitively attributed to him. A distinctive feature of the painting is the application of paint in swift, powerful brushstrokes, which in places are almost transparent, to the extent that the preparatory pencil drawing is visible beneath the paint. This rapid and confident technique, as evidenced by the few retouches, has led the expert to hypothesise that it may have been the result of a commission (a significant one, given the work’s size) that had to be completed within a very short timeframe.

The first part of Il Ponte’s auction of antique furniture and paintings, which continues on 29 and 30 October, also saw strong results for other paintings, ranging from the High Renaissance to the 18th century. Among these was a ‘View of Campo Vaccino’ by Antonio Joli, which celebrates the charm of the ruin genre, sold for 108,800 euros, against an estimate of 90–100 thousand, and the ‘Portrait of Count Secco Suardo’, dating from around 1720, in which Fra Galgario demonstrates remarkable skill in expressive rendering, which changed hands for €70,400 (from €40,000–60,000). A ‘Madonna and Child with Saints’ on a gold ground, whose attribution to the Florentine Bicci di Lorenzo proved convincing right up until it was sold for 51,200 euros, also far exceeded its initial estimate of 9,000–10,000 euros.

Quality and craftsmanship are also evident in a glazed monochrome terracotta sculpture depicting the bust of St Francis of Assisi from the workshop of Andrea Della Robbia, which changed hands for 24,320 euros (from 6–8 thousand). Another highly contested item amongst the antiques was a Russian tea service, in silver, vermeil and polychrome enamels, decorated with swans and flowers, dating from 1899–1908, which was sold for 42,240 (from 10–12 thousand euros). In the furniture sector, which is currently decidedly conservative, a richly gilded and carved wooden wall-mounted table, made in Rome in the late 17th–early 18th century, stood out, rising from an estimate of 18–20 thousand to a final sale price of 38,400 euros.