Una donna di San Germano
Un prezioso dipinto in mostra ad Oxford
Un fortunato ritrovamento arricchisce il patrimonio figurativo della Cassino che fu. Un dipinto di metà Ottocento dell’artista inglese Robert Braithwaite Martineau raffigurante “una donna di San Germano” in costume dell’epoca è stato riscoperto (per noi “scoperto”) in una importante mostra all’Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology di Oxford dedicata ai “Pre-Raffaelliti e l’Italia”.
Il quadro, racconta Colin Harrison, curatore della mostra in un’intervista a Ben Miller, fu donato al museo da una certa famiglia in sostituzione di una tassa governativa di successione. Solo qualche tempo dopo si è capito che l’opera era quella eseguita dal pittore R. Braithwaite Martineau e perduta di vista a partire dal 1930.
“Una donna di San Germano” di Robert Braithwaite Martineau.
Robert Braithwaite Martineau (1826–1869) studiò sotto William Holman Hunt della scuola dei pre-Raffaelliti e per diverso tempo ne condivise il laboratorio; la sua opera più nota è “L‘ultimo giorno nella vecchia casa”, esposta alla Tate Gallery di Londra .
La novità e la sorpresa della mostra di Oxford è l’accostamento del dipinto di Martineau, “A Woman of San Germano”, con un altro di Holman Hunt raffigurante una signora in costume napoletano inginocchiata in una chiesa. A parere di Colin Harrison le due donne rinviano ad una unica modella. Infatti, secondo lui, Hunt aveva dipinto il suo soggetto nel 1863, ma senza lo sfondo, come era d’uso tra i pre-Raffaelliti; solo nel 1867 riprese il quadro e lo completò con lo sfondo della chiesa.
Una donna in costume napoletano di Holman Hunt.
Ritratto di Robert Braithwaite Martineau disegnato da William Holman Hunt (1860).
Afferma Colin Harrison: “Si scoprì, poi, che, non solo era la Donna di San Germano – che era stato esposto alla Royal Academy nel 1864 – con il costume stesso, ma i miei amici mi hanno convinto che in realtà è la stessa modella, che sarebbe stata un membro della colonia italiana intorno a Holborn“.
La mostra “I pre-raffaelliti e l’Italia” continuerà fino al 5 dicembre 2010.
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Ringrazio per la segnalazione l’amico Alberto Turinetti Di Priero di Torino, che ne ha avuto notizia dal sito web:
http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/ART308665, dal quale abbiamo tratto le immagini qui riportate.
e. p.
Curator’s Choice: The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy unites rare pair at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum
Colin Harrison interviewed by Ben Miller | 20 September 2010
Interview
An image of a painting of a woman and child from renaissance italy
Robert Braithwaite Martineau, A Woman of San Germano© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Curator’s Choice: In his own words… Colin Harrison, co-curator of the 2010 exhibition The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, tells us about two pieces with a mysterious link…
“Robert Braithwaite Martineau’s best-known work is probably The Last Day in the Old Home, which belongs to the Tate. A couple of years ago somebody rang me up and said ‘our granny has just died, and now we’ve got this painting by Robert Braithwaite Martineau from her – we wondered if it would be suitable for a museum.’
We found that this was a long-lost painting which hasn’t been seen since the 1930s called A Woman of San Germano, which is now called Monte Cassino, just East of Naples.
To cut a long story short, this was accepted in lieu of inheritance tax by the government, and it turns out that Martineau and William Holman Hunt, one of the original members of the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, shared a studio in the 1850s. They remained very close until Martineau’s premature death in 1869.
Holman Hunt painted a picture of a lady in Neapolitan costume kneeling in a church. He painted the figure in 1863, but he didn’t do the background because he was the only really true Pre-Raphaelite all the way through his career – he had to have the subject in front of him before he painted it. So he took the canvas to Naples in 1868 and filled in the background.
An image of a woman from renaissance italy
William Holman Hunt, Past and Present (1863-8)© Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum Collections
It turned out that not only was the Woman of San Germano – which was being exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1864 – wearing the same costume, but my friends have persuaded me that it is in fact the same model, who would have been a member of the Italian colony around Holborn.
Apparently there was a strong element from the Neapolitan countryside around San Germano. We don’t know what her name is, but we can practically identify her, so we’ve hung the Holman Hunt piece, from Aberdeen Art Gallery, with the Woman of San Germano, which as I say turned up out of the woodwork. It is a wonderful juxtaposition, it really is.
Perhaps I’m too close to it, but people who look at the pictures say it’s obviously the same woman. She looks rather more seductive in the Martineau, she’s all warm of flesh, but that’s partly because Holman Hunt’s technique is very hard-edged. She just looks a little bit more Italianate in Martineau’s picture.”
The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy ran at the Ashmolean until December 5 2010. See our full preview of it here.