National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew
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  • Exhibition History
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Provenance

NGA 1939.1.141 formed part of the front predella of Duccio's double-sided altarpiece the Maestà, which was in the course of execution by October 1308 and was placed on the high altar of the Cathedral of Siena on 30 June 1311;[1] the altarpiece was removed from the cathedral in 1506, stored, and then displayed on the wall of the left transept, close to the altar of Saint Sebastian, but probably by this time the predella and gable panels had already been separated from it;[2] the altarpiece was moved to the church of Sant'Ansano in 1777, where its two sides were separated and returned to the cathedral;[3] in 1798 the gables and eight panels of the predella were reported as being kept in the Sacristy of the cathedral, whereas the rest, including NGA 1939.1.141, must already have been in private hands;[4] Giuseppe and Marziale Dini, Colle Val d'Elsa (Siena), by 1879;[5] purchased 1886 by (Charles Fairfax Murray [1849-1919], London and Florence) for Robert Henry [1850-1929] and Evelyn Holford [1856-1943] Benson, London and Buckhurst Park, Sussex;[6] sold 1927 with the entire Benson collection to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[7] Clarence H. Mackay [1874-1938], Roslyn, New York, by 1929;[8] sold 1934 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[9] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] The documents are published in Jane Immler Satkowski, Duccio di Boninsegna. The Documents and Early Sources, ed. and with an introd. by Hayden B.J. Maginnis, Atlanta, 2000: 69-81, and in Allesandro Bagnoli, et al., Duccio Alle origini dellla piture senese, Milan, 2003.: 577-579.

[2] See Alessandro Lisini, “Notizie di Duccio pittore e della sua celebre ancona,” Bullettino senese di storia patria 5 (1898): 24-25. According to this author, in 1506 the altarpiece "venne confinata in certi mezzanini dell'Opera [del Duomo]...e per introdurvela fu necessario di togliere tutte le cuspidi e gli accessori" ("was stored in certain passages in the Opera del Duomo...and to enter there it was necessary to cut off all the pinnacles and accessories"). This latter term presumably comprises the predella. Lisini states that only "sulla fine del secolo" - i.e., at the end of the sixteenth century - was the painting brought back to the cathedral. In Giovanna Ragionieri's opinion (in Bagnoli et al. 2003, 212), however, the altarpiece had already been returned to the cathedral in 1536 and installed near the altar of Saint Sebastian.

[3] See Peleo Bacci, Francesco da Valdambrino emulo del Ghiberti e collaboratore di Jacopo della Quercia, Siena, 1936: 185-186. The author does not mention the gables and predella; these had probably been separated earlier from the rest of the altarpiece (see the previous note). After the separation of the two sides of the main panel, the front with the image of the Madonna and Child enthroned in Majesty surrounded by saints and angels was hung in its former place in the left transept and the narrative scenes of the back in the opposite transept.

[4] See Bacci 1936, 187. Vittorio Lusini, Il Duomo di Siena, 2 vols., Siena, 1911-1939: 1:77, specifies that, apart from the twelve scenes of the gable, eight panels of the predella were present in the sacristy at this time, i.e., one more than the predella panels now preserved in the Museo dell'Opera in Siena. The identity of this eighth scene is uncertain, but presumably it was different from those that reappeared in private hands in the second half of the nineteenth century.

[5] The painting was exhibited in Colle Val d’Elsa in 1879 as the property of Giuseppe and Marziale Dini, together with three other predella panels: The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew framed together with the Raising of Lazarus, now in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, and the Temptation on the Mountain (Frick Collection, New York) framed together with the Christ and the Woman of Samaria, now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

[6] Fern Rusk Shapley (Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:172 n. 2) quotes the following annotation written by Benson in his personal copy of the catalogue of his collection: “In 1886 I gave a commission to C. Fairfax Murray to spend £ 2000 for me in Italy. These 4 Duccios were part of the spoils.” This information was supplied by Benson’s grandson, Peter Wake, in a letter of 2 February 1976, to Anna Voris (in NGA curatorial files).

[7] See Tancred Borenius, “The Benson collection,” Apollo 6 (1927): 65-70, and Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 206, box 351, folders 2 and 3; reel 207, box 352, folders 1 and 2.

[8] The painting was already in the Mackay collection in Roslyn, New York, by 1929 (Royal Cortissoz, “The Clarence H. Mackay Collection,” International Studio 40 (December 1929): 120), whereas the Raising of Lazarus together with the Christ and the Woman of Samaria were bought by John D. Rockfeller, Jr. for his collection in New York, and the Temptation on the Mountain was acquired for the Frick Collection, also in New York. Not long after its acquisition, financial difficulties obliged Mackay gradually to sell off parts of his collection, and Duveen Brothers, Inc. assisted him in this effort (see Edward Fowles, Memories of Duveen Brothers, London, 1976:157, and the Duveen Brothers Records, reels 336–339). The NGA painting had been offered—unsuccessfully—to Samuel H. Kress in 1932 (see Colin Simpson, The Partnership. The Secret Association of Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen, London, 1987: 236).

[9] Shapley 1979, 1:172.

Exhibition History

1904
Exhibition of Pictures of the School of Siena, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1904, nos. 1 and 7.
1927
Loan Exhibition of the Benson Collection of Old Italian Masters, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1927, no. 108.
1935
Exposition de L'Art Italien de Cimabue à Tiepolo, Petit Palais, Paris, 1935, no. 150.

Bibliography

1914
Benson, Robert Henry. Catalogue of Italian Pictures at 16 South Street, Park Lane, London and Buckhurst in Sussex. London, privately printed, 1914: no. 4.
1935
Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 30, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939:30, repro. ).
1941
Duveen 1941, fig. 8-10.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 60, pl. IV.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 244, repro. 100.
1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 16, color repro.
1944
Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 19, repro.
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 8, repro.
1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 16, repro. 14.
1956
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 14, repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 14, repro.
1961
Seymour 1961 (Kress), 6-8, color repro.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 66, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 44
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:6, color repro.
1966
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 13-14, fig. 28.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 37, repro.
1974
Pesenti, Franco Renzo. "Dismembered works of art - Italian painting." In An Illustrated Inventory of Famous Dismembered Works of Art: European Painting. Paris, 1974: 20, 26-27, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 112, repro.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:172, II:pl. 120
1979
Sutton, Denys. "Robert Langton Douglas. Part I." Apollo 109 (April 1979): 295 [49], 296 [50] fig. 3.
1979
Watson, Ross. National Gallery of Art. London, 1979: 17, pl. 1, color repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 68, no. 9, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 137, repro.
1988
Sebag-Montefiore, Charles. "Three Lost Collections of London." National Art Collections Fund Magazine 38 (Christmas 1988): 54.
1996
Gordon, Dillian. “Duccio (di Buoninsegna).” In The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner. 36 vols. London, 1996: 9:345.
1998
Wheeler, Marion, ed. His Face: Images of Christ in Art, New York, 1998: 126, no. 45, color repro.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 10, no. 5, color repro.
2006
Hartt, Frederick and David G. Wilkins. History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, 2006: 106, color fig. 4.6, no. 12.
2011
Gordon, Dillian. The Italian Paintings Before 1400 National Gallery Catalogues. London, 2011: 175-176, under no. NG1330, color fig. 2.

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