Mrs. Charles H. Bulkley, Cleveland, by the 1880s;
Thence by descent to her son, Robert Johns Bulkley (1880-1965), Cleveland;
With Adams, Davidson & Company, Washington D.C., 1968 (according to an advertisement in Connoisseur, vol. 169, December 1968 and listed as Eugenio di Giulio Costantini);
Mr. & Mrs. Preston H. Saunders, Cleveland;¹
By whom g𒀰iven to The Cleveland Museum of A🌸rt in 1971 [In Memory of Senator Robert J. Bulkley, acc. no. 71.278].

Connoisseur, vol. CLXIX, 1968, p. LXXX, reproduced (advertisement, Adams, Davidson & Company, Washington D.C. as by Eugenio di Giulio Constantini);
Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. LIX, June 1972, p. 157;
Cleveland Museum of Art, Catalogue of Paintings:  Part Three.  European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries, Cleveland 1982, pp. 413-415, no. 181, reproduced;
A. Chong, European & American Painting in The Cleveland Museum of Art:  A Summary Catalogue, Cleveland 1993, p. 221, reproduced;
R. J. M. Olson, The Florentine Tondo, New York 2000, p. 229, reproduced figure 8.2.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This large, heavy panel is in very healthy condition. It is originally made from three sections of wood joined horizontally. The panel has subsequently been treated with wax on the reverse and there is one vertical wooden reinforcement which has been added. The paint layer is more or less clean and the retouches are all clearly visible under ultraviolet light in small spots here and there, not focusing in any particular area, except possibly the left leg of Jesus. The condition overall is very good and although a fresh approach to conservation would provide a chance to more accurately retouch the losses, the painting could also be hung in its current state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The present painting is the only known, signed painting by the Florentine artist, engineer and architect, Constantini de Servi.  Although relatively little is known about him today, Constantini seems to have had an extremely successful career, serving at various times at the courts of Florence, Rome, Prague and England, and even making a year-long trip to Persia.²  He received his early artistic training in the studio of Santi di Tito (1536-1603) and over the next thirty years seems to have developed a monumental and naturalistic style based on the example of Andrea del Sarto, a style that ran counter to the exuberant Mannerism then in favor at the court of Francesco I. 

Although devotional Madonna and Child tondi had flourished in Florence during the mid-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries, the rise of Mannerism during the Counter-Reformation with its resultant cultural upheaval all led to the form's decline in usage after about 1515-20.  Thus, by the time that Constantini executed this work in circa 1590, the tondo was already a retardataire art form.  In addition to consciously looking back to the structure of this work, the artist seems also to have been looking back to earlier artistic inspiration as the figures of the Madonna and Child are based on both Del Sarto's Madonna del Sacco in the Cloister of SS. Annunziata in Florence and -- at least in the figure of the young Christ Child --  on Michelangelo's ignudi figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  An x-radiograph conducted by the Cleveland Museum reveals that de Servi painted this work over another Madonna and Child.  Of the Bridgettine type and depicting also the young John the Baptist, the tondo was rotated 45 degrees and the present work painted over it.³


1.  According to a note in the files at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Mrs. Preston Saunders was the granddaughter of Robert J. Bulkley and donated the painting in his memory.  It may be that the painting was only with Adams, Davidson & Co. for an appraisal when they illustrated it in Connoisseur, or it may be that it was returned to the Saunders unsold after passing to them through descent from the Bulkleys.
2.  For more information on Constantini de Servi's life, see R. Strong, Henry, Prince of Wales and England's Lost Renaissance, London 1986, pp. 88-96.
3.  Conservation files of the🌳 Cleveland Museum of Art.