This depiction of a 16th century bullfight in Siena’s Piazza del Campo starred in Christie’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of the collection of the late Lord Weidenfeld.
The large 4ft 2in x 6ft 4in (1.26 x 1.92m) oil on canvas was one of more than 100 lots removed from Weidenfeld’s Chelsea Embankment apartment and sold on May 18 in King Street. The work by Sienese painter Vincenzo Rustici (1556-1632) is a slightly smaller variation of one of his best-known paintings, Caccia ai tori nel Campo di Siena, which resides in the Palazzo Salimbeni in Siena.
It was painted in c.1582 to mark the publication of Cecchino Cartaio’s contemporary account of the ‘festa’ in Piazza del Campo.