Saint Martin and the Beggar

Possibly (Baron Isidoro Taylor collection sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 24-26 February 1880, no. 22).[1] Louis Manzi, Paris, by 1908.[2] In the private collection of Josse and Gaston Bernheim-Jeune, Paris art dealers, by 1919;[3] sold 19 June 1929 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[4] purchased 28 March 1930 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.;[5] deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA. [1] Harold E. Wethey, _El Greco and his School_ 2 (Princeton, 1962): 247, no. X-401, identifies the NGA _Saint Martin and the Beggar_ as the one sold as part of the Baron Taylor collection. The only information provided in the sale catalogue for lot 22 is the title and artist (El Greco). It is therefore impossible to identify which of the five small versions of _St. Martin and the Beggar_ was sold at the 1880 auction. August L. Mayer, "_St. Martin and the Beggar_ by El Greco," _Apollo_ 10 (1929):151 claims the the number "387" inscribed at the lower right indicates that the NGA painting was once in the Spanish royal collection, but he does not provide any evidence to support this assertion. The number 387 is not used to identify a painting of Saint Martin or a work of any subject by El Greco in the published inventories of the Spanish collections. The unpublished inventories of the Spanish royal collections have not been checked. [2] Manuel B. Cossío, _El Greco_ (Madrid, 1908): 600, no. 309. It seems likely that this is the painting listed as "_Portrait_ (perhaps _San Luis_)" in the collection of M. L. Manzi, Paris, by George C. Williamson, ed., _Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers_, 5 vols. (London, 1903-1905), 5:168. Both Saints Martin and Louis were frequently shown wearing armor. [3] Félix Fénéon, ed. _L'Art moderne et quelques aspects de l'art d'autrefois d'après la collection privée de MM. J. et G. Bernheim-Jeune_ 1 (Paris, 1919):61-64, pl. 68. August L. Mayer, _Domenico Theotocopuli, El Greco_ (Munich, 1926): 48, no. 299, claims that the painting was included in the auctions of the Manzi collection. However, it is not mentioned in the catalogues of the auctions of paintings from the Manzi collection held at Galérie Manzi, Joyant et Compagnie, Paris, 13-14 March 1919 and 13 December 1919, nor is it mentioned in contemporary articles on these auctions. See, e.g., Alexandre Arsene, "Les collections Manzi," _Les Arts_ 5 (1919): 1-26. It seems possible that the brothers Bernheim-Jeune purchased the painting from (Manzi, Joyant et Cie)--with which Louis Manzi was affiliated--sometime before 1919. [4] Knoedler stockbook no. 8, p. 88, M. Knoedler & Co. records, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (copy NGA curatorial files). . [5] The painting is listed in "More Masterpieces in Mellon Collection Become Known," _Art News_ (2 March 1935): 4. On Mellon's purchases from Knoedler, see "List of Mellon Art Turned Over to Educational Trust," _Art News_ (13 April 1935): 3. On Mellon's methods of collecting, see also William Larimar Mellon and Boyden Sparks, _Judge Mellon's Sons_ (New York, 1948): especially 425-427.