Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli

Thence probably by descent to his son, Thomas John Wynn, 2nd Lord Newborough (1802-1832), Glynllifon Park, Llanwnda, Caernarvon;

Thence probably by inheritance to his brother, Spencer Bulkeley Wynn, 3^rd Lord Newborough (1803-1888), Glynllifon Park, Llanwnda, Caernarvon;

Thence by descent to his youngest son, Frederick George Wynn (1853-1932), Glynllifon Park, Llanwnda, Caernarvon;

Thence by inheritance to his nephew Thomas John Wynn (1878–1957), 5th Lord Newborough, Glynllifon Park, Llanwnda, Caernarvon;

From whom acquired by Frank Sabin, circa 1935;

By whom sold to Sir Thomas Ralph Merton (1888–1969), Stubbings House, Maidenhead, by May 1941;

Thence by descent to his wife, Violet Marjory Merton (1891–1976);

By whose Trustees sold ("The Property of the late Lady Merton, sold by Order of the Trustees"), London, Christie’s, 10 December 1982, lot 92 (as a "Portrait of Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de' Medici");

Where acquired by the present owner.

A. Scharf, A Catalogue of Pictures and Drawings from the Collection of Sir Thomas Merton at Stubbings House, Maidenhead, London 1950, pp. 7, 14, no. III, reproduced p. 15 and in detail on the frontispiece (as a "Portrait of Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de' Medici";

Italian Art and Britain, Winter Exhibition, exh. cat., London 1960, pp. 127–128, no. 345, reproduced in the illustrated souvenir, p. 13 (medallion verbally identified by Richard Offner as a work of the Ovile Master, c. 1350);

F. Haskell, "Italian Art and Britain. The Winter Exhibition at the Royal Academy," Connoisseur, vol. 145, March 1960, reproduced p. 39-40, no. 3, reproduced;

D. Sutton, "Italian Art through British Eyes. The Winter Exhibition at Burlington House," Country Life, 7 January 1960, pp. 16–17, reproduced;

R. Longhi, "Uno sguardo alle fotografie della Mostra ‘Italian Art and Britain’ alla Royal Academy di Londra," Paragone, May 1960, vol. XI, no. 125, p. 61 (as 'Botticini?');

R. Oertel, "England und die italienische Kunst," Kunstchronik, vol. 13, April 1960, p. 92, reproduced p. 103, fig. 1a;

J. Guillerme, L'atelier du temps: Essai sur l’altération des peintures, Paris 1964, p. 78, reproduced opposite p. 162;

A. Chastel, The Flowering of the Italian Renaissance, New York 1965 (The Golden Age of the Renaissance. Italy 1460–1500, London 1965), pp. 319–320;

E. Fahy, "Some Early Italian Pictures in the Gambier Parry Collection," The Burlington Magazine, vol. 109, no. 768, March 1967, p. 137 (as Francesco Botticini);

B. Moloney, Florence and England. Essays on cultural relations in the second half of the eighteenth century, Florence 1969, p. 35;

"Art News in Pictures," Connoisseur, vol. 173, no. 696, February 1970, p. 123, reproduced (as loaned to the National Gallery, London, by Lady Merton);

H. Hartley and D. Gabor, Thomas Ralph Merton. 1888–1920, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, London 1970, p. 434;

S. Legouix, Botticelli, London 1977, p. 52, no. 27, reproduced;

R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli, 1978, vol. II, p. 160, no. 33 (under the section "other paintings attributed to Botticelli or his school");

K. Langedijk, The Portraits of the Medici, 15th–18th Centuries, Florence 1981, vol. I, p. 36, 1983, vol. II, p. 1045, no. 57,10, reproduced (categorized as "Uncertain Identifications" with reference to the sitter);

F. Davis, "Imperiously Portrayed," in Country Life, vol. 173, issue 4457, 20 January 1983, p. 138;

L. Castelfranchi Vegas, Italia e Fiandra nella pittura del Quattrocento, Milan 1983, p. 228, n. 20;

R. Stapleford, "Botticelli’s portrait of a young man holding a trecento medallion," The Burlington Magazine, vol. 129, no. 1012, July 1987, pp. 428–436;

K. Christiansen, "Botticelli’s portrait of a young man with a Trecento medallion," The Burlington Magazine, vol. 129, no. 1016, November 1987, p. 744;

