wfn.org | Massachusetts church finds Old Master painting in the attic

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2000-047

Massachusetts church finds Old Master painting in the attic

by Tracy Sukraw

     Folks at All Saints' Church in West Newbury, Massachusetts, 
never dreamed they'd find themselves playing a part in an art 
world drama starring Andrea del Sarto, a master painter of the 
Italian Renaissance.

     Experts late last year determined that a "Madonna and Child" 
painting owned by the parish--for decades thought to be an 18th-
century copy of a del Sarto painting--was in fact the real thing.

     The painting was sold on Jan. 28 at auction at Sotheby's in 
New York to private dealers in London for $1.1 million.

     Thirty All Saints' members attended the auction, which the 
rector, the Rev. William Murdoch, likened to "the long-awaited 
wedding in which everything goes off without a hitch." 

     Well, almost. The story of this Merrimack Valley church 
making it big drew national media attention, from The New York 
Times and People magazine to NBC's "Today Show" and "The Oprah 
Winfrey Show." The hoopla had barely died down when del Sarto 
scholar John Shearman publicly expressed his doubt that the 
painting was entirely the work of the master painter. In a 
February 17 New York Times story, Shearman, an art history 
professor at Harvard University, alleged that Sotheby's did not 
openly disclose prior to the auction his opinion that del Sarto 
had most likely painted only part of this particular Madonna and 
Child and that it probably had been completed by an assistant.  

     Shearer's was "one distinguished scholar's opinion" against 
the consensus of other experts consulted in the authentication 
process, explained Christopher T. Apostle, senior vice president 
of the Old Master Paintings Department at Sotheby's, in an 
interview. He said that although Shearer's contrary opinion was 
not posted or printed in the auction catalog, "it was discussed 
and rediscussed widely beforehand" with museums and private 
collectors and that Sotheby's stands behind its handling of the 
painting. 

Blessing and challenge

     It seems that authenticity is a far more subjective matter 
than most people outside the world of art scholarship would like 
to think. Whether this is a tsunami or a tempest in a teapot is 
up to the experts to decide, as far as All Saints' Church is 
concerned. Either way, the parish will get its money for the 
painting. 

     As senior warden Rick Brown said before the auction, the 
discovery and sale of the painting has been "a great blessing as 
well as a great challenge" to the parish, since, at bottom, it is 
a matter of stewardship. 

     All Saints' Church has decided to set aside immediately a 
portion of the windfall as a thank offering for ministry outside 
the parish. Money will also be used for housing for a new 
assistant rector to be hired this year. From there, Murdoch said, 
the parish will "spend the next year in discernment to seek God's 
direction for the parish's future."

     It seems likely that the decision making will focus on 
church facilities. The parish has nearly tripled in size over the 
last six years, Murdoch said, and with limited seating, All 
Saints' Church is offering three services to accommodate the 
average Sunday attendance of 180 people. Murdoch believes that 
the parish is up to the challenge, having already completed a 
lengthy process of determining how the congregation's future 
ministry is to be directed by its mission.

     "The first thing that's happened is a wonderful sense of 
God's providential care and love for us at this crucial time at 
All Saints' when this group of parishioners seems to be called 
upon to be a founding generation for the next several 
generations," Murdoch said.

Looking for evaluation

     The del Sarto painting was a memorial gift made to the 
church by Clara Winthrop, thought to be a friend of Isabella 
Stuart Gardner, Boston's famed patron of the arts, and of the 
Samuel Emery family, whose money helped found All Saints' Church 
in 1913.

     "To my untrained eye, it was an attractive old painting, but 
it was actually too large to hang in our little chapel out here, 
and it really didn't fit the aesthetics of the place," Murdoch 
said of the 500-year-old work. "We wanted to get a serious 
opinion on it before we put it up for sale anywhere."

     Discovered in the rectory attic in 1986 by a former priest 
of All Saints', the painting was eventually sent to an art 
conservation firm in New Hampshire, where it got an inconclusive 
evaluation, and was then returned to All Saints' and stored in a 
closet.

     There were vestry discussions over the years about having 
the painting reexamined and appraised; finally, last year, 
photographs of the painting were sent to Christie's. The head of 
Christie's old master paintings department came to West Newbury 
to take a look at the work, and that evaluation led the church to 
invite auction house proposals. 

     Andrea del Agnolo (known as Andrea del Sarto, in reference 
to his father's trade as a tailor) lived from 1486 to 1530 and 
was a major Florentine painter of religious works, including 
frescoes and numerous depictions of the Madonna and Child.

     The painting discovered at All Saints' is "quite a beautiful 
thing," said Apostle of Sotheby's before the auction. He noted 
the strong handling of paint and elegant composition typical of 
del Sarto's work.

     Painted on a wood panel--canvas was not yet commonly used--
it depicts a richly costumed Mary supporting the nude Christ 
child with her left arm; she holds a closed book in her right 
hand.

     In the course of authenticating the painting, infrared 
reflectography was used, a technique involving a special camera 
that allows the artist's preparatory drawing to be viewed through 
the layers of paint.

     The infrared viewing revealed that the artist first sketched 
an open book in the Madonna's hand, but reworked it into a closed 
one as he painted. The strong underdrawing, Mr. Apostle said, is 
characteristic of del Sarto's work.

     Another version of this Madonna and Child, he said, is held 
by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

     Discovery stories like this one happen from time to time, he 
said, but not often enough to diminish the excitement each one 
brings. "It's great when we can help a non-profit group or 
institution by coming in when they don't have any expectations 
and they get this wonderful surprise," he said. In this case, the 
surprises just keep coming.

--Tracy J. Sukraw is the editor of The Episcopal Times for the 
Diocese of Massachusetts.