EDITORIAL
In this issue we have described some more Italian works in the collection. The most notable is the
Furini, for which we are indebted once more to the generosity of Mr N. B. Spencer.
STAFF
Mr L. C. Lloyd, the Gallery's conservator, has departed on a visit to Europe where he is to attend in London a British
Council Course on the Conservation of Works of Art. Besides this he will be visiting other countries. A Gul-benkian Trust
grant administered by the Art Galleries and Museums Association of New Zealand has made this visit possible.
ANDREA SACCHI (att.) (1599-1661) Roman School THE VISION OF ST ROMUALD
Oil on Canvas 63.5 x 43.7 cm
Purchased 1961
This painting was acquired from a New Zealand private collection. By family inheritance it had come from Sir Richard
Westmacott, the well known nineteenth century sculptor, or his son, also a sculptor. Both had studied in Rome and the painting was
purchased there either in c. 1793 or c. 1826.
The subject and composition are best known from the large painting by Sacchi in the Vatican Gallery. There are
several reasons why the Auckland sketch might be Sacchi's modello for the larger work. There are certain differences in the composition
which are unlikely to have been made by a copyist: the handling of the paint, certainly, is too free for it to have been copied: the size of the
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canvas is very close to the scale Sacchi seems to have used for his sketches — vide Graves Art Sales and the oil sketch by him
(Zeri, Ld Galleria Pallivicini in Rome Pl. 445). The brush work in the Auckland work is virtually identical with the Pallivicini sketch.
Expert opinion, based on photographs only, has been favourable, Professor Wittkower being particularly impressed by the
detail reproduced here.
However, the alternatives are that it could be a workshop sketch by an assistant or an entirely independent sketch. But
the evidence above militates against the latter suggestion.
Andrea Sacchi was the leader of Baroque (Cont. paragraph 2, p.3)
SACCHI Detail
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