caption

Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, The Resurrection

Photo courtesy of Dave Penman (All Rights Reserved)

Details

Country House
Mells Manor
Title(s)
The Resurrection
Medium and support
Oil on wood
Dimensions
Overall height: 12 cm, Overall width: 26.6 cm
Artist
Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano (c.1460-1518/19)
Catalogue Number
MM15

Description

There seems to have been no dispute about the authorship of this painting, which is discussed thoroughly by Professor Peter Humfrey in his monograph on Cima. As Humfrey suggests, the panel may be ‘identical with a Resurrection panel sold by a descendant of the Cima family, Niccolò Fabris of Conegliano, to a gentleman from Udine in 1818’. If this is correct, it may be that Cima made the painting for himself or a family member. 

As all scholars have agreed, it appears to be a predella panel but it is unusually small and, since no complementary panels by Cima have been identified, it may not have been part of a more extensive predella but have been placed below a small representation of Christ, made for private devotion. Alternatively, it might have formed part of some piece of ecclesiastical furnishing, perhaps accompanied by other scenes from the Passion in different formats; but this can be no more than conjecture. Several small religious and secular scenes are known by Cima, who seems to have made a practice of working on a miniature scale.

Humfrey does not discuss the panel’s date but from its position in his book, one would infer c.1500, which is also that suggested by Coletti. However, Menegazzi dates it a little later and its atmospheric qualities suggest also to the present writer a slightly later date, perhaps with some influence from the soft style being practised by Cima’s juniors.

by Paul Joannides

Bibliography

Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: The Venetian School, 2 vols, London : Phaidon, 1957, vol. 1, p. 66


Luigi Coletti, Cima da Conegliano, Venice : Neri Pozza, 1959, no. 55, p. 81


Peter Humfrey, Cima da Conegliano, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1983, no. 76, pp. 117–18


Luigi Menegazzi, Cima da Conegliano, Treviso : Canova, 1981, p. 112, certainly part of a predella


Oliver Garnett, 'The Letters and Collection of William Graham: Pre-Raphaelite Patron and Pre-Raphael Collector', The Walpole Society, vol. 62, 2000, d78, p. 311, as Cima da Conegliano (WG inventory 493: £5/sale 181, bought Colnaghi 18 guineas)


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