The Adoration of the Magi

c. 1470/1475

Benvenuto di Giovanni

Painter, Sienese, 1436 - before 1517

Dozens of people form a line starting from an opening in a city wall or building in the background to a rustic shed-like structure close to us, to kneel before a seated woman holding a baby on her lap in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin tinged faintly with green. The top edge of the panel is shaped so it has two rounded sections like shoulders leading to a stepped, crown-like form with an inward curving triangle at the top. A nickel-gray, crenelated stone wall of a distant city is nestled into the top, stepped section, with a glimmering gold sky above filling the uppermost triangle. Tile-roofed and domed buildings and a few towers appear densely packed beyond the wall. People on foot and horseback create a line from an arched opening in the wall toward us and to our right. Three of the people on horseback in the distance wear long robes and have gold halos. The line of people winds behind a tall, narrow hill to our right and it continues close to us. Two horses, two camels, and several people wait to the right but our attention is drawn to the trio in the foreground, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, and the three men near the infant, the Magi. Mary wears a lapis-blue mantle covering her head and shoulders over a petal-pink dress, and she sits on a wooden or stone chest in the center of the painting. Her body faces us but she turns her face to look with pale blue eyes off to our right. In one hand she holds a hexagonal gold vessel that tapers to a flame-like finial. With the other hand, on our left, she supports the blond infant sitting in her lap. He is covered only with a white cloth around his waist, and he looks toward the vessel as he holds up the index and middle fingers of his right hand. To our left and slightly behind Mary, a balding man with white hair and beard and wearing a blue garment under a red robe sits with his head propped in his hand, looking down. His other hand rests on what might be the handle of a crutch or staff. The man, woman, and child have gold halos with what appears to be writing. The three Magi also have gold halos and they all wear scarlet-red shoes. The oldest kneels before Mary and kisses Jesus's feet. He has a long, light gray beard and is balding. He wears a brocade-like gold robe over pale brick-red sleeves. A cleanshaven man with dark brown hair and wrinkles around his mouth kneels to our left as he raises a jewel-encrusted gold crown from his head. He wears a gold and red floral-patterned garment and holds a rounded vessel, also with a flame-like finial. A younger, cleanshaven man with smooth features and shoulder-length, curling blond hair to our right also wears a gold crown. A dagger hangs from the waist of his sky-blue tunic, and his leggings are pale plum purple. Both arms are bent to his hands are held up, and in his right hand, he holds another tabernacle-like gold vessel. The structure to our left houses a donkey and bull munching hay. A gold sunburst floats above the roof, which seems to be built up against the stone wall of a building. The hills and trees beyond the people is painted with pine and moss greens and brown.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 8

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on poplar panel

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 182 x 137 cm (71 5/8 x 53 15/16 in.)
    framed: 207.7 x 150.5 x 11.4 cm (81 3/4 x 59 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.10

