Refined, vibrant, and bearing the unmistakable hallmarks of eccentricity for which the painter has long been celebrated, this rediscovered masterpiece of Florentine Mannerism is an important addition to the small corpus of extant works by Rosso Fiorentino (1494–1540). Known only from black and white photographs until very recently, the picture was recognised as autograph by Prof. Carlo Falciani, who already in 2013 published it as such, though its whereabouts were still untraced.² The re-emergence of this highly engaging painting, which is datable to the years between 1514 and 1517, when Rosso was still under the formative influence of Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530), therefore allows for a greater appreciation of the artist's production at a relatively early stage in his career. The work boasts impeccable early provenance, having been acquired by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia (1729–1796), for the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.

The Virgin, Christ Child and infant Saint John are here presented before a simple dark background, which serves to focus the viewer's attention on the figure group. Their naturalistic arrangement, with the Virgin placed between the standing Christ Child and St John as she embraces them both, constitutes Rosso's response to the archetypal Florentine genre of the Madonna and Child, as he animates the composition with lively poses, energetic interaction and Christ's direct appeal to the viewer. The figures' strong physical presence is heightened by the parapet along the lower edge, which allows Rosso to create a sophisticated sense of depth within the painting: St John's proper right arm and the cartellino beside it project out of the picture in an almost tangible manner, while the Virgin stands back, just out of reach. Rosso's choice of contrasting colours – St John the Baptist's auburn locks (which may be an autobiographical reference given the redheaded artist's proper name, Giovanni Battista),³ the Virgin's deep blue mantle, her crimson dress, and glimmers of the Christ Child's electric red halo – serves to inject even greater dynamism into the scene.

The foundations of Rosso's training remain enigmatic.⁴ The first reference made by Vasari (1511–1574) to his artistic activity recalls that he 'drew from the cartoon of Michelangelo',⁵ by which he must have meant the cartoon for the Battle of Cascina, as Rosso is listed among those to have seen this work after it moved to the Sala del Papa at Santa Maria Novella, Florence, in 1512.⁶ Vasari went on to state that Rosso 'would study art with but few masters' during his youth, 'having a certain opinion of his own that conflicted with their manners',⁷ which accounts, at least in part, for the artist's originality: he did not have the same compositional patterns and figural poses repeatedly imprinted on his developing mind, as many of his contemporaries did, but instead sought them out from an unusual variety of sources.⁸

Rosso's influences are easier to trace during his later teenage years, when it is generally accepted that he was working in collaboration with Jacopo da Pontormo (1494–1557) in Andrea del Sarto's studio.⁹ The three artists worked alongside one another on a series of frescoes depicting episodes from the life of the Blessed Filippo Benizzi in the Chiostrino dei Voti, in front of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, Florence. Andrea was charged with executing seven lunettes, which were painted between 1509 and 1514. It has been argued that Rosso's contribution to Andrea's lunette representing the Journey of the Magi of 1511 (fig. 1), in which he is believed to have painted the figure of the proud gentleman turning his back to the viewer at the far left, constitutes the moment in which he came into the spotlight as an artist in his own right.¹⁰ This notion is corroborated by the fact that approximately two years later, around 1513, Rosso was tasked with executing his own lunette for the same church, which was to depict the Assumption of the Virgin (fig. 2).¹¹ Although the Assumption has been praised for its theatrical layout by modern critics,¹² its break with the nobler, more traditional style that had been reinstated in Florence once the city had returned to Medici rule would have certainly proved puzzling for contemporary viewers, as is echoed in Vasari's subtle criticism of the fresco.¹³ Such a reception, which was less severe than that which Rosso received for his Spedalingo Altarpiece of 1518, today in the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence (fig. 3),¹⁴ is felt to have contributed to the artist's decision to leave the city for Volterra, where he painted his renowned Deposition for the confraternity of Santa Croce in 1521.¹⁵

