ANCIENT VENETIAN SCHOOL
B-17. Virgin adoring the Infant Jesus. (18½X11.)
The Virgin kneels before her Divine Son. Around are angels, and behind her is Joseph. Above is a company of angels; and, in the distant sky, one is seen appearing to the shepherds. The infant has a crimson, cruciform aureola. In this rudely-drawn picture the future glory of the Venetian School, its gorgeous color, is plainly indicated.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-18. The Birth of John the Baptist. (24X24.) Uccello.
From the De Montor collection.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-19. Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. (3½X3½.) Castagno.
From the De Montor collection.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-20. Triumph of Julius Cæsar. (16X60½.) Antonio Dello.
From the De Montor collection.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-21. The Crucifixion. (15X11.) Botticelli.
From the De Montor collection.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-22. Adoration of the Infant Christ. (79½X5½.) Perugino. [Macrino d'Alba.]
The Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, St. Jerome, St. Joseph, St. Michael, and the Pope Julius II., are kneeling before the divine infant. Three small Angels, also kneeling, carry the nails and the Cross, emblems of the torture which the new-born should suffer. The Christ bears a striking resemblance to that of the little Jesus, so much admired, in a painting of the same artist, now placed in the Louvre, after having decorated the gallery of the King of Holland. St. Michael strikes the beholder by his noble air and his martial type. The head is evidently the portrait of Gaston de Foix, the model of the chivalry of the day. St. John is the lean prophet of the desert, the ascetic, and the eater of locusts and wild honey. At the top of the picture, three Angels play upon different instruments. In the background are seen the Capitol, the image of Roman power, and the vast ruins of the Coliseum. The head of Joseph, who stands behind St. John, must strike the considerate observer by its close resemblance to the type of Joseph which we find in the Holy Families of Raphael. In the Cherub who holds the Cross, we also find great similarity to the little Angel who occupies so prominent a position in the famous Madonna of Foglino, from the same divine pencil. From the collection Errard. Signed and dated 1509.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-23. St. John, Weeping. (20½X16½.) Leonardo da Vinci.
For the authenticity of this picture, we have the high authority of Mr. Woodburn.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-24. St. John. (13½X10½.) Oval. Leonardo da Vinci.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-25. The Birth and Resurrection of Christ. (11X19½.) Raphael.
In the centre of the upper compartment, Christ, draped in red, and bearing the emblematic banner of the Cross, rises from an open tomb. His hand is raised with an expression of command. On each side are two soldiers sleeping, and two starting away in fright. A slender tree also is seen upon each side of the tomb; in the distance is a large hill. In the lower compartment are eight figures, besides the infant Christ. Six kneel in a semicircle about the new-born Saviour, who lies in the middle of the foreground. Three of these, on the left, are shepherds. On the right are the Virgin mother and two Angels. Next to Mary sits Joseph; and on the extreme left, a fourth shepherd approaches. Two slender trees here also appear on each side of the composition. In the distance are heavily undulating hills.
B-5. KNIGHTS AT A TOURNAMENT.
GIOTTO DI BONDONE.
(BRYAN COLLECTION)
Very few Raphaels of this period exist. Those which are in the Vatican and the Louvre, show, in style and handling, an exact similarity to these pictures, which is absolutely conclusive. The donor wishes it to be understood, that, in his opinion, and in that of some of the accomplished and practised experts in Europe, there is not the slightest doubt of the authenticity of these pictures. Only the inexperienced and the uncultivated fail to trace in them the pencil of the divine Raphael.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-26. Madonna and Child. (28X21½.) Copy from Raphael.
An old and admirably executed copy of the Bridgewater Madonna.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-27. Dance of Cupids. (7X10.) Copy from Raphael.
Nine Cupids dance in a ring. On the left, one plays upon double pipes; on the right, another sits upon the ground. This copy is very fine, as it may well be, having been made by no less distinguished an artist than Sassoferrato himself.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-28. St. George, and St. Anthony of Padua. (47X22½.) Gaudenzio Ferrari.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-29. Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew. (17X28.) Fra Bartolomeo.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-30. The Repose in Egypt. (29½X35.) Giorgione.
No. B-17 is a specimen of the ancient Venetian style, which should be examined in connection with these productions of the glorious days of that school.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-31. Prince of Palermo—in Disguise. (22X17½.) Giorgione.
Similar to that in the Royal Gallery of Naples, it is distinguished by the Prince holding a flute, and not a staff, a ring on his finger and an amulet in his fur cap. From the collection of the Marquis Sommariva.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-32. A Concert. (31X37½.) Copy from Giorgione, by Watteau.
Two men and a naked female sit in the open air, diverting themselves with music. Another female figure peers at the group from the shrubbery, which is not in the original, but found only in Watteau's Pastiche, No. B-247.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-33. The Repose in Egypt. (32½X41½.) Titian.
This composition was repeated many times by Titian, and without great variation. This repetition is distinguished by the absence of some figures in the background, and the introduction of a rivulet in the foreground, and a butterfly upon a flower in the right corner. It has twice been found necessary to remove the picture from its canvas: the drapery of the Virgin has suffered somewhat from this and other causes; the other parts of the picture are somewhat injured.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-34. Portrait of a Lady. (43X40.) Style of Titian.
From the collection of R. W. Meade, of Philadelphia.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-35. St. Jerome, in his Study. (39X29.) School of Titian.
Probably a copy by Odvardo Fialetti, scholar of Tintoretto. This is a large copy of a print by Albrecht Dürer. Its color shows it evidently to be of the Venetian School.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-36. Virgin and Child. (43X36.) Oval. School of Titian.
This picture came from the Gallery of Louis Philippe, and on the back was written "Dans la Chambre du Prince."
(Bryan Collection.)
B-37. Portrait of a Presbyter. (20½X16½.) Tintoretto.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-38. St. Benedict. (91X54.) Oval Top. Francesco Zucco.
The Saint is prostrate before an altar, receiving the black stole from the Virgin: the head of the Saint is worthy the palette of Titian. Signed and dated. Found in New York, by the donor.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-39. Abraham discarding Hagar and Ishmael. (24½X19½.) Paul Veronese.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-40. Portrait of Charles, Constable de Bourbon. (23½X19.) Ludovico Brea.
From the collection of General D'Espinoy.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-18. THE BIRTH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.
UCCELLO.
(BRYAN COLLECTION)
B-41. Christ Shown to the Multitude. (45X40.) Sebastiano del Piombo.
This picture, which is in very fine condition, and the principal figure in which much resembles that in the famous picture of Christ looking into Hell, in the Royal Gallery of Madrid, was purchased by the donor in Rome.
(Bryan Collection.)
B-42. Virgin and Child, with Angels. (44X34½.) Andrea del Sarto.
(Bryan Collection.)