Terms and conditions of use
Pan
(c. 1592)
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 109.0 × 135.5 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Rome, Italy
- Accession Number
- E1-1974
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1974
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- 16th & 17th Century Gallery - Painting and Sculpture
Mezzanine linked to Level 1, NGV International - Subjects (general)
- Religion and Mythology
- Subjects (specific)
- deities hooves (animal components) horns (animal components) nudes (representations) Pan (Greek deity) panpipes
- Movements
- Baroque
- Provenance
-
Commissioned by Cesare d'Este (1561–1628), Duke of Ferrara (until 1597), Modena and Reggio (until 1628), for the Camera del Poggiolo, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, c. 1592; remained in Ferrara when Duchy ceded to Papal States, 1598, until 1630; collection of Francesco d’Este (1610–58), Duke of Modena and Reggio 1629–58; by whom removed to the Palazzo Ducale at Modena, 1630[1]; by descent to Alfonso IV d’Este (1634–62), Duke of Modena, until 1662; then to Rinaldo d’Este (1655–1737), Duke of Modena and Reggio 1695–1737, until 1737; by descent to his son Francesco III d’Este (1698–1780), Duke of Modena and Reggio 1737–80, until 1780[2]; then to Ercole III d'Este (1727–1803), Duke of Modena and Reggio, until 1796; possibly seized, along with other items from the Ducal Palace, by Napoleon Bonaparte following the French invasion of Italy in 1796[3] and removed from Modena (probably to Paris), after 1811[4]; unknown private collection, before 1974; with Hazlitt Gallery (dealer), London, 1974[5]; from where purchased on the advice of Dr Mary Woodall for the Felton Bequest, 1974.
[1] See Clare Robertson, ‘The Carracci and Others in the Camera del Poggiolo at Ferrara’ in The Burlington Magazine, vol. 134, no. 1072, July 1992, pp. 417–27, esp. Appendix 3 in which Robertson has republished a letter from Gaspare Prati (agent in charge of freight of contents to Modena) to Francesco d’ Este listing works still at Ferrara, 1630.
[2] There is a mention of a Pan, along with other Camerini works in the Salon of the Ducal Palace, Modena. See Pagani, Gian Filiberto, ‘[Le] descrizione delle pitture, e dei disegni che esistono nel grande ducale appartamento Francesco III, Duca XII, di Modena’, in Le Pitture, e Sculture di Modena… Modena: Accademico Clementino, 1770, p. 101: In un volume di Nuvole spuntano Cerere, e Bacco, che per ischerzo pittorico si sono fra loro cangiati i simboli dell' Uve, e delle Spiche. Dall' altra parte veggonsi Mercurio, Apollo, e Pane: Nel mezzo in un grande raunato di Nubi Bradamante pomposamente vestita che da Giunone, e Pallade assistita si presenta a Giove, che nella destra tiene l’immortal Corona in atto di cingerle la Fronte gloriosa. Al sinistro fianco di Bradamante si avanza il forte intrepido Ruggero, d Elmo in Capo, e d’Asta militare armato, portante in mano il vittoriofo fuo Serto per ottenere anch' egli da Giove la meritata Coronazione.
[3] The Dukes of Modena and Parma were required to hand over 20 paintings each from their collections.
[4] There is another mention of a ‘Pane colla fistola’ in Dall’Olio’s I pregi del regio palazzo di Modena, Modena: G. Vincenzi, 1811, p. 46: [paragraph] XLIII. In quello che e collocate superiormente a sinsitra del riguardant vedesi Mercurio col petaso, il quale come messasggiero di Giove tiene nella destra una tromba unita all fatidica verga, e colla sinistral indica, as Apollo che gli e vicino, Giove dante la sua protezione alla Principessa Estense. Questi ha nella sinistral la cetra, e tenta colla destra di togliere la verga a Mercurio. In loro compagnia vi e Pan colla fistula. Tuttie e tre cono nudi, e in parte coperti di fascie. Interestingly, at the end of this book is fold out illustration of Ducal Palace captioned ‘Facciata del Palazzo del Re d'Italia Napoleone I. in Modena’. Additionally, there is no mention of the painting in Tarabini’s 1854 publication Cenni storici e descrittivi intorno alle pitture della Real Galleria Estense (Tipografia della Regio-Ducal Camera: Modena) which describes the contents of the Estense gallery (collection of Francesco V d’Este) and includes paintings recovered from Paris after the French Revolutionary wars. Of these are artworks from Alfonso d’Este’s Camera del Poggiolo and Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara. The Latin for ‘pan pipes’ is Panis fistula.
[5] Not exhibited Painting in Italy from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth century, Hazlitt Gallery, London, November 1971.