Last chance to save a very beautiful devotional painting by Domenico Zampieri for the nation

137/07
13 November 2007

An exquisite 1603 painting of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Christ has been export deferred by Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge. This provides a last chance to raise the money to keep Domenico Zampieri’s Pietà in the United Kingdom. 

The Minister’s ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the painting is of outstanding aesthetic importance and of outstanding significance for the study of Italian Baroque painting.

This beautiful painting on copper was created by Domenico Zampieri (Domenichino) in homage to his master, Annibale Carracci. After studying in Bologna, Domenichino had moved to Rome in 1602 to join the team of artists working under Annibale at the Palazzo Farnese. The Pietà was painted by Domenichino the following year. The outstanding quality of the painting is an early demonstration that Domenichino would go on to succeed his master as the leader of the classical school of painting in Rome.

David Ekserdjian, Reviewing Committee member, said: “This is a really wonderful painting and one of the greatest Italian Baroque paintings in this country”.

The decision on the export licence application for painting will be deferred for a period ending on 12 January 2008 inclusive. This period may be extended until 12 May 2008 inclusive if a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase the painting at the recommended price of £3,044,000 excluding VAT (£3,104,200 including VAT) is expressed.

Offers from public bodies for less than the recommended price through the private treaty sale arrangements, where appropriate, may also be considered by Margaret Hodge.  Such purchases frequently offer substantial financial benefit to both parties by the sharing of tax advantages.

Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the painting should contact the owner’s agent through:
 
The Secretary
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council,
Victoria House,
Southampton Row
London WC1B 4EA

Top

Notes to Editors

  1. Media enquiries on the operation of and casework arising from the work of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) should  be directed to Communications Manager,  John Harrison, on 020 7273 1402, email: john.harrison@mla.gov.uk
  2. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by MLA, which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria. Where the Committee finds that an object meets one or more of the criteria, it will normally recommend that the decision on the export licence application should be deferred for a specified period. An offer may then be made from within the United Kingdom at or above the fair market price.
  3. Pictures of this item are available. Please email john.harrison@mla.gov.uk  (MLA no longer subscribes to the PixMedia website service.)
  4. This beautifully preserved picture is a key component of the distinguished group of pictures in which the young Domenichino, who had arrived in Rome from Bologna in 1602, expresses his homage to the mature work of Annibale Carracci. It is also one of the four dated pictures of 1603 by the artist which establish the point de départ for his own artistic and intellectual trajectory, and thus a significant work in the sequence in which Domenichino projected himself as Carracci's natural successor as the prime exponent of the classical tradition in Roman painting. 
  5. Of Domenichino's pictures based on prototypes by Annibale, the earliest is perhaps the Susanna and the Elders, on panel but also dated 1603, in the Doria Pamphili Collection, Rome. Spear dates the Louvre Madonna del Silenzio to circa 1605, the Edinburgh Adoration of the Shepherds to circa 1607-8 and a further, lost, Pietà, to circa 1611-2 (Spear, 1982, nos. 8, 20, 30 and 40). The prototype in this case was Annibale's monumental Pietà with Saint Francis in the Louvre (D. Posner, no. 136). This would seem to have been begun in circa 1602-3, but only completed in 1607. 
  6. Provenance: An unidentified owner, whose inscription ‘ANN.CARACCIVS’ and initials ‘G.M.’ surmounted by a cross are on the reverse; prominent Huguenot, George Aufrère (1715-1801), London by 1775; and by descent through his daughter Sophia (d. 1784), wife of Charles Anderson Pelham, 1st Baron Yarborough, to their grandson, Charles Anderson Worsley (1809-62), 2nd Earl of Yarborough, and by descent; Percy Moore Turner, after 1883; Colnaghi, London; from whom acquired by Marcus Herbert, 6th Earl of Yarborough (1893-1966) and by descent to the present owner.

Top

Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6052/6277
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200

Back to main

Back to top