This painting finds its strongest parallels with the early pictures Rosso produced during his first Florentine period, of which few are known.¹⁶ Falciani has posited that it is datable to between 1514, after the artist had completed his work at Santissima Annunziata, and 1518, when he was commissioned to paint the Spedalingo Altarpiece.¹⁷ There are certainly similarities between the depictions of the putti that encircle the Virgin in the Assumption fresco at Santissima Annunziata and the Christ Child here portrayed (fig. 4): in spite of differences in scale and medium, they are all given blonde ringlets, bright, rosy cheeks, and playful expressions. Rosso likely encountered this motif in the work of del Sarto, who had assumed the lead role in the basilica's decoration, as previously discussed. Indeed, numerous private commissions by Andrea dating to this period, such as the Corsini Madonna at Petworth House, West Sussex, and the Crowned Virgin in the Galleria Colonna, Rome, are comparable in style and explore the theme of the Madonna and Child in both sophisticated and inventive ways.¹⁸

The present representation of the Virgin is closely related to her portrayal in Rosso's Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist dated to 1514/15 in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt (fig. 5).¹⁹ The two figures both possess elongated, mannered fingers and the same facial type, characterized by strong, angular features and almond-shaped eyes. The Frankfurt Virgin's tunic is almost identical to that depicted here, in terms of palette, close-fitting cut, and on account of the angular folds of fabric that cover both figures' chests.²⁰ This style, which may seem classicizing, derives instead from Donatello's bronze and terracotta models, models that Michelangelo had also studied in his youth, as seen, for example, in his Madonna della Scala in the Casa Buonarroti, Florence.²¹ Rosso incorporates elements from Donatello with the exaggerated muscular anatomy of the young St John's shoulder in direct reference to Michelangelo's David, which had already provided him with a source of inspiration for his putto posed from behind in the Hermitage Assumption (fig. 6), executed in the same period.²² Another aspect of the painting to hark back to Quattrocento models is the Virgin’s strange and elaborate hairstyle, which recalls aspects of Verrocchio, such as his highly finished drawing of a woman’s head in the British Museum, London,²³ and Botticelli, in his idealised portrait of a lady at the Städel.²⁴ This interest in elaborate coiffures is taken to heights of virtuosity by Leonardo and later in the sixteenth century also by Michelangelo.

Parallels between this painting and the Frankfurt picture can also be drawn by examination of Rosso's representations of the Christ Child and the young St John. Across both works, the two infants are positioned on a parapet: St John is situated on a lower level, looking upwards and open-mouthed towards the standing Christ Child, who therefore commands a greater degree of attention. Both Christ Childs are portrayed being supported by their attentive mothers, as they adopt vigorous, twisted poses, not dissimilar to real childrens' frenetic movements, thus providing an accessible reference point for the pictures' viewers. The musculature visible on the infants' bodies, but particularly in the present St John's upper arm and on the Christ Child's torso, evoked using quick, almost indetectable brushstrokes, again draws on the painting and sculpture of Michelangelo; his idealised bodies are surely Rosso's point of reference. The Frankfurt Christ Child's facial features mirror those of his counterpart in the present painting, especially in their shared mischievous grins and flushed cheeks.

At least five copies after this picture are known, of which the best documented is the painting in storage at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (fig. 7).²⁵ Such a proliferation of copies attests first and foremost to the success of the composition and its subsequent popularity, while also providing an indication as to where the picture may originally have hung. In spite of its relatively small size, which would usually suggest that the work was produced for a domestic setting, this painting was evidently accessible and may, therefore, have been commissioned for a church or convent.

