Lost artworks due to fire

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Lost artworks due to fire related damage are original pieces of art that credible sources indicate once existed but that cannot be accounted for in museums or private collections due to deliberate or accidental destruction.

## Chronology of notable loss events[edit]

* Lauseion fire, 475
* Bonfires of the vanities, 1492–1497
* Bonfire of the vanities, Florence, 1492
* Bonfire of the vanities, Florence, 7 February 1497
* Doge's Palace fire, 1576
* Brussels Town Hall fire, 13–15 August 1695
* Palace of Whitehall fire, 4 January 1698
* André-Charles Boulle workshop fire, 30 August 1720
* Coudenberg Palace fire, 3 February 1731
* Royal Alcázar of Madrid fire, 24 December 1734
* Kroměříž Palace fire, March 1752
* Exton Old Park fire, 1810
* Belvoir Castle fire, 1816
* Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura fire, 1823
* Burning of Parliament, 16 October 1834
* Museum Boymans fire, 1864
* Hôtel de Ville fire, May 1871
* Tuileries Palace fire, 23 May 1871
* Holker Hall fire, 1871[1]
* Great Boston Fire of 1872
* Bath House fire, 31 January 1873
* Pantechnicon warehouse fire, London, 13–14 February 1874
* Glaspalast fire, 6 June 1931
* Arshile Gorky studio fire, 1946
* Musée de Beaux Arts de Strasbourg fire, 13 August 1947
* Coleshill House fire, 1952
* Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) fire, 15 August 1958
* Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro fire, 8 July 1978[2]
* Windsor Castle fire, 20 November 1992
* Momart fire, 24 May 2004
* Hélio Oiticica fire, 16 October 2009
* Clandon House fire, 29 April 2015
* National Museum of Brazil fire, 2 September 2018

## List of notable lost artworks[edit]

### Pre-16th century[edit]

Creation date(s)[a] | Known as  | Creator  | Commission/provenance note  | Year lost[a] | Loss event  | Surviving copies and documentation

|
|
|
|
|
|

-00435 BCE  | Statue of Zeus at Olympia | Phidias | —  | 425-472 | Lauseion fire[b] | No
1277–1285  | The facade mosaics and the fresco cycles, with stories from the New and Old Testament | Cavallini, Pietro | In the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome[3] | 1823  | Unknown  | No
1338–1370  | Paradise | Guariento | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  | No
1405–1427 | Various works  | Gentile da Fabriano | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  | No
1415–1455  | Various works  | Pisanello | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  | No
1425–1469 | Confirmation of the Rules of the Carmelites fresco  | Lippi, Filippo | In the cloister of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence  | 1771  | Unknown[4] | A fragment uncovered in 1860 survives in place
1457–1460  | Lamentation of the People over the Dead Gattamelata | Andrea Mantegna | A fresco in the Palazzo Gattamelata, Padua  | 1760  | Unknown  | A related drawing is in The Wallace Collection, London
1470–1492 | Several original paintings on "pagan" subjects  | Botticelli | —  | 1497  | Bonfire of the Vanities | —
1470–1515 | Saint Catherine of Siena Altarpiece (Sacra Conversazione) | Giovanni Bellini | In the Chapel of the Rosary of the Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice | 1867  | Unknown  | No
1476–1500  | Otho Promising to Mediate Between Venice and Barbarossa | Alvise Vivarini | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  | No
1487–1490  | Frescoes on mythological themes, including the Forge of Vulcan | Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi and Perugino | For Lorenzo de' Medici in the great hall and external loggia of his villa at Spedaletto, near Volterra | c.1825  | Unknown[c] | No
1494 | The Supper at Emmaus | Giovanni Bellini | Painted for Giorgio Cornaro of Venice  | c.1750  | Fire in Vienna in the 18th century  | No

### 16th century[edit]

Creation date(s)[a] | Known as  | Creator  | Commission/provenance note  | Year lost[a] | Loss event  | Surviving copies and documentation

|
|
|
|
|
|

1501–1507  | Battle of Salvore | Gentile Bellini | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
1501–1507  | Presentation of the White Candle to the Pope | Gentile Bellini | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
1527  | Sir Thomas More and Family | Holbein | —  | 1752  | Kremsier Castle fire[6] |
1529  | Portrait of an Architect (Self-Portrait?) | Wolf Huber | —  | 1947  | Musée de Beaux Arts fire (August 13, 1947)  |
1536–1537  | Whitehall Mural | Hans Holbein the Younger | —  | 1698  | Unknown  | Preparation doodles, and a half-length portrait survive.
| Battle of Spoleto | Titian | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire |
| Battle of Cadore | Titian | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
| Doge Gritti Praying to the Virgin | Titian | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
| Coronation of Frederick Barbarossa | Tintoretto | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
| Excommunication of Barbarossa | Tintoretto | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
| Last Judgment | Tintoretto | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
| Homage of Frederick Barbarossa | Paolo Veronese | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
| Pope Alexander III in the Church of St. Marks | Carpaccio | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
| Meeting of the Pope and the Doge at Ancona | Carpaccio | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
|  Presentation of the Eight Standards and Trumpets to the Doge | Giovanni Bellini | —  | 1577  | Doge's Palace fire  |
| A marble Cupid | Michelangelo | Later owned by Isabella d'Este and Charles I of England | 1698  | Fire at Whitehall Palace, London  |
| Ascension of Mary altarpiece (The 'Heller altar') | Dürer | The central panel added to the collection of Elector Maximilian of Bavaria  | 1729  | Unknown  | A 1615 copy of the entire altarpiece by Jobst Harrich of Nuremberg survives
| Double Portrait of Emperor Charles V and his wife Isabella of Portugal | Titian | —  | 1734  | Royal Alcázar of Madrid fire | A copy by Rubens survives
| Ixion and Tantalus | Titian | —  | 1734  | Royal Alcázar of Madrid fire  |
| Paintings of The Twelve Caesars | Titian | —  | 1734  | Royal Alcázar of Madrid fire  |
| Death of St Peter Martyr for the Chapel of the Rosary, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice | Titian | —  | 1867  | Unknown  | Copies and engravings survive
| Penitent Magdalene | Titian | Painted for Philip II of Spain | 1873  | London bath house fire  |

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ a b c d This may be an estimate
2. ^ Possible event
3. ^ Damaged by damp and finally destroyed by fire in the early 19th century[5]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Stockdale, James (1872). Annales Caermoelenses or Annals of Cartmel. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Company. pp. 425–429. Retrieved 6 June 2014. "Annales Caermoelensis."
2. ^ "Replacement of Art in Rio is Uncertain". Reading Eagle. AP. 14 Dec 1978. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
3. ^ Louis Viardot, An Illustrated History of Painters of All Schools (1877), p. 42. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
4. ^ Louis Viardot,An Illustrated History of Painters of All Schools (1877), p.52. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
5. ^ Julia Mary Cartwright Ady,The Life and Art of Sandro Botticelli (London, Duckworth, 1904), pp. 117-20. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
6. ^ John Guy, A Daughter's Love: Thomas More and his Dearest Meg (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2009), p.172. Retrieved 18 August 2016.

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