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Provenance

Cardinal Antonio Despuig y Dameto [d. 1813], Raxa, Palma de Mallorca; by descent to Counts of Montenegro, Raxa, Palma de Mallorca.[1] Leon de Somzée, Brussels, by 1899.[2] Gaston de Somzée, Brussels;[3] purchased May 1902 through (Charles Fairfax Murray) by (Agnew & Sons, London); sold January 1906 to (Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris).[4] (Eugene Fischhof, Paris and New York); sold April 1907 to Peter A. B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[5] inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

Technical Summary

The panel is composed of three boards with the grain running vertically. The painted section added to the top is 20.8 cm high and composed of four pieces of wood. Strips of bare wood 1.2 cm wide have been added to the right and bottom edges. There is no barbe present at the left and a thin layer of ground covers much of the unpainted edge. This suggests that, unlike the other two panels, the ground and paint were applied before the panel was set into the frame. There are extensive tiny losses along the joins and, following the pattern of the wood grain, in the saint's face and surrounding sky. Small, rounded losses are scattered throughout. There is a diagonal scratch approximately 40 cm long near the center of the right edge and a smaller curved scratch on the left below the saint's sleeve.

Examination with infrared photography and infrared reflectography reveals underdrawing in all three panels. Extensive underdrawing, in brush, is visible throughout the center panel. In the Virgin's arm there is what can be presumed to be a correction in a medium that has beaded and appears greasier than the other underdrawing. The underdrawing in the side panels is in a drier medium with thinner lines. The face of Saint Nicholas is underdrawn. In the right panel there are curving lines at the upper right and left and underdrawing in the face, robe, and feet of Saint Anthony.

The painting is currently under restoration.