Note on Provenance
This painting was acquired from John Udny (1727–1800), a Scottish diplomat who served as British Consul first at Venice and then at Livorno, by Catherine the Great in 1779 (fig. 8). John worked closely with his brother, Robert Udny (1725–1802), purchasing a large number of works of art on his travels throughout Italy, before sending them back to Robert, who remained largely in England, for sale (fig. 9).²⁶ On 25 April 1800, Christie's held a sale of 53 pictures from John's estate; although this Virgin and Child with the Infant St John does not appear, having been sold to Empress Catherine more than two decades earlier, the sale catalogue is nonetheless helpful in evidencing the previous provenance of some of John's pictures. The title, A catalogue of a most capital, and truly valuable collects ion... which have graced some of the first palaces in Florence, Rome, and Naples, is expanded upon inside, where three sources are recorded: 'the Colonna Palace', 'the Florence Gallery' and 'that of Capo di Monte belonging to the King of Naples'.

Udny is also recorded as having amassed a number of works in Venice, which is of little surprise given the amount of t.mes he must have spent there as British Consul. For instance, he purchased Paolo Veronese's Conversion of Saul, which he also went on to sell to Catherine the Great, from the Counts Widmann at their palace in the Sestra Canareggio.²⁷ The large-scale drawing of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist, commonly referred to as The Burlington House Cartoon, by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), in the National Gallery, London (fig. 10), was likewise acquired from the Sagredo family, Venice, around 1763.²⁸

Udny is recorded as having arrived in Saint Petersburg in 1768; he managed to gain an audience with Empress Catherine the Great the following year, when he persuaded her to buy a group of pictures that appears to have included the present work.²⁹ Their delivery was a cumbersome process: in order to avoid paying customs duties and because the Doge of Venice had not granted him permission to transport the paintings by land, Udny sent the consignment to the Tuscan port of Livorno, from where it was taken to England and received by his brother. A decade later, the crates were loaded onto the same vessel that was transporting the collects ion assembled by Sir Robert Walpole (1676–1745), Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1721 to 1742, to the Hermitage, where they finally arrived in 1779.³⁰ Catherine's impatience to receive these paintings is in fact documented in a letter to Friedrich Melchior Grimm (1723–1807), a German-born journalist, art critic and diplomat, dated 29/30 May 1779: 'Les Walpole, les Udney ne sont point encore arrivés; voilà une terrible année d’emplettes' ('The Walpoles and the Udneys have not yet arrived; it has been a terrible year of shopping').³¹

While it was housed at the Hermitage, this painting was displayed alongside some of the most iconic works painted during the Italian Renaissance, as captured by a watercolour of The Cabinet of the Italian Schools of 1860 by Eduard Hau (1807–1888) (fig. 11).³² Three pictures by Raphael (1483–1520), for example, can be identified: the Alba Madonna tondo of circa 1510, which was bought by Nicholas I (1796–1855) in 1836, as well as the Saint George and the Dragon and the Holy Family (Madonna with Beardless Joseph), both of which are datable to 1506 and were acquired by Empress Catherine as part of the Crozat collects ion in 1772. Only the latter painting remains in the Hermitage today; the other two pictures were sold to Andrew W. Mellon (1855–1937) in 1931 and are now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.³³

The present work likewise left the Hermitage collects ion: by 1862, it had been transferred to the Rumyantsev Museum, Saint Petersburg, and is recorded in a catalogue of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum in 1908 (see Literature). In this text, the picture is described as an 'old copy', therefore demonstrating that it had lost its attribution to Rosso by the early twentieth century. This may go some way to explain the reasoning behind it entering a number of regional Russian museum collects ions over these years. The Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum was disbanded in 1925. Artworks were distributed to either the Pushkin State Museum of Replica Handbags s, Moscow, provincial museums in other parts of Russia, or were sold via the State Museum Fund, c. 1925–26. As this painting does not appear in catalogues of the Pushkin Museum,³⁴ it is highly likely that it was sold in the State Museum Fund sales in Moscow and acquired there by its next recorded owners, Vidkun (1887–1945) and Maria Quisling (1900–1980).³⁵

