DESCRIPTION
The two thieves were most likely part of a large altarpiece, as suggested among many others by the Brabant Passion altarpiece (donated by the well-known merchant Claudio Villa and his wife Gentina Solaro) preserved at the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels. An important piece of information is the label on the back of the Good Thief, which, in addition to referring to a recent Lombard collection, also reports its previous origin, the collection of the famous Cardinal Joseph Fesch (Ajaccio 1763 – Rome 1839), maternal uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte.
LITERATURE
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