The Holy Family

1965, purchased by the Elvehjem Art Center [now called the Chazen Museum of Art] (Madison, WI) from P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. (London, England). Colnaghi had purchased it on 25 March 1965 from auction at Sotheby''s (London, England) “Old Master Drawings” (lot 150). According to an annotated auction catalogue, the drawing was consigned following Tomás Harris’s death by the executors of his estate. Tomás Harris (London, England) (again, according to Colnaghi) had likely purchased it in 1952 from Arthur Tooth & Sons. Tooth & Sons was acting as an agent of dealer Richard Owen’s son (Paris, France), who presumably had inherited the drawing from his father in 1952. The drawing (according to Colnaghi) had been sold as part of a bound album of Tiepolo drawings to Richard Owen in 1928 by Colnaghi, to whom it had been consigned by the Savile Gallery (London, England). Savile Gallery had been in possession of one of the nine so-called “Sommasco albums” containing a group of Tiepolo drawings—this drawing is laid down on paper (under a mount) in the same fashion as those from the album and is of the same type of those once in the album; this particular album was referred to later as the “Owen-Savile album” after its two former owners and it seems to have been broken up by Owen or his son. 29 April 1885, the “Owen-Savile album” is one of nine “Sommasco albums” purchased at Sotheby’s (London, England) auction (lot 1024), likely by E. Parson’s & Sons. The albums were consigned to the Sotheby’s auction by Edward Cheney (1803-1884) (London, England). Within the album, Cheney wrote an inscription that provided the ownership history that follows: Cheney had purchased them in 1842 from Francesco Pesaro (Venice, Italy), who had purchased them from Mons. Giovanni Battista Sartori-Canova (1775-1858) (Venice, Italy), who had presumably inherited them from his brother, Canova (Venice, Italy). By 1810, Canova had acquired the albums through exchange (for what, we do not know) with Count Leopold Cicognara (Venice, Italy). In 1762, the albums were given by the artist and his son to the Sommasco Convent’s library at Santa Maria dela Salute (Venice, Italy); it is unclear how they came into Count Leopold Cicognara’s possession, but it was likely upon the suppression of the convent (specific circumstances remain unknown). [Last researched by Chazen staff 1 December 2021]

• Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Handbook of the Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, 1990. no. 64
• Madison Art Center. "Six Centuries of Prints and Drawings From The University of Wisconsin Collections." Madison, WI: The Madison Art Association, 1965. cover
• Elvehjem Art Center. "The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation Collection of Prints and Drawings." Madison, WI: Elvehjem Art Center, 1967.
• Sotheby's, London. "Catalogue of Old Master Drawings." March 25, 1965. p. 51, cat. no. 150
• Neilson, Nancy Ward. "Italian Drawings Selected from Mid-Western Collections." St. Louis Art Museum (1972). cat. no. 68 (illus.)
• Opperman, H. N. "XVIII Century Venice, Drawings from American Academic Collections." Seattle, WA: the Henry Gallery, University of Washington (1974). p. 26, cat. no. 18 (illus.)
• P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. London, "Old Master Drawings." 1965. cat. no. 19; pl. IX (illus.)

• Old Master Drawings from the Permanent Collection: Chazen Museum of Art, 7/23/2005–10/9/2005
• Old Master Drawings from Area Collections: Milwaukee Art Museum, 4/1/1997–6/1/1997
• Hand of the Master, The: Drawings from the Elvehjem’s Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 5/11/1985–7/28/1985
• 18th Century Venetian Drawings: Henry Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, 9/22/1974–10/20/1974
• Italian Drawings Selected from Midwestern Collections: St. Louis Art Museum, 2/25/1972–4/16/1972
• Master Prints and Drawings from the Permanent Collection: Elvehjem Art Center, 11/6/1970–1/31/1971
• Six Centuries of Prints and Drawings from the University of Wisconsin Collections: Madison Art Center, 11/21/1965–12/11/1965
• Old Master Drawings: P. & D. Colnaghi & co., Ltd., 6/1/1965–7/1/1965
• Savile Gallery (1928): Savile Gallery

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