Staatliche Museen zu Berlin -- Preuischer KulturbesitzThe Political Power of Connoisseurship in Nineteenth-Century Europe: Wilhelm von Bodeversus Giovanni MorelliAuthor(s): Jaynie AndersonSource: Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, 38. Bd., Beiheft. "Kennerschaft". Kolloquium zum150sten Geburtstag von Wilhelm von Bode (1996), pp. 107-119Published by: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin -- Preuischer KulturbesitzStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4125965 .Accessed: 17/09/2014 10:54Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp .JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. .Staatliche Museen zu Berlin -- Preuischer Kulturbesitz is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen.http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 130.49.198.5 on Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:54:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsTHE POLITICAL POWER OF CONNOISSEURSHIP IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE: WILHELM VON BODE VERSUS GIOVANNIMORELLI by JAYNIEANDERSON It is often assumed that the rivalry between Giovan- ni Morelli and Wilhelm von Bode was purely a mat- ter of arthistorical jealousy, a personal squabble over a methodof attribution. This isbecauseit iscom- monly believed that connoisseurship is just a venal activity, whereashere it will be argued that the dif- ferencesbetweenMorelli and Bode were political, or in other words about the politics of acquisitions between competing nationsandtheir developing national museums. From the time that Morelli inven- ted a scientific method of attribution in the 1850's, connoisseurship as practised by patriots rather than dealers, becamea political activity. In the creation of national museums connoisseurship wasan im- portant diagnostic activity, usedto determine who should have the best works of art. He whosuccee- ded, created the national patrimony for the future of anation.The activity of buying worksofart also involved continual contact with the art market and private collectors.In recentdecadesart historians have begun to examine a vast amount of archivalma- terial concerning the early biographies of museum directors and the history of connoisseurship,espe- cially in Italy,England and Germany.'Following the recovery of the historical archive of the Berlin collec- tions, for many decades in the Soviet Union and in- accessible, a re-evaluation of the political role of con- noisseurship in the development of Berlin museums, willbecome increasingly important for theunder- standing and future of these institutions.2 Morelli and Bode had little personal contact, but both wereaware of eachother's activities through mutualfriendssuchasGustavoFrizzoni (1840- 1919).3 Bode had attempted to meet Morelli for the first time in the autumn of 1872, but he was initially unsuccessful.Morelli's cousinGiovanni Melli was delegated to show Bode and Meyer Morelli's collec- tion in his absence. So Bode knew the collection rath- er than the man. Morelli was then fifty six years old, a grand Italian senator, while Bode, twenty six, was the newly appointed assistant in the sculpture collec- tion at the Berlin museum.4 Bode was in Italy in 1872, in the role of assistant to Julius Meyer (1830-1893)5 on their first ambitious expedition to acquire works of art for Prussian museums.On 1 September 1872 Meyer hadbeen appointed director of the Kdinig- lichen Gemiildegalerie as thesuccessorto Gustav Friedrich Waagen (1794-1868). On his journey to Ita- ly with Bode, Meyer, who was the director,played the more significant part in determiningacquisitions. Unlike Bode, Meyer left no autobiography, and his role in the historical formation of the Berlin collec- tions has been obscured by Bode's assessment in his lively and egotisticalautobiography, Mein Leben (1930). Autobiographies of art historians, unlike poli- ticians, are rare, and when written tend to dominate 1For example my edition of Morelli's writings presents a key do- cument in the history of connoisseurship with an explanation of his political role in thecreation of Italian museums: Giovanni Morelli, Della Pittura italiana. Studii storico-criticidi Giovanni Morelli (Ivan Lermolieff). Le Gallerie Borghese e Doria-Pamphili in Roma, a cura di Jaynie Anderson, Adelphi edizioni S.P.A., Mi- lan (1991); also in French translation: Giovanni Morelli, De La Peintureitalienne. Lesfondements de la theorie de l'attributionen peinture a propos de la collection des Galeries Borghese et Doria- Pamphili. Edition 6tablie de Jaynie Anderson. Editions de la La- gune, Paris (1994). 