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Lot Essay
This intriguing panel belongs to a group of paintings depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ, first united by Evelyn Sandberg Vavalà in 1939. The publication of her research was abandoned due to the outbreak of war, but her findings were published posthumously in 1976 by Federico Zeri and Mary Lou White (op. cit.), who correctly identified the author of the panels as the Cremonese painter, Antonio della Corna. Little is known of della Corna’s career and only two extant works are signed and dated - his 1489 Saint Julian Slaying his Parents in the Schwarzenberg collection, Vienna and a triptych dated 1494 in the Bagatti-Valsecchi collection, Milan (F. Zeri, op. cit.) - making it difficult to develop a chronology of his work.
While Antonio della Corna’s work often recalls the later output of Vicenzo Foppa, the present painting shows a greater debt to the Paduan painter, Andrea Mantegna, from whose work his figure types are largely derived. Highly unusual for the late 15th century, however, is the artist’s employment of much earlier quattrocento devices, such as the decoratively tooled gold background. The inclusion of other retarditaire elements, like the pikes, spears and flaming torch intersecting the background and the elaborate armor worn by the figure seizing Christ, all hark to an earlier style.
The initial grouping for the Passion series as proposed by Sandberg Vavalà comprised the present Christ before Annas; a Last Supper and a Christ Betrayed by Judas, now in the Altemps collection, Milan; a Christ before Caiaphas in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (fig. 1); and a fragment of Pilate Washing his Hands in the Moratilla collection, Paris. Sandberg Vavalà also included a Man of Sorrows, at that time with Galleria Heim-Gairac, Paris (F. Zeri and M.L. White, op. cit., illustrated fig. 8), though Zeri excluded it from the series, given its variation in dimensions from those mentioned above. More recent additions to the series include the Washing of the Feet, offered at Sotheby’s, New York, 30 January 1997, lot 124 and the Christ before Pilate in Palazzo d’Arco, Mantua. In 1939 Sandberg Vavalà had attributed the series to Gerolamo da Cremona on the basis of the large altarpiece complex, at that time given to the artist, in the church of Sant’ Andrea in Asola, near Mantua (F. Zeri and M.L. White, op. cit., illustrated fig. 6). A later cleaning of the Mantuan polyptych, however, revealed its true author to be Antonio della Corna and thus led to the correct attribution of the Passion series.
While Antonio della Corna’s work often recalls the later output of Vicenzo Foppa, the present painting shows a greater debt to the Paduan painter, Andrea Mantegna, from whose work his figure types are largely derived. Highly unusual for the late 15th century, however, is the artist’s employment of much earlier quattrocento devices, such as the decoratively tooled gold background. The inclusion of other retarditaire elements, like the pikes, spears and flaming torch intersecting the background and the elaborate armor worn by the figure seizing Christ, all hark to an earlier style.
The initial grouping for the Passion series as proposed by Sandberg Vavalà comprised the present Christ before Annas; a Last Supper and a Christ Betrayed by Judas, now in the Altemps collection, Milan; a Christ before Caiaphas in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (fig. 1); and a fragment of Pilate Washing his Hands in the Moratilla collection, Paris. Sandberg Vavalà also included a Man of Sorrows, at that time with Galleria Heim-Gairac, Paris (F. Zeri and M.L. White, op. cit., illustrated fig. 8), though Zeri excluded it from the series, given its variation in dimensions from those mentioned above. More recent additions to the series include the Washing of the Feet, offered at Sotheby’s, New York, 30 January 1997, lot 124 and the Christ before Pilate in Palazzo d’Arco, Mantua. In 1939 Sandberg Vavalà had attributed the series to Gerolamo da Cremona on the basis of the large altarpiece complex, at that time given to the artist, in the church of Sant’ Andrea in Asola, near Mantua (F. Zeri and M.L. White, op. cit., illustrated fig. 6). A later cleaning of the Mantuan polyptych, however, revealed its true author to be Antonio della Corna and thus led to the correct attribution of the Passion series.