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BARON WISER’S PICTURE GALLERY
who from 1692 worked in Madrid as Charles II’s court painter. Numerous paintings by Giordano were acquired by the Elector Palatine through Wiser’s mediation and around twenty-one were in the picture gallery at Düsseldorf. Wiser frequently reported his visits to the artist’s workshop, judging as excellent Giordano’s paintings made ‘all imitatione di’ Paolo Veronese, Guido Reni, etc. He also reported the painter’s expert opinion on the works of art he purchased for the Palatinate court.21 It seems possible that this was when Wiser obtained works by Giordano for his own collection: the Death of Seneca (Fig.1), the Martyrdom of St Sebastian and the Deposition of St Andrew from the Cross are listed in the inventory. Although they bear false Ribera signatures (‘Josepe de Ribera español, F. 1645’ and ‘Josepe de Ribera español, F. 1644’), they are listed in the inventory as the work of Luca Giordano, with the note ‘imitando lo Spagnoletto’ or ‘imitando il Ribera’ (all in the Staatsgalerie, Schleissheim).22 In 1702 the painter returned to Naples, so it is also possible that Wiser purchased them while he was in Naples. Given the close connections between Spain and Naples and the frequent movement of art and artists between them, it is difficult to pinpoint the provenance of works such as, for example, Ribera’s. Nevertheless it seems probable that the paintings of masters with close Spanish connections in Wiser’s collection came from the Iberian Peninsula. The paintings attributed to Antonio Antolínez, ‘Escalante Spaglo’, and Alonso Sanchez, two largescale paintings by ‘Eugenio Cachese Fiorentino’ (Cajés), the so-far anonymous Martyrdom of St Paul and Martyrdom of St Bartholomew, Children eating a pie (Fig.2) – a work attributed to ‘Diego Morillo quel famoso Pittore Sevillano’ – or the pictures attributed to Velázquez obviously passed into Wiser’s possession in Spain.23 We have no further information as to where they were purchased or from whom. Even following his posting to Spain in 1695 Baron Wiser continued to play an active role as mediator in his diplomatic duties, nurturing relationships with artists and procuring works of art for the Elector. It is to this role that historians attribute his success with Johann Wilhelm and the Palatinate court. Naturally he himself also benefited from his connections and expertise. We have little information on Wiser’s activity in Parma (1696), Rome (1697–98) and the Netherlands (1702–03). Official letters sent to Düsseldorf inform us that he found pictures both in The Hague and in Amsterdam, which were intended as presents from the Elector to the BishopPrince Christian August von Sachsen. In the end, however, instead of the Story of Coriolanus by Jan Brueghel and Godfried
Schalcken’s Virgin Mary reading by candlelight, which Wiser had suggested, a devotional work was chosen.24 It is unknown if Wiser acquired works of art for himself during his time in The Hague – his inventory includes an insignificant number of Dutch paintings. Erasmus Quellinus the Younger’s Birth of Christ (Alte Pinakothek) and Adriaen Brouwer’s lost Card players could have been bought in the Netherlands, while he must have obtained the aforementioned pictures by Rubens (Portrait of a youth) and Van Dyck (Portrait of a woman) in Madrid.25 A richer and more varied picture emerges when Wiser’s other postings are taken into account. Both in Rome and Naples (1705–13) he actively sought to make acquaintances with artists and to purchase works of art. In 1697 he reports from Rome of a prayer book ‘mit eigenhändigen Bildern von
no.240). Velázquez’s original is in the Prado, Madrid, and another variant is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 20 In Wiser’s letter dated 16th October 1694 he mentions in his statement of accounts ‘un bellissimo retrato original de Diego Velázquez’; see Hererro García, op. cit. (note 3), p.85; Burke and Cherry, op. cit. (note 16), pp.462–83, esp. p.477, no.240, Carpio inventories 49.0172 and 115.0075. Two paintings also from the del Carpio Collection – with other works – came into the possession of Alessandro Cassano, ‘negoziante di cambii’, in Naples; see B. de Dominici: Vite dei Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti Napoletani . . ., Naples 1742–45, III, p.561; and the del Carpio inventory of 1682–83, in Burke and Cherry, op. cit. (note 16), p.761, nos.623–24: ‘Due quadri compagni, che rappresentano variato sorte di pesce di mano di Gioseppe Reco Pittore del Marchese de los Velez di palmi 7 e 4 . . .’. 21 In May 1693 through the mediation of Wiser the queen sent her brother in Düsseldorf twelve old pictures and three large ones by Luca Giordano. In August 1694 Wiser visited Giordano and tried to hurry the completion of the paintings intended for Johann Wilhelm. In September 1694 the painter corrects some of the attributions of the paintings in Wiser’s possession. Wiser refers to an imitation of
Lucas van Leyden, painted by Luca Giordano, which deceived everyone who saw it; see Levin, op. cit. (note 3), 23 (1911), p.85. 22 The remark in Wiser’s inventory about the picture of the Death of Seneca (no.13) suggests a personal relationship: ‘il meglio ch’egli habbia fatto in vita sua secondo dichiarò l’istesso Luca’. In the catalogues of the most recent Luca Giordano exhibitions no mention is made of Giordano’s relationship with Wiser or the shipments to the Palatinate; see S. Cassani, ed.: exh. cat. Luca Giordano 1634–1705, Naples (Museo di Capodimonte), Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum) and Los Angeles (County Museum of Art) 2001–02; and A.E. Pérez Sánchez et al.: exh. cat. Luca Giordano y España, Madrid (Palacio Real) 2002. 23 The last item in the inventory (no.172) came from Spain: ‘Adultera [. . .] mano del Bosco’. 24 Levin, op. cit. (note 3), 23 (1911), p.33; and Tipton, op. cit. (note 3), p.238. 25 Other pictures in the inventory with a Dutch or German link are a ‘Calvario giudicato p. mano di Cornelio Schmidt Allievo di Michel Angelo Buonarota’ (no.27); ‘un suonatore di liuto con un ragazzo ed una donna [. . .] guidicato di mano di Giov. Van Sieven’ (no.96); and the ‘del Schwarz’ paintings (nos.126 and 166).
2. Children eating a pie, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. 1670–75. Canvas, 124 by 102 cm. (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).
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