The earliest documentation for this picture is its presence in the important Manchester exhibition “Art Treasures of the United Kingdom” of 1857. The painting was lent, along with a number of other paintings, by James Hamilton, the 1st Duke of Abercorn, from his estate in Ireland; it was likely his grandson, the 3rd Duke, who sold it to Duveens in 1922.
At the Manchester exhibition, the picture was entitled “Portrait of a Senator” and was attributed to the most famous painter in the Robusti family, Jacopo (1518/19–94). Once it entered the Duveen stock, the sitter was identified as Paolo Paruta (1540–98), a Venetian historian and diplomat, who had been named Procurator of St. Mark’s in 1596 and was also the Superintendent of Fortresses. The landscape beyond was thought to depict Zara (Zadar), the capital of Dalmatia (which was under Venetian rule at various times in its history); the galleons were said to represent a siege of the city. A Duveen presentation folio for the painting conjectured that the scene was a logical insertion into a portrait of Paruta, who, as the Superintendent of Fortresses, “must have known well this outpost of the Republic.”
During the time Duveen owned the painting, reactions from art historians about the quality of the painting ranged from “Magnificent portrait” to “the most important portrait by Domenico Tintoretto”. However, later comments responding to Mr. Simon’s requests for opinions were unequivocally critical.
Details
- Artist Name: Domenico Tintoretto (Italian, 1560-1635)
- Title: Venetian Nobleman
- Date: mid-16th century
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 51 x 36-1/2 in. (129.5 x 92.7 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1965.1.063.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
[Duveen Bros., London and New York, stock no. 27935, sold 1965 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Loan Exhibition of Masterpieces of Painting
- Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1942 to
The Age of Titian
- Columbus Museum of Art, 1946-10-06 to 1946-11-10
Venetian Painter of the Renaissance
- New York, Duveen Bros., 1960-07 to
Art Treasures of the United Kingdom
- Manchester, 1857-05-20 to 1857-10-17
Lock, Stock and Barrel: Norton Simon's Purchase of Duveen Brothers Gallery
- Norton Simon Museum, 2014-10-24 to 2015-02-16
- Scharf, George, A Handbook to the Paintings by Ancient Masters in the Art Treasures Exhibition. Being a reprint of critical notices originally published in "The Manchester Guardian", 1857, p. 39
- Thoré, Théophile, Trésors d'art en Angleterre, 1860, pp. 85-86
- Bell, Mrs. Arthur, Tintoretto, 1908, p. xiii
- Graves, Algernon, A Century of Loan Exhibitions, 1813-1912, 1914, p. 1313
- Plumptre Beresford Osmaston, Francis, The Art and Genius of Tintoret, 1915, p. 181
- Pittaluga, Mary, Il Tintoretto, 1924, p. 272
- Venturi, Adolfo, Storia dell'Arte Italiana, 1929, p. 614
- Fosca, François, Tintoret, 1929, p. 147
- Suida, Wilhelm, Art Quarterly, 1946, pp. 282-299
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. D52 p. 445
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