Page 20 - Vision & Ecstasy - Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione's St. Francis.

Fig. 12. success and attracted endless favourable critical reviews and not
Fig. 13. far short of twelve thousand visitors who totally wore out the new
carpeting in the gallery which then had to be replaced. At the
opening the galleries both ground middle and upper floors were
so jammed that it took half an hour to force yourself up the
stairway. This success would be inconceivable today, alas, and
might only be emulated by contemporary art, if at all.13 From this
exhibition Basia was to buy three major works by Dosso Dossi.
Two depicted Learned Men of Antiquity, or indeed Astronomy and
Geometry, while the third was a magnificent St John on Patmos.Three
years later we negotiated the sale to Basia of one of the stars of
the show, Dosso Dossi’s Venus Awakened by Cupid. (Fig.12)

The pace of acquisitions slowed in the mid to late eighties but
still encompassed four significant works by Gentile da Fabriano,
Artemesia Gentileschi14, Sánchez Cotán and Caravaggio, all very
big names.The Gentile was to prove vital to the survival of the
gallery.(Fig.13) It had appeared covered in grime in a Paris
auction in December 1986 and I went to see it and became
convinced of its authenticity despite there being a long published
and accepted version in the Vatican museums. It took some
courage to challenge this status quo and authenticity could not
be verified securely until the painting was cleaned. I told my
backers this was a key painting which was in the remit of my
authority to purchase and that I had a prospective partner.
Notwithstanding, as relations had been growing more strained,
they decided to consult a noted Italian restorer.This person, who

13. There was one moment during the unpacking of the objects destined for a central showcase with the curators when total
hysteria descended as a piece from the museum in Modena‘went missing’.After frantic searches this was found in the packing
material at Martinspeed.

14. Later resold by the Gallery on Basia’s behalf and now in theVirginia Museum of Arts.

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