Bishop Altobello Averoldo

Francesco Francia's oil-on-poplar portrait of Bishop Altobello Averoldo is dated to 1505. The documented ownership chain begins with a purchase on 24 March 1837 by Generale Conte Teodoro Lechi of Brescia from a certain Mr. Bonaldi, possibly the engraver Giovanni Antonio Bonaldi. Lechi sold the panel on 31 May 1847 to Graf Samuel von Festetits in Vienna, who in turn disposed of it in 1859 to Heinrich Adamberger, also in Vienna.

It passed through the Adamberger sale at Posonyi in Vienna (24-28 April 1871, no. 1) to Friedrich Jakob Gsell, whose Plach sale in Vienna (14 March 1872, no. 152) brought it to Baron Nathaniel Mayer von Rothschild. By inheritance it reached his nephew Baron Alphons de Rothschild and then Alphons's widow, Baroness Clarice de Rothschild. The work was handled by Frederick Mont of New York before being sold on 2 March 1948 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which gave it to the National Gallery of Art in 1952.

The painting entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1952 as a gift from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which had acquired it on 2 March 1948 through the dealer Frederick Mont, New York. It forms part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the NGA. Earlier, the work had been held by Baroness Clarice de Rothschild (widow of Baron Alphons de Rothschild, d. 1942), having passed by inheritance from her husband's uncle, Baron Nathaniel Mayer von Rothschild, in Vienna.

Before that it was owned by Friedrich Jakob Gsell, Vienna, and appeared at his sale by G. Plach, Vienna, on 14 March 1872 (lot 152). It had previously sold at the Adamberger sale (Posonyi, Vienna, 24-28 April 1871, lot 1), and was bought in 1859 by Heinrich Adamberger from Graf Samuel von Festetits, who had acquired it on 31 May 1847 from Generale Conte Teodoro Lechi of Brescia, who had purchased it on 24 March 1837 from a certain Mr. Bonaldi.

Scholarly attribution of this 1505 portrait has evolved significantly since its documentation in the Lechi collection, where early inventories mistakenly ascribed the work to Raphael before correcting the record to Francesco Francia. Critical reception in the mid-nineteenth century reveals divergent opinions regarding stylistic origins; while the painting is now firmly associated with Francia, the German connoisseur Otto Mündler recorded seeing a portrait of Altobello Averoldo in 1857 that he identified as an undoubted work by Lorenzo Costa executed in a 'Francia-like style.' Mündler's contemporary critique noted the work's splendid coloring and golden tone but faulted the anatomical rendering of the nose and described the face as somewhat wooden.

These historical assessments highlight the close stylistic affinities between the Bolognese and Ferrarese schools that once complicated the painting's art-historical classification.

Francesco Francia, a Bolognese artist, executed the portrait Bishop Altobello Averoldo around 1505. This oil painting on poplar panel captures Altobello de Averoldi, a prominent bishop of the era. The work exemplifies Francia's skill as a painter during the early Renaissance, offering a formal depiction of a high-ranking ecclesiastical figure.