티치아노 작 '이집트로 피신하는 성가족의 휴식' 

1995년 도난 당했다가 런던 버스정류장서 발견 

Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian (Pieve di Cadore circa 1485/90-1576 Venice) Rest on the Flight into Egypt oil on canvas, laid on panel 18.1/4 x 24.3/4 in. (46 x 62.9 cm.) Estimate: £15,000,000 - 25,000,000 ($18,967.000 - 31,612.000)

'베니스 거장' 티치아노/티션(Tiziano Vecellio/ Titian, 1485/90-1576)의 초기작 '이집트로 피신하는 성가족의 휴식(The Rest on the Flight into Egypt)'이 7월 2일 런던 크리스티에서 경매된다. 예상가는 1천5백만-2천5백만 파운드(1천9백만-3천2백만 달러)였으며, 티치아노 경매사상 최고가인 2천2백만 달러에 팔렸다. 

이 회화는 마태복음(2:13-23)에 기록된 사건에서 영감을 받았다. 요셉은 꿈에서 유대 왕 헤롯이 어린 그리스도를 죽이려 한다는 경고를 받고 즉시 마리아와 아기를 안전을 위해 이집트로 데려갔다. 티치아노는 성가족이 힘든 여정도중 시골에서 쉬고 있는 모습을 묘사했다. 

첫 소장자는 17세기 초 베니스 향신료 상인 바르톨로메오 델라 나베(Bartolomeo della Nave)이었다. 이후 런던의 해밀턴 공작, 오스트리아 레오폴드 빌헬름 대공의 컬렉션에 있다가 1809년 나폴레옹 군대에 의해 압수됐지만, 7년 후 나폴레옹 몰락으로 비엔나에 반환됐다.

David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria in his Picture Gallery in Brussels, 1647-51. 레오폴트 빌헬름 대공의 브뤼셀 갤러리 소장품을 묘사한 데이빗 테니에르의 회화. 티치아노의 그림(*주황색 테두리)이 보인다. 마드리드 프라도뮤지엄 소장. 2013년 11월 뉴욕 프릭컬렉션에서 전시된 조르조네(Giorgione) 작 '3인의 철학자(The Three Philosophers, 1508-09, *하늘색 테두리)'도 걸려있다.

이후 영국 화가 J.M.W. 터너의 후원자였던 앤드류 존스톤 먼로(Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro)를 거쳐 제4대 바스 후작 존 알렉산더 틴(John Alexander Thynne)에게 넘어간다. 틴 후작의 월트셔 저택에 걸렸던 이 그림은 1995년 도난당했고, 7년 후 당대 최고의 미술 전문 형사 찰스 힐(Charles Hill)이 런던 남서부의 버스 정류장에 방치된 가방에서 발견해 화제가 됐다. 

티치아노는 베니스 인근 시골 피에베 디 카도레(Pieve di Cadore)에서 태어났다. 어릴 적 꽃의 즙을 색으로 벽에 마돈나를 그려 재능을 인정받아 10살 무렵 베니스로 보내져 지오반니 벨리니(Giovanni Bellini)의 작업실에서 견습생이 되었다. 

티치아노는 베니스의 거장으로 신성로마제국 황제이자 스페인 국왕 카를 5세로부터 기사와 백작 작위를 받고 궁정화가로 임명됐다. 그는 동시대 '별 가운데 있는 태양(The Sun Amidst Small Stars)'으로 불리울 정도로 베니스에서 역사상 가장 성공한 화가였다.

생애 초상화, 풍경화 및 신화와 종교를 소재로 한 회화 640여점을 제작한 후 1576년(86-88세로 추정) 페스트로 숨을 거두었다. 피터 폴 루벤스, 디에고 벨라스케즈, 외젠 들라크루와 등이 티치아노의 영향을 받았다.    

TITIAN’S EARLY MASTERPIECE REST ON THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT LEADS CHRISTIE’S OLD MASTERS PART I SALE IN LONDON ON 2 JULY 2024

Having been owned by Dukes, Archdukes and Holy Roman Emperors, it was looted by Napoleon and stolen in the late 20th century 

Offered by Lord Bath and the Longleat Trustees as part of their long-term investment strategy

Old Master, 19th Century

LONDON

London – Coming to the market for the first time in more than 145 years, Titian’s early masterpiece Rest on the Flight into Egypt will headline Christie’s Old Masters Part I sale on 2 July 2024, presenting a very rare opportunity for buyers to become part of the next chapter in this fabled picture’s remarkable story (estimate: £15,000,000 – 25,000,000). One of the last religious works from the artist’s celebrated early years to remain in private hands, the picture has passed through some of the greatest collections in Europe and was last auctioned by Christie’s in 1878, before entering the collection at Longleat House.

