Mercury Lulling Argus to Sleep

Artist Ubaldo Gandolfi Italian, 1728–1781

Datecirca 1770–1775

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions86 x 53 5/8 in. (218.4 x 136.2 cm)
Frame: 97 3/4 x 60 in. (248.3 x 152.4 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), in memory of Robert Lee Humber

Object number83.1

On View

On view

ProvenanceCommissioned ca. 1770 by Count Vincenzo Antonio Maria Marescalchi (1701-91) for the Palazzo Marescalchi in Bologna; his son, Count Ferdinando Marescalchi (1753-1816), Palazzo Marescalchi, Bologna; his son, Count Carlo Marescalchi, Bologna and Paris, after 1816; [sold by Marescalchi heirs before 1830?] French art market, 1958 [this Drouot?]; with Galleria Moratilla, Paris [date?]; [with Marcello and Carlo Sestieri, Rome??-related to Ettoro/e Sestieri-director of Barberini-Grassi/Morandotti/Hofer]; with P. D. Colnaghi and Co. before 1976; sold to NCMA, 1983.Published ReferencesMarcello Oretti, "Descrizione delle pitture che ornano le case de' cittadini della Città de Bologna," Bologna Biblioteca Comunale, ms. B. 109, carta 113

Marcello Oretti, "Notizie de' professori del Dissegno, cioè Pittori, Scultori ed., Architetti Bolognesi e de' Forestieri di sua Scuola...," [c. 1770-87]

Bolgna Biblioteca Comunale, ms. B.134, carta 181 ["Ubaldo Gandolfi, Casa Marescalchi per longo, nel 1770"].

Padre Landi, "Vita di Ubaldo Gandolfi scritta dal Padre Maestro [Illtro.?]

Landi Servita," Atti e memorie del Accademia Clementina, Vol. 2 (Bologna, Archivio Accademia Clementina, 1764-82/1781), ms. inserted between carte 370-71 ["Nel Palazzo Marescalchi di Bologna si osservano favole dipinti a olio che certo meritano ogni estimazione"].

Lidia Bianchi, I Gandolfi (Rome, 1936), nos. 34-40 (as lost).

Mimi Cazort Taylor, "The Paintings of Ubaldo Gandolfi," (Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, 1971), [no.X-__].

Italian Paintings 1550-1780 (London: P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., Ltd., 1976), cat. no. 35, illus. pl. XXXV.

David H. Steel, "Gandolfi Paintings are Recent Gifts," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Spring 1983), discussed 11-12, illus. (b-w) 11.

Monica Proni, "Per la ricostruzione della quadreria del conte Ferdinando Marescalchi (1753-1816)," Antologia di Belle Arti, 9, 33-34 (1988), 37-38.

Prisco Bagni, "Nuove scoperte su Ubaldo Gandolfi," Accademia Clementina. Atti e Memorie, 24 (1989), 84, illus. fig. 76.

L[ois] S[taton], "Music and Art United in Bologna," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1989-90), mentioned 25.

Donatella Biagi-Maino, Ubaldo Gandolfi (Turin, 1990), no. 72, pl. 12, fig. 130.

Daniele Benati, Disegni Emiliani del Sei-Settecento: Come nascono idipinti (Milan, 1991), no. 81.

Donatella Biagi-Maino, "Gandolfi, Ubaldo," in La pittura in Italia: Il Settecento, Vol. 2, 730.

Prisco Bagni, I Gandolfi. Affreschi, Dipinti, Bozzetti, Disegni (Bologna, 1992), no, 110.

Keith Christiansen, Italian Painting (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. 1992), 131, illus. (color).

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 204.

"Bella Pittura. The Art of the Gandolfi," (exhibition catalogue) (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1993), 14, 31, 43.

David Steel, entry for Mercury Lulling Argus to Sleep, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998),150, illus. (color).

Donatella Biagi Maino, Gaetano e Ubaldo Gandolfi: Opere Scelte (exhibition catalogue) (Torino: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2002), cat. no. 24, illus. (color) pl. 24, mentioned 30.

David Steel, entry for Mercury Lulling Argus to Sleep, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 312, illus. (color) 313.

Marco Riccòmini, Fogli Barocchi: Disegni bolognesi tra Seicento e Settecento (Paris and Bologna: Maurizio Nobile, 2016), noted 52, illus. (color) 55, fig. 31.
Exhibition HistoryLondon, P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., Ltd., "Italian Paintings 1550-1780," May 26-July 2, 1976, cat. no. 35, illus. pl. XXXV.

Cento, Italy, Church of San Lorenzo, Auditorium, "Gaetano e Ubaldo Gandolfi: Opere Scelte," April 13 - June 16, 2002, cat. no. 23, illus. (color) pl. 23, mentioned 30.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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