Current knowledge
Royal Collection 402873
Polidoro da Caravaggio
Cupids with Swans
Current measurements:
30.2cm x 141.9cm
Date:
c.1527-8
Part of a series of long, narrow panels by the Lombard artist Polidoro da Caravaggio, Raphael’s most unconventional pupil. Charles I bought it as one of 23 Italian pictures from the dealer William Frizell in 1637.
Despite being hung in a subordinate, decorative fashion beneath other pictures, there is evidence that in the 1630s Charles was hungry to acquire examples of Polidoro’s work, having heard rumour of the artist’s brilliance. The series remains in the Royal Collection today, almost intact.
Van der Doort 1639
Polidoro
6 Figures playing with Swans, the sixth and last of the long, narrow frescoes
Sale Inventory c.1649-51
Walpole Society reference (1972):