Giovanni Francesco Caroto

Property from a Private Collection

Giovanni Francesco Caroto

Verona circa 1480 - 1555

Martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist

tempera on panel

panel: 14 by 20 ¾ in.; 35.6 by 52.7 cm.

framed: 19 ⅛ by 25 ⅞ in.; 48.6 by 65.7 cm.
Provenance

Vieweg collection, Braunschweig;

Their sale, Berlin, Lepke, 18 March 1930, lot 23, as (Paduan School, circa 1500, strongly dependent on the work of Mantegna);

Comte de Pourtalès, Schlosses Mauensee;

His sale, Zurich, Galerie Fischer, 26-28 May 1932, lot 1137 (as Francesco Bonsignori);

With E. and A. Silberman Galleries, Vienna and New York;

By whom gifted to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta (as Attributed to Francesco Bonsignori, inv. no. 1952.9);

By whom sold ("Property from the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Sold to Benefit the Acquisitions Fund"), New York, Christie's, 26 January 2005, lot 277 (as Manner of Francesco Bonsignori);

Prof. Dr. Thomas Olbricht, Essen;

By whom sold, Cologne, Van Ham, 19 November 2020, lot 1019 (as Workshop of Andrea Mantegna);

Where acquired by the present collector.Literature

U. B. Schmitt, Francesco Bonsignori, Munich 1961, p. 130, cat. no. 64 (as Veronese School, last quarter 15th century);

F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e I Belliniani, Venice 1962, vol. I, p. 242, cat. no. V.163; vol. II, p. 606, reproduced fig. 700; vol. III, p. 85 (as Lauro Padovano);

E. M. Zafran, European Art in the High Museum, Atlanta 1984, p. 40, reproduced (as Attributed to Francesco Bonsignori);

F. Zeri and F. Rossi, La raccolta Morelli nell'Accademia Carrara, Bergamo 1986, p. 134-135, reproduced (as Francesco Bonsignori);

A. Tempestini, Giovanni Bellini, Milan 1997, p. 92 (as Lauro Padovano);

M. Vinco, La scuola veronese di pittura di Jean Paul Richter, Perugia 2021, p. 55 (as Giovan Francesco Caroto).Catalogue note

According to Matteo Vinco, Giovan Francesco Caroto executed this very early work prior to 1501 during the his employment in the Mantuan workshop of Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506). This painting, together with a panel depicting Saint John the Evangelist resurrecting Drusiana (Bergamo, Accademia Carrara, inv. no. 58MR00100), was a predella panel in an untraced altarpiece that depicted scenes from the life of the saint. A wax seal preserved on the reverse of the related Bergamo panel, identified as the coat of arms of Federico I Gonzaga (1441-1484) or Francesco II (1466-1519), documents the Mantuan origins of the lost altarpiece that likely belonged to a Mantuan church or perhaps the Ducal family’s own collection.

Caroto’s formative years at the turn of the fifteenth century were marked by a period of intense artistic rapport between Verona and Mantua. The artist benefited from this rich cultural exchange: he began his apprenticeship with Liberale da Verona and then moved to Mantua to study with the esteemed master Mantegna. Mantegna’s influence is clear in the present painting and most evident in the low horizon line—a technique often used by the Mantuan artist to create a sense of greater monumentality. At the same time, the rich sense of color—the cerulean blue sky, and the vivid red, yellow, and blue pigments in the garments and draperies—are hallmarks of Caroto’s Veronese roots.

The scene recounts the martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist who, after refusing to make a sacrifice to a false god, was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil on the orders of the Roman Emperor Domitian. At the center of the composition, the saint emerges from the scalding miraculously unscathed with arms folded in prayer, much to the amazement of the spectators. Together with the Bergamo panel, the present work has formerly been attributed to Francesco Bonsignori (circa 1455-1519), also a student of Mantegna, and alternatively Lauro Padovano, an artist documented in Venice between 1482 and 1508.

We are grateful to Prof. Matteo Vinco for his assistance in the cataloguing of the present lot.