2These papers, principally the Bode Nachla8i, the Meyer Nach- laB and Miindler's Nachlal,may now be consulted in theZen- tralarchiv, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preu3ischer Kulturbe- sitz. I am grateful to Dr Jorn Grabowskiand his staff for their ge- nerous help, when I consulted these documents. 3GustavoFrizzoniwas an Italian art historian, and the youngest sonofGiovanni Frizzoni (1805-1849) andClementina Reich- mann (1815-1904). Gustavo's family was of Swiss Protestantori- gin, who had emigrated to Bergamo from the Engadine and who had collected paintings for generations. 4VolkerKrahnrehearses the details of Bode's biography in his pioneering article,'Wilhelm von Bode und die italienische Skulp- tur. Forschen - Sammeln - Priisentieren',Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, XXXIV,(1992), pp. 105-119. 5On Meyer, see R.Sch6ne, inJahrbuch derKiiniglichPreuflischen Kunstsammlungen, XV (1894), p. 61ff.; H.A.Lier,Allgemeine Deut- sche Biographie, LII,Leipzig 1906, p. 339f.; and W.von Bode, Re- pertoriumfiir Kunstwissenschaft, XVII (1894), p. 87 ff. This content downloaded from 130.49.198.5 on Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:54:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions108JAYNIEANDERSON the prevailing art historical interpretation of art his- tory'shistory.6 The majority of autobiographies writ- ten by art historians are written by museumdirec- tors. Our conception of the development of Berlin's museums is dominated by Bode's text, but when the rich material of the historical archive is studied, and in comparison with archives elsewhere, Bode's in- terpretation may be challenged and Meyer's role reevaluated. Letters from Morelli to Meyer,7 reveal that even by 1869 they were correspondents, since on 16 March 1869, Morelli wrote to Meyer, refusing to write for the Neues AllgemeinesKiinstlerLexikon, but instead recommendedhis friend, the journalist and contemporary art theorist Giuseppe Mongeri, for the task of writing noteson modern Italian artists. By 1879 they had met and Morelli sent Meyer on 29 November 1879 long lists with his views on attribut- ions in Berlin Gallery. Their correspondence lasted until January 1886. The 1872 journey undertaken by Meyer and Bo- de as a commission from the general director of the Royal Prussian museumsGraf Usedom is described insomedetailinBode's autobiography.8 In many ways Usedom's acquisitions' policy heralded a new era in the history of European collecting, onethat was immediately recognized as such by hisItalian contemporaries, and with trepidation, especially if they were patriots likeMorelli.On 30July1872, Morelli wrote with some alarm to his cousin, that an unparalleled sumof money had beenallocated by the German Parliament to Usedom, with a mandate to buy paintings andbronzesfromItalian collec- tions.9 The only precedent whichcould be seenfor such a determined acquisitions policy was that of Sir Charles Eastlake, who from 1855 had systematical- ly combed Italy for Renaissance paintings for the newly developing National Gallery of London. These journeys continuedfromthemomenthewas appointed first director of that institution until his death in1867. During thefirst years of Eastlake's directorship a German Otto Miindler was his assist- ant,whokeptnotebooksaboutworksofartthat wereforsaleinpublicandprivatecollections,but mostly in Italy.'0 Between 1842 and 1872 no acquisi- tions were made by the Berlin museums in Italy, for after 1842 Waagen had little money to acquire pain- tings. But in 1872, and thereafter, the funds for Ber- linmuseumswereincreasedsevenfold, andthe purchasing power of themuseumaltered thebal- anceof power ontheinternationalartmarket. Morelli was right to fear theeconomicthreat of a German onslaught. The idea of a national gallery, whether German or British, was somewhat of a misnomer, as the con- cept behindthe collectingimpulse wasto appro- priate as many Italian Renaissance masterpieces as possible, and at least in England had nothing to do with the national art of the country in which the mu- seum was located. Of all historical pasts what was it about the Italian Renaissance that meant so much in a period of liberalism and nationalism? Why was it consideredso necessary to appropriate theItalian Renaissance past for other European nations, and