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Saint Andrew

Attributed to: Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish (active in Italy), 1591–1652)
1641

Medium/Technique Oil on canvas
Dimensions 69.9 x 55.9 cm (27 1/2 x 22 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Andree B. Stearns
Accession Number1991.776
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings

ProvenanceGustav von Gerhardt, Budapest; November 10, 1911, posthumous Gerhardt sale, Lepke, Berlin, lot 66 [see note 1]. Until about 1926, Count Andrássy, Budapest; about 1926, sold by Andrássy to Leo Budai-Goldberger (b. 1878 - d. 1945), Budapest [see note 2]. Possibly Ladislas Sós, Paris [see note 3]. About 1951, probably acquired in Paris by Pinakos, Inc. (Rudolf Heinemann, b. 1902 - d. 1975) and M. Knoedler and Co., Paris and New York (joint account) [see note 4]; March 28, 1951, full ownership acquired by Knoedler, New York (stock no. A4548); February 24, 1953, sold by Knoedler to Mrs. B[asil] Goulandris, Greenwich, CT; sold back to Knoedler (stock no. A6668); 1957, sold by Knoedler to Zannis L. Cambanis, London, who returned it to Knoedler; June 3, 1958, sold by Knoedler to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Beede; given by Mr. and Mrs. Beede to Russell B. Stearns (d. 1981) and Andrée B. Stearns, Dedham, MA; 1991, gift of Andrée B. Stearns to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 18, 1991)

NOTES:
[1] As Jusepe de Ribera, St. Peter.

[2] The verso of a photograph of the painting (copy supplied by M. Knoedler and Co.) is inscribed in French and signed by Ladislas Sós, 1 rue Eugene, Paris: "The painting represented on the reverse was part of the collection of the late Leo Goldberger of Budapest, who purchased it around 1926 from Count Andrassy."

[3] The inscription on the photograph (see above, n. 2) is not dated, and it is unclear what role, if any, Ladislas Sos had in selling this painting. He may be identical to the displaced person of the same name, whose card with the Barcelona Emigration Office notes that he departed Spain for France in July of 1945.

[4] The reverse of the painting bears a French customs stamp as well as a shipping label from Lenars et Cie., Paris (annotated "KNO / No. 40"). When it was entered into the Knoedler stock book in 1951, the painting was initially titled, in French, "Vieux pecheur," and a payment to Lenars was noted.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Leo Goldberger, a Jewish industrialist in Hungary, was sent to the Mathausen concentration camp in 1944. He died of starvation shortly after the camp was liberated in 1945. The contents of his home, including his art collection, were looted.

When and how this painting left Goldberger's possession and made its way to Paris is not known, nor is it certain who sold the work to Pinakos and Knoedler. The MFA has been in contact with a representative of the Goldberger heirs about the provenance of this painting. Research is ongoing.