National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: The Small Cowper Madonna
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

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Provenance

Anonymous collection or dealer, Florence, sold c. 1780 to George Nassau Clavering-Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper [1738-1789], Florence; by inheritance to George Augustus Clavering-Cowper, 4th Earl Cowper [d. 1799]; by inheritance to Peter Leopold Louis Francis Nassau Clavering-Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper [d. 1837], Panshanger, Hertford, England; by inheritance to George Augustus Frederick Cowper, 6th Earl Cowper [d. 1856], Panshanger; by inheritance to Francis Thomas De Grey Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper and 7th Baron Lucas [d. 1905], Panshanger and Wrest Park, Bedford, England; by inheritance to his widow, Katrine Cecilia Compton Cowper, Countess Cowper [d. 1913], Panshanger; by inheritance to Lady Ethel Desborough, granddaughter of the 6th Earl, Panshanger; sold 1913 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold 1914 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1816
Possibly Pictures of the Italian and Spanish Schools, British Institution, London, 1816, no. 32, as The Virgin and Infant Savior.
1841
Possibly British Institution, London, 1841, no. 28, as Virgin and Child.
1857
Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Paintings by Ancient Masters, Art Treasures Palace, Manchester, 1857, no. 136.
1881
Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1881, no. 148.
1909
A Collection of Pictures of the Umbrian School and Other Works of Art, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1909, no. 37A.
1909
National Loan Exhibition in Aid of National Gallery Funds, Grafton Galleries, London, 1909-1910, no. 70, repro.
1924
Loan Exhibition of Important Early Italian Paintings in the Possession of Notable American Collectors, Duveen Brothers, New York, 1924, no. 6 (no. 21 in illustrated 1926 version of catalogue).
1983
Raphael and America, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983, no. 63, repro.
2009
Raffaelo e Urbino. La formazione giovanile e i rapporti con la città natale, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, 2009, no. 42, repro.
2010
Loan to display with permanent collection, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, 2010-2011.

Bibliography

1916
Berenson, Bernard, and William Roberts. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early Italian and Spanish Schools. Philadelphia, 1916: unpaginated, repro.
1923
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.
1930
Valentiner, W. R. Unknown Masterpieces in Public and Private Collections. New York, 1930: not paginated, no. 19, repro.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 148, repro.
1935
Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 78, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939: 78, repro.).
1937
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 82.
1941
Duveen 1941, fig. 134.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 6.
1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 44, color repro.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 16, repro.
1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 56-58, repro.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 34
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 132, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 107
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:126, color repro.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 95, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 282, repro.
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 28, pl. 8.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:396-397, II:pl. 281
1982
Oberhuber, Konrad. Raffaello. Milan, 1982:38-42, no. 42, repro.
1982
Pedretti, Carlo. Raffaello. Bologna, 1982: 29.
1983
Brown, David Alan. "Raphael's 'Small Cowper Madonna' and the 'Madonna of the Meadow:' Their Technique and Leonard Sources." Artibus et Historiae 8 (1983):9-26, repro.
1983
Cuzin, Jean-Pierre. Raphaël: vie et oeuvre. Fribourg, 1983:74, repro.
1983
Jones, Roger and Nicholas Penny. Raphael. New Haven and London, 1983: 207-208, repro.
1983
Knab, Eckhart, Erwin Mitsch and Konrad Oberhuber. Raphael: Die Zeichnungen. Stuttgart, 1983: 91-92.
1983
Mulazzani, Germano. Raffaello. Milan, 1983:38+, repro.
1984
Dalli Regoli, Gigetta. La preveggenza della vergine. Pisa, 1984: 19
1984
Raffaello a Firenze. Exh. cat. Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 1984:43.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 174, no. 197, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 326, repro.
1986
Christensen, Carol. "Examination and Treatment of Paintings by Raphael at the National Gallery of Art." Studies in the History of Art 17 (1986):47-48, 50-52, repro.
1986
Gombrich, E. H. New Light on Old Masters. Studies in the Art of the Renaissance 4. Oxford, 1986: 117-118, repro.
1986
Merrill, Ross M. "Examination and Treatment of the Small Cowper Madonna by Raphael at the National Gallery of Art." Studies in the History of Art 17 (1986):139-147, repro.
1987
Ettlinger, Leopold D and Helen S. Raphael. Oxford, 1987:48-51, repro.
1987
Walker, Richard W. "American's Imperial Collector's." Art News 86 (November 1987):157.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 195.
1992
Brown, David Alan. "Raphael, Leonardo, and Perugino" in Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael in Renaissance Florence from 1500-1508. Washington, 1992:37-38, 47-48, 51, n.22, repro.
1992
Penny, Nicholas. "Raphael's 'Madonna dei garofani' rediscovered." The Burlington Magazine 134 (February 1992): 73-74, repro.
1994
Beck, James H. Raphael. New Yokl, 1994: 22.
1995
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York, 1995: 686, fig. 18-5, repro. (Rev. ed. 1999: 694, fig. 18-14, repro.)
1996
Meyer zur Capellen, Jürg. Raphael in Florence. London, 1996: 154, no.93-96, repro.
2000
Kirsh, Andrea, and Levenson, Rustin S. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. New Haven, 2000: 9-10, fig. 4, 160-161, fig. 162, 191-192, fig. 202-203.
2001
Meyer zur Capellen, Jürg. Raphael: A Critical Catalogue of His Paintings. Landshut, 2001:no. 23, repro.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 82, no. 57, color repro.
2006
Hartt, Frederick and David G. Wilkins. History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, 2006: 482, color fig. 16.45.
2011
Pergam, Elizabeth A. The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857: Entrepeneurs, Connoisseurs and the Public. Farnham and Burlington, 2011: figs. 4.6 and 4.9, 155, 215-216, 226, 233 n. 109, 312.

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