National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Madonna and Child on a Curved Throne
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

Inscription

null

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Said to have come from a church or convent in Calahorra (province of La Rioja, Spain). Gabriel Dereppes, Madrid;[1] purchased 11 September 1919 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[2] Carl W. Hamilton [1886-1967], New York, early 1920s;[3] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[4] sold 15 December 1936 to The Andrew W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[5] gift 1937 to NGA.

[1] The provenance from Calahorra, reported for the first time by Bernard Berenson (“Due dipinti del decimo secondo secolo venuti da Costantinopoli,” Dedalo 2 (1921): 284-304), and then repeated in the subsequent literature, has sometimes been doubted, but, according to NGA systematic catalogue author Miklòs Boskovits, not on any good grounds. (See also the provenance for NGA 1949.7.1.) Writing from Madrid, Dereppes brought the painting to the attention of Duveen Brothers in a letter of 25 May 1918; he commented that he believed it to be by Pietro Cavallini and compared it to the Kahn painting (NGA 1949.7.1) that he had seen in New York. He said the painting at that time was actually with the Goya critic Aureliano de Beruete y Moret; Duveen Brothers Records, reel 212, box 357, folder 7.

[2] Generally (cf. Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:96), first Carl Hamilton, and then Duveen Brothers, Inc., are cited as the owners of the painting, but this order needs to be reversed. It is well known that the majority of Hamilton’s paintings came from Duveen. According to Meryle Secrest (Duveen. A Life in Art, New York, 2004: 421, though she confuses the Kahn and Hamilton Madonnas, both with a provenance from Calahorra), Hamilton agreed to purchase NGA 1937.1.1 from Duveen Brothers (who had evidently offered the painting to him) in 1919. This is corroborated by the information on the provenance of the painting collected by Katherine Baetjer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, when the Duveen papers were held by that institution. She reports (in her letter to Jaroslav Folda of 16 September 1985; copy in the NGA curatorial files) that the Mellon Madonna “was purchased ... for the Paris branch of Duveen ... on 11 September 1919, as a work of Cavallino.” Duveen Brothers Records, reels 8–11, boxes 17–26 (New York Stock Books); reels 36 and 37, boxes 105–109 (Paris Stock Books); reel 422 (the X-book, 1910–1927).

[3] Berenson (1921) reported that the panel was in the Hamilton collection; evidently it was one of the paintings from Duveen Brothers with which “Hamilton was furnishing his [New York] city apartment....on credit” (see Edward Fowles, Memories of Duveen Brothers, London, 1976: 127-129). Indeed, Hamilton refers to the painting as in his possession when he writes to Joseph Duveen on 21 December 1921, enclosing Stephen Pichetto’s translation of Berenson 1921; Duveen Brothers Records, reel 161, box 306.

[4] In 1921 Hamilton declared he was unable to pay for the paintings furnished to him on credit by Duveen Brothers, Inc., and returned them, at least in large part (Fowles 1976: 127-129). The panel continued to be cited in the literature for many years as belonging to Hamilton, but it must have been returned to the dealer at least by 1923, when it re-appeared in Duveen’s New York stock books (see the letter of Katherine Baetjer cited in note 2). It was during these years that the painting must have been subjected to a new restoration, the result of which is illustrated by the reproduction in Emilio Cecchi, Trecentisti senesi, Rome, 1928: 12. In the English edition of his study (Studies in Medieval Painting, New Haven, 1930: 4-16), Berenson described the panel as having previously belonged to the Hamilton collection.

[5] The original bill of sale is in Records of The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Subject Files, Box 2, Gallery Archives, NGA; copy in NGA curatorial files. The provenance "from a convent in Calahorra, Spain" (see note 1) is given on the invoice.

Exhibition History

1997
The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era A.D. 843-1261, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, no. 262, repro.
2000
The Mother of God: Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine Art, Benaki Museum, Athens, 2000-2001, no. 68, repro.
2004
Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004, no. 286, repro.

Bibliography

1941
Duveen 1941, fig. 1, as The Madonna and Child Enthroned.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 31, as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 239, repro. 78, as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 14, color repro., as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 3, repro., as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1959
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Early Italian Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Three in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 12, color repro., as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 6, as Madonna and Child Enthroned.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963: 297, repro., as Madonna and Child Enthroned.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 21, as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1966
Cairns, Huntington and John Walker, ed. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:2-3, color repro.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 14, repro., as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 50, repro., as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:96-99, 2:pl. 65
1982
Belting, Hans. "The 'Byzantine' Madonnas: New Facts about Their Italian Origin and Some Observations on Duccio." Studies in the History of Art 12 (1982): 8ff, repro.
1982
Hoenigswald, Ann. "The 'Byzantine' Madonnas: Technical Investigation." Studies in the History of Art 12 (1982):25+, repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 67, no. 2, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 22, repro.
1987
Folda, Jaroslav. "The Kahn and Mellon Madonnas: Icons or Altarpieces?" in Research Reports and Record of Activities 7 (1987), National Gallery of Art, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts: 57+
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 157, color repro.
1995
Folda, Jaroslav. "The Kahn and Mellon Madonnas: Icon or Altarpiece?" in Byzantine East, Latin West. Art-Historical Studies in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann. Princeton, 1995:501+, repro.
1995
Gombrich, Ernst. The Story of Art. 16th ed. London, 1995: 139, color fig. 88.
1997
Gebhardt, Volker. Kunstgeschichte Malerei, 1997, no. 5, repro.
1998
Wheeler, Marion, ed. His Face--Images of Christ in Art: Selections from the King James Version of the Bible. New York, 1998: 126, no. 23, color repro.
2000
Kirsh, Andrea, and Levenson, Rustin S. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. New Haven, 2000: 179-181, fig. 187, 189.

Related Works

Related Resources

  • Event Type
    Event Name
    March 1–June 1
    Mon, Tues, and Wed at 1:00
    March 5, 2012 at 2:00
    March 7, 2012 at 4:00
    East Building, Auditorium
    Name of docent
    image:
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum
    60 minutes
    Registration for this event begins on April 1, 2012 at noon.
    Register for this event
    Download the program notes (100k)
  • Self-Guided Tour
    Italian Collection
    image:
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum