Videos of Hyman Edelman speaking to colleagues at Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand about his work in the Ugolino Bas Relief case.

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Hy Edelman's Discovery of a "Lost" Bas Relief by Pierino da Vinci -- The Death of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca

The story continues.  This updates my earlier postings of August 30, 2004 and March 8, 2017 which accompanied the digitization of my father's 1980's talk to his colleagues at the Maslon firm. This update includes information about ensuing, dramatic developments.

In 1956, the Minneapolis Art Institute contracted to buy a bas relief--the Death of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca--believing it to be the work of Pierino Da Vinci (c. 1531-1554), a nephew of Leonardo. After making a down payment and taking possession, the Institute concluded the relief was not actually the work of Pierino and attempted to rescind the purchase. The seller, a man named Kratzer, sued for the outstanding balance. The Institute hired my father, Minneapolis attorney Hy Edelman. Hy's story of the case and what he found in the process is the subject of his 1980's talk to colleagues at the firm.

Pierino was a contemporary of Giorgio Vasari, the leading art historian of the day. Vasari described the work of Pierino in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1550).

Although Pierino died in his early 20s, he created a surprisingly large body of work. Google: art by Pierino da Vinci.

Vasari spoke in his book of a relief in bronze of Count Ugolino by Pierino, commissioned by Luca Martini in 1551 but said nothing about any version in marble. There were three known copies in white stucco--including one at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, one at the Uffizi in Florence and one in Hamburg, Germany-each with identical nicks which suggested a common source.

There was, in the 1950s nor until many years later, no known Ugolino relief in bronze as described by Vasari. Jumping ahead--see below--what came fairly recently to be recognized as the original bronze hung unknown at Chatsworth House, the home of the Dukes of Devonshire in the United Kingdom, until after the ascension in 2004 of Peregrine Cavendish, the present 12th Duke of Devonshire. 

The Ugolino relief depicts the death by starvation of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, a 13th century nobleman in Pisa. Ugolino was imprisoned with his sons and grandsons in 1288 in what became known as the "Tower of Hunger" where they all died. Ugolino's tribulations were described in gruesome detail some years later by Dante Alighieri in Canto XXXIII of his Inferno. According to reports in the London Daily Telegraph, what were believed to be the bones of Ugolino and his offspring were exhumed in 2001 in an effort to determine the truth of the story as told by Dante.

Regarding the discovery of the bones and later DNA analysis, the Wikipedia article on Ugolino reports:

In 2002, paleoanthropologist Francesco Mallegni conducted DNA testing on the recently excavated bodies of Ugolino and his children. His analysis agrees with the remains being a father, his sons and his grandsons. Additional comparison to DNA from modern day members of the Gherardesca family leave Mallegni about 98 percent sure that he has identified the remains correctly. However, the forensic analysis discredits the allegation of cannibalism. Analysis of the rib bones of the Ugolino skeleton reveals traces of magnesium, but no zinc, implying he had consumed no meat in the months before his death. Ugolino also had few remaining teeth and is believed to have been in his 70s when he was imprisoned, making it further unlikely that he could have outlived and eaten his descendants in captivity. Additionally, Mallegni notes that the putative Ugolino skull was damaged; perhaps he did not ultimately die of starvation, although malnourishment is evident.

In 2008, Paola Benigni, superintendent to the Archival Heritage of Tuscany, disputed Mallegni's findings in an article, claiming that the documents assigning the burial to Ugolino and his descendants were Fascist-era forgeries.

Back to the 1950's lawsuit against the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Among Hy's first steps was taking the deposition of the seller, Mr. Kratzer. Hy learned from the deposition that Kratzer, then a young US foreign service officer in Italy, bought the marble piece in 1951 for $112 from a second-hand dealer in Genoa, Senora Alberti, and that he later obtained permission from the Italian authorities to remove the relief from Italy, stating its value as $112-the amount he paid Senora Alberti. Certain that the Italian authorities would not knowingly have allowed the export of a genuine work of Pierino, the Institute sent Hy to Italy in August 1958 to try to learn more about Kratzer's purchase of the relief from Senora Alberti and the decision by the Italian authorities to allow its removal from the country.

