(Attributed to) Antiveduto Della GRAMMATICA (1571-1626, Italian)
Portrait of Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
Oil on Canvas
c.1605-1609
Framed in a Nineteenth Century gild and composite frame
44.5 x 41 inches framed
Price: £45,000 GBP
Provenance:
Baron Kettleby and by descent to The Reverend W.A. Bedbrough of Tunbridge Wells by 1909
Antiveduto Grammatica (1571 – April 1626) was a proto-Baroque Italian painter, active near Rome. Grammatica was born in either Siena or Rome. According to Giovanni Baglione the artist was given the name Antiveduto ("foreseen") because his father had a premonition that he would soon be born during a journey between his native Siena and Rome. It was in Rome that Antiveduto was baptised, raised and based his career. His apprenticeship with the Perugian artist Giovanni Domenico Angelini (Giandomenico Perugino) introduced him to small-scale work, mostly on copper. He gained the nickname "gran Capocciante" because he specialised in painting heads of famous men.
A decade later, in 1591, Antiveduto set up as an independent artist. Grammatica's earliest surviving public commission, an old-fashioned configuration depicting Christ the Saviour with St. Stanislaus of Krakow, St. Adalbert of Prague and St Hyacinth Odrowaz, was painted for the high altar of San Stanislao dei Polacchi. Characterized by Giulio Mancini as most zealous in his profession, Antiveduto began his association with the Accademia di San Luca in 1593. He gained great familiarity with the two protectors of the Academy, Cardinals Federico Borromeo and Francesco Maria Del Monte, and was closely attached to the latter; so much that he was elected to the highest office of the association as "principe" in 1624. Shortly after this, however, he became embroiled in scandal.
The machinations of Grammatica’s enemy Tommaso Salini over the attempt to sell off the Accademia's altarpiece, thought to be by Raphael, brought about a humiliating retreat, when Cardinal Del Monte intervened to re-establish the constitution of the institution. His fortunes were in a way linked with the Cardinal himself, who was much frowned upon by the Barberini, and his death preceded that of Del Monte by four months, in April 1626.
His works are exhibited in numerous public collections, including the State Hermitage Museum - St Petersburg, the Museo Nacional del Prado – Madrid, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, the Muzeul Naţional Brukenthal - Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Romania, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum – Glasgow, and the Maison D’Art Gallery, Monaco.
Sitter: Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) was one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio Mayone, Giovanni Maria Trabaci, and Claudio Merulo. Frescobaldi was appointed organist of St Peter’s Basilica, a focal point of power for the Capella Giulia from 1608-1628 and again from 1634 until his death.
Born in Ferrara, his father Filippo was a man of property, possibly an organist, since both Girolamo and his half-brother Cesare became organists. Contemporary accounts describe Girolamo as a gifted composer and performer child prodigy who was brought through various principle cities of Italy. He quickly gained patronage of important noblemen.
In his early twenties Frescobaldi left his native Ferrara for Rome in 1604-7 to take up a position as the organist at Santa Maria in Trastevere. He was also employed by Guido Bentivoglio, the Archbishop of Rhodes and accompanied him on a trip to Flanders where Bentivoglio had been made nuncio to the court. It was Frescobaldi’s only trip outside Italy but the court at Brussels was musically among the most important in Europe at the time.
During this trip, Frescobaldi also visited Antwerp, where local musicians were so impressed with his music, they persuaded him to publish at least some of it. Whilst abroad, Frescobaldi was elected in 1608 to succeed Ercole Pasquini as organist of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, though he delayed is return until 29th October in order to publish another collection of music, the keyboard Fantasie. He took up this position of grandeur on 31st October 1608 and held it until death.
He remained in Rome but became estranged from his patron Bentivoglio after having an affair with a young woman and a scandal between Bentivoglio and the Medici family. Frescobaldi also worked for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini between 1610-13. Frescobaldi married Orsola Travaglini in 1613 and had five children. In October 1614 he was approached by an agent of the Duke of Mantua, Ferdinando I Gonzaga. He visited Mantua shortly after but was given such a cold reception, he fled immediately back to Rome where he continued publishing.
In 1628, St Peter’s Basilica granted Frescobaldi permission to move to Florence, under the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, a Medici. During his time there, Frescobaldi was the highest paid musician. In 1634 he was summoned to the service of the Barberini family, and to Pope Urban VIII, the highest prize offered to any musician. Frescobaldi's dress is very similar to that of the Archduke Albert VII's and the Lute Player's in Grammatica's portraits. Frescobaldi was recorded as visiting the Royal Court in Flanders to Archduke Albert VII whilst accompanying his employer Bentivoglio who had been made nuncio to the court.