Advanced Search 
Expulsion from Paradise
Benvenuto di Giovanni (Italian (Sienese), 1436–about 1518)
1470s
Medium/Technique
Tempera on panel
Dimensions
25.7 x 34.6 cm (10 1/8 x 13 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Charles Potter Kling Fund
Accession Number56.512
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
ProvenanceUntil 1921, Frédéric Engel-Gros, Château Ripaille, Switzerland; May 30, 1921, Engel-Gros sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, lot 2, perhaps to Mr. and Mrs. Emile Paravicini, Paris [see note 1]; December 6, 1952, Paravicini sale, Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, lot 2, perhaps to Alfred Scharf, London [see note 2]; 1956, sold by Scharf to the MFA for £7000. (Accession Date: October 11, 1956)
NOTES:
[1] While Raimond van Marle asserted that the painting had been in the collection of Richard von Kaufmann, Berlin, this has not been substantiated; see his "Development of the Italian Schools of Painting," vol. 16 (The Hague, 1937), p. 408, n. 1. In a letter from Alfred Scharf to Thomas Maytham of the MFA (October 24, 1956), he explains that "I bought the Expulsion from Paradise by Benvenuto di Giovanni from Mr. and Mrs. E. Paravicini, Paris, the son-in-law and daughter of Mr. F. Engel -Gros, in whose collection the picture was for a long time....The Paravicini have no further information about its earlier history." A price annotated in a copy of the 1921 auction catalogue suggests the painting was sold; it is not known whether it was bought in and passed by descent to Mr. and Mrs. Paravicini, or if they acquired it at the sale. [2] Scharf's letter (as above, n. 1) does not clarify whether he acquired the painting at this sale, or privately from the Paravicini. It is possible that it did not sell at the 1952 auction.
NOTES:
[1] While Raimond van Marle asserted that the painting had been in the collection of Richard von Kaufmann, Berlin, this has not been substantiated; see his "Development of the Italian Schools of Painting," vol. 16 (The Hague, 1937), p. 408, n. 1. In a letter from Alfred Scharf to Thomas Maytham of the MFA (October 24, 1956), he explains that "I bought the Expulsion from Paradise by Benvenuto di Giovanni from Mr. and Mrs. E. Paravicini, Paris, the son-in-law and daughter of Mr. F. Engel -Gros, in whose collection the picture was for a long time....The Paravicini have no further information about its earlier history." A price annotated in a copy of the 1921 auction catalogue suggests the painting was sold; it is not known whether it was bought in and passed by descent to Mr. and Mrs. Paravicini, or if they acquired it at the sale. [2] Scharf's letter (as above, n. 1) does not clarify whether he acquired the painting at this sale, or privately from the Paravicini. It is possible that it did not sell at the 1952 auction.