GIROLAMO DENTI, CALLED GIROLAMO DI TIZIANO (?VENICE C. 1510-C. 1572)

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for identifying this Sacra conversazione as a work by the Girolamo Denti, an Italian artist who was Titian's most prominent assistant (written communication, 6 September 2016). Lucco compares the painting to Denti's altarpiece at Sant'Elpidio a Mare and his Two Saints in the Museo Vetrario di Murano, indicating that the present work dates to the middle of the 1560s. At this time, Denti had two distinct working styles. The first was employed for projects that he was managing in Titian's workshop, while the second was reserved for independent commissions such as the present work. According to Schaffran (loc. cit.), this altarpiece was displayed in a cloister in Bergamo until around 1914, when it was acquired by a private collector in Vienna.