Portrait of a man, bust-length, with a green background

The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.

We are grateful to Marco Grassi for providing the following condition report:

Support:
The original panel may have been cut from a single section of poplar wood; the most commonly used by Italian painters. The grain most probably ran vertically and, in more recent times, may have developed a convex deformation and minimal shrinkage in size, causing diminished adhesion of the pictorial layer with consequent scattered losses in various areas.

The precarious state of the original support structure, noted above, was corrected by a radical intervention performed, probably about 1930-40. The wood panel was thinned to a fraction of its initial thickness, if not to the rear of the pictorial layer itself. The remaining pictorial film was then applied to either a composite or plywood panel about ½ inch thick. This panel was finished with hardwood veneering on all sides and backed with a “cradle” composed of four fixed vertical, and four horizontal sliding elements. This adjunct to the panel has, in effect, no functional purpose given the inert nature of the principal support.

The ca. 1930’s panel procedure was, to be precise, a “transfer” of the painted layer on to a new support. It was a conservation technique much in use, both in Europe and America from the mid-Nineteenth Century. The panel work performed on the subject painting is typical of the Kneisel atelier, active in New York until the mid-1970’s. It provided services to the Frick Collection, the Knoedler and Wildenstein galleries as well as a host of private clients. Though no longer practiced, ‘transfers’ actually did impart continued stability and permanence to a great number of otherwise troubled wood supports – as is certainly the case in the subject painting.

Pictorial Layers:
The issues with the panel, cited above, are responsible for what losses have occurred in the painted image. There was considerable fragmentation in the figure’s flesh tones, and somewhat less in the background and costume. Fortunately, none of these losses seriously compromise the sitter’s principal features. Moreover, all of the surviving original surfaces are ‘present’ in all their clarity and integrity with no evidence of abrasion due to past ‘cleanings’.

All losses have been carefully and very skillfully in-painted. None of these restorations have discolored.

The varnish layer appears to be a light, dammar resin. It perfectly saturates the colors and is fresh and transparent.

No conservation procedures are warranted at this time.