National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: The Annunciation
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

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Provenance

Prince Ferdinando Lorenzo Strozzi [1821-1878], Florence, by 1857/1858.[1] Louis-Charles Timbal [1821-1880], Paris;[2] sold 1872 with his collection to Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his heirs; sold 1930 with th entire Dreyfus collection to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York);[3] sold May 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] The painting was seen there by Cavalcaselle probably during his stay in Florence in 1857-1858 (see Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy, from the II to the XVI Century, 3 vols., London, 1864-1866: 1(1864):348; and Donata Levi, Cavalcaselle. Il pioniere della conservazione dell'arte italiana, Turin, 1988: 122-132). Otto Mündler saw the painting at the Palazzo Strozzi in April 1958; see The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler 1855-1858, ed. Carol Togneri Dowd, Walpole Society 51 (1985): 220, 291. Facing economic difficulties in the late 1870s, the family sold the most valuable pieces in the gallery after the death of Prince Ferdinando Lorenzo (see Beatric Paolozzi Strozzi, "Ferdinando Strozzi. Appunti di storia ottocentesca," in Palazzo Strozzi, metà millennio: 1489-1989, Atti del convegno di studi, Firenze, 3-6 luglio 1989, Rome, 1991: 59, and Wilhelm von Bode, Mein Leben, ed. Thomas W. Gaehtgens and Barbara Paul, 2 vols., Berlin, 1997 [original ed. 1930]: 1:131); NGA 1939.1.218, however, must have been sold during his lifetime. Unfortunately, as Dr. Cristina Gelli informed Miklòs Boskovits, the inventory of the Strozzi collection compiled in 1815 by the notary Domenico Del Podestà and deposited at the Archivio di Stato in Florence is now lost.

[2] The painter and collector Timbal must have acquired the painting sometime before 1872 when, during the siege of Paris, he decided to sell his entire collection to Gustave Dreyfus; see Musées Nationaux. Catalogue de la Collection Timbal, Paris, 1882: 5, and Edward Fowles, Memories of Duveen Brothers, London, 1976: 187.

[3] See Fowles 1976: 187, and Dora Landau, "Notes from Abroad," International Studio 96 (August 1930): 65.

[4] The Duveen Brothers letter confirming the sale of thirteen paintings and one sculpture, including "an oil painting representing 'The Annunciation' by Francesco Pesellino...Attributed by Mr. Bernhard Berenson to 'The Carrand Master'," is dated 18 May 1936; the provenance is given as "Dreyfus Colln." (copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 474 Folder 5, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).

Exhibition History

1991
Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991-1992, not in cat.
1992
Piero e Urbino, Piero e le Corti rinascimentali, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, 1992, no. 61, repro.
1994
The Renaissance from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo: The Representation of Architecture, Palazzo Grassi, Venice; NGA, Washington, D.C.; Musée des Monuments Français, Paris; Altes Mus., Berlin, 1994-1996, no. 422 of cat. supplement (shown only in Paris).
2004
From Filippo Lippi to Piero della Francesca: Fra Carnavale and the Making of a Renaissance Master, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004-2005, no. 40, repro.
2005
Il Rinascimento a Urbino. Fra' Carnevale e gli artisti del Palazzo di Federico [The Renaissance in Urbino: Fra Carnevale and the artists of the Palazzo Federico], Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, 2005-2006, no. 29, repro.
2006
Loan to display with the permanent collection, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, 2006.
2006
L'Uomo del Rinascimento: Leon Battista Alberti e le arti a Firenze tra ragione e bellezza, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, March-July 2006, no. 159, repro.
2011
Arquitecturas pintadas: del Renacimiento al siglo XVIII, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2011-2012, no. 11, repro.

Bibliography

1908
Guiffrey, J. "La Collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus," Les Arts VIII (January 1908):393
1939
Offner, Richard. "The Barberini Panels and Their Painter." In Mediaeval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1939: 236-246.
1940
Richter, George Martin. "Rehabilitation of Fra Carnevale," ArtQ (Autumn 1940):317-318, repro.
1941
Duveen 1941, II:fig. 56-57.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 127-128.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 246, repro. 151.
1944
Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 34, repro., as by Master of the Barberini Panels.
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 37, repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 61, repro.
1961
Seymour 1961 (Kress), 32, color repro. pl. 27
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 84
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 74, repro.
1968
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 3, fig. 1.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 218, repro.
1979
Christiansen, Keith. "For Fra Carnevale," Apollo CIX, no. 205 (March 1979): 198+.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:309-311, II:pl. 222
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 108, no. 82, color repro., as by Master of the Barberini Panels.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 253, repro.
1985
Mündler, Otto. "The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler." Ed. Carol Togneri Dowd. Walpole Society 51 (1985): 220, 291.
1991
Gingold, Diane J. and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 196-197, color repro. (As by the Master of the Barberini Panels.)
1997
Shaw-Eagle, Joanna. "Christ's Birth Gave Birth to Astounding Images: Gallery Glitters with holy Masterpieces." Washington Times (December 21, 1997): D5.
1998
Gersch-Nešic, Beth. “Pregnancy." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:753.
2003
Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 182-186, color repro.

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