Vidkun Quisling met Maria (born Maria Vasilyevna Pasek) in March 1923 and they later married at the Norwegian legation in Moscow on 10 September of that year. In March 1918, Vidkun had been sent to Russia as an attaché at the Norwegian legation in Petrograd and his links with the nation remained strong throughout the 1920s. He was stationed in Moscow from May 1926, first working as a liaison between Norwegian politician Frederik Prytz (1878–1945) and the Soviet authorities who owned half of Prytz's firm, before finding new employment as a diplomat. The Quislings are known to have amassed a large collects ion of artworks at affordable prices in post-revolutionary Russia. According to later accounts, in Moscow in the second half of the 1920s, they purchased most of their paintings, antiques and furniture, which were subsequently sent back to Norway.³⁶ Maria was intrigued by Russian culture and is said to have been particularly fascinated by Catherine the Great, whose previous ownership of the present painting would have surely sparked her interest. To give one example, the largest chandelier at the Quislings' home is thought to have been installed in the garden room, specifically to ensure that the two portraits of Catherine that hung there received ample lighting.³⁷ In a 1953 letter of declaration addressed to the Oslo Probate Court, regarding the division of the Quislings' estate, Maria claimed that as many as 250 paintings, among other objects and antiques, had originated from the Soviet Union.³⁸

The next record of the painting is a photograph taken around 1945 at the Villa Grande in Oslo (fig. 12). The picture is shown hanging in one of the principal reception rooms, just right of the fireplace. The property had been home to Vidkun and Maria since 1941.³⁹ During the 1930s, Vidkun had become increasingly associated with the fascist movement. A Nazi collaborator, he nominally headed the Norwegian government throughout Hitler's occupation of the country during World War II. After the war, Vidkun was put on trial and subsequently sentenced to death. General Sir Augustus Francis Andrew Nicol Thorne (1885–1970), a senior British army officer who was tasked with dismantling the German presence in Norway, took control of Villa Grande. Thorne allowed reporters inside the villa from the summer of 1945 onwards, when the photograph of this painting hanging there is likely to have been taken.⁴⁰ In Oslo and the surrounding areas, Norwegian authorities held a series of 'open houses' or exhibitions, whereby citizens – or their descendants or legal representatives – could reclaim looted property.⁴¹ Thorolf Frogn (1896–1979) and John Eckhoff are recorded as having visited the Villa Grande around March 1946 on behalf of Philip Watchman (1885–1942): a prominent Jewish antiques dealer in Oslo, from whom Vidkun was rumoured to have taken a number of valuable objects.⁴² The present painting was not claimed. It was subsequently returned to Maria, therefore, after nearly a decade-long legal battle, during which she was able to recover the artworks that could be proven to be her property, that had been purchased in Russia using her own funds or those obtained from her mother, rather than Vidkun's.⁴³ The picture was later offered for sale as by a follower of Rosso at Replica Shoes 's London in 1981 (see Provenance), where a portion of Maria's estate was sold posthumously 'by order of the Oslo Inner Missionary Society for the Benefit of the Poor of Oslo'.⁴⁴

We are grateful to Prof. Carlo Falciani for his assistance in cataloguing this lot after first-hand inspection, study, and expert supervision of the picture's conservation treatment earlier this year. Prof. Falciani will publish the painting as an autograph, early work by Rosso in a forthcoming article.

We wish also to thank David Franklin for his valuable insights. After seeing the painting in person, he concurs with the attribution and dates the picture to around 1522–23, on the artist's return to Florence from Volterra.

We are grateful to all those consulted in writing this note, in particular Zoya Kuptsova, curator of Italian paintings at the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, for her assistance in researching the painting's early provenance; Bodil Stenseth, Norwegian historian and author of Quislings ran: historien om Villa Grande (2017) and Antikvitetshandler Watchman: familien som ble borte (2022) for her guidance on the Quislings and their art collects ion; and the staff at The Norwegian Centre for Holocaust and Minority Studies.

¹ According to a typewritten annotation on a mount at the Witt Library, London, this painting was formerly in a private collects ion, Berlin, before it entered Norwegian ownership. However, this line of provenance is not substantiated anywhere else and was therefore likely meant in relation to the copy after this picture in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, that is discussed towards the end of this essay (see fig. 7). Indeed, confusion may have derived from a handwritten note on a photographic record of the present work gifted by S. Sinding-Larsen at the Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence, which makes reference to the Berlin painting being in a private collects ion, Berlin, c. 1926.

