National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Saint John the Baptist
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

No overview.

Inscription

lower right on scroll: ECCE AGNUS DEI.ECCE Q[UI] (Behold the Lamb of God; behold him who [taketh away the sins of the world]) from John 1:29

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Probably church of San Francesco, San Gimignano, until 1553;[1] church of San Giovanni Battista, San Gimignano, until 1782/1787;[2] church of San Francesco, Colle Val d’Elsa, between 1787 and mid-nineteenth century.[3] Graf von Oriola, Schloss Budesheim, Oberhessen; (his sale, Mensing & Fils at Frederik Muller & Co., Amsterdam, April 13, 1932, no. 3, as by Taddeo di Bartolo).[4] (Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam), by 1934;[5] purchased February 1937 through (Paul Cassierer & Co., Amsterdam) by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[6] sold June 1938 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[7] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] In 1865 Francesco Brogi saw two of the original companion panels to the NGA’s painting in the church of the Franciscans of Colle Val d’Elsa (not published until 1897: Francesco Brogi, Inventario generale degli oggetti d’arte della provincia di Siena, Siena, 1897: 158). However, it has been convincingly suggested (Alessandro Bagnoli, "La Chiesa di San Francesco a Colle di Val d'Elsa, intenti per un restauro globale," in Restauri e Recuperi in terra di Siena. XI Settimana dei Beni Culturali, Sienna, December 1995: n.p.; Alessandro Bagnoli, La Maestà di Simone Martini, Milan, 1999: 151 n. 184; Marianne Lonjon, “Précisions sur la provenance du retable dit 'de Colle val d’Elsa' de Lippo Memmi,” Revue des Musée de France 56, no. 2 [2006]: 31-40) that they were transferred there only in the late eighteenth century from the church of the same order in San Gimignano; it may be presumed that they had originally adorned its high altar. Situated outside the city walls, the church of San Francesco in San Gimignano was demolished in 1553, when, by order of Cosimo I de’ Medici, a new system of fortifications was erected around the city.

[2] After the 1553 demolition of their church of San Francesco, the Franciscans moved inside the city of San Gimignano, settling in the convent annexed to the church of San Giovanni Battista. In 1782 Duke Leopold suppressed this convent, forcing the friars to make another move.

[3] The community of friars moved to the convent of San Francesco in Colle Val d’Elsa in 1787, likely bringing with them all the church furnishings from San Gimignano. As mentioned above (note 1), two companion panels, Memmi’s Saint Francis and Saint Louis of Toulouse (both now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena), were recorded by Francesco Brogi in 1865 as hanging in the sacristy of the Franciscan church of Colle. The other panels of the dismembered altarpiece were no longer there at this time.

[4] The auction catalog offered for sale a “Collection Comte Oriola, formée en Italie de 1860-1896 env.,” without further explanation. Lot 1 of the sale was a detached fresco by Perugino representing the Pietà, which apparently remained unsold (now in the collection of the Cassa di Risparmio in Florence). Walter and Elisabeth Paatz (Die Kirchen von Florenz. Ein kunstgeschichtliches Handbuch, 6 vols., Frankfurt am Main, 1940-1953: 4 [1952]: 649-650, n. 35) cite the fresco as belonging to the heirs of Graf Oriola in Büdesheim, Oberhessen, the location of the collection. The year 1883 is stated as the date of Graf Oriola’s acquisition. An Italian stone relief representing the Profile Portrait of a Man, lot 46 of the 1932 sale in Amsterdam, which similarly found its way into the Kress Foundation’s collection in 1938 and subsequently into the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, is also stated to have belonged to the Oriola Collection in Büdensheim; see Ulrich Middeldorf, Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. European Sculptures, London, 1976: 67. It is possible that the “Comte Oriola” named in the sale catalogue referred to Eduard Ernst Lobo da Silveira (1809-1862) and his sons, Waldemar (1854-1910) and Joachim (1858-1907) Lobo da Silveira, all of whom were known as Graf von Oriola. They were the son and grandsons, respectively, of a Portuguese minister, Joaquim José Lobo da Silveira (1772-1846), who was given a title in the Prussian nobility by Friedrich Wilhelm III, king of Prussia (1770-1840) and who resettled his family in Prussia. Waldemar had Schloss Büdesheim constructed in 1885 near an older castle of the same name, and Joachim was a naval attaché in the German embassy in Italy.

[5] Goudstikker lent the painting to an exhibition in Amsterdam in 1934. On the life and career of the Dutch dealer see Charlotte Wiefhoff, “De Kunsthandelaar Jacques Goudstikker 1897 - 1940,” Nederlands Kunsthistotisch Jaarboek 32 (1982): 249-278.

[6] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 119, box 264, folder 8, and reel 121, box 266, folder 18.

[7] The bill of sale for eight paintings, including this one, is dated 21 June 1938; payments were to extend through November 1939. The attributions on the bill, in this case to Simone Martini, were those of Bernard Berenson. Duveen Brothers Records: reel 329, box 474, folder 5.

Exhibition History

1934
Italiaansche Kunst in Nederlandsch Bezit, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1934, no. 222, repro., as by Simone Martini.

Bibliography

1941
Duveen 1941, fig. 13, as by Simone Martini.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 185, as by Simone Martini.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 247, repro. 189, as by Simone Martini.
1944
Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 21, repro., as by Simone Martini.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 31, repro., as by Simone Martini.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 298, repro., as by Simone Martini.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 89
1966
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 49, fig. 126.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 78, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 232, repro.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:331-333, II:pl. 241
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 231, repro.

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