Virgin of the Passion

<p>Beltramini Family Chapel, Venice (?). [1] Eugene Benson, Palazzo Capello, Venice; [2]</p> <p>Eugene Benson Auction, February 4, 1911, Fifth Avenue Auction Rooms, Inc., New York, Lot no. 123; [3]</p> <p>Gifted in April 1920 by Allan Marquand to The Princeton University Art Museum. [4]</p> <p>NOTES:</p> <p>[1] See accession card, which states for the painting’s provenance, "Chapel of the Beltramini family, Venice, for four centuries, according to report." Preliminary research has not uncovered where this chapel was located in Venice. The Beltramini family appears to have moved to Asolo in the later fifteenth century and rose to prominence in the area in the early sixteenth century. This seems to corroborate Mario Cattapan’s earlier research, who commented that he could not find a Beltramini family or palace in Venice, but did come across evidence for the family elsewhere in Treviso. See Mario Cattapan, "I pittori Andrea e Nicola Rizo di Candia," <em>Thesaurismata </em>10 (1973): 238-282.</p> <p>[2] Eugene Benson was an artist and writer who was born in Hyde Park, New York in 1839 and died in Venice in 1908. He studied at the school of the National Academy of Design between 1856 and 1859, and trained in the studio of James Henry Wright (1813-1883). He was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design in 1862, and exhibited annually there between 1858 and 1879. He began writing ca. 1863 to supplement his income. He lived in Newburyport, New York, and New Haven, eventually becoming an expatriate in Italy in 1874 until his death. While abroad he painted and wrote prose and poetry about Italian history and his travels (See, for example, <em>Gaspara Stampa: The Story of her Life</em>, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1881; <em>Art and Nature in Italy</em>, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1882; "From The Asolan Hills," London: E. Matthews, 1891). In Venice, Benson lived in Palazzo Capello with his wife, Henrietta Malan Fletcher, and her daughter from her first marriage, Julia Constance Fletcher (1858-1938). See Robert J. Scholnick, "Between Realism and Romanticism: The Curious Career of Eugene Benson," <em>American Literary Realism, 1870-1910 </em>14, no. 2 (Autumn 1981): 242-261; https://nationalacademy.emuseum.com/people/1104/eugene-benson. In an advertisement for the estate auction in the Friday, February 3, 1911 issue of the New York Daily Tribune (p. 2, lower left), Benson’s collection is advertised as having been "removed from his former residence, Palazzo Capello, Venice and sold to close his estate."</p> <p>[3] The bibliographic record in TMS for the painting cites the Eugene Benson estate auction catalogue as <em>Catalogue of an important collection of rare antiques </em>(New York: Fifth Avenue Auction Rooms, 1911), no. 123. A copy of this catalogue could not be located through the library or online to confirm its contents, but a transcription in the curatorial file records the painting’s description as: "No. 123. Byzantine Madonna. About 1400 [crossed out and in pencil ‘?1250’]; on panel; in original frame; bought from a private chapel of the Beltramini family of Venice, where it has been for over 400 years, 30 x 40 inches." It is noted that the copy of the catalogue consulted was annotated "$255." A "Life of Benson" is also included in the transcription, "Born 1841, Hyde Park; from Knickerbocker stock; in Civil War as a correspondant and artist at Vicksburg for <em>Leslie’s Weekly</em>; lived in Washington Square, the University Building, where his friends were Homer Martin, Eastman Johnson, Sandford Gifford, and Winslow Homer; studied in Europe for a year with Winslow Homer, writing as well for <em>Atlantic Monthly </em>and <em>Evening Post</em>; 1871 settled in Italy, first in Rome, then Venice; writing on Giorgione at his death; died 1908 in Palazzo Capello."</p> <p>[4] Although the accession card states the painting was gifted in April 1920 by Marquand, a note in pencil beside this information says that the painting is listed on page 12 of the insurance inventory of 1911.</p>