² Falciani 2013, pp. 64, 66 and 71, n. 8, reproduced fig. 4.

³ David Franklin applied the same analysis to Rosso's depiction of St John the Baptist in the Madonna and Child with Four Saints (Spedalingo Altarpiece) of 1518, in the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence: inv. 1890 no. 3190; oil on panel, 172 x 141.5 cm. D. Franklin, in Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino: Diverging Paths of Mannerism, C. Falciani and A. Natali (eds), exh. cat., Florence 2014, p. 80, no. II.3, reproduced in colour, p. 81. On Rosso's red hair as ‘signature’, see P. Barolsky, ‘Rosso’s Red Hair’, Source: Notes in the History of Art, vol. 16, no. 2, 1997, pp. 33–36.

⁴ Scholars have tended to focus exclusively on either Fra Bartolomeo (1473–1517) or del Sarto as being Rosso's earliest teacher, but neither theory is exhaustive, as summarised by Franklin 1994, pp. 3–8 and C. Falciani, Il Rosso Fiorentino, Florence 1996, p. 29. On Rosso's beginnings see also L.A. Waldman, ‘The origins and family of Rosso Fiorentino’, The Burlington Magazine, CXLII, 2000, pp. 607–12.

⁵ 'Disegnò il Rosso nella sua giovanezza al cartone di Michele Agnolo...', G. Vasari, Le vite dei più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori italiani, da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri, Florence 1550, L. Bellosi and A. Rossi (eds), Turin 1986, p. 750. No copies of Michelangelo’s cartoon by Rosso have, as yet, been recognized: Carroll 2012, L.3.

⁶ '...perciochè dappoi che fu finito e portato all sala del papa... tutti coloro che su quel cartone studiarono e tal cosa disegnarono, come poi si seguitò molti anni in Fiorenza per forestieri e per terrazzani, diventarono persone in tale arte eccellenti, come vedemmo: ...seguitò Andrea del Sarto, il Francia Bigio, Iacopo Sansovino, il Rosso...', Vasari 1550, p. 889.

⁷ '...con pochi maestri volle stare alla arte, avendo egli una certa sua opinione contraria alle maniere di quegli...', Vasari 1550, p. 750.

⁸ Vasari's stat.mes nt should not be taken too literally, as he may have been incentivised to elaborate upon the notion that Rosso was a self-taught artist in order to embellish his narrative. Rosso must have learnt at least the rudiments of his craft from a master of some skill. Regardless, a number of scholars continue to consider the Vite instructive in understanding Rosso's formation as a unique artist, who broke with traditions established by his predecessors: see, for example, Franklin 1994, pp. 3–4 and Falciani 1996, pp. 29–30. Antonio Natali provides a somewhat balanced solution: he claims that Vasari's words refer to Rosso's unusual habit of frequenting various workshops, that differed significantly from one another, thus resulting in his eclectic style: A. Natali, 'From Andrea's Rib: the Genesis of Two Paths', in Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino: Diverging Paths of Mannerism, C. Falciani and A. Natali (eds), exh. cat., Florence 2014, p. 23.

⁹ Franklin 1994, p. Vii.

¹⁰ Detached fresco, 417 x 315 cm.; Natali 2014, p. 22; A. Baldinotti, in Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino: Diverging Paths of Mannerism, C. Falciani and A. Natali (eds), exh. cat., Florence 2014, p. 30, no. I.I.I.

¹¹ Detached fresco, 390 x 381 cm.; Baldinotti 2014, p. 32, no. I.I.2. Around 1514, Pontormo was asked to paint a lunette depicting the Visitation, which effectively completed the decoration of the Chiostrino: Baldinotti 2014, p. 34, no. I.I.3.

