Live Auction 18953Italian Drawings From The Robert Landolt Collection
Camillo Procaccini (Bologna 1555-1629 Milan)
Lot 56

Camillo Procaccini (Bologna 1555-1629 Milan)

The beheading of Saint Victor

Closed8 December 2020

Price Realised

GBP 27,500

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Camillo Procaccini (Bologna 1555-1629 Milan)
The beheading of Saint Victor
with inscriptions ‘A Martyrdom’ and ‘Camillo Procaccini.’ and ‘77_2 Ld Spencers. 1811.’ (on the recto of the mount) and ‘Procaccino’ (on the verso of the mount)
pen and brown ink, brown wash, squared in black chalk, arched top
6 ¾ x 4 in. (17.3 x 10 cm)

Possibly Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744) (according to the Landolt typescript catalogue).
John Spencer (1708-1746), Althorp (L. 1530, with associated inscription ‘B No. 64’ on the verso of the mount), by descent to,
George, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834), Althorp.
William Esdaile (1758-1837), London (L. 2617, with his inscription ‘Lord Spencer’s colln. 1811 WE P80 N 77’); Christie’s, London, 18 June 1840, lot 202 (together with lots 201 and 203 for 2s. 6d. to Heath).
Thomas Thane (1782-1846), London (L. 2461).
Anonymous sale; Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 23 November 1961, lot 374, where acquired by Robert Landolt.

Specialist note


The older brother of Giulio Cesare Procaccini, Camillo Procaccini made this highly finished drawing, squared for transfer, for an altarpiece completed in 1601 for one of Milan’s oldest churches, San Vittore al Corpo (Fig. 1). The painting depicts the martyrdom of Saint Victor of Marseille, a third-century soldier killed in the Phocaean city (N. Ward Neilson, Camillo Procaccini. Paintings and Drawings, New York, London, 1979, no. 63, fig. 114). Stylistically the drawing can be compared to a Triumph of David at the British Museum (inv. 1853,1008.4; see ibid., pp. 38-39, fig. 56).

Fig. 1. Camillo Procaccini, The Beheading of Saint Victor, oil on canvas, San Vittore al Corpo, Milan.