DOI Heft:
No. 238 (January 1913)
DOI Artikel:Melani, Alfredo: The Layard collection in Venice
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21158#0329
The Layard Collection
self, from the brush of Antonello da Messina,
which I would not place second even to the
Condotliero of the Louvre.
The Bellinis, the Carpaccios, the Vivarinis
represent then the fine flowers of the Layard
Collection, but for us certain other works, not from
the hand of any of these masters, are equally
important and interesting. Such is the Allegorical
Figure of Spring, by Cosimo Tura, that noble Master
of the School of Ferrara and Court Painter to the
Duk es of Este, a realist who, though dry and metallic
in his drawing and always careful of details, displays
considerable fantasy in this picture of the Layard
Collection. The drapery of this Spring is finer
and more striking than one could have expected
from a master who was at times a little untamed
in his style. I incline also greatly towards the
beauty of a Montagna, John the
Baptist, a Bishop, and a Saint
(the Saint supposed to be Saint
Catherine), not forgetting also
in this short notice two works
by Cirna which may be assigned
to the school of the master who
is usually so good a draughts-
man, an excellent Knight in
Adoration, by Palma Vecchio,
a beautiful Saint Jerome, by
Savoldo, a remarkable Sodoma,
and I would give prominence to
a Botticelli, Portrait of Lorenzo
de' Medici, by asking whether the
Florentine painter can really be
recognised in this portrait of
the Layard Collection, and
whether his name should not
rather be replaced by that of
Raffaellino del Garbo ? Our
Botticelli (or Sandro Filipepi, as
they prefer to call him at the
National Gallery) will not then
greatly enhance the British Col-
lection, which is already rich in
several Botticellis.
The Layard Collection con-
tains, further, several portraits by
Moroni, by Moretto da Brescia,
and in particular a Hugo van
der Goes and a Gerardo van
Haarlem—a Madonna and Child
by the former and Crucifixion
by the latter, both of them
at the same time augment its interest. Italy pos-
sesses one fine work by Hugo van der Goes at
Florence in the Hospital of S. Maria Novella—
The Adoration of the Magi, a very large picture,
with which this painting in the Layard Collection
cannot bear comparison, though it represents fairly
well the school of the Netherlands. We lament
the loss of the other Dutch painting, Gerardo van
Haarlem’s Crucifixion, a picture of profound
emotional qualities, of beautiful colour and original
composition; but even were it less interesting its
value to us would be still increased by the fact that
Italy is far from rich in Dutch works, notwithstand-
ing the fact that many Dutch painters lived in this
country in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
It is well known that Italy has a severe law
against the exportation of works of art, and so a
BV LUIGI VIVARINI
pictures which, while giving an
exotic variety to the collection,
IORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN
( Photo.’ Alinari)
3°7
self, from the brush of Antonello da Messina,
which I would not place second even to the
Condotliero of the Louvre.
The Bellinis, the Carpaccios, the Vivarinis
represent then the fine flowers of the Layard
Collection, but for us certain other works, not from
the hand of any of these masters, are equally
important and interesting. Such is the Allegorical
Figure of Spring, by Cosimo Tura, that noble Master
of the School of Ferrara and Court Painter to the
Duk es of Este, a realist who, though dry and metallic
in his drawing and always careful of details, displays
considerable fantasy in this picture of the Layard
Collection. The drapery of this Spring is finer
and more striking than one could have expected
from a master who was at times a little untamed
in his style. I incline also greatly towards the
beauty of a Montagna, John the
Baptist, a Bishop, and a Saint
(the Saint supposed to be Saint
Catherine), not forgetting also
in this short notice two works
by Cirna which may be assigned
to the school of the master who
is usually so good a draughts-
man, an excellent Knight in
Adoration, by Palma Vecchio,
a beautiful Saint Jerome, by
Savoldo, a remarkable Sodoma,
and I would give prominence to
a Botticelli, Portrait of Lorenzo
de' Medici, by asking whether the
Florentine painter can really be
recognised in this portrait of
the Layard Collection, and
whether his name should not
rather be replaced by that of
Raffaellino del Garbo ? Our
Botticelli (or Sandro Filipepi, as
they prefer to call him at the
National Gallery) will not then
greatly enhance the British Col-
lection, which is already rich in
several Botticellis.
The Layard Collection con-
tains, further, several portraits by
Moroni, by Moretto da Brescia,
and in particular a Hugo van
der Goes and a Gerardo van
Haarlem—a Madonna and Child
by the former and Crucifixion
by the latter, both of them
at the same time augment its interest. Italy pos-
sesses one fine work by Hugo van der Goes at
Florence in the Hospital of S. Maria Novella—
The Adoration of the Magi, a very large picture,
with which this painting in the Layard Collection
cannot bear comparison, though it represents fairly
well the school of the Netherlands. We lament
the loss of the other Dutch painting, Gerardo van
Haarlem’s Crucifixion, a picture of profound
emotional qualities, of beautiful colour and original
composition; but even were it less interesting its
value to us would be still increased by the fact that
Italy is far from rich in Dutch works, notwithstand-
ing the fact that many Dutch painters lived in this
country in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
It is well known that Italy has a severe law
against the exportation of works of art, and so a
BV LUIGI VIVARINI
pictures which, while giving an
exotic variety to the collection,
IORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN MAN
( Photo.’ Alinari)
3°7