Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 95. (Budapest, 2001)

FRANKLIN, DAVID: Giorgio Vasari's Marriage Feast at Cana in Budapest

Perugia? There has been some discussion of this in the scant literature on the works, and this favours the view , surely correct, that they are replicas.

11 All the evidence suggests that this is indeed the soundest hypothesis, not least because the method of making painted sketches, either as preparation or to demonstrate to patrons in advance of work, was not a codified practise until the seventeenth century. In the renaissance period, the convention was, instead, for the prospective patron to be shown a drawing, which was then kept with the written contract and guarded by the notary (or patron) for safekeeping. The smooth, enamelled handling and complete finish of the Budapest and Uffizi paintings are also more plausible for independent works, as opposed to a heuristic sketch. Most significantly, there is a secure precedent in Vasari's own corpus for the production of souvenir copies of important public paintings which he would have assumed would never leave their original, sacred setting. The earlier documented case in Vasari's career is that of the Immaculate Conception altarpiece for Ss. Apostoli in Florence of 1541 of which, according to his biography, Vasari produced a smaller version ("almost in miniature") for the patron, Bindo Altoviti, for his palace in Rome purely out of gratitude.

12 This is identified as one in the Uffizi measuring 58 x 39.5 cm. The situation is potentially complex here, however, as more than one might have been done, as evidenced by the reduced example of the Immaculate Conception now in the Ashmolean of comparable dimensions. The survival rate for this case suggests that Vasari was willing to produce multiple painted records of a commissioned design and for more than just the original patron. Vasari's widespread fame and connections, as well as his desire to enhance his reputation, appear to have inspired the development of the format of painted replica, for which there are no obvious prototypes. The particular precedent of the Immaculate Conceptions done for Bindo Altoviti combined with the particular format of the Budapest and Uffizi replica copies allow that they were probably made for a patron of unusual sophistication. The obvious candidate for patron is the iconographie advisor to Vasari, Vincenzo Borghini.

13 In addition to his Benedictine links, Borghini was an especially avid collector of drawings and owned some significant small paintings, including examples by Fra Angelico, Francesco Salviati, and Pontormo's Martyrdom of the 10000, which is in the Uffizi. It is probably significant too that Borghini was pivotal for Vasari's reception of the major commission for the high altar of the Badia in Florence later allotted to the painter in the 11 Originally, Riedl, RA., Zu einigen toskanischen Bozzetti, Pantheon, 21 (1963) pp. 14—19, considered them as either preparatory or as later records. But Barocchi, P., Vasari Pittore, Milan 1964, p. 63, referred more firmly to the two paintings as "repliche". Davis, C. agreed, in Giorgio Vasari. Principi, letterati e artisti nelle carte di Giorgio Vasari, exh. cat., Arezzo 1981, p. 268, in pointing out that the picture then in Montreal was, specifically, a replica. 12 Vasari, G., The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects 2, trans, de Vere, G. du C., ed. Ekserdjian, D., New York and Toronto 1996, p. 1033; and Vasari, G., Le vite de più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori 7, Florence 1568, ed. Milanesi, G., Florence 1878-85, p. 669. 13 For Borghini as a collector and his artistic relationships see Scorza, R., Borghini and Florentine Academies, in Italian Academies of the Sixteenth Century, ed. Chambers, D.S. and Quiviger, F., London 1995,pp. 144-45.