Object details
Accession number
P26e22
Primary Creator
Baccio Bandinelli
(Gaiole, Chianti, 1488 - 1560, Florence)
Full title
Self Portrait
Creation Date
about 1545
Provenance
Collection of the painter and collector Ignazio Hugford (1703–1778), Florence by 1772. (as Francesco Salviati, portrait of Bandinelli)
Collection of the art dealer, M. Lapeyrière by 1825 when sold at auction at Hôtel Drouot, Paris on 14-16 March 1825 for 4950 francs possibly to the art dealer Alexis Delahante. (as Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Bandinelli)
Collection of the art dealer, Alexis Delahante (1767–1837) by 1826 when up for auction at Phillips, London on 19-20 May 1826, lot 130 (not sold), 8-9 July 1828, lot 102 (not sold), 29-30 June 1830 (sold). (as Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Bandinelli)
Collection of Mr. George Vivian (1798–1873), Claverton Monor, Wiltshire, England by 1854. (as Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Michelangelo)
Collection of Lt.-Col. Ralph Vivian (1845–1924) by inheritance, 1879–80. (as Sebastiano del Piombo, portrait of Michelangelo)
Collection of S.T. Gooden, possibly from Vivian family, by 1898.
Purchased by the art dealers Colnaghi & Co., London from S.T. Gooden, 1898–99.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Colnaghi & Co., London in January 1899 for £700 through Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), American art historian, as a portrait of Michelangelo by Sebastiano del Piombo.
Dimensions
142.5 x 113.5 cm (56 1/8 x 44 11/16 in.)
Display Media
Oil on panel
Dimension Notes
Frame: 184.47 x 149.54 cm (72 5/8 x 58 7/8 in.)
Web Commentary
Bandinelli made his career serving the Medici family. With their expulsion from the city in 1527, Bandinelli too fled the city. After the Medici were restored to power, Bandinelli was commissioned to carve the marble group Hercules and Caucus (Piazza della Signoria, Florence). This self-portrait proclaims Bandinelli’s status as Florence’s official sculptor: he proudly holds a preparatory drawing for the Hercules and Caucus that secured his reputation. Around his neck is a gold chain with a shell — emblem of the Imperial Order of Santiago — which he received from Emperor Charles V.
Bandinelli and his work were often disparaged by critics, including Benvenuto Cellini and Michelangelo. Ironically, this portrait was purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner as a portrait of Michelangelo, and it was placed next to Cellini’s bust of Bindo Altoviti. The pairing of works was originally a reminder of the close friendship among Cellini, Altoviti, and Michelangelo. Now, the juxtaposition is redolent of a bitter Renaissance rivalry.
Source: Alan Chong, "Self-Portrait," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 85.
Permanent Gallery Location
Titian Room
Bibliography
M. Lacoste and M. Henry. Catalogue de Tableaux Précieux et Autres Objets de Curiosité (Paris, 14-16 March 1825), p. 6, lot 5. (as Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Bandinelli)Mr. Phillips. Gallery of Dutch, Flemish, and Italian Pictures... (London, 19-20 May 1826), p. 25, lot 130. (as Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Bandinelli)Mr. Phillips. Choice and Valuable Pictures, of undoubted originality, by the most eminent masters of the Italian, Dutch, and Flemish Schools... (London, 8-9 July 1828), lot 102. (as Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Bandinelli)Mr. Phillips. Mr. Delahante's Gallery & Cabinet of Pictures... (London, 29-30 June 1830), p. 9, lot. 65 (as Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Bandinelli)Gustav Friedrich Waagen. Treasures of Art in Great Britain. Vol. 3 (London, 1854), p. 176. (as Sebastian del Piombo, previously Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Michelangelo)Review of Old Masters exhibition at the Royal Academy. The Athenaeum (London, 31 January 1880). (anonymous reviewer first to suggest a self-portrait by Bandinelli)Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 20. (as Sebastiano del Piombo, portrait of Michael Angelo)John La Farge and August F. Jaccaci (eds.). Noteworthy Paintings in American Private Collections. vol. 1. (New York, 1909, reprint 1979), pp. 70-71, ill. (as unknown Italian master, portrait of Bandinelli)Wilhelm Bode in John La Farge and August F. Jaccaci (eds.). Noteworthy Paintings in American Private Collections. vol. 1. (New York, 1909, reprint 1979), p. 179. (as Florentine painter, possibly Rosso, portrait of Bandinelli)Herbert P. Horne in John La Farge and August F. Jaccaci (eds.). Noteworthy Paintings in American Private Collections. vol. 1. (New York, 1909, reprint 1979), pp. 179-83. ( as Francesco di Girolamo da Prato, portrait of Bandinelli)Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), pp. 170-71. (Charles Elliot Norton attributed to Sebastiano del Piombo, portrait of Bandinelli in 1902-1903)Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), pp. 22-26. (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait)Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 217. (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait)Rolin Hadley. “A Portrait of Bandinelli.” Fenway Court (Dec. 1966), pp. 17-24, ill. 18. (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait, about 1530 or likely later, about 1543-1548)Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections (Cambridge, 1972), p. 14. (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait)Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 10-13. (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait)Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924 (Boston, 1987), pp. 162-63, 167, 172, 203, 206, 282, 284-85, 294-95, 300. (as Sebastiano del Piombo, portrait of Michelangelo)Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt. "Mrs. Gardner's Renaissance." Marks of Identity: New Perspectives on Sixteenth-Century Italian Sculpture. Fenway Court, vol. 23 (1990-1991), pp. 10-30, no. 4. (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait)Hilliard Goldfarb. Imaging the Self in Renaissance Italy. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum III. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1992), pp. 34-36. (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait)Erna Fiorentini. "Baccio Bandinelli's Self-portrait." Print Quarterly 19, no. 1 (Mar., 2002), p. 42, 21n.Hilliard Goldfarb et al. Italian Paintings and Drawings Before 1800 in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Unpublished manuscript. (Boston, 1996-2000). (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait)Sylvie Béguin et al. "Nouvelles considérations sur Baccio Bandinelli peintre: la redécouverte de la Léda et le cygne." Les Cahiers d'Histoire de l'Art. Association 1901 (2003), pp. 11-12, fig. 5. (as Bandinelli and a collaborator, Jacopino del Conte?)Alan Chong. "The Afterlife of Cellini's Bust of Bindo Altoviti" in Alan Chong et al. Raphael, Cellini & A Renaissance Banker: The Patronage of Bindo Altoviti. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Florence: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, 2003), pp. 252-253, 261.Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), pp. 84-85. (as Bandinelli, Self-Portrait)Douglas Biow. In Your Face: Professional Improprieties and the Art of Being Conspicuous in Sixteenth-Century Italy (Stanford, 2010), pp. 10-13, fig. 3.Detlef Heikamp et al. Baccio Bandinelli: Scultore e Maestro. Exh. cat. (Florence: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, 2014), pp. 458-59, 510-513, cat. 69.Michael Cole et al. Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini. Sculptors’ Drawings from Renaissance Italy. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2014), pp.198-201, cat. 28.Oliver Tostmann. "The Sculptor as Draftsman: A Motif in Florentine Portraiture" in Michael Cole (ed.). Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini. Sculptors’ Drawings from Renaissance Italy. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2014), pp. 103-106.Catherine Helm. Heroisierung als visuelle Rhetorik in Standbildern der Frühen Neuzeit in Italien und Frankreich (Verlag, 2022), p. 390, Abb. 10.
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