id: 145452 accession number: 1971.100 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1971.100 updated: 2024-03-26 01:59:27.592000 Cupid (Amor), c. 1630. Johann Liss (German, c. 1597–1631). Oil on canvas; framed: 108 x 86 x 6.5 cm (42 1/2 x 33 7/8 x 2 9/16 in.); unframed: 87.7 x 65.7 cm (34 1/2 x 25 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1971.100 title: Cupid (Amor) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1630 creation date earliest: 1625 creation date latest: 1635 current location: creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund copyright: --- culture: Germany, 17th century technique: oil on canvas department: European Painting and Sculpture collection: P - German before 1800 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Johann Liss (German, c. 1597–1631) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 108 x 86 x 6.5 cm (42 1/2 x 33 7/8 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 87.7 x 65.7 cm (34 1/2 x 25 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1971 opening date: 1971-12-28T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972). title: Caravaggio: Behold the Man opening date: 2011-10-21T00:00:00 Caravaggio: Behold the Man. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2011-February 14, 2012). title: Le Caravagisme Européen opening date: 2012-06-22T00:00:00 Le Caravagisme Européen. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France (organizer) (June 22-October 14, 2012). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Genoa, Palazzo Reale, 1947: "Mostra della pittura del Seicento e Settecento in Liguria," cat. no. 146, illus. (catalogue by Antonio Morassi).', 'opening_date': '1947-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Venice, Ca\'Pissaro, 1959: "La pittura del Seicento a Venezia," cat. no. 63, illus.', 'opening_date': '1959-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'CMA, January 1972: "Year in Review 1971," cat., Bull., LIX (January1972), p. 42, no. 54, repr. p. 13.', 'opening_date': '1972-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Augsburg, Sadtische kunstsammlungen, 1975: "johann Liss," cat. no. 29, pp. 23, 70, 101-103, 104, 106, 108, color frontispiece (catalogue by Rüdiger klessmann, Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, and Louise Richards). The Cleveland Museum of Art (1975/76).', 'opening_date': '1976-05-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Columbus Museum of Art, OH (10/21/2011 - 2/5/2012): "Caravaggio: Behold the Man"', 'opening_date': '2011-10-21T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France (6/22/2012 - 10/14/2012): "Le Caravagisme Européen", ex. cat. no. 101, p. 376-377.', 'opening_date': '2012-06-22T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio date: 1971- footnotes: citations: (Heim Gallery, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: Until 1971 footnotes: citations: Probably Enrica Basevi, Genoa1 date: Probably 1959-? footnotes: *
1 Alessandro’s daughter, Enrica Basevi, wrote to CMA curator Anne Tzeutschler Lurie in 1972 that after the death of her father, his collection of paintings had been dispersed.  It is unclear at this point whether the Liss was sold privately or at auction.  It does appear that Enrica had the painting in her possession at least briefly after her father’s death, as a certificate of authenticity for the painting was later found among her belongings.
citations: Alessandro Basevi [1877-1959], Genoa, probably by descent to his daughter, Enrica Basevi1 date: 1936-1959 footnotes: *
1In March 1944, Basevi’s collection of silver, gold, and other precious objects was seized by the SS (J.B. Ward Perkins, letter to Chief, MFAA Branch, October 13, 1945, Subject: Property of Alessandro Basevi, Genova.  Italian Miscellaneous Correspondence. Records Relating to Claims.  Record Group 260.  National Archives Identifier 1561450.  M1926, Roll 111, pages 388-418.  Fold3.com, http://www.fold3.com/image/274406062, retrieved May 21, 2014).  It seems that Basevi retained possession of the Liss painting throughout the war, as no paintings appear on the list of items confiscated, and his grandson, Andrea Basevi, made no mention of its having been confiscated. The painting was certainly with Basevi in 1947, when he is listed as the owner in an exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Genoa.  
citations: (Galleria Pesaro, Milan, probably sold through Mauro Pellicioli to Alessandro Basevi)1 date: 1936 footnotes: *
1 Andrea Basevi, Alessandro Basevi’s grandson, recalled that his grandfather purchased the Liss in November 1936 from the Galleria Pesaro in Milan through a “Dr. Pellicioli” – probably Mauro Pellicioli, a painter and restorer – who may have acted as an agent or otherwise facilitated the sale.  In January of 1937, the Galleria Pesaro held a sale of the Agosti and Mendoza collection.  The Liss painting does not appear in the sale catalogue, and thus Mauro Pellicioli, working with the Galleria Pesaro, probably sold it directly to Basevi.  Pellicioli is known to have arranged a private treaty sale of a painting he was restoring in his studio on at least one occasion (Giovanni Battista Moroni's Portrait of a Gentleman of Distinction is currently with the heirs of the private collector with whom Pellicioli arranged a sale), and it is possible the Liss was sold through a similar arrangement with Basevi.
citations: Agosti and Mendoza collection, probably consigned to the Galleria Pesaro1 date: Until 1936 footnotes: *
1Many of the works in the Agosti and Mendoza collection were formerly part of the Achillito Chiesa collection, which was sold in 1925-27 by the American Art Association in New York.  The Liss painting is not listed in that sale catalogue, although that does not preclude the possibility Chiesa owned it at some point.
citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Klessmann, Rüdiger. Johann Liss: A Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné. Doornspijk, the Netherlands: Davaco, 1999. page number: url: Morassi, Antonio. Mostra della pittura del seicento e settecento in Liguria. Milano: Alfieri, 1947. page number: url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. c page number: Reproduced: p. 134 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n154 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. page number: Mentioned: p. 174-176; Reproduced: p. 175 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.100/1971.100_full.tif