Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet, c. 1520/1525

[1] This provenance is the result of a collaborative research effort by Peter Humfrey and Burton Fredericksen, who kindly shared their work with the Gallery. When the painting was on the art market in the 1990s, and initially in the Gallery's records, it was identified with one formerly in the collections of the Empress Josephine at Malmaison, of her son Eugène de Beauharnais, and then of his heirs, the Dukes of Leuchtenberg, in Munich and St Petersburg. Supporting evidence was provided by the fact that the engraving of this picture by J. N. Muxel included in the luxurious 1851 catalogue of the Leuchtenberg collection compiled by J. D. Passavant, shows a composition that is near-identical (J.N. Muxel and J.D. Passavant, Galerie Leuchtenberg. Gemälde-Sammlung seiner kaiserl. hoheit des Herzogs von Leuchtenberg in München, 2 vols., Frankfurt am Main, 1851: 8, no. 35, repro.). However, the Leuchtenberg picture was recorded as still in St. Petersburg by Harck in 1896 ("Notizien über italienische Bilder in Petersburger Sammlungen," Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 19 [1896]: 413-438; Die Russischen Bestimmungen über Nachtmärsche und Nachtgefechte: Uebersetzt von Harck, Leipzig, 1896: 423) and by Néoustroieff in 1903 (A. Néoustroieff, "I Quadri Italliani nella collezione del Duca G.N. von Leuchtenberg dit Pietroburgo," Arte, Anno VI, November/December 1903: 329-346, repro. 333), whereas the Gallery's picture had been sold at the Poniatowski sale in Paris in 1867. Indeed, while the photograph of the Leuchtenberg picture reproduced by Néoustroieff corresponds to Muxel's engraving, both show minor but distinct differences from the Washington picture, as is particularly evident in the treatment of the haloes. Furthermore, it was Harck's opinion that the Leuchtenberg picture -- unlike other works by Garofalo in the same collection -- was no more than a copy. This judgement cannot be definitely confirmed until the real Leuchtenberg picture re-emerges, and can be compared with the Gallery's picture. Suspicions that the now missing Leuchtenberg picture was a copy of the Gallery's picture were also raised by Alain Pougetoux (La collection de peintures de l'impératrice Joséphine, Paris, 2003: 148), and by Burton Fredericksen in an annotation to the Getty Provenance Index. Another circumstantial argument for suspecting that the two pictures are not identical is the fact that the Gallery's version retains its original wooden support, whereas in nineteenth-century Russia panel paintings were transferred to canvas almost as a matter of routine.

Instead, the Gallery's painting is likely to correspond to one described in the posthumous inventory of Cardinal Ludovisi of 1633 as follows: "Un Christo che lava li Piedi alli Apostoli quadro alto pmi due lono pmi tre cornice nera rabescata d'oro di mano del Garofano" (Klára Garas, "The Ludovisi Collection of Pictures in 1633," The Burlington Magazine [1967]: 343, no. 37). The stated dimensions (= 44.68 x 67.02 centimeters) are slightly larger than those of the Gallery's painting, but the measurement in palms is clearly not precise, and as pointed out by Garas 1967, 289 n. 2, it probably included the orginal black frame. The same picture is listed (but with no attribution) in an earlier inventory of the cardinal's collection of 1623, and in the posthumous inventory of 1665 of his brother and heir Niccolò, Prince of Piombino (Carolyn H. Wood, "The Ludovisi collection of paintings in 1623," The Burlington Magazine 134 [1992]: 521, no. 218). Cardinal Lodovisi was a Bolognese, and his collection was rich in pictures acquired directly from Ferrara.

[2] An old label on the reverse of the painting records this part of the provenance: "Reçu de Monsieur L. Lebeuf de Mongermont [sic] la somme / de neuf mille francs pour payment d'un tableau / peint par Garofalo représentant le lavement des / pieds des apôtres, dont quittance Paris le 21 Mai 1870 / Provenant de la vente du Prince Poniastowski [sic] -- F. Nieuwenhuys".