Filippo Cattaneo
Sir Anthony van Dyck·1623
Historical Context
Filippo Cattaneo (1623), at the National Gallery of Art, is a companion piece to the portrait of his sister Maddalena, both children of the Genoese patrician Giacomo Cattaneo. Van Dyck paints the young boy with a tenderness unusual in formal portraiture, capturing the child's alertness and innocence while maintaining the dignity expected of a noble heir. Children's portraits in aristocratic families served important dynastic functions, documenting the continuation of family lines and sometimes facilitating marriage negotiations. Van Dyck's gift for painting children — combining affectionate observation with aristocratic decorum — made these among his most appealing Genoese works and anticipated the celebrated portraits of Charles I's children that he would paint in England a decade later.
Technical Analysis
The child portrait combines formal dignity with youthful naturalism. The rich costume is painted with careful attention to fabric and embroidery, while the face shows the soft, unformed features of childhood rendered with warmth and sensitivity.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the tenderness unusual in formal portraiture as Van Dyck captures the child's alertness and innocence.
- ◆Look at the rich costume painted with careful attention to fabric and embroidery, while the face shows the soft, unformed features of childhood.
- ◆Observe this companion piece to sister Maddalena's portrait — children's portraits serving important dynastic functions for the Genoese Cattaneo family.
Provenance
Giacomo Cattaneo [born 1593], Genoa, father of the sitter; by inheritance to his sons, Filippo Cattaneo [1619-1684] and Gio. Giacomo Cattaneo [1628-1712], Genoa; by inheritance 1712 to their great-nephew, Nicolò Cattaneo [1676-1746], Genoa;[1] by inheritance to Giambatista Cattaneo, Genoa, by 1780; Nicola Cattaneo, Genoa, by 1827; Cattaneo della Volta Collection, until 1906;[2] sold to Antonio Monti, Ferrara, buying with or more likely for (Trotti et Cie., Paris); on joint account December 1906 with (P. & D. Colnaghi, London); on three-way joint account February 1907 with (M. Knoedler and Co., New York);[3] sold 1908 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] This part of the provenance is based on Piero Boccardo's observations on Giacomo Cattaneo's patronage of Van Dyck, and on a document from the Cattaneo family archives that he published, all in Susan Barnes, Piero Boccardo, et al., _Van Dyck a Genova. Grande pittura e collezionism_, exh. cat., Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, 1997: 53-56. The portraits of Elena Cattaneo Grimaldi and her children (NGA 1942.9.92-94) have stayed together as a group through the centuries, except for a brief period between 1708 and 1712. During those years the portrait of the mother (NGA 1942.9.92) stayed with Gio. Giacomo Cattaneo, while the paintings of Filippo and Maddalena (NGA 1942.9.93-94) had already come to the residence of Niccolò Cattaneo near Portovenere. [2] The painting was probably seen by Carlo Giuseppe Ratti in the palazzo of Giambattista Cattaneo (_Instruzione di quanto può vedersi di più bello in Genova in pittura, scultura, ed architettura ecc... nuovamente ampliata e accresciuta_, Genoa, 1780: 106), and it was seen by Otto Mündler in May 1857 at Casa Casaretto (his diary is now in the National Gallery, London; see Otto Mündler, _Travel diaries 1855-1858_, edited by Carol Togneri Dowd, reproduced in _Walpole Society_ 31 [1985]: 152 [book 1, f. 85]). Sir Charles Eastlake, director of the National Gallery of London, made notes about the Cattaneo paintings as well when he visited Genoa on 30 August 1857 (his notes are at the National Gallery in London). [3] Information on Monti and the relationship between Trotti, Colnaghi, and Knoedler is from records available at the Getty Provenance Index.
