Continental European before 1800 9 comments ‘The Death of Ananias’ is thought to be a copy of an earlier painting. Do you know which?
Photo credit: Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture
This painting was previously titled ‘Study of a New Testament Subject’. The collection has now concluded this scene depicts the story told in Acts 5:3–10 – the death of Ananias and Sapphira. The story was captured in cartoon by Raphael (and widely reproduced, e.g. http://bit.ly/2copnWC)
The painting title has been amended and a description has been added to this record. The collection believes the work to be a copy of an old master painting.
I was thinking it looks like someone working in the manner of Veronese in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, such as Giovanni Antonio Fumiani. Of course, it is not necessarily the case that we're talking here of an Italian – James Thornhill painted the subject in St Paul’s Cathedral: http://bit.ly/2cU9VUt
9 comments
This might be after Fumiani, but it seems too crudely done to be by him, unless it is a condition or restoration problem. Here's a Fumiani with comparable use of architecture:
http://www.bigli.com/assets/images/quadri/_589M.jpg
There is a Fumiani in the Uffizi depicting the stoning of Zacharias which has also been called or taken for the death of Ananias, but that is not the source of this picture. Image here:
http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda.v2.jsp?tipo_scheda=OA&id=60836&titolo=Fumiani Giovanni Antonio, Lapidazione di Zaccaria nel cortile del tempio&locale=it&decorator=layout_resp&apply=true#lg=1&slide=0
This reminds me of Raphael’s School of Athens.
Could this be an oil sketch by Thornhill? What is known of the provenance of this picture?
According to the NIRP report (NICE Paintings link above right), the provenance is unknown and it was accessioned in 1992. There is a label on the middle stretcher, left: 'O. O. C. S. Unidentified 12 ¾ x 14 ¾ A. I. (/VOI)'.
This four-year old discussion has not gone very far. The discussion is headed: "The Death of Ananias’ is thought to be a copy of an earlier painting. Do you know which?"
My own take is that the painting is not necessarily a copy of an earlier painting. And that the painting is by a minor artist who will be very difficult to identify. Time to close this discussion?
Victor Honoré Janssens (1658–1736)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Honoré_Janssens
While the Art UK work is not as finely executed, 'The death of Caesar' has certain similarities, such as: the prone figure, poses, forearms and the columns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Honoré_Janssens#/media/File:Victor_Honoré_Janssens_-_The_death_of_Caesar.jpg
Marcie, in my opinion, the similarity is superficial and essentially a coincidence. I do not think it helps substantially with our picture.
Thornhill copied Raphael's "Anananias and Sapphira," https://bit.ly/3FGywuR , but this certainly looks to be by a minor hand, though it may well be a relatively crude oil sketch for a larger work. The descriptive note already alludes to Raphael's influence (though it misspells colonnade as "collonade" in the last paragraph), and I agree with Jacob that it is probably not worthwhile to keep this open.