15
Vittore Ghislandi, detto Fra' Galgario
(Bergamo 1655 - 1743)
Portrait of Bartolomeo Secco Suardo, 1720-1722
Estimate
€ 70.000 - 100.000
Sold
€ 100.890
The price includes buyer's premium
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Information
oil on oval canvas
150 x 112 cm
inscription at the bottom right: BARTOLOMEO DI GIROLAMO / SECCO SUARDO / SERGENTE GENERALE / DI BATTAGLIA
For this lot a procedure of declaration of particular important cultural interest has been started on 29th October 2024 by the Soprintendenza di Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Milano (art. 10, comma 3, letter a); art. 13 and 14 D. Lgs. 42/2004).
150 x 112 cm
inscription at the bottom right: BARTOLOMEO DI GIROLAMO / SECCO SUARDO / SERGENTE GENERALE / DI BATTAGLIA
For this lot a procedure of declaration of particular important cultural interest has been started on 29th October 2024 by the Soprintendenza di Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Milano (art. 10, comma 3, letter a); art. 13 and 14 D. Lgs. 42/2004).
Provenance
Bergamo, Secco Suardo Picture Gallery;
Lurano, Dino Secco Suardo collection (1932, n. 98);
Rome, Baldo Secco Suardo collection, by inheritance (1973, n. 16);
Bergamo, antiques market;
Semenzato, Venice, auction, 28 February 1988;
for purchase to the current owner
Lurano, Dino Secco Suardo collection (1932, n. 98);
Rome, Baldo Secco Suardo collection, by inheritance (1973, n. 16);
Bergamo, antiques market;
Semenzato, Venice, auction, 28 February 1988;
for purchase to the current owner
Exhibition
Bergamo, Accademia Carrara, Fra' Galgario. Le seduzioni del ritratto nel '700 europeo, 2 October 2003 - 11 January 2004
Literature
V. Bernardi, Il pittore Fra' Vittore Ghislandi da Galgario, Bergamo 1910, p. 17;
E. Fornoni, Note biografiche sui pittori bergamaschi, Bergamo, Archivio Curia Vescovile, [ms., circa 1920-1925], vol. 4, p. 72, n. 61;
C. Caversazzi, Il ritratto a Bergamo nel Seicento e nel Settecento, in Il ritratto italiano dal Caravaggio al Tiepolo alla mostra di Palazzo Vecchio nel MCMXI (curated by U. Ojetti), Bergamo 1927, p. 151;
G. Testori, Fra Galgario, Torino 1970, p. 21;
M. C. Gozzoli, Vittore Ghislandi detto Fra' Galgario, in I pittori bergamaschi dal XIII al XVIII secolo. Il Settecento, vol. 1, Bergamo 1982, pp. 106-107, n. 38, ill. a p. 50 (colors) e fig. 2 a p. 142 (black and white);
E. De Pascale, Ghislandi Vittore, detto Fra Galgario, in La pittura in Italia. Il Seicento, Milano 1989, p. 762;
Indice degli artisti, in Pittura italiana del '600 e del '700, Milano 1990, p. 155;
E. De Pascale, ‘… la pittura, che delle case è il pregio più civile’. Nota sulla Quadreria Secco Suardo, in La Quadreria Secco Suardo, catalogo della mostra a cura di E. De Pascale e F. Rossi, Bergamo 1999, pp. 12, 21;
F. Frangi, ad vocem Ghislandi Vittore, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 54, Catanzaro-Roma 2000, p. 39;
F. Rossi, scheda in Fra' Galgario. Le seduzioni del ritratto nel '700 europeo, exhibition catalogue (Accademia Carrara, 2 October 2003 - 11 January 2004), curated by F. Rossi, Bergamo 2003, pp. 274-275, n. IX.8
Known to literature since 1910 (V. Bernardi 1910, p. 17), the work has a rich bibliography but has been exhibited to the public only in 2003 during the exhibition Fra' Galgario. Le seduzioni del ritratto nel ‘700 europeo, held at the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo (2 October 2003-11 January 2004).
The painting depicts Bartolomeo Secco Suardo, son of Gerolamo and older brother of Giovanni. Fra' Galgario's activity for the important Bergamasque family probably began at the beginning of the second decade of the 18th century with the Portrait of Gerolamo Secco Suardo (Bergamo, Carrara Academy, inv. no. 58AC00108) and continued for about twenty years. The relation with the Secco Suardo family probably began thanks to the Rota family, to whom Gerolamo Secco Suardo was related and for whom Fra Galgario had previously worked (F. Rossi, 2003, p. 174).
The portrayed is depicted two-thirds full-length, in armour, with a grey wig, a pink jacket with gold embroidery, a red cloak around the waist, white scarf and cuffs; at his side he has a ceremonial sword, in his left hand he holds a staff.
According to the most recent studies, the Portrait can be dated no earlier than the end of the second decade of the 18th century. The work, in fact, is closely related to the famous Portrait of Giovanni Secco Suardo with his servant (Bergamo, Accademia Carrara, inv. no. 58AC00104), painted around 1720-1722, which shows the same thick and rich paint, different from the light and thin one of the Portrait of Gerolamo Secco Suardo (1711).
However, it is worth remembering that in 1982 Maria Cristina Gozzoli suggested a much earlier dating before the death of Bartolomeo Secco Suardo in 1710 and assumed its possible execution around 1703, on the occasion of his marriage to Emilia Trivelli. According to the scholar, the canvas would thus become a fundamental reference point for the corpus of the Bergamasque painter. This hypothesis - which would therefore place the work chronologically before the portrait of his father of 1711 and close to the first portraits painted by the artist after his return to Bergamo - due to obvious stylistic incompatibilities is not considered valid by either Francesco Frangi (Frangi 2000, p. 39) or Francesco Rossi, who in the catalogue essay of the 2003 exhibition sustains a date between 1720 and 1722. It would therefore not be a portrait from nature but a post mortem portrait that, probably on a particular but unknown family occasion, depicts the effigy in an armour of pure invention but of great scenic impact. The Portrait of Giovanni Secco Suardo with servant, as well as the Portrait of Laura Camilla Secco Suardo in Men's Clothing (private collection), Bartolomeo's daughter, are dated to the same years, pictorial evidence of the painter's relation with the powerful Bergamasque family.
However, it is worth remembering that in 1982 Maria Cristina Gozzoli suggested a much earlier dating before the death of Bartolomeo Secco Suardo in 1710 and assumed its possible execution around 1703, on the occasion of his marriage to Emilia Trivelli. According to the scholar, the canvas would thus become a fundamental reference point for the corpus of the Bergamasque painter. This hypothesis - which would therefore place the work chronologically before the portrait of his father of 1711 and close to the first portraits painted by the artist after his return to Bergamo - due to obvious stylistic incompatibilities is not considered valid by either Francesco Frangi (Frangi 2000, p. 39) or Francesco Rossi, who in the catalogue essay of the 2003 exhibition sustains a date between 1720 and 1722. It would therefore not be a portrait from nature but a post mortem portrait that, probably on a particular but unknown family occasion, depicts the effigy in an armour of pure invention but of great scenic impact. The Portrait of Giovanni Secco Suardo with servant, as well as the Portrait of Laura Camilla Secco Suardo in Men's Clothing (private collection), Bartolomeo's daughter, are dated to the same years, pictorial evidence of the painter's relation with the powerful Bergamasque family.
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