S. Sabin, Letter to the Editor, The Burlington Magazine, vol. 129, no. 1016, November 1987, p. 744;

N. Pons, Botticelli: catalogo completo, Milan 1989, p. 61, under no. 33 (discussed in tandem with the Uffizi portrait);

J. Steinhoff-Morrison, Bartolomeo Bulgarini and Sienese painting of the mid-fourteenth century, doctoral dissertation (Princeton University), 1989, pp. 354-358, cat. no. 6, reproduced figs. 6 and 6a;

C. Caneva, Botticelli. Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1990, p. 149, no. 26A, reproduced p. 148 (under known works of uncertain attribution);

H. Belting, Bild und Kult: Eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst, Munich 1990, pp. 471 and 661 n. 26, reproduced p. 469, fig. 253;

H.F. von Sonnenburg, "Zur Technik der Goldgrundtafeln," in Frühe Italienische Gemälde aus dem Bestand der Alten Pinakothek, Munich 1990, pp. 30–31, 32 n. 10, reproduced in color p. 31;

F. Borsi et al., 'Per bellezza, per studio, per piacere’, Lorenzo il Magnifico e gli spazi dell'arte, Florence 1991, p. 184;

P. Kathke, Porträt und Accessoire. Eine Bildnisform im 16. Jahrhundert, Berlin 1997, pp. 185–187, 278, fig. 131;

G. Dalli Regoli, Il gesto e la mano. Convenzione e invenzione nel linguaggio figurativo fra Medioevo e Rinascimento, Florence 2000, p. 46, reproduced pl. 86 (location incorrectly given as Royal Academy, London);  

D.A. Brown, in Virtue and Beauty, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C. 2001, pp. 177–179, cat. no. 26, reproduced in color p. 176 and as a detail p. 179;

K. Krüger, "Medium and Imagination: Aesthetic Aspects of Trecento Panel Paintings,"  in Studies in the History of Art , 2002, vol. 61, pp. 59, 77-78, notes 10-11, reproduced p. 59;

D. Dombrowski, "Terrae Praisens Non Abest ab Aethere Botticellis Mann mit Medaille als Beitrag zum Menschenbild des späten Quattrocento," in Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, vol. 65, 2004, pp. 53–54, reproduced fig. 15, and p. 70, nn. 148–153 (as dated circa 1490);

M. Boskovits, "Una mostra su Botticelli e Filippino," Arte Cristiana, 825, November–December 2004, 92, pp. 417–418, reproduced in color p. 416, fig. 12 (as datable to the first half of the 1470s and rejects an attribution to Botticini);

A. Cecchi, Botticelli, Milan 2005, p. 178 n. 73 (as dated later than the Portrait of a young man with a medal of Cosimo I, Uffizi, which he dates to circa 1475-1476);

N. Penny, "Reviews of exhibitions: Virtue and Beauty," Renaissance studies, 19, 2005, 2, pp. 244;

F. Zöllner, Sandro Botticelli, Munich 2005, pp. 53, 197, 276, no. 95, reproduced p. 277 (under "contested and uncertain attributions");

U. Pfisterer, Lysippus und seine Freunde. Liebesgaben und Gedächtnis im Rom der Renaissance oder: Das erste Jahrhundert der Medaille, Berlin 2008, pp. 34–35, reproduced p. 37, fig. 16;

A. Nagel, "Icons and Early Modern Portaits," in El retrato del Renacimiento, M. Falomir (ed.), exhibition catalogue, Madrid 2008, pp. 421–25, nn. 22-26, reproduced figs. 15 and 23;

A. Rühl, in Botticelli: Likeness. Myth. Devotion, A. Schumacher (ed.), exhibition catalogue, Frankfurt am Main, 2009, pp. 198–201, no. 19, reproduced in color p. 199 and as a detail p. 201;

D. Dombrowski, "Savonarola und die heiligen Bilder: ein Problem der Botticelli-Forschung," in Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft, 36, 2009, p. 95, 111 nn. 86–89, reproduced fig. 15 (as dated circa 1490 or shortly after);

A. Nagel and C. Wood, Anachronic Renaissance, New York 2010, pp. 115–19, 122-123, 128, 155, 178-179, 184, 396 nn. 22–26, reproduced fig. 11.7;

K. Schreyer, Shakespeare's Medieval Craft: Remnants of the Mysteries on the London Stage, Ithaca 2014, pp. 38–42, reproduced fig. 2 and on the cover;

L. Berti, "Botticelli. Approccio nel nuovo millennio," in Gli Uffizi. Studi e Ricerche, 31. I libri, F. Chezzi (ed.), Florence 2015, p. 85 and reproduced p. 84, fig. 9.