why was this fashion in collecting imitated in the new world, for example in Melbourne, Australia, with the National Gallery of Victoriaas early as the 1880's, and with American museumssomewhat later. The ans- weris that theItalian Renaissance represented an age of genius and of political sophistication which all newly unified countries wished to possess and call their own. Despite the fashion for all Italian art, the collecting and study of Renaissance sculpture lagged behind painting, as indeed it does now. Yet as early as 1861 the earliest sculpture museumsin Italy had been formed in Milan (now in the Castello Sforzes- co) and Florence (Bargello), in self-consciouscom- petition with the newly developing museum of South Kensington, nowthe Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which had among its various collections one of sculpture, put together by J.C. Robinson, under the direction of Sir Henry Cole. Bode's task in 1872 was to create a sculpture collection for Berlin. To help himinhisItalian enterprize in1872 Meyer had acquired copies of Miindler's working notebooksin German,madeon behalfoftheNation- alGallery,London,between1855-58;"theyalso 6 I am grateful to Tilmann von Stockhausen for generously sha- ring with me his knowledge of Meyer and the role he played in the formation of the Berlin collections. Meyer's qualities and his contributionwill be discussed in VonStockhausen's forthcoming thesis, Geschichteder Berliner Gemiildegalerie und ihrer Erwer- bungspolitik, 1830 bis 1904, Phil. diss., University of Hamburg. 7 Meyer NachlaB, 372. 8Mein Leben, Berlin (1930), pp. 50, 69-96. 930July 1872, Morelli toGiovanni Morelli, 'A proposito, mi viene riferito che il nuovo Direttore Generale delle Pinacoteche e de' Musei in Prussia, Conte Usedom ha messo100 mila talleri a disposizione di una Commissione, la quale si recherh nel pros- simo settembre in Italia ad acquistarne de'quadri e de' bronzi.' Zavarittarchive, Bergamo. I am grateful to Willi Zavarittand his family for permission to quote from his papers. 10See my introductoryessay, 'Otto Miindler and his Travel Di- ary', in 'The Travel Diaries of Otto Miindler 1855-1858', edited by C. Dowd and B. Fredericksen, The WalpoleSociety, LI (1985), pp. 7-64. On Miindler, seeR. Kultzen, 'Giovanni Morelli alsBrief- partner vonOtto Miindler', Zeitschriftfiir Kunstgeschichte,LII (1989), pp. 373-41; also 'Einiges fiber die kunsthistorischen Leit- bilder Otto Miindlers' in Hiille und Fiille. Festschriftfiir Tilmann Buddensieg,(1993), pp. 323-35. 11All of Miindler'snotebooks, with the exception of the English volumes, are preserved both inthe Miindler NachlaDf, and the Meyer Nachlaf, Zentralarchiv, Berlin. Meyer acquired his copies This content downloaded from 130.49.198.5 on Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:54:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWILHELMVON BODEVERSUSGIOVANNIMORELLI109 exist in an abbreviated English version prepared for theTrusteesoftheNational Gallery.12However, when they arrivedin ItalyMeyer and Bode found that the situation had completely changed in the twenty years from whenMiindler hadbeenthereinthe 1850's, that isbeforeandafter Italian unification. There is no need, I am sure, in Berlin in 1995, to spell out how different cultural policy looked in a country after unification. Meyer andBodemusthavewishedtomeet Morelli for many reasons,firstly becauseof hisas- sociation with Miindler who had died just two years earlier in 1870 (Morelli and Miindler had known one anotherfromthe1840's when they hadlivedto- gether in Paris), secondly because of Morelli's polit- ical involvement in the cultural policy of Italy, espe- cially that part that relatedto the legislation con- trolling the export of worksof art, and thirdly be- causeof Morelli's unrivalled knowledge of Italian private and public collections. As an author Morelli wouldhavebeenunknown to them, as it was only between1874 and 1876 that he published his first art historicalarticles under the pseudonym Ivan Ler- molieff in the Zeitschriftfiir bildende Kunst, as 'Die GalerienRoms. EinkritischerVersuch'. Inthese articleshe dramatically highlighted whatwasin private princely collections in Rome, especially that of the Borghese gallery. One of his aims was to pre- vent such works being exported from Italy,by draw- ing attention to their real worth. It isalso possible that Morelli published ina German periodical be- cause he hoped to deter Prussianmuseums from Ital- ian