Bibliography

1845
Bover, Joacquin María. Noticia Histórico-Artística de los Museos del Eminetísimo Señor Cardenal Despuig Existentes en Mallorca. Palma, 1845: 178, 194, 195, nos. 152, 207, 216.
1886
Justi, Karl. "Altflandrische Bilder in Spanien und Portugal." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 21 (1886): 137-138.
1899
"Bibliographie." La Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité 37 (1899): 342.
1900
C. H. "Correspondence d'Angleterre. L'Exposition des maîtres anciens à la New Gallery." La Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité 5 (1900): 43.
1900
Friedländer, Max J. "Die Leihausstellung der New Gallery in London, Januar-März 1900.: hauptsächlich niederländische Gemälde des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 23 (1900): 249-250.
1900
Lafenestre, Georges. "Les arts à l'Exposition Universelle de 1900. La peinture ancienne." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 3e pér. 24 (1900): 537-538.
1902
Hulin de Loo, Georges. Exposition de tableaux flamands des XIVe, XVe, et XVIe siècles. Catalogue critique. Exh. cat. Hôtel du Gouvernement Provincial, Bruges. Ghent, 1902: 32-33.
1903
Dülberg, Franz. "Die Ausstellung altniederländischer Malerei in Brügge." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst 14 (1903): 141.
1903
Friedländer, Max J. "Die Brügger Leihausstellung von 1902." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 26 (1903): 87.
1903
Weale, W. H. James. "The Early Painters of the Netherlands as Illustrated by the Bruges Exhibition of 1902." The Burlington Magazine 2 (1903): 39.
1905
Bodenhausen, Eberhard Freiherr von. Gerard David und seine Schule. Munich (1991): 168-172, repro. opp. 168.
1906
Friedländer, Max J. "Die Leihausstellung in der Guildhall zu London, Sommer 1906, hauptsächlich niederländische Bilder des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 29 (1906): 579.
1906
Sedelmeyer Gallery. Illustrated Catalogue of the Tenth series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters. Paris, 1906: 9, repro. opp. 16.
1907
Winkler, Friedrich. "David Gerard." In Thieme-Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 8(1913):453.
1908
"P.A.B. Widener Collection, February 1st, 1908." Typescript, 2 vols., Library, National Gallery of Art, 1908: 155.
1911
Bodenhausen, Eberhard von, and Wilhelm Valentiner. "Zum Werk Gerard Davids." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst 22 (1911): 184, 189.
1913
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis, and Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early German, Dutch & Flemish Schools. Philadelphia, 1913: unpaginated, repro.
1914
Hundred Masterpieces of the Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris, 1914: 8, no.2, repro., as by Gerard David.
1916
Friedländer, Max J. Von Eyck bis Bruegel. Berlin, 1916, 43, 181.
1921
Conway, Martin. The Van Eycks and Their Followers. London, 1916: 286-287.
1924
Friedländer, Max. Die altniederländische Malerei. 14 vols. Berlin and Leiden, 1924-1937. Berlin, 1934: 6:97-98, 146, no. 167, pl. 76. (English transl. 14 vols. Leiden, 1967-1976. Leiden, 1971: 6, pt. 2:90-91, 101, no. 167, 132, pl. 181-183.)
1929
Erdmann, Kurt. "Orientalische Tierteppiche auf Bildern des XIV. und XV. Jahrhunderts. Eine Studie zu den Anfängen des Orientalischen Knüpfteppichs." Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen (Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen) 50 (1929): 296.
1931
Kleinschmidt, Beda. Antonius von Padua in Leben und Kunst, Kult und Volkstum. Düsseldorf, 1931: 197, fig. 162.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 38, repro.
1932
Laurent, Marcel. "Les Miracles de Saint Antoine de Padoue." Oud Holland 49 (1932): 79, 87-88, fig. 9.
1935
Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 25.
1938
Waldmann, E. "Die Sammlung Widener." Pantheon 22 (November 1938): 338, repro. 336.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 5.
1946
Boon, Karel G. Gerard David. Amsterdam, 1946: 46-47, repro.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 68-69, repro. 69.
1957
Marlier, Georges. Ambrosius Benson et la peinture à Bruges au temps de Charles-Quint. Damme, 1957: 46-50.
1960
"Neuerwerbungen in den USA." Die Weltkunst 30 (15 January, 1960): 8.
1961
Birkmeyer, Karl M. "The Arch Motif in Netherlandish Painting of the Fifteenth Century: A Study in Changing Religious Imagery." The Art Bulletin 43, no. 2 (June 1961): 111-112, fig. 26.
1964
Gaya Nuño, Juan Antonio. Pintura Europea Perdida por España, de van Eyck a Tiépolo. Madrid, 1964: nos. 43-45, pl. 25.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 38.
1968
Cuttler, Charles D. Northern Painting, from Pucelle to Bruegel: Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries. New York, 1968: 196.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 31, repro.
1969
Osten, Gert von der, and Horst Vey. Painting and Sculpture in Germany and The Netherlands 1500 to 1600. Harmondsworth and Baltimore, 1969: 142.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 94, repro.
1976
Farmer, John David. "Gerard David's Lamentation and an Anonymous St. Jerome." Museum Studies (The Art Institute of Chicago 8 (1976): 39-57, repro. 47-48.
1980
Mundy, Edwin James. "Gerard David Studies." Ph.D. diss., Princeton University (1980): 28-29.
1982
Hand, John Oliver. "Saint Anne with the Virgin and the Christ Child by the Master of Frankfurt." Studies in the History of Art 12 (1982): 49 and 52, repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 135, no. 127, color repro., as by Gerard David.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 116, repro.
1986
Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington,1986: 69-74, repro. 68.
1991
"Gerard David's Saint Anne Altarpiece" Circle Bulletin no. 8 (Fall 1991).
1992
The Saint Anne Altarpiece. Exh. brochure, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1992.
1996
Vos, Dirk de. "David, Gerhard." In The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane Turner. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 8:553.
2008
Wolf, Martha, ed. Northern European and Spanish Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Collection. New Haven, 2008: 201, 201, 203, fig. 3.

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