Dominic Winter Auctions
Lot 29
* Circle of Carlo Marratta (Camerano, 1625-1713, Rome). Portrait of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1642-1723), oil on canvas, full length portrait of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in the vestments of a canon of St. Peter's, Rome, with the ducal crown on a table beside him, surface scratch to lower right corner with small loss of paint, printed label of W. Freeman & Son Ltd, picture restorers to verso with handwritten note on the picture by Michael Jaffé 'Cardinal Giacomo Carlo di Medici a son of Grand Duke Cosimo II as Canon of the Lateron', older handwritten address label '23 Bramley H[ill], Croydon', and auction stencil 'XESS7', further auction identification in white chalk '165 9 July 08', and Christie's printed label for Old Masters & 19th Century Art, 26 October 2011, lot 145, all to verso, 46 x 29.5 cm (18 1/8 x 11 6/8 ins), old gilded and patterned wood frame (55 x 39 cm) QTY: (1)NOTE:Provenance: Christie's London, Important Old Master & British Pictures Day Sale including Property from the Collection of the Princely House of Liechtenstein, 9th July 2008, lot 165; Christie's London, Old Masters & 19th Century Art, Wednesday 26th October 2011, lot 145; Estate of Michael Jaffé (1923-1997), art historian and former director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.The prototype for this portrait (Florence, Uffizi) was executed by Maratti during Cosimo's visit to Rome in early June 1700, when Pope Innocent XII appointed him a Canon of San Giovanni in Laterano. On his return to Florence, Cosimo placed the picture in his villa at Castello. It is possible that Cosimo himself commissioned the present copy - perhaps even from Anton Domenico Gabbiani (1651-1726) - as agift for a fellow ruler, cardinal, or prestigious guest. This might explain the addition of the carved gilt table, draped, in the lower right, with an enormous Medici coat-of-arms propped against it and the grand-ducal crown on the marble top, which act as to emphasise his rank and descent, in a particularly delicate diplomatic moment. (From the note to the Christie's catalogue entry in 2011).