acquisitions. For art historians today, and for Morelli's con- temporaries, his namehas always beenassociated with the invention of connoisseurship: the Morelli- an method. But Morelli's employment wasnot that of an art historian, but the elected representative for Bergamo in the Italian Parliament - the Camera dei Deputati - from 1859. After unification in 1861, until his death in 1891, that is over a period of some thir- ty years, Morelli's main occupation was that of a pol- iticianworkingto savehiscountry'sartistic heritage. Hedevisedlegislationtotry toretainthemostsig- nificantworksof art, by artistsof thegreatestqual- ity,suchasBotticelli,Giorgione,Raphael,etc.,for Italianmuseums.nonetheless,encouragedforeign Fig. 1.WilhelmvonKaulbach.GiovanniMorelliasan undergraduate inMunich.Portrait drawing. Presentlocationunknown. museumsto buy works by lessor known artists, Lo- renzo Lotto, Moroni, etc, in order to stimulate study of Italian regional schools. His activities wereoften directed towards identifying what exactly the Italian nation possessed in each of its very different regions, or in other words to make a national inventory of the art treasures of oneof the most productive nations in the world. This seemingly banal task wasof the utmost significance.Deciding which nation should have which work of art, when it inevitably came on the art market, and inevitably was for sale, was to be- comea game of power politics and the balanceof power wascertain tobe upset, whenin1872 the Prussians entered theinternational arena ina big way. As a diagnostic instrument Morelli had invented amethodof connoisseurship,developed from his comparative anatomical studies, first pursued at the University of Munichwhen he was an undergraduate in the 1830's. Although this method hasbeenlittle fromKarl Lutzow.Thosediariesthat correspond totheLondon volumesintheNational Galleryarchive, arenos. 571/2, dated 1856-8, inthe Meyer Nachlab. They are more formallykept than Miindler'sotherGerman notebooks;they are larger andmore detailed.Both descriptions ofcollectionsand descriptions of individual paintings aremore extensivelygiven intheGerman volumesthanin the English. A revealingentry, as to therelation- ship betweenthetwosetsof volumes appears on thefirst page of Miindler'sTagebuch, for September1855, NachlaI Meyer 567. Onthisfirst page hewritesin English 'Detailed Notes', and throughout theLondonvolumestherearecontinualreferences to'DetailedNotes'.TheBerlinvolumesare clearly the original text, writteninGerman byMiindlerfor himself, whereasthe English versionisa summary oftheessentialfacts concerning pictures of quality, suitablefor presentation to theTrusteesof the National Gallery. 12 Op. cit., The Walpole Society,LI (1985). This content downloaded from 130.49.198.5 on Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:54:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions110JAYNIEANDERSON Fig. 2.BuonaventuraGenelli.GiovanniMorelliasan undergraduatearguing with oneof his professors. Entitled:Excusemeif I contradict you. Collectionof theMarchese Antinori, Florence. understood by modern interpreters it was to be of the utmost consequence. There were, however, certain areas of art history where Morelli believed his meth- od did not work, that is for seventeenth-century art and for sculpture. Morelli never published in these fields, but his unpublished correspondence and wor- king notes show that he was deeply engaged in them. Bothwere areas in which Bode excelled and in which he bought for German museums. Whereas in Italy it was difficult to change collecting patterns, that is to create museumsof sculpture as wellas painting, or to create collections of non-Italian art. Moreover, the task of patriotic Italians who wishedto create great collections, was impededby their politicians, who wishedto spend more money onmunitionsthan paintings, for fear that the Austro-Hungarianempire would reassert itself. Italian museums then and now, had few, if any, funds for acquisitions, and so public collectionswereformedfromaristocratic private collections, fromrare generousbequests, from forced acquisitions, such as the suppression of reli- gious institutions in 1866, or the creation of private housesinto publiccollections, suchastheMuseo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan. Connoisseurship, as weknow it in the modern sense, wasinventedin the1850's when Italy was moving towards unification, and con- cerned Italian patriots were