¹² Baldinotti 2014, p. 32, no. I.I.2.

¹³ 'Fecevi gli Apostoli carichi molto di panni e troppo di dovizia di essi pieni...', Vasari 1550, p. 750.

¹⁴ 'Fecegli fare lo spedalingo di Santa Maria Nuova una tavola, la quale, vedendola abbozzata, gli parvero, come colui ch'era poco intendente di questa arte, tutti quei santi, diavoli, avendo il Rosso un cost.mes , nelle sue bozze a olio, fare certe arie crudeli e disperate, e nel finirle poi addolciva l'aria e riducevale al buono, per che se li fuggí di casa e non volse la tavola, dicendo che lo aveva giuntato', Vasari 1550, p. 750. Account books show that the altarpiece's patron, the Carthusian Leonardo di Giovanni Buonafede (1450–1545), spedalingo of the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, withheld nine florins from Rosso's fee and did not place it in Ognissanti, as originally intended: Franklin 2014, p. 80, no. II.3.

¹⁵ The altarpiece is now in the Pinacoteca e Museo Civico di Volterra; oil on panel, 375 x 196 cm.

¹⁶ Vasari describes Rosso painting a half-length figure of the Virgin for Maestro Jacopo, a Servite friar, shortly before his execution of the Assumption fresco at Santissima Annunziata: '...avendo egli a maestro Iacopo frate de' Servi, che attendeva alle poesie, fatto un quadro d'una Nostra Donna con la testa di San Giovanni Evangelista mezza figura ...', Vasari 1550, p. 750. The painting for Maestro Jacopo is likely to be the picture after which at least one copy survives, today in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours, inv. no. 947–3–1; oil on panel, 95 x 62 cm. Franklin and Carroll considered another version on canvas (86 x 65.3 cm.) that does not feature St John the Evangelist (who is perhaps overpainted), previously with Morandotti, Rome, to be a second copy: Franklin 1994, pp. 14–18, reproduced pl. 14 and Carroll 2012, P.2B, reproduced. Other scholars have not discounted the possibility that the Morandotti picture could be autograph: see, for example, R.P. Ciardi and A. Mugnaini, Rosso Fiorentino: catalogo completo, Florence 1991, pp. 48–9, no. 4, reproduced.

¹⁷ Private correspondence, 25 October 2024. Falciani previously argued that the painting could be dated earlier, to 1512, but this was based upon the examination of a black and white photograph alone, as the location of the picture was unknown: Falciani 2013, p. 71, n. 8. Franklin, likewise relying on a black and white image, proposed that the work may date to a later period, during Rosso's second sojourn in Florence circa 1524: Franklin 1994, pp. 117–19, reproduced pl. 85.

¹⁸ Capretti 2014, p. 44.

¹⁹ Inv. no. 952; mixed media on poplar panel, 102.1 x 77.5 cm.

²⁰ Falciani 2013, p. 64.

²¹ Inv. no. 190; marble, 56.7 x 40.1 cm.

²² Falciani 1996, p. 30, reproduced fig. 21; inv. no. GE–111; oil on canvas, transferred from panel, 111 x 75.5 cm.

²³ Museum no. 1895,0915.785; charcoal heightened with white, pen and brown ink, 32.5 x 27.2 cm.

²⁴ Inv. no. 936; mixed media on poplar panel, 81.3 x 54 cm.

²⁵ Inv. no. 1935; oil on panel, 72 x 57 cm. Some of the earlier scholarship deemed this work to be an original by Rosso: see, for example, B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A list of the principal artists and their works with an index of places, Oxford 1932, p. 495. Comparison with the present, rediscovered painting, dismantles this view.

²⁶ G. Redford, Art sales: a history of sales of pictures and other works of art, London 1888, p. 90; J. Ingamells, A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701–1800, New Haven and London 1997, pp. 963–64.

²⁷ This painting is still in the Hermitage today: inv. no. ГЭ-68; oil on canvas, 191 x 329 cm.

