National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Enthroned Madonna and Child
  • Overview
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

During the thirteenth century, the art of the Catholic West and Orthodox East intermingled, resulting in a Byzantine style in Italy. This icon or "holy image," probably painted by a Greek artist working in Italy, is a perfect example of this fusion. Known also as the "Kahn Madonna" from the name of the previous owner, the large panel represents a full-length figure of Mary enthroned as Queen of Heaven. She holds the infant Christ who, true to medieval convention, is a miniature adult. In the flanking medallions, archangels hold orbs and scepters, emphasizing Mary's imperial role. In this, the "Hodegetria" type of Madonna, she directs the viewer's attention to Christ, thus pointing the way to salvation.

There are distinct similarities in style and subject matter between this painting and the Byzantine icons painted in the East for the Greek Orthodox Church. The graceful movement of the figures, the gold striations on the drapery which simulate shimmering light, and the flowing, rhythmic lines identify the artist as a Greek painter. But an Italian influence is notable in the tooled decoration of the halos, the perspective of the wooden throne with its high back, the delicate gradations of light and shade, and the distinctly Tuscan scheme of the rectangular panel with a full-length depiction of the enthroned Virgin.

Inscription

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Marks and Labels

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Provenance

Said to have come from a church, or convent, in Calahorra (province of La Rioja, Spain);[1] (Herbert P. Weissburger, Madrid), in 1912; (Emile Pares, Madrid, Paris, and New York); (his sale, Anderson Galleries, New York, 18-19 February 1915, 2nd day, no. 306, as by Giovanni Cimabue);[2] sold 26 November 1915 to (F. Kleinberger & Co., New York).[3] Otto Kahn [1867-1934], New York, by 1917;[4] by inheritance to his widow, Addie Wolff Kahn [d. 1949], New York;[5] gift 1949 to NGA.

[1] Osvald Sirén (Giotto and some of his followers, 2 vols., Cambridge and London, 1917) first gives this provenance, and it is repeated in the subsequent literature. The same provenance is also claimed for the so-called Mellon Madonna, NGA 1937.1.1, ever since its first appearance. Hans Belting (“The ‘Byzantine’ Madonnas: New Facts about their Italian Origin and Some Observations on Duccio,” Studies in the History of Art 12 (1982): 7-22), on the basis of information derived, he claims, from some “notes of E.B. Garrison,” states that the Spanish provenance of the two paintings is fictitious; he considered it to be the dealer Weissburger’s invention. NGA systematic catalogue author Miklòs Boskovits does not see any firm basis for such an allegation. He asks why should such an apparently unlikely provenance be fabricated for a painting considered to be, as was the Kahn Madonna, the work of an Italian artist, Cimabue or Cavallini. Speculations like those put forward by August Mayer (“Correspondence,” Art in America 12 (1924): 234-235) and James Stubblebine (“Two Byzantine Madonnas form Calahorra Spain,” The Art Bulletin 48 (1966): 379-381), linking the arrival of NGA 1949.7.1 and its companion-piece (NGA 1937.1.1) to Spain with the story of Anna Constance, widow of the emperor John III Ducas Vatatzes (who lived in Valencia since 1269 and died there in 1313), are, for the time being, idle. There could be various other ways to explain the presence of the two paintings at Calahorra (see Otto Demus, “Zwei Konstantinopler Marienikonen des 13. Jahrhunderts,” Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinischen Gesellschaft 7 [1958]: 93-94); the provenance should, according to Boskovits, be considered valid until demonstrated otherwise.

[2] The purchaser at this sale is recorded as G.W. Arnold in an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the NGA Library, as well as in a report on the sale in American Art News (27 February 1915): 7. Arnold is also given as the purchaser of other lots. However, perhaps he was buying for Pares, and the painting was actually bought in.

[3] The Pares invoice for the sale to Kleinberger describes the painting as "Vierge sur pauneau garanté du 13th siecle. provenant de la Cathèdrale de Calahorra" (Kleinberger files in Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, reel 251, box 396, folder 5; copy in NGA curatorial files).

[4] Kahn owned the painting by the time of an exhibition at Kleinberger Galleries that was on view in November 1917.

[5] Although Duveen Brothers asked at least in 1941 what price Mrs. Kahn would accept for the painting, she specifically told them it was not for sale and that it was not to be shown to anyone; Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 328, box 473, folder 2.

Exhibition History

1917
Loan Exhibition of Italian Primitives, F. Kleinberger Galleries, New York, 1917, no. 69, repro., as The Madonna and Child by Pietro Cavallini.

Bibliography

1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 12-15, repro., as Enthroned Madonna and Child.
1956
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 7, repro.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): 3-4, pl. 2
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 64, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 21
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 14, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 50, repro.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:96-99, II:pl. 66
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: 64, no. 1, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 23, 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+
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 10, 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.
1997
Cracraft, James. The Petrine Revolution in Russian Imagery, Chicago and London, 1997: no. 1, repro.
1997
Dini, Giulietta Chelazzi, and Alessandro Angelini, Bernardina Sani. Sienese Painting From Duccio to the Birth of the Baroque. New York: 1997, 26, 177 n. 16.
2000
Kirsh, Andrea, and Levenson, Rustin S. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies, vol. 1. New Haven, 2000: 179-180, fig. 188.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 4-5, no. 1, color repro.

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