trying to maintain con- trol of the national patrimony."1 In all of his dealings with the German art historical world Morelli had a kindoflove-hate relationship, since although he had been born in Italy, his parents wereSwiss/Ger- man protestants -his father from Canton Thurgau and his mother Ursula Zavaritt, whose family came from the Engadine. The language that he knew best, and preferred to write in all his life was German; all the Italian editions of his works are translations by other scholars. Moreover hehad beeneducated in Germany at the Universities of Munich and Erlan- gen. On 16 November 1872 Morelli wrote to his cous- in Giovanni Melli, a wealthy Swiss sericulturist, who lived in Milan, and for whom he was creating a small collection.Morelli mentioned that he had received a letter from Venice from the 'commissioners from Berlin', who requested that they visit him at Berga- mo; and Morelli also asked that Melli should show the Berliners the collection that he was forming in hiscousin's apartment at Milan. Morelli describes them as 'Julius Meyer (author of a book on Correg- gio)14 and Bode (author of the little book on Franz 13OnMorelli's method, see my article'GiovanniMorellietsa d6finitionde la scienzadell' arte', Revue de l'art, LXXV (1987),pp. 49-55. 14 Meyer,Correggio,Leipzig(1871). Fromhisearlieststudent days in Germany MorellihadfollowedGerman scholarship on Correggio, andinhisown publishedwritings wasto makea re- markablecontributiontoour knowledge of theartist. This content downloaded from 130.49.198.5 on Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:54:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWILHELMVONBODEVERSUSGIOVANNI MORELLI111 Hals15)'. 'I had a letter from them today, in which they make clear in the nicest possible way that they would like to make my acquaintance at the end of the next week when they pass through Bergamo. Make your- self ready fortheirvisittowardstheendofthis month. By that time, I should like Cavenaghi to have returned to you the little portrait of the gentleman, signed, withthedate 1567, and whichis already almost restored, not lessthan Ercole Grandi's Cain and Abel,16on whichthere is little or nothing to be done. Make him hurry up, and recommendto him that he work on your Botticelli immediately so that these gentlemen willseethis painting inastate which is more presentable than it is at present. Speak about it to Cavenaghi.'17 Morelli himself did not meet the commissioners fromBerlinandexcusedhimselfinaletterto Meyer.18 Meyer had wantedtomeethimbecause Morelliwas on the ancient monuments' commission, whichcontrolled the export of sculpture abroad. It is significant that it was for political reasons rather than anything else that they wished to make the se- nator's acquaintance. Many young aspiring art his- torians, whether Italian, Britishor German, pre- sented themselvesto Morelli for advice over many decades, and were often avoided by the master him- self. These young people, such as the youthful Ber- nard Berenson, faced an initiation rite, which was to attribute the paintings in Morelli's collection, now mostly in the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, but in Morelli's absence.19 In the main, this rite was a pain- ful experience, andsomesuchasAdolfo Venturi 1)I E T("'ANNEI S;I It(. .. d ueI,.t r %ir hi'ht allu ,1 eli(t.- ,11 , .,11l',111.CitnuI etuu ritmn rMurtc.IIIrtm_ ,.,,inzlnen Iderdr drI h,-,-11 4tr-;ari, IrIuv ,. uMd da dn. tItSr.1 wihin'tht ]untllld cluIIr SanJ dit, (I ottice lli. :Is,,,.ilcnuHl,,r renti m,,r./Ig,.sdc hriv- ,Inwired., so b'h'ln wir uns vorallen anderntdi( iII e, l.Sen,thaltz.iu\ n erk,.tt, l'.can.rn:it. AIloISSA.N! )l(itTI"I(EELLI. .\l,,-%.dr,,,tt,eili (," i gI nhliter ddu,.:(cimil,. ,lrd.It.de(rundformd,dtrHa:nud h t.. ,..":1,a',, ]*,, tvsclltlh'.,, sra o Iilp,IiI. I l?/,,.tr:,,t,.nlitundva,sitd,.rz%% I,IIIC11-11111(1-..S:,'VhWI,.rtb,VIIIiI-.i,rd, .,,,I.,A D a111111icr ,W1.4.11,n614h d st'-1.\1. -t,.nnd,ch:rakt,rvll ~t,',Kunstl,'rlt:liens141 +" "151' mi,d.,T,.,.u,,,,dkid.dar:att1,,.idttnS(-it, nEt,.. l I.I)II ( '11111 0"(ii. Y, itnnuchol,r (ir .-n/i("4-4,1 Fig. 3. Page from Giovanni Morelli'sKunstkritischeStudien with his famous anatomical drawings showing the characteristic forms of a Botticelli Ear and Hand. 15Morelli'sannotated copy of Bode's article, 'FranzHals und sei- ne Schule. Ein Beitrag zu einer kritischen Behandlung der hollan- dischen Malerei', Jahrbuch fiir Kunstwissenschaft(1871), exists in his library in the Bibliotecadell'Accademiadi Brera, see G. Ago- sti, M.Luisa Negri, C. Solza, II Fondo Morelli nellaBiblioteca dell'Accademiadi Brera',inBergomum(Lafigura e L'opera di Gio- vanniMorelli:MaterialidiRicerca), ed. M. Panzeriand G. O.Bravi, (1987), 176. 