How does Madonna of the Yarnwinder elucidate its Lansdowne Madonna?
The painting sometimes considered the second prime version of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder takes its name from the Marquesses of Lansdowne, who owned it in the 19th century. John Henry Petty, then Earl Wycombe and later the 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne, bought it some time in or before 1809, possibly from the Earl of Darnley. It is first recorded in a sale of the Dowager Marchioness of Lansdowne's collection in 1833, from which it was withdrawn. The painting remained in her family until 1879, when her daughter sold it to Cyril Flower, later Lord Battersea. In 1908 the Madonna was bought from his widow by the Paris-based art dealers Nathan Wildenstein and René Gimpel. They consulted Bernard Berenson, the leading connoisseur of the day, on the attribution in 1909; he confirmed an earlier attribution to il Sodoma but thought that Leonardo had been responsible up to the cartoon stage. During restoration work in around 1911 the painting was transferred to canvas and several alterations were made, most significantly the removal of a loincloth covering the Child's genitals and the fingers of the Virgin's left hand.The painting was bought as a Sodoma in 1928 by Robert Wilson Reford, a Canadian industrialist and shipping magnate. In the 1930s it underwent X-ray and ultraviolet examination for the first time, led by a team which included the art historian Wilhelm Suida. He concluded that the Christ child and the landscape were by Leonardo and the remainder was by a Milanese pupil. During a loan to the New York World's Fair in 1939 the painting was damaged and further restoration work had to be undertaken. Reford's family put it up for auction in 1972, but by then the attribution had reverted to Sodoma, inevitably resulting in a lower price than had it been accepted as a Leonardo. It was bought back by Wildenstein & Company, who arranged for it to be transferred a second time, this time onto a composite panel, in 1976. They sold the Madonna (as a Leonardo) to its current owner, an anonymous private collector, in 1999.
il Sodoma Bernard Berenson Christ child Wildenstein & Company Marquess of Lansdowne Earl of Darnley cartoon René Gimpel transferred to canvas Cyril Flower Leonardo Sodoma Marquesses of Lansdowne Yarn prime version Robert Wilson Reford New York World's Fair