Hy quickly secured helpful information. Senora Alberti related that her late husband told her that the marble version of the relief was made in the 19th century and derived from the Canova School and that she so informed Mr. Kratzer. The Italian officials who approved the export said they knew Pierino had not created a marble Ugolino and therefore assumed Kratzer's item was not the work of Pierino.

Hy came to believe he could prove that the marble relief was not Pierino's work by finding the hitherto unlocated original described by Vasari. He enlisted the help of two of the greatest Italian art scholars of the day, John Pope Hennessy, and Ulrich Middeldorf of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. As Hy described in his 1980's talk at Maslon, he succeeded remarkably--although as we now know, only in part.

Hy's theory was that the relief had been kept under wraps by the della Gherardesca family. With help from Professor Middeldorf's secretary, Hy located present-day members of the family who lived in the vicinity of Florence. A well-placed telephone call produced information that the Ugolino relief was at the Palazzo della Gherardesca-still in the family's hands after several centuries-in Bolgheri, southwest of Florence near the Mediterranean coast.

Three days later on August 23, 1958 Hy, his wife Edith and Professor Middeldorf drove to the Palazzo della Gherardesca in Bolgheri. As Hy describes in his talk, they found what Professor Middeldorf declared to be the genuine work of Pierino bronze in the art room of the Palazzo. However, the relief, which was reddish-brown in color, was terra cotta , not bronze as described by Vasari.

Professor Middeldorf immediately observed that the relief at the Palazzo had a nick identical to the nicks on the white stucco versions in the three museums. Middeldorf soon found an account, dating from the year 1795, of the casting of stucco copies of the relief by what was described as the "Sienna process" from a terra cotta original. According to Middeldorf, the terra cotta original was mostly likely nicked on being removed from its frame for copying, thereby accounting for identical nicks on the stucco copies. In his talk, Hy says Professor Middeldorf's opinion was that the marble version in Minneapolis was created in the 1820s or 1830s and was--as Senora Alberti attributed to her late husband--work of the Canova School, led by Italian neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822). Canova was known notably, for sculptures in marble.

In his talk, Hy states his belief that the terra cotta at the Palazzo was the actual original as opposed to the bronze described by Vasari. That was not to be the last word. In a 2001 book (which I found while preparing my original posting in 2004), Dr. Charles Avery, formerly of London's Victoria & Albert Museum, says that while visiting Chatsworth House for another purpose he noticed what he believed to be the bronze Ugolino hanging on a wall of the castle. See Charles Avery, Studies in Italian Sculpture (Pindar Press 2001), which includes a chapter titled: "Pierino da Vinci's 'Lost' Bronze Relief of The Death by Starvation of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca and his Sons rediscovered at Chatsworth" at 167-190. Chatsworth, in Derbyshire in the UK, has been the ancestral home of the Dukes and Duchesses of Devonshire since 1549. Dr. Avery's chapter notably mentions that the terra cotta version which Hy found, hitherto unknown to the public, was displayed in Florence in 1960 and appeared to be genuine work of Pierino.

In response to my inquiry in 2004, Mr. Avery stated his belief that the bronze at Chatsworth was authentic work of Pierino. He noted though that he could not reach a firm conclusion without examining the back of the relief. He said that the then 11th Duke of Devonshire had refused to allow the relief to be removed from the wall. (My 2004 posting and Dr. Avery's chapter are both listed on a page titled "Pierino da Vinci: A Brief Bibliography".)

Mr. Avery's chapter was also not the end of the story.  Before getting to the conclusion, I mention that I arranged in August 2004 to see the Victoria & Albert's stucco copy as well as the catalog documenting its acquisition of the stucco in 1862. The Victoria & Albert's stucco indeed bears the telltale nick, evidence that it was cast from the identically-nicked terra cotta as Dr. Middeldorf surmised. The original handwritten entry in the Victoria & Albert's catalog stated that an original "bronze" was in "a collection" in Florence. However, a 1974 notation struck out the word "bronze" and inserted "terra cotta". The notation also struck out the words "a collection in Florence" and substituted "the collection of Count Welfredo della Gherardesca". Without naming Hy, the 1974 notation acknowledges his role in bringing Pierino's terra cotta to light.