16Now attributedto Mariotto Albertinelli, and discussed in the most recent account of Morelli's collection, La Raccolta Morelli nell'AccademiaCarrara, Bergamo (1986), p. 114. 17The text of the wholeletter reads, 'Bergamo 16 Novembre 1872, Mio Carissimo Giovanni, Mi rincrebbe di non averti trova- to in citta al mio ritorno da Bologna e da Ferrara, dove mi recai in compagnia dell'amico Gustavo Frizzoni, e da dove ti avrei por- tato un'altro quadretto della Galleria Costabili, se il buon Frizzo- ni non se ne fosse egli mostrato si pazzamente invaghito, che non potei a meno di lasciarlo acquistare a lui! Ma per te ho sempre in mente quel bel ritrattodi Brescia, dove presto conto recarmi a ta- le scopo prima vi arrivino i Commissari di Berlino, i Signori Giu- lio Meyer, l'autore del libro sul Correggio, e Bode, l'autore dell'- opuscolo sul Franz Hals. Essi al presente trovansi a Venezia, e n'ebbi oggi lettera da loro, in cui gentilmente mi palesano il de- siderio loro di fare la mia conoscenza alla fine della prossima set- timana,quando cioe passeranno da Bergamo. Tienti dunque pronto per una loro visita verso la fine di questo mese. Vorreiche per quell'epoca il Cavenaghi ti avesse restituito il piccolo ritrat- to di cavaliere, segnato dell'anno 1567, e che e quasi gia termi- nato, non che l'Abele e Caino di E. Grandi, in cui c'e' poco o nulla da fare. Fagli premura, e raccomandagli pure di mettersi subito all'opera del tuo Botticelli, giacche sarebbe bene che questi Sig- nori vedesserocodesto quadro in uno stato piuipresentabile di quella in cui si trova al presente. -Parlane al Cavenaghi, e fatti da lui mostrare la tela di LeandroBassano col San Francesco, che io ti comparai a Modena per un pezzo di pane. Orahai opere di tut- ti e tre i Bassani: Giacomo il padre, e Francesco e Leandro, i fig- li.' From the Zavaritt archive, Bergamo. 18See the summary of the contents of Meyer's letter to Usedom, Italienreise 1872, nr. 7, 28/11/1872, Zentralarchiv, Staatliche Mu- seenzu Berlin - Preulischer Kulturbesitz, Akte I/GG 58: Meyer wollteMorelli treffen, derinder Regierungskommission ffir Kunstdenkmalersitzt. Er hatte Morelli geschrieben, daB er jetzt vier Wochen da sei, Morelli habe geantwortet er sei auch nur bis Ende des Monats da. ... Morelli hat abgesagt, weil seine Schwie- gertochter schwer erkrankt sei, und er auf sein Landhaus zurfick muD. Meyer ist das sehr unangenehm, er hitte gerne einige Din- ge besprochen. Jetzt schon nach Brescia zu gehen, wenig sinn- voll.' I am grateful to Tilmannvon Stockhausenfor giving me this reference. 19SeeDavid Alan Brown, 'Giovanni Morelli and Bernard Be- renson', Giovanni Morelli e la cultura dei conoscitori, II (1993), pp. 389-97, who however locates the initiation ceremony in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli rather than in Morelli's own collection. This content downloaded from 130.49.198.5 on Wed, 17 Sep 2014 10:54:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions112JAYNIEANDERSON wereto write about it years later, with great dissat- isfaction, still feeling humiliated by what had hap- pened.20Something similar must have happened to Bodesinceheoftenmadecritical remarksabout Morelli's collection, as though still irritated by it. The collection, or 'little museum', was housed initially in Morelli's cousin's apartment in Via Bigli just around thecorner from the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, and later at Via Pontaccio 14, close to the Brera. Here Morelli andhis pupils likeGustavoFrizzoni (who knew Bode) instructed foreign art historians and Italians alike in lessonsof connoisseurship before a collec- tion that was not full of masterpieces, but of problem pictures. In his letter to his cousin Morelli mentions several paintings whichhehad recently bought at the Roman pawn shop, the Monte di Pieta, Rome. One wasthe jewel of the collection, Botticelli's cassone panel, the History ofVirginia Romana, that was being put in order by Luigi Cavenaghi, the artist/restorer whowasdirector of theBrera Museum. TheCain and Abel, whichMorelli had bought asanErcole Grandi isnowattributed toMariotto Albertinelli, and is also in Bergamo. Cavenaghi wasfamous for his restorations, and for his ability to