The first renaissance centurion: the National Gallery of Scotland's new exhibition of Venetian renaissance art in Scottish collections includes a major rediscovery, a painting by Paris Bordon from Mount Stuart, Alexandra Jackson discusses its place in Venetian art, and studies the limited evidence for its date, patronage and provenance

Apollo, August, 2004 by Alexandra Jackson

Vasari recorded another Milanese patron, Angelo Candiano, who returned to Milan in 1535 having been physician to Queen Maria of Hungary, governor of Flanders. By virtue of his profession, he might be a likely candidate for the painting's patron. Another tenuous candidate is a Milanese nobleman named Giulio Centurione, who was associated with Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso in Milan. He is listed as one of the dedicatees of Simon Boyleau's madrigals for the cappella musicale, together with, among others, Agosto da Rho, Henri II of France and Camilla Centuriona. (48)

A far more probable contender is Adamo Centurione (d. 1568), a powerful Genoese banker who took over Charles V's finances from the Fuggers. In his Life of Leone Leoni, Vasari tells us that the architect Galeazzo Alessi adorned Adamo Centurione's lake and island with capricious fountains and waterfalls. A portrait by Bordon in The Hague has been identified by Canova as that of Galeazzo Alessi. (49) According to Vasari, Galeazzo also built a palace for Tommaso Marini, one of Bordon's patrons in Milan, and for the Genoese merchant Ottaviano Grimaldi, whose portrait by Bordon was recorded by Vasari. (50)

The painting and the Bute collection

The conjecture surrounding the painting's acquisition by the Bute family is just as wide ranging as the problems of the painting's date and earlier provenance. The painting first appeared (as by 'Paris Bordone') on page 11 of Pictures at Luton Park, 1799, a catalogue of the collection at Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire of John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute and 1st Marquess of Bute (1744-1814). (51) It was next documented in the West Library of Luton Hoo in Luton Hoo: Catalogue raisonne a l'usage des amateurs, 1822 (no. 37, Christ and the Centurion). Waagen recorded two Bordon pictures at Mount Stuart in 1854; as well as the Centurion, there was a Portrait of a woman, which is still in the collection. (52) In 1883, Jean Paul Richter included the Centurion in an exhibition at Bethnal Green as Our Lord and His Disciples, artist unknown but 'painted in the style of Paris Bordone' and listed under Paris Bordone in the index. (53) In 1898, the picture was in St John's Lodge in Regent's Park, the London residence of John Patrick, 3rd Marquess of Bute, where M.R. Thompson reported on the weak lining of the canvas. (54) It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1912 as The centurion at the feet of Christ by Paris Bordon, but was relegated to the stables at Cardiff Castle from the late 1930s during the lifetime of John, 4th Marquess of Bute. (55) It languished there until its transfer to Mount Stuart around 1947. More recently in 1985, it was mentioned by Francis Russell in The Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting (56) and in 2003 he referred to it in an article on Bute and Venice. (57)

Although the picture's provenance from 1799 until the present day is assured, the mystery of its prior location and acquisition by the Bute family remains unsolved. The 1799 catalogue was compiled during the lifetime of John, 4th Earl and 1st Marquess, but it does not record which of the pictures were acquired by him or by his father. However, the frame of the Bordon picture is of a pattern used by the 3rd Earl for his purchases around 1772. (58) The bulk of the Luton Hoo collection was created by the 3rd Earl, who began to buy Dutch pictures in 1749. Both father and son purchased pictures from Captain William Baillie (1723-1810), a printmaker and dealer who was instrumental in forming the collection at Luton Hoo. Captain Baillie does not appear to have travelled to Italy. He went to The Hague in 1763 to purchase Dutch works, and if he was responsible for acquiring Venetian pictures for Luton Hoo, he must have done so through London auctioneers.