Girolamo di Tommaso, called Girolamo da Treviso the Younger, 
Italian c.1498-1544- 
Christ and...

Girolamo di Tommaso, called Girolamo da Treviso the Younger, 
Italian c.1498-1544- 

Christ and the Woman taken in adultery; 

oil on panel, 117.5 x 173.4 cm. 

Provenance: 
Anon. sale, Lempertz, Cologne, 4 December 1999, lot 1326, as 'Giuseppe Porta called Salviati' (£13,120 hammer). 

Note: 
We are grateful to Professor Peter Humfrey and Professor Mauro Lucco for endorsing the attribution of the present work based on photographs. We are further grateful to Peter Humfrey for providing the below catalogue note: 

‘After a brief early period of activity in his native Veneto, Girolamo transferred to Bologna in about 1520, where he would have come into contact with Parmigianino during his residence there between 1527 and 1530, as well as with the work of Giulio Romano in nearby Mantua. In 1531 he returned to Venice, to fresco the façade of the house of the distinguished collector Andrea Odoni and to paint an altarpiece for the church of San Salvador (both works lost); and I believe that this painting, and another version (private collection) of the quintessentially Venetian subject of the half-length Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery, were both painted for other Venetian patrons during this phase. (The coat of arms at the bottom left has not yet, unfortunately, been satisfactorily identified; but it does not seem to be Venetian, and is perhaps a later addition.) In my opinion, the present work is of high quality, and represents an important addition to the oeuvre of this still relatively elusive painter. For a recent brief, but well-illustrated monograph on him, see Paolo Ervas, ‘Girolamo da Treviso’, Saonara, 2014, with the other, smaller version of the subject (panel, 82 x 97 cm.) included as catalogue no.42. I plan to publish the present version in my forthcoming book, ‘Taken in the Very Act: The Theme of the Adulteress in European Painting from Romanino to Cavallino.’ 

Peter Humfrey 
Emeritus Professor of Art History 
University of St Andrews 
3 June 2025