139. Italian School, 17th Century

A set of 8 historical portraits comprising: Charlemagne (circa 748–814); Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, known as Barbarossa (1122–1190); Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494); Cesare Borgia (1475/76–1507); Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (1490–1527); Alfonso d'Avalos d'Aquino, VI marquis of Pescara and II of Vasto (1502–1546); Pope Pius V (1504–1572); Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1549–1609)

Old Masters Day Auction

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 139. A set of 8 historical portraits comprising: Charlemagne (circa 748–814); Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, known as Barbarossa (1122–1190); Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494); Cesare Borgia (1475/76–1507); Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (1490–1527); Alfonso d'Avalos d'Aquino, VI marquis of Pescara and II of Vasto (1502–1546); Pope Pius V (1504–1572); Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1549–1609).

The Property of the Marquess of Lothian

Italian School, 17th Century

Lot Closed

July 7, 01:38 PM GMT

Estimate

6,000 - 8,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

The Property of the Marquess of Lothian

Italian School, 17th Century

each inscribed in Latin with the identity of the sitter;

some inscribed with inventory numbers

all oil on canvas

unframed: each approx. 64.6 x 50.5 cm.; 25½ x 19⅞ in. (Pope Pius V: 57 x 44.5 cm.; 22½ x 17⅜ in.)

framed: each approx. 71.5 x 56.5 cm.; 28⅛ x 22¼ in. (Pope Pius V: 66 x 53 cm.; 26 x 21 in.)

(8)

Probably William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian (1605–1675);
Thence by descent.

J. Macky, A journey through Scotland: in familiar letters from a gentleman here, to his friend abroad. Being the third volume, which compleats Great Britain, London 1723, p. 53;
Newbattle Abbey inventory, 10 March 1798 (listed in a variety of rooms);
Newbattle Abbey inventory, March 1833, nos 345, 350, 354-55, 357, 360, 367 (Alfonso d'Avalos d'Aquino without inv. no.);
R. Wenley, The Lothian Picture Collection: History and Context, M.Litt. diss., University of St Andrews, 1990, pp. 62–64.

William Kerr's (1605–1675) legacy to the Lothian collection constituted some 300 pictures, a quantity that is all the more staggering in light of the political upheaval of these decades and William’s relatively small fortune. Chief among his collection were portraits, such as this set – in 1645, for instance, John Clerk (1611–1679), Kerr's agent in Europe, refers to his purchase for William of ‘32 pictures off noblemen and uthers in France [sic]’,¹ following the taste for such series of ‘worthies’, that he would have seen in the grand Renaissance collections he encountered on his Tour.

¹6 April 1645, Paris; Clerk to William Kerr, 3rd Earl of Lothian.