We know that art is not created ex nihilo and that a painting's style, composition and subject matter is always reflective of its context, and that includes Outsider or Naive art. It is also true that a painting's journey from one owner to another tells a story of its context and this is especially true of works that were created before wealthy middle class buyers could access art on an open market. When I was reading Jerry Brotton's compelling book, The Sale of the Late King's Goods, which tells the story of Charles I's art collection, I was intrigued to see this picture:
It's Veronese's Mars, Venus and Cupid, and has been in Scottish public ownership since 1859, and in the National Gallery's collection since 1867. It's history before this date is fascinating. Charles acquired it on his diplomatically diastrous trip to Spain in 1623 along with some Titians and other works to add to his growing art collection, a collection that received much bigger boosts when he acquired whole collections from Mantua and Venice after he become king. Apparently, he wasn't a huge Veronese fan, but obviously thought a decent collection ought to have his work in it - any Venetian from Titian's time was worth a look. How it got to Spain is another question, but art of this quality at this time followed the shifting centres of power.
The painting remained in Charles's collection until after his execution when the Commonwealth government sold it off, along with some 1300 of his other paintings, as a way of meeting his debts and funding the navy. At that point, it was bought back by the Spanish court and remained there beyond the reach of Charles II, who took to opportunity to repossess most of his father's collection using any means possible on the restoration of the monarchy. Charles II saw the value of a decent art collection as a way of displaying his power and cultured nature, but did not share his father's passion for art. He was happy to let a couple of new works from an emerging power slip into his collection when his agents bought him some modern works by Gerrit Dou and Pieter Saenredam. Interestingly, when the Archduke Leopold-Wilhelm was getting hold of as much as he could of Charles I's collection, it was another Netherlandish artist, David Teniers, who brokered the deals. Among Teniers' own work are a few paintings showing his employer's new acquisitions:
In general, I think that art is at its most pure and is most powerful when it is free from the dealings of the wealthy, but these intriguing stories of the early history of some of Western art's most significant works are an excellent way of understanding the political and economic contexts in which all art is located. I find that I am more likely to remember an event from European history if I have a painting to associate with it, so poor Veronese will now forever be linked for me with the bloody and seismic events of Charles I's reign. All the same, I can still enjoy that impudent spaniel and the astonished Cupid on their own terms!
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