The following condition report has been provided by Hamish Denwar Fine Art Conservation, 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, Duke Street, St Jame's, London, England, SW1Y 6BU, +44 (0) 20 7930 4004, hamish@hamishdewar.co.uk, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The canvas has a comparatively recent lining with a new wooden stretcher and this is ensuring a sound and secure structural support. The paint surface has an even varnish layer although there is slight frame rubbing and some very minor surface abrasions which could be simply rectified by the revarnishing. There is one very small, recent loss in the red draperies of the figure in the upper left of the composition. The dark brown ground layers are evident in a number of areas across the paint surface suggesting that there may have been some abrasion in the past. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows a number of scattered retouchings including several along the lower horizontal framing edge and in the lower left corner. There are small scattered retouchings on all of the pale draperies and more significant lines of inpainting which presumably cover fracture lines on the white draperies of the kneeling figure in the lower right of the composition. There are other small scattered retouchings including some on Christ's chest and very small retouchings in His hair. There are further retouchings along the upper horizontal framing edge and an area in the upper right corner. There may be further retouchings beneath the varnish layers, which are quite opaque, and may therefore be masking the ultraviolet light. The painting would therefore appear to be in essentially good and stable condition and the only work that might be required is revarnishing to resolve the very minor surface abrasions and perhaps retouching of the small loss mentioned above in the red robes in the upper left.
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The composition relates to the finished work from the 1580s in the Museo Civico in Cremona which has in the past been associated with Francesco Bassano but which is more correctly assigned to Gerolamo, his brother. The present work is either a preparatory bozzetto or, since it follows the design of the Cremona canvas almost exactly, more likely to be a modello to record the composition for the workshop to use at a later date. We are grateful to Professor Alessandro Ballarin for proposing the attribution on the basis of a digital image.