skilfully repaint what was missing. Here his presence was most im- portant in improving the appearance of the paintings and there is something both hilarious and alarming about his cosmetic ability. Bode's correspondence revealsthat he wason friendly terms with Morelli's pupil Gustavo Frizzoni as least as early as 1869, and that the Italian gave the young German advice and lessons in Morellian con- noisseurship. On 23 April 1871 Frizzoni explained to Bode that a Pieta, rather optimistically attributed to Giorgione, then and now in the Monte di Pieth, Tre- viso, was not an advisable acquisition.2' It had been on the international art market for most of the nine- teenth century and only Bode had been tempted to buy it for a national museum.22 With considerable subtlety Frizzoni put the argument that Bode should not acquire it for Berlin Later letters reveal that Friz- zoni and Bode wereon such friendly terms that on 10 June 1871 Frizzoni invited Bode to Bergamo in the summer.On30June 1872, Frizzoniwrotecon- cerning a Leonardo painting in Milan, with a certain amount of diplomacy,clearly believing that it was not byLeonardo, andan ineligibleacquisition.23 One reading of these documents would be that the young Frizzoni was advising Bode, but in point of fact he seemsto have beennot only helping him, but also keeping an eye onhimforMorelli.One way of keeping Bode's confidence was to prevent him from making a fool of himself with inadvisable acquisit- ions. Their friendship seemsto have cooled follow- ing Berlin's failure to acquire Giorgione's Tempesta. After all Bode wasa constantly improving connois- seur, who could eventually dispense with advisors, even friends, but not dealers. After they failed to meetin 1872 pictures from Morelli'scollection continued to preoccupy Bode. To takeone example. Morelli's versionof Botticelli's portrait of Giuliano dei Medici, now in the Academ- ia Carrara, appeared to bethe original until Bode bought aversionfor Berlin.Continual squabbles over which version was a copy followed, until 1942 whenthe archetype surfaced, nowin theNational 20 Memorie autobiografiche, first published Milan 1927, edn. Turin (1991) pp. 38-40. 21This delightful letter written with subtle deferenceand wit deserves quotation : 'A proposito di Treviso, dov'ella rimase tan- to incantato del quadro attribuitoa Giorgione nel Monte di Pieta, benche nel mio sentimento vala ben poco in faccia ad un giudi- zio del defunto Miindler, io dovrei pure in massima (se mi per- mette la liberti), esortarla a tenere possibilmente indipendente il di lei giudizio da quello della autorita in genere. Chi sa che se ella rivedesse la Pieta del Monte di Treviso dopo avere preso no- tizia del Giorgione a Castelranco la di leiammirazione non ri- manesse sensibilmente dimminuita. Ad una sola cosa intanto io mi permetto renderla attenta; ed e che non si deve mai scordar- si essere il Giorgione morto giovane nel 1510, e per quanto stra- rodinarioe grande artista, non potersi facilmente ammettere che egli avesseandata la sua arte a quel grado di assoluta (pel mio gusto troppo) maturithche si riconosce nel quadro di Treviso, il quale s'io non m'inganno non trova il suo posto se non verso la meta'del secolo decimosesto. Ben altro ci apparisce il Giorgione a Castelfranco a Vienna nel suo solo quadro degl'indagatori del- le stelle e massime (com'ella vedrai) nelle sue due preziosse pit- ture a Frienze,galleria Uffizi.Sono persuaso che allorche Ella avra studiato i veneti del Cinquecento, tornando in Germania vedria quanto abusa si efatto anche ladelnomedi Giorgione. Nell'- Adamoed Eva (assai guastato) di Braunschweig si deve riconos- ceresenza alcun dubbio il mio compatriota Palma il Vecchio! I suoi tipi sensibilmente grassi e grossi sono riconoscibili abba- stanza facilmente. Non e il solo caso questo di Braunschweig nel quale il Palma era stato scambiato con Giorgione (in Germania). Se Ella rivede Treviso,le raccomanda caldamente di fare una gita a cinque miglia (piccole) italiane nel comune di Quinto, dove nella chiesa parrocchiale di S. Cristina ella vedra un opera giovanile di Lorenzo Lotto all'altar maggiore, interessantissima perch6 ci mostra la derivazioneimmediatadel pittoredal maestro Giovanni Bellini. Quest'ultimopittore, come Ella giA sapra deve essere stu- diato particolarmente con attenzione nel suo quadro nella sag- restia dei Frari, Venezia.' Bode Nachlaf, Zentralarchiv,Berlin. 22See mymonograph Giorgione. Peintre dela brievetMpoe- tique