Sandro Botticelli

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Sandro Botticelli

1444 or 1445-1510

Horses and Spectators (Fragment of an Adoration of the Magi)

1500-1505

Brown and white oil, over black chalk, on three pieces of prepared linen stitched together.

13 1/4 x 12 3/8 inches (316 x 338 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

I, 5

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Notes:

Watermark: unknown because of linen.
Formerly attributed to Fra Filippo Lippi.

Inscription:

Inscribed on verso of lining, in graphite, "1554".

Provenance:

William Young Ottley (1771-1836), London (his sale "A Gentleman of Well-known Taste (going abroad)", London; his sale, T. Philipe, London, 11-14 April 1804, lot 239 "Four excellent fragments, by Fra Filippo Lippi, on cloth, en grisaille--they are pieces of the Adoration of the Wisemen," probably brought in; his sale, London, T. Philipe, 13 June 1814, lot 735, as Fra Filippo Lippi, "One--a [composition of about ten figures], with figures and horses, of which the heads, which are very fine, are only seen--pen and Indian ink, on a grey ground--grand stile; N.B. The above three lots are parts of a composition of the adoration of the Magi"; Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), London (Lugt 2445); William Russell (1800-1884), London (his sale, London, Christie, Mason & Woods, 11 December 1884, lot 395, as Filippo Lippi, "another part of the same composition [Adoration of the Magi, washed and touched up with oils on prepared canvas]"; bought by George Salting (according to Horne 1903) for 15 shillings; by exchange by 1903 to Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Associated names:

Ottley, William Young, 1771-1836, former owner.
Lawrence, Thomas, Sir, 1769-1830, former owner.
Russell, William, 1800-1884, former owner.
Salting, George, 1835-1909, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.

Bibliography:

Rhoda Eitel-Porter and and John Marciari, Italian Renaissance Drawings at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2019, no. 25.
Selected references: Ulmann 1893, 147; Horne 1903, 69-70; Fairfax Murray 1905-12, 1: no. 5; Horne 1908, 47; Horne 1909, 40; Yashiro 1925, 21, 241; Toronto 1926, no. 28; van Marle 1931, 23, 122; Berenson 1938, 1:333-34, 2: no. 569a; Bertini 1953, 10; Ragghianti 1954, 117-18; Cambridge 1960, under no. 19; Berenson 1961, 105, 108; Pouncey 1964, 283; New York 1965-66, no. 11; Salvini 1965-66, 4: no. 71b-73; Vitzthum 1966, 109; Lightbown 1978, 2:112-13; Horne 1980, 47; New York 1981, no. 5; Mandel 1985, no. 154; Lightbown 1989, 300, 332; Thiébaut 1991, 150-51; Florence 1992, no. 14.10, and under no. 14.12; Cropper 1994, 274-75; Berlin 2000, 372; Cecchi 2005, 360, 367; New York 2006, no. 4; Scrase 2011, under no. 94.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 5, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Jacob Bean. Drawings from New York collections. I: The Italian Renaissance. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1965, p. 24-5, no. 11, repr.
European drawings, 1375-1825 / catalogue compiled by Cara D. Denison & Helen B. Mules ; with the assistance of Jane V. Shoaf. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1981, p. 33-4, no. 5.
From Leonardo to Pollock: Master drawings from the Morgan Library. New York: Morgan Library, 2006, cat. no. 4, p. 10-11.

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