Orlando Rock, Chairman, Christie’s UK commented: “This sublime early masterpiece by Titian is one of the most poetic products of Titian’s youth. Of impeccable provenance and having passed through the hands of Dukes, Archdukes and Holy Roman Emperors, this magical devotional painting has the rare notoriety of having been stolen not once but twice – firstly by Napoleon and secondly in the late mid-1990s. We are honoured to be entrusted with bringing this important and beautifully observed painting to the market in London this July.”

Andrew Fletcher, Christie's Global Head of the Old Masters Department commented: “This is the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation and one of the very few masterpieces by the artist remaining in private hands. It is a picture that embodies the revolution in painting made by Titian at the start of the 16th century and is a truly outstanding example of the artist's pioneering approach to both the use of colour and the representation of the human form in the natural world, the artistic vocabulary that secured his status as the first Venetian painter to achieve fame throughout Europe in his lifetime and his position as one of the greatest painters in the history of Western art.”

PROVENANCE

The roll call of illustrious provenance for this painting begins with it being first documented in the collection of the Venetian merchant, Bartolomeo della Nave (1571/79-1632), described in 1629 as a ‘mercante da droghe’, whose activities focused on the spice trade. Della Nave's inventory reveals an astonishing collection that is unlikely to have been equalled in Venice during his day and included no fewer than fifteen works by Titian, notably including The Gypsy Madonna of circa 1511; his Violante of circa 1510-15; the Nymph and Shepherd of circa 1570 (all in Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum); and the artist’s mature masterpiece of 1565-76, The Death of Actaeon, now in the National Gallery, London. In 1636, the Longleat picture was valued at £200 in della Naves's inventory, twice the amount for the Death of Actaeon, suggesting Titian's early works were more highly prized than their later counterparts.

Through Bartolomeo’s brother, Andrea della Nave, and Basil Feilding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh, King Charles I’s ambassador to Venice, the majority of the collection was acquired en bloc by the latter’s brother-in-law, James, 1st Duke of Hamilton and sent to England. Following Hamilton’s execution by parliament in 1649, the collection was sold to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1647-1656. The picture appears in Teniers’ copper panel depicting The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Picture Gallery in Brussels (Madrid, Museo del Prado), where it is shown hanging alongside other works by Titian acquired from della Nave’s collection, among which are the Nymph and Shepherd, Violante, and his Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery, circa 1511 (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), an unfinished panel that the young Anthony van Dyck had made a sketch of during his visit to see the Venetian merchant’s collection in 1622.

The Longleat picture remained in the Imperial collection – passing by descent from Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685-1740), Vienna, to Maria Theresa (1717-1780), Holy Roman Empress, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, to Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1741-1790) – and was transferred to the Belvedere Palace in Vienna by 1781, where it was looted by French troops in 1809 for the Musée Napoléon. It was subsequently owned by Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar (1797-1864), a Scottish landowner, amateur artist and one of the most important patrons of Turner. Munro formed a celebrated collection that included Rembrandt’s Lucretia (Washington, National Gallery of Art), Veronese’s Vision of St. Helena (London, National Gallery), and at least ten pictures by Bonington, of which the finest was A fishmarket near Boulogne (New Haven, Yale Centre for British Art).

LONGLEAT - MAKING THE HEADLINES

Titian’s early masterpiece Rest on the Flight into Egypt was acquired by the 4th Marquess of Bath in 1878, more than 145 years ago. Enjoyed by multiple generations, the painting made the headlines in 1995 when it was stolen from Longleat. Seven years later, following a £100,000 reward being announced for information leading to the picture’s safe return, it was found in 2002 in a carrier bag in Greater London, minus the frame, by a leading art detective of the time – the late Charles Hill, a former Scotland Yard officer.

THE DATE OF THE PAINTING

Always regarded as a youthful masterpiece by Titian and generally dated circa 1510, there are however some inevitable variations on the precise dating. In his 2012 exhibition at the National Gallery in London: Titian, A fresh look at nature, Antonio Mazzotta, who dates the picture to circa 1508-9, observed that the monumental figure of the Virgin ‘prefigures other Titian heroines’ from the period, notably that of Judith as Justice in the detached fresco fragment from the Merceria entrance to the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, circa 1508 (Venice, Ca d’Oro), a key early commission, and that of the Magdalen in the artist’s slightly later Noli me Tangere, 1511-12 (London, National Gallery). In his review of the 2012 National Gallery exhibition, the centrepiece of which was Titian’s Flight into Egypt of 1506-7 (St. Petersburg, Hermitage), Paul Hills singled out the Longleat picture for particular praise and the artist’s masterful use of colour: ‘The red of the Virgin’s dress, offset by the [white] napkin, is treated with marvellous breadth, and the ultramarine of her cloak is spread across the bank to meet the strong amber of Joseph’s mantle, which in turn contrasts with the violet of his robe. The solicitous movement of the figures, counterpoised by the tilt of tree-trunks, is underscored by this drama of colour.’