Nuove ipotesi sui proprietari delle Giuditta e Oloferne di Hartford e della Pinacoteca Vaticana di Orazio Gentileschi: i Gavotti

Abstract

Starting from a careful reading of the unpublished inventories of the assets of the Roman branch of the Gavotti family and comparing these lists with the list of paintings exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Church of San Salvatore in Lauro, a hypothesis is put forward as to the provenance of Orazio Gentileschi's "Judith and Holofemes", now in the Vatican Pinacoteca from the lineage of Ligurian origin. The painting, to-gether with the original now in Hartford, was painted for the Genoese Ga-votti family, who esteemed the artist so much that they invited him to Gen-oa and commissioned the original which they kept for themselves sending the replica to Rome. The essay reconstructs the changes in ownership of the famous canvas, of which numerous copies exist, from 1700 to the end of the following century. The hypothesis of the provenance is supported by the behaviour of the Gavottis who, on other occasions, had acted in the same way: the branch that commissioned kept the originals and sent the replicas or well-made copies to the other; this happened so much so that in the Ligurian and Romans documents were cited, in the same years, the originals and replicas of the works of the most beloved painters. And there-fore the painting now in the Vatican Pinacoteca has always remained in the papal city, while the other from Genoa ended up in Hartford through the antiques market.

Keywords

• orazio gentileschi
• giuditta e oloferne
• gavotti