How does Allegory of Marriage elucidate its Provenance?
The picture was in the collection of Charles I of England at Whitehall, having been acquired at a public sale in Spain, and was copied by Peter Oliver in 1629 and listed in an inventory of 1639. It was sold in London in 1650, without attribution, as The family of ye Marquess of Guasto. It was owned by Colonel J. Hutchinson of London and Everhard Jabach of Paris, engraved around 1660, and cited in 1661. It was acquired from Jabach by Louis XIV of France in 1662, and is mentioned in an inventory of 1683 (no. 54). The various replicas in existence, differing as to detail, show that this composition must have been famous. Two early copies in the British Royal Collection may have been painted for Charles I directly from the Titian by Michael Cross (Miguel de la Cruz), a copyist employed by the King in Spain. Another version is held by the
Louis XIV Titian engraved Everhard Jabach Charles I Royal Collection Whitehall replicas Charles I of England copyist Peter Oliver Michael Cross