Attributed to the Maestro degli Armenti

Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (1676–1745), 10 Downing Street, London and Houghton Hall, Norfolk;

Francis Russell, 7th Duke of Bedford (1788–1861), Bedford House, London and Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, by c. 1850;

By descent to Hastings William Sackville Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford (1888–1953), Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire;

By whom sold, London, Christie's, 19 January 1951, lot 15 (as attributed to Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione), for 120 guineas;

Where acquired by the father of the present owner;

Thence by descent.

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London 1854, vol. II, p. 286 (as Jan Miel);

G. Scharf, Third portion of a catalogue comprising pictures, miniatures and enamels, of his grace the Duke of Bedford, 81 Eaton Square, London, London 1875, p. 37, no. 43 (as Jan Miel).

This painting compares closely to a number of the works attributed to the Maestro degli Armenti by Gianni Papi.¹ Many pictures by this hitherto anonymous artist were previously given to Tommaso Salini (1575–1625) or the Pseudo Salini. In its subject, this painting is characteristic of the artist's output, as attested by his moniker, which translates as 'The Master of the Herds'.

We are grateful to Dott. Alberto Crispo for proposing an attribution to the Maestro degli Armenti on the basis of digital images.

Note on Provenance

During the eighteenth century, this picture was in the collection of Sir Robert Walpole: a British Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the first de facto Prime Minister of Great Britain, serving from 1721 to 1742. Among other masterpieces, Walpole owned Rembrandt's celebrated depiction of the Sacrifice of Isaac, which hangs today in the Hermitage, St Petersburg.² The present painting later passed into the collection of Francis Russell, 7th Duke of Bedford, and was admired at his London home by Gustav Friedrich Waagen (1794–1868) around 1850.³ Waagen mistook the canvas for a work by Jan Miel (1599–1664), but was still able to appreciate its refinement, declaring the head of the donkey 'especially remarkable'.⁴ This picture descended within the Bedford Collection until 1951, when it was sold at Christie's London.

¹ G. Papi, 'Qualche riferimento cronologico per il Maestro degli Armenti', in Un miso di grano e di pula, G. Papi (ed.), Rome and Naples 2020, pp. 256–65.

² Museum no. ГЭ-727; oil on canvas, 193 x 132 cm.; https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/digital-collection/43367?lng=en.

³ Waagen published his account in 1854, but prefaces the second volume of his Treasures of Art, in which this painting appears, by explaining that his second visit to England took place in spring 1850.

⁴ Waagen 1854, vol. II, p. 286.