Cardinal Francesco degli Albizzi [1593-1684], Rome; by inheritance to Paolo Francesco Falconieri [1634-1704], Rome. Walsh Porter [d. 1809], London. Thomas Lister Parker [1779-1858], Broxholme, by 1804. Robert Heathcote [1763-1819]; [1] (his sale, Phillips, Son & Neale, London, 5 April 1805, no. 52, as Sebastiano del Piombo and Michelangelo, Portrait of Lorenzo de'Medici); George Hamilton Gordon, 4th earl of Aberdeen [1784-1851], Haddo House, Grampian, Scotland. Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd earl of Liverpool [1784-1851], Buxted Park, Sussex. Richard Sanderson, London. [2] Frederick John, 5th baron Monson [1809-1841], Gatton Park, Reigate, Surrey; by inheritance to William John, 6th baron Monson [1796-1882], Gatton Park; by inheritance to William John Monson, Viscount Oxenbridge [1829-1898], Burton Hall, Lincolnshire; (his sale, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, 12 May 1888, no. 15, as Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici); (P. & D. Colnaghi, London); Robert Henry [1850-1929] and Evelyn Holford [1856-1943] Benson, London, as _Portrait of a Senator_; sold 1927 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation on 18 February 1957; gift 1961 to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, no. 61.79. [1] On the early provenance through 1805, see Elizabeth Howard, "New Evidence on the Italian Provenance of a Portrait by Sebastiano del Piombo," Burlington Magazine 1023 (June 1988): 457-459. This includes the suggestion that the painting was actually owned by Parker when sold at the Heathcote sale in 1805. [2] There are other versions of this painting, and it may be a different one that was in the Sanderson Collection; lot 19 of the Sanderson sale (Christie's, London, 17 June 1848) is a portrait of Lorenzo de Medici by Sebastiano del Piombo, described as "in a black dress, with a gold chain, a green curtain suspended behind."

Sebastiano del Piombo
Anton Francesco degli Albizzi
K2189

Houston, Tex., Museum of Fine Arts (61-76), since 1958. Trans­ferred from wood to canvas. 52 1/2 x 38 in. (133.3 x 96.5 cm.). Abraded throughout except for hands; cleaned 1957-58. Only at one time has uncertainty been expressed about Sebastiano del Piombo's authorship of this painting and that was based on its imperfect preservation.(1) Otherwise it is accepted as typical of his Roman period and is usually dated about 1525.(2) This is the year in which the artist's correspondence with Michelangelo dates the portrait which Sebastiano painted in Rome of the Florentine diplo­mat Anton Francesco degli Albizzi. Vasari praises its life­like quality and the admirable rendering of the materials in the costume – the velvet, satin, and the lining. It is primarily Vasari's emphasis upon the importance of the Albizzi portrait which has favored the hypothesis that it may be identical with the imposing painting K2189.(3) Anton Francesco degli Albizzi, of an illustrious Florentine family, was nearly forty when Sebastiano painted his portrait and had not yet fallen deeply into the treacherous political activities which were to cost him his life in 1537. Provenance:(4) Walsh Porter. Robert Heathcote (sold 1805, to the following).(5) George, 4th Earl of Aberdeen –exhibited: British Institution, 1816, no. 14, as Lorenzo de' Medici by Sebastiano. Charles, 3rd Earl of Liverpool. Richard Sander­son. Frederick John, Lord Monson, Gatton Park, near Reigate. Viscount Oxenbridge (by inheritance from preceding; sold (as from the late Lord Monson Collection), Christie's, London, May 12, 1888, no. 15, as Lorenzo de' Medici, by Sebastiano; bought by M. Colnaghi). Colnaghi's, London. Robert H. and Evelyn Benson, London (catalogue by T. Borenius, 1914, no. 97, as Portrait of a Senator, by Sebastiano) –exhibited, always as Portrait of a Senator, by Sebastiano: 'Venetian Art,' New Gallery, London, 1894-95, no. 223; 'Old Masters,' Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1902-03, no. 38; 'Benson Collection,' Manchester Art Gallery, Apr. 27-July 30, 1927, no. 54. Sold 1927 to the following. Duveen's, New York –exhibited: 'Old Masters,' Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, July-Sept. 1936, no. 124, as Portrait of a Senator, by Sebastiano. Kress acquisition, 1957 –exhibited, after entering the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: 'Major Masters of the Renaissance,' Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass., May 3-June 9, 1963, no. 12 of catalogue by C. Gilbert, as Anton Francesco degli Albizzi, painted c. 1525, by Sebastiano.

