National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Morse with the Trinity
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

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Provenance

Said to have belonged to Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI (reigned 1492-1503).[1] Francisco Doctor, Madrid, 1884 (Trinity/Angels);[2] John Edward Taylor, London, before 1897 (enamels in morse setting, as per sticker);[3] (his estate sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 1-4 and 9-10 July 1912, 3rd day, no. 234, as Milanese, c. 1500, attributed to Caradosso); (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased 6 March 1913 by 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, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] This improbable provenance is first mentioned in Catalogue of a Collection of European Enamels from the Earliest Date to the End of the XVII Century, Exh. cat., Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1897: 74, no. 242b.

[2] Timothy Wilson, keeper of Western art at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, wrote to the author [Alison Luchs], 4 July 1990, with documentation newly discovered in the Ashmolean Library (Fortnum papers, box marked South Kensington; copies in NGA curatorial files). The central enamels--the Trinity and ring of angels--of the morse now in Washington were offered for sale by Francisco Doctor of Madrid, in a letter, 6 May 1884, addressed to "Monsieur le Directeur du Musée de Peinture et Beaux-Arts à Londre." The photograph accompanying his letter (fig. 6 in the NGA systematic catalogue entry) showed these enamels resting on a fabric background, without any setting. Doctor's letter and photograph were forwarded to Charles Drury Edward Fortnum, the great collector, connoisseur, and author of catalogues for the South Kensington Museum, who at that time acted as a periodic adviser to the Museum. In a letter to the South Kensington Museum from Madrid, 9 June 1884, Fortnum reported that he had examined the object and that "It is...undoubtedly a work of great excellence; a remarkable example of the Spanish (?) enameller's art of the latter end of the 15 or early XVI century, in [illegible] gold; and in good preservation with the exception of some slight wounds on the arms of the figure of our Saviour and others of minor importance. The work is in very high relief, the flesh coloured to resemble nature as far as possible, the hair and beard of the Eternal Father in gold as is the cross. The mantle is of rich maroon-red translucent enamel, the lining of opaque white. Angels white with mottled wings. It has probably been the central ornament of a pectoral and is the work of an accomplished artist." Fortnum found it a desirable acquisition for the South Kensington Museum, but overpriced at "something above 20,000 francs (£800), and suggested the owner might be persuaded to offer it at a more reasonable price after some time had passed. Thereafter the enamels were evidently sold, provided with their present setting, and acquired for the Taylor Collection before 1897. On Fortnum see Christopher Lloyd, "Two Large Plaquettes from the Collection of C.D.E. Fortnum," Italian Plaquettes (Studies in the History of Art 22; Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts Symposium Papers IX), ed. Alison Luchs, Washington, 1989: 207-224.

[3] The morse is listed in the 1897 exhibition catalogue (see note 1) as "Lent by Mr. J.E. Taylor."

Exhibition History

1897
Catalogue of a Collection of European Enamels from the Earliest Date to the End of the XVII Century, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1897, no. 242b, pl. LXIII, as probably German, sixteenth century.
2010
The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2008-2009); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, not in cat. (shown only in New York).
2011
Oro dai Visconti agli Sforza. Smalti e oreficeria nel Ducato di Milano, Museo Diocesano, Milan, 2011-2012, no. 4, repro.

Bibliography

1897
Catalogue of a Collection of European Enamels from the Earliest Date to the End of the XVII Century. Exh. cat. Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1897: no. 242b, pl. LXIII.
1923
Swarzenski, Georg. "Insinuationes Divinae Pietatis." Festschrift für Adolf Goldschmidt zum 60. Geburtstag am 15. Januar 1923. Leipzig, 1923: 65-74, especially 69-71.
1935
Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 32, as North Italian (Milanese).
1935
Kohlaussen, Heinrich. "Gotisches Kunstgewerbe." In Helmut Theodor Bossert, ed. Geschichte des Kunstgewerbes aller Zeiten und Volker. 6 vols. Berlin, 1928-1935, 5 (1932):388, pl. XXI.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 10, as North Italian (Milanese) 16th Century, Morse of wrought gold and enamel.
1947
Krautheimer, Richard. "Ghiberti and Master Gusmin." The Art Bulletin 29, no. 1 (January 1947): 33-34, figs. 4, 5.
1949
Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 12, 172-173, note 9, repro. 40-42.
1951
Panofsky, Erwin. "A Parisian Goldsmith's Model of the Early Fifteenth Century." In Otto Goetz, ed. Beiträge für Georg Swarzenski. Chicago and Berlin, 1951: 70-84, especially 80.
1952
Christensen, Erwin O. Objects of Medieval Art from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1952: 25, 28, 31, repro. 29.
1954
Müller, Theodor, and Erich Steingräber. "Die französische Goldemailplastik um 1400." Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 3d ser., 5 (1954): 29-79, especially 36, 38, 67-68, no. 5; figs. 9, 62.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 8
1957
Steingräber, Erich. Antique Jewelry. New York, 1957: 59-61, fig. 88.
1966
Braun-Reichenbacher, Margot. Das Ast- und Laubwerk: Entwicklung, Markmale und Bedeutung einer Spätgotischen Ornamentform. Nuremberg, 1966: 5, repro. 1.
1966
Müller, Theodor. Sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain 1400-1500. Baltimore 1966: 21.
1967
Richard, R. L. "Trinity, Holy." In New Catholic Encyclopedia. 16 vols. New York, 1967: 14:302, fig. 2.
1969
Kohlhaussen, Heinrich. Europäische Kunsthandwerk des Mittelalters. 3 vols. Frankfurt am Main, 1969-1972: 2:xxvi, no. 11.
1975
Verdier, Philippe. "La Trinité debout de Champmol." In Etudes d'art français offertes à Charles Sterling. Albert Châtelet and Nicole Reynaud, eds. Paris, 1975: 65-90, especially 69, fig. 48.
1976
De Winter, Patrick M. "The Patronage of Philippe le Hardi, Duke of Burgundy (1364-1404)." Ph.D. diss., 5 vols., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1976, 1:179.
1984
Eikelmann, Renate. "Franko-Flämische Emailplastik des Spätmittelalters." Ph.D. diss., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 1984: 53-54, 380-384, no. 25, 609, 684-686, 814-815, repro. 167.
1986
Hackenbroch, Yvonne. "Reinhold Vasters, Goldsmith." Journal of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 19/20 (1986): 169-170; 80, fig. 8.
1993
Distelberger, Rudolf, Alison Luchs, Philippe Verdier, and Timonthy H. Wilson. Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 48-53, color repro. 49.

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