Oil on canvas (lined), unsigned, presented in a later gilt frame.

SS 49.5 x 69.25 in.; DOA 57.75 x 77.5 in.

From the Estate of the late Robin Gager, Raleigh, North Carolina

Bonham's, Oxford Street, London, 1886
John Hancock, Picture Dealer, London (purchased from the above auction)
Alfred Bannen O'Connor, Cottage Green, Camberwell, London
James C. Fagan, New York
Franklin E. Searle, New York
Edith Searle Tokstad, New York
Sanford Faunce, Miami, Florida (executor of Mrs. Tokstad's estate), circa 1966
Robin Faunce Gager, Raleigh, North Carolina



This is a circa 1800 copy of the original painting by Titian in the collection of the Capodimonte Museum, Naples. Ironically, while considered one of the most sensual paintings of the Italian Renaissance, it was commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, grandson of Pope Paul III, circa 1545-1546.

This painting offered in this saleroom has an intriguing history. It was purchased by John Hancock, a London picture dealer, from an auction at Bonhams in 1886. A letter from Hancock dated 1899 claims the painting "had been stored or forgotten in a loft over stables in Chenies Mews, London" before it was delivered to Bonhams. He further claims that the painting was "utterly undefinable" prior to being cleaned.

A large archive of research and documentation accompanies the painting. One of the most interesting is a copy of a letter from the famous Duveen Brothers of New York to Paulding Farnham, dated March 17, 1910, in which they "are of the opinion that this picture is also one of the replicas (of the Titian) and we believe it to have been painted some thirty or forty years after the original."

With large patch to verso; scattered re-touch visible under UV light, including some re-painting to both eyes of cupid; several areas of drying crackle, primarily to flesh tones of Danaë.

$2,000 - 4,000