Now the conclusion, at least as of now: The 12^th Duke of Devonshire, Peregrine Cavendish, who succeeded to the dukedom in 2004, was apparently more willing than his predecessor to permit examination of the reverse of the relief. Based in large part on examination of the reverse side, the bronze at Chatsworth has since been recognized as the genuine work of Pierino da Vinci. The bronze relief was offered for sale by the Devonshire Collection in 2010 with a recommended value of 10 million pounds. A press release issued by the government of the United Kingdom described efforts to prevent its export by raising funds to keep it in the UK. The press release mentions that, notwithstanding Vasari's account, the relief was previously attributed to Michelangelo. Tracking Dr. Avery's account of the bronze relief's arrival at Chatsworth, the release states that it was believed to have been "brought to England by the painter Henry Trench (c. 1685-1726) before 1719, and sold to Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, entering the Devonshire collection in 1764 through his daughter's inheritance and marriage to William Cavendish, 4th Earl of Devonshire."

Efforts to prevent the export of the bronze Ugolino failed. In 2010, Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein paid the Duke of Devonshire £10 million ($15.2 million) in a private treaty sale brokered by Sotheby's. This appears to be the largest sum ever commanded for a Renaissance bronze. The Liechtenstein Collection is housed in the Liechtenstein Summer Palace with highlights at the Liechtenstein City Palace. An expert adviser's statement furnished to the United Kingdom Arts Council describes the work and confirms its provenance based on examination of the rear side.e:

Bronze relief brown patina, traces of blackish-brown lacquer. Apparent casting flaw on lower edge. height 65,4 cm, width 46,5 cm.

On the reverse the arms of the Martini dell'Ala family, an eagle's wing in an oval shield within a cartouche.

Inv.-No. SK1597

Provenance: Commissioned in 1548/1549 by Luca Martini (c. 1500-1561), afterwards probably in family ownership until the early 18th century. Acquired presumably after 1715 by the English painter Henry Trench (c. 1685-1726) in Florence, sold by him to Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753), afterwards passing by descent to William, 4th Duke of Devonshire (1720-1764) and his descendants at Chatsworth. Acquired in 2010 by Prince Hans Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein.

Regarding the family arms on the reverse side, the UK press release cited above states:  "It was not until recently when it was removed from a plinth that the Martini arms were found to be cast on the back of the bronze, thereby confirming its origin as described by Vasari."  Thus, the reverse side provided the vital confirmation of the work's provenance that Dr. Avery said he could not obtain during the life of the prior, 11^th Duke. 

Toward the end of his talk, Hy was asked what became of the marble version attributed to the Canova school. He did not know except to say it was returned to Kratzer along with the small sum the Art Institute paid in settlement of Kratzer's claim. A report in the New York Times by James Barron on April 23, 2017 refers to Antonio Canova as the "foremost neo-Classical sculptor of the late 18th and early 19th centuries" and says he was "celebrated" during his life by Goethe and Wordsworth and was well known by Thomas Jefferson who recommended Canova to the state of North Carolina which wanted to commission a statue of George Washington to place in its legislature. The Times article reports that a 30 inch plaster statue showing Washington "in the buff"-- made by Canova in 1821 as a model for a full-size, more fully-clad version (regrettably destroyed in a fire in 1831!)--will be displayed at the Frick Collection in New York in 2018. This sudden attention to Canova suggests that the Art Institute's marble Ugolino may have considerably greater value than the Institute realized. So far as I know, the whereabouts of the Art Institute's marble Ugolino is a question for another day.

My deepest appreciation to Cynthia Volk, Vice President, Senior Specialist Chinese Works of Art Sotheby's, and Mee-seen Loong, Vice Chairman, Chin ese Art, Worldwide Head, Contemporary Ink Art Sotheby's for recently pointing me to information confirming the provenance of the bronze Ugolino and its 2010 acquisition by the Liechtenstein Collection. My deep appreciation also to my son Ben Edelman for digitizing the deteriorating video of Hy's 1980's talk and posting it to this site. My appreciation also to my friend Steve Tullberg for drawing my attention to photographs of Pierino's work including the bronze Ugolino.

Daniel B. Edelman, June 13, 2017 (revising postings of August 31, 2004 and March 8, 2017)