Attributed to Aurelio Lomi (1556-1622), The Circumcision. NT2900157. ©Christie’s
We have just purchased this painting for Petworth House. It came up at auction at Christie’s in London on 10 July.
Detail of The Circumcision, attributed to Aurelio Lomi. ©Christie’s
The picture is attributed to the late-Renaissance, early-baroque painter Aurelio Lomi and depicts the circumcision of the Christ child.
Detail of The Circumcision, attributed to Aurelio Lomi. ©Christie’s
It was recorded in the 1671 Petworth picture list and was almost certainly owned by Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland (1602-68).
Portrait of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, his first wife Lady Anne Cecil, and their Daughter, Lady Catherine Percy, by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, c. 1633-5. ©National Trust Images/Derrick E. Witty
The 10th Earl was a keen art collector and patron. He had collections of pictures at all of his principal southern English houses – Syon Park in Middlesex, Northumberland House in London, and Petworth.
St Joseph and the Christ Child, by Adam Elsheimer (c.1578-1610), acquired by the 10th Earl of Northumberland in 1645. ©National Trust Images/John Hammond
Later generations also admired this picture. George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837), the patron of Turner, hung it among his ‘modern’ paintings at Petworth.
Portrait of George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837), in the North Gallery at Petworth, by Thomas Phillips, RA, 1839. ©National Trust Images/Derrick E. Witty
This acquisition was made possible by a substantial contribution from a fund set up by the late Hon. Simon Sainsbury and by other gifts and bequests to Petworth and to the National Trust generally.
Detail of The Circumcision, attributed to Aurelio Lomi. ©Christie’s
The picture will receive conservation treatment before going on display at Petworth.
July 31, 2015 at 10:10 |
Seems an “unusual” subject to have depicted, (to put it kindly!), but in my ignorance I had never read about it, (in St Luke’s Gospel I discovered), and I now I also discover it has been depicted by a number of artists.
But perhaps not quite as bizarre as…
“A number of relics claiming to be the Holy Prepuce, the foreskin of Jesus, have surfaced.” (Wikipedia.)
Streuth! (Or not, as the case may be.)
August 6, 2015 at 12:54 |
Indeed, the past is a foreign country, as L.P. Hartley wrote 🙂