²⁸ Inv. no. NG6337; charcoal heightened with white chalk on paper, mounted on canvas, 141.5 x 104.6 cm. C.C. Bambach, Leonardo da Vinci rediscovered, New Haven 2019, vol. IV, p. 314, n. 173.

²⁹ M. Garlova, 'Catherine the Great's collects ion of Paintings: The Purchase of Old Masters and the Acquisition of Contemporary works of Art', in Catherine the Great: an Enlightened Empress, exh. cat., Edinburgh 2012, pp. 91–92.

³⁰ Irina Artemieva, curator of Venetian paintings at the Hermitage, discovered that the Udny pictures arrived with the Walpole collects ion: I. Artemieva, 'Alla nascita della pinacoteca dell'Ermitage: l'acquisto della collezione del console Udney', in Il collezionismo d'arte a Venezia, L. Borean and S. Mason (eds), Venice 2009, vol. 3, pp. 121–39.

³¹ CatCor Project, Letter 03563: To Friedrich Melchior Grimm, between 29 May 1779 and 30 May 1779, 2021.

³² Inv. no. OP–11743; watercolour on paper, 29.6 x 32.4 cm.

³³ Acc. no. 1937.1.24; oil on canvas, transferred from panel, overall (diameter): 94.5 cm.; acc. no. 1937.1.26; oil on panel, 28.5 x 21.5 cm.; inv. no. ГЭ-91; oil and tempera on canvas, transferred from panel, 72.5 x 56.5 cm.

³⁴ Carroll 2012, under no. RP.3.

³⁵ A. Bezgubova, 'Sale of the paintings descended from the Russian Imperial and private collects ions at the German auctions in 1928–1935', unpublished paper, Berlin 2015, p. 46. The archives of the State Museum Fund remain unexamined. Recent research, kindly undertaken by Zoya Kuptsova, curator of Italian paintings at the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, at the Central State Archive of Literature and Art, Saint Petersburg, did not yield relevant findings.

³⁶ H. Dahl, Quisling: a study in treachery, Cambridge 1999, pp. 12–13; A. Juritzen, Quisling privat, Oslo 2008, p. 104.

³⁷ B. Stenseth, Quislings ran: historien om Villa Grande, Oslo 2017, pp. 160 and 222.

³⁸ M. Quisling, Redegjöring til Oslo Skifterett, Akeravdelingen, Henrik Ibsensgate 7, Oslo, fra Maria Quisling, Erling Skjalgssönsgate 26, Oslo, vedr. Vidkun og Maria Quisling's fellesbo, MS, 1953, p. 20a. A copy of this declaration is available upon request.

³⁹ The villa was renamed 'Gimle', a name derived from Norse mythology, while the Quislings lived there.

⁴⁰ The Quislings did not allow photography inside the property, so this image must have been taken after General Thorne took over. One exception was Vidkun's 55th birthday party on 18 July 1942, which was a large celebration attended by journalists and photographers. That this photograph clearly serves a documentary purpose, however, and does not feature any people, would suggest that it was not taken at this event.

⁴¹ Stenseth 2017, p. 255.

⁴² Frogn was a close friend and colleague of Watchman, who claimed to be familiar with the artworks and objects from his home. He was able to identify a mirror, a chest of drawers and Rococo furniture that had previously belonged to Watchman. Eckhoff was Watchman's lawyer before the war and was later appointed manager of his estate. B. Stenseth, Antikvitetshandler Watchman: familien som ble borte, Oslo 2022, p. 146.

⁴³ Numerous documents in the Quisling files held by the National Archives, Oslo, relate to this case. Quisling 1953, pp. 1–2, cites a number of witnesses in support of Maria's claims, including Per Preben Prebensen (1895–1961), Norwegian Ambassador to the UK and Italy.

⁴⁴ 80% of the proceeds from the sale were donated to charity. The remaining 20% were sent to Vidkun's brother, Arne Quisling (1898–1991), who by then was living in the US.