Object details
Accession number
P25n2
Primary Creator
Niccòlo Cassana
(Venice, 1659 - 1713, London)
Full title
Pietro Pisani, Procurator of St. Mark's Basilica
Creation Date
1701
Provenance
Made for Pietro Pisani di Francesco (born 1652) of Santo Stefano, Venice to commemorate his election as Procurator of St. Mark on 10 April 1701.
Aquired by Charles Eliot Norton (1827–1908), scholar and critic, Cambridge, Massachusetts before 1881.
Given to Isabella Stewart Gardner by Norton in 1902.
Marks
Inscribed: ALEX CONT / EQUES AC: D: M: P:/ 1766 and the arms of the Contarini family of Venice, or three bends azure.
Label on verso of frame: “...Nor[ton] Date of...Cambridge Nov 2 1881 from Sale'.
Dimensions
130 x 100 cm (51 3/16 x 39 3/8 in.)
Display Media
Oil on canvas
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Veronese Room
Bibliography
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 17. (as portrait of Andrea Contarini by Longhi)
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), pp. 201-02, ill. (as portrait of Alessandro Contarini by Alessandro Longhi)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 204. (as portrait of Alessandro Contarini by Alessandro Longhi)
V. Moschini. 'Per lo studio di A. Longhi'. L'arte 35 (1932), p. 146. (refuting Alessandro Longhi attribution)
Stuart Preston. "Alessandro Contarini" in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed.). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 33. (as portrait of Alessandro Contarini by Alessandro Longhi, 1766)
Lino Moretti. 'Due contributi per Giuseppe Diamantini e per Pietro Uberti'. Bolletino dei Musei Civici Veneziani 3-4 (1971), pp. 52-53, fig. 44. (as portrait of Alvise Contarini by Pietro Uberti)
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 280-81. (as portrait of Alessandro Contarini?)
Hilliard Goldfarb. 'Portrait of a Member of the Contarini Family (Alvise Contarini?)', in Hilliard Goldfarb et al. Italian Paintings and Drawings Before 1800 in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Unpublished manuscript. (Boston, 1996-2000). (1766 date incorrect; inscription added in late 18th or 19th century and coat of arms added separately).
Paolo de Lorenzi. La Galleria di Minerva. Il ritratto di rappresentanza a Venezia nel Settecento. (Venice, 2009), pp. 150, 305, 516, fig. 77. (as portrait of Procurator of St. Mark Pietro Pisani di Francesco of Santo Stefano by Niccolò Cassana,1701)
Anne-Marie Eze. "'Safe from Destruction by Fire': Isabella Stewart Gardner's Venetian Manuscripts." Journal for Manuscript Studies (Fall 2017), p. 213
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