Inscription
on the collar of the dome: [LAVDATE] DOMINVM IN SANCTIS EIVS LAVS EIVS IN ECCLE[SIA SANCTORVM]
Provenance
The Dowager Countess of Norfolk;[1] (Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 20 November 1925, no. 69); bought by (William Sabin, London);[2] sold presumably by him to (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Rome); purchased October 1927 by Samuel H. Kress [1863-1955], New York;[3] gift 1939 to NGA.
Technical Summary
The support is a fine, plain-weave fabric. The ground is a reddish terracotta-colored layer that contains large aggregates of translucent white pigments. It is exposed in the spandrels of the arched top. In the top third of the composition a warm gray-brown layer was applied over the ground; in the bottom third, under the floor, there is a cooler, lighter gray layer over the ground. In the ceiling the red tone of the ground remains visible as highlights; in the floor it remains visible at the edges of the figures to set them off and soften the transition from the dark clothing to the lighter floor. The gray underlayer is similarly used as shadowing around the eyes of the figures.
Using a straightedge, lines were incised into the gray-brown layer as guides for the placement of the coffers in the ceiling; similar lines were also used to place the floor tiles and set the perspective. A stylus was used to define the contour of the coffered ceiling. Only the letters in the inscription seem to have been incised into the wet paint freehand. The composition appears to have been sketched in before the lines were incised and the paint applied: the incised floor lines stop precisely at the edges of some of the figure groups. This careful planning seems to have eliminated the need for significant alteration in the painting process. Artist's changes are limited to the sculptures in the niches and to the position of the font to the left of the doorway. Several figures, however, such as the monk in a white cowl at left center, were painted over the floor designs, revealing that some changes were made late in the development of the composition.[1]
The paint was applied using small brushes and fluid, brushmarked strokes, generally wet-into-wet and in opaque tones, for the basic color and forms of both architecture and figures. Precise architectural details were painted over the general forms of the building, probably with the use of a straightedge and compass. The figures are more broadly painted than the architecture, with details, shadows, and highlights quickly sketched over the opaque basic tone that gives them general form and modeling. Often the brush was held so that one side was more heavily loaded than the other, creating strokes and highlights in one application. The rich, varied textures of marble and stone were suggested by stippling and by dragging the dry brush through wet paint.
Although most of the tacking margins have been removed, remnants of the unpainted fabric are present and the painted image appears to retain its original dimensions. The black costumes are abraded and there are minor losses at the edges of the painting. The painting was relined by Stephen Pichetto about 1930. Removal of overpaint and discolored varnish during treatment by Ann Hoenigswald in 1992 has revealed the original design of the composition, an arched top within the rectangular canvas. The unpainted spandrels were painted out to the edges after 1925,[2] possibly in 1930. Scientific analysis identified modern pigments in these areas.
[1] X-radiographs confirm Panini's practice of changing his preliminary design by the addition of figures and adjustments to the trabeation. See also Cleaveland Museum of Art 1982, 383, for a discussion, based on x-radiographs of the museum's 1747 version of the subject, of similar compositional changes made after the initial layout was established. [2] The 1925 sale catalogue (see provenance) refers to the painting as having an arched top.
