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Artist or Maker: Ferrari, Defendente (1490-1535)

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Description: Defendente Ferrari (Chivasso, near Turin; active in Piedmont, c. 1500-1535)
A lateral panel from an altarpiece: Saint Peter and Paul
oil on panel, unframed
59 3/8 x 26¼ in. (150.8 x 66.7 cm.), including an addition of 3 1/8 in. (7.8 cm.) to the upper and 2 5/8 in. (6.8 cm.) to the lower edge

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Provenance: The Princely House of Liechtenstein, at Schloss Seebenstein, Neunkirchen, Lower Austria, by 1933, until 1944, when moved to Schloss Vaduz, Liechtenstein, until the present.

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Published: B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Central Italian and North Italian Schools, London, 1968, I, p. 105.

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Notes: This lateral panel from an altarpiece is a characteristic mature work by Defendente Ferrari and reflects both his earlier training under the greatest Piedmontese painter of the late quattrocento, Giovanni Martino Spanzotti, and his knowledge of Northern painting as well as of the works by his Northern Italian contemporaries. With his namesake Gaudenzio Ferrari, Defendente was one of the most successful and productive masters of his generation, working for centres throughout Piedmont, and in particular at Vercelli. According to a note in the Liechtenstein archives, the correct attribution was first proposed by Wilhelm Suida.