References

(1) C. J. Ffoulkes, in Archivio Storico dell'Arte, vol. I, 1895, p. 256, mentioning K2189 (no. 223 in the 1894-95 exhibition), said it was too rimodernato to permit recognition of Sebastiano's hand in it. At this time G. Gronau (in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XIII, 1895, p. 435) expressed doubt about the attribution. (2) K2189 has been attributed to Sebastiano and usually dated in the 1520s by, among others, G. F. Waagen (Art Treasures of Great Britain, supplement, 1857, pp. 343 f., as stately male portrait), G. Gronau (in ms. opinion, as Portrait of a Senator), R. L. Douglas (in ms. opinion, as Portrait of a Senator, after 1540), Crowe and Cavalcaselle (History of Painting in North Italy, vol. II, 1871, p. 361, as Portrait), P. d'Achiardi (Sebastiano del Piombo, 1908, pp. 224 ff., as Portrait oj a Mall), G. Bernardini (Sebastiano del Piombo, 1908, p. 51, as Portrait oj a Mati), W. Rolfs (in RepertoriulII flir Ktlllstwissellscitafi, vol. XLV, 1925, p. 120 n. 7, tentatively as Pietro Carnesecchi, between 1538 and 1545), A Venturi (Storia dell'arte italiana, vol. IX, pt. v, 1932, p. 81, as Portrait of a Man), G. Gombosi (in Thieme-Becker, Allgemeilles Lexikon, vol. XXVII, 1933, p. 73, as Portrait of Fed. da Bozzolo), L. Dussler (Sebastiano del Piombo, 1942, pp. 64 f., 137, as Portrait of a Roman), R. Pallucchini (Sebastian Viniziano, 1944, pp. 64, 166 f., tentatively as Anton Francesco degli Albizzi), M. W. Brockwell (in Connoisseur, May 1952, pp. 92 f., 128, as Anton Francesco degli Albizzi), and B. Berenson (Italian Pictures ... Venetian School, vol. I, 1957, p. 163, as Anton Frallcesco degli Albizzi). (3) In the Sebastiano literature K2189 has more often been referred to, however, simply as Portrait of a Man, A Sellator, An Orator, and also as Lorenzo de' Medici: citations in Provenance and note 2, above. (4) There would seem to have been two versions of the painting since one of the same description as K2189 except with slightly smaller measurements (49 x 36 in.) is cited as follows: Rev. John Sandford –exhibited: British Institution, 1847, no. 26, as Francesco Albizzi; Lord Methuen, Corsham Court, near Chippenham (mentioned by Waagen, p. 397 of op. cit. in note 2, above) –exhibited: British Institution, 1859, no. 4, as Francesco Albizzi; Royal Academy, 1877, no. 281, as Francesco Albizzi. Lord Methuen sale (Christie's, London, May 13, 1899, no. 86; bought by Waring). G. Donaldson's (deceased), Renaissance Galleries, London (sold, Christie's, London, July 6, 1901, no. 58, as Sebastiano del Piombo; bought by Landstert). (5) G. Redford, Art Sales, vol. II, 1888, p. 253, as Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici, by Sebastiano del Piombo.

Catalogue Volume

Italian Paintings XV – XVI Century