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Giuseppe Toscanelli [1828-1891], Pontedera and Pisa;[1] (Toscanelli sale, Sambon, Florence, 23 April 1883, no. 137, as by Gentile da Fabriano); Sir William Neville Abdy, 2nd bt. [1844-1910], The Elms, Newdigate, Dorking; by inheritance to his daughter, Florence, Lady Abdy [d. 1922], Dorking and London; (her sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 5 May 1911, no. 139, as by Gentile da Fabriano); (Wallis & Son, London).[2] (Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris), by 1913;[3] sold August 1919 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York);[4] on approval to Carl W. Hamilton [1886-1967], New York, by 1920, and returned 1921;[5] purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[6] gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] In his Elogio del pittore Gentile da Fabriano (Macerata, 1829: 21-23), Amico Ricci describes an Adoration of the Magi at that time in possession of a certain Captain Craglietto of Venice, attributing it to Gentile da Fabriano. That work subsequently became part of the collections of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (no. 5), where Crowe and Cavalcaselle saw it and assigned it to Antonio Vivarini (Sir Joseph Archer Crowe, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy, from the Second to the Sixteenth Century, 3 vols., London, 1864-1866: 3[1866]:99). Gaetano Milanesi, who is his edition of Vasari's Lives (Vasari, ed. Milanesi, 1878: 3:21) limits himself to reporting Ricci's attribution, in the catalogue of the Toscanelli collection expresses the doubt that the painting later in Berlin was the same as the Craglietto Adoration, and implies that the panel described by Ricci was actually the one in the Toscanelli collection. Although the Berlin catalogues point out that their Adoration was acquired directly from the heirs of Gaspare Craglietto, the erroneous provenance suggested by Milanesi for the ex-Toscanelli panel was picked up by Salomon Reinach (Répertoire de Peintures de Moyen Age et de la Renaissance, 6 vols., Paris, 1905-1923: 1[905]:72), and subsequently by Fern Rusk Shapley (Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:64). It is possible that the painting was acquired only after 1878, as at this time Milanesi apparently did not yet know it.
[2] See F., "Stattgehabte Auktionen. Die Abdy Auktion," Der Cicerone 3 (1911): 401.
[3] See Galerie Sedelmeyer [Charles Sedelmeyer], Illustrated Catalogue of the Twelfth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters of the Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, and English Schools, Being a Portion of the Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris, 1913: 60.
[4] The Duveen Brothers Records also list a commission paid to Dr. Sirén (copy in NGA curatorial files; X Book, Reel 422, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).
[5] According to Colin Simpson, Artful Partners: Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen, New York, 1986: 196-198, the painting was acquired by Hamilton from Duveen's Paris stock in 1919-1920. Edward Fowles (Memories of the Duveen Brothers, London, 1976: 127-129) discusses Hamilton and the large collection of Italian paintings that Duveen offered to him on approval. However, Hamilton did not purchase them and returned them to Duveen the following year.
[6] The original Duveen Brothers invoice is in Gallery Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1885

  • Exposition de tableaux, statues et objets d'art au profit de l'oeuvre des Orphelins d'Alsace-Lorraine, Salle des Etats du Louvre, Paris, 1885, no. 180, as by Gentile da Fabriano.

1932

  • Exhibition of Italian Renaissance Art, Wadsworth Atheneum and Morgan Memorial, Hartford, 1932, no. 15.

1933

  • Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1933, no. 59, as by Matteo di Giovanni, repro.

Bibliography

1885

  • Lefort, Louis. Chronique des Arts (13 June 1885): 182, as by Gentile da Fabriano.

1905

  • Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire de peintures du moyen âge et de la Renaissance (1280-1580). 6 vols. Paris, 1905-1923: 1(1905):72, repro., as by Gentile da Fabriano; 4(1918): 93, repro.

1911

  • “Cronaca: Estero.” Rassegna d’Arte 11, no. 5 (1911): i, as by Gentile da Fabriano.

  • F. Der Cicerone 3 (1911): 401, as by Gentile da Fabriano

  • “In the Sale Room.” Connoisseur 30, no. 119 (1911): 200, as by Gentile da Fabriano.

  • Perkins, Frederick Mason. “Due dipinti senesi della Pietà.” Rassegna d’Arte Senese 7, no. 3 (1911): 67 n. 2.

1913

  • Illustrated Catalogue of the Twelfth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters of the Dtuch, Flemish, Italian and English Schools, being a Portion of the Sedelmeyer Gallery. Paris, 1913: 60, no. 138, as by Gentile da Fabriano.

1914

  • Perkins, Frederick Mason. “Dipinti senesi sconosciuti o inediti.” Rassegna d’Arte 1 (1914): 102.

1923

  • Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 16(1937):326, as by Matteo di Giovanni.

1929

  • Singleton, Esther. Old World Masters in New World Collections. New York, 1929: 12, repro.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl. 291, repro., as by Matteo di Giovanni.

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Die Leihausstellung frühitalienischer Malerei in Detroit." Pantheon 12 (1933): 238, as by Matteo di Giovanni.

1937

  • Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 13, as by Matteo di Giovanni.

1941

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 95, repro., as by Matteo di Giovanni.

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 24, no. 10.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "On the Italian Renaissance Painters in the National Gallery: An Editorial." Art News 40, no. 3 (1941): 26, repro.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 239, repro. 72.

1947

  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Sienese Quattrocento Painting. Oxford and London, 1947: 30, fig. 69.

1949

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 17, repro.

  • Brandi, Cesare. Quattrocentisti senesi. Milan, 1949: 266, fig. 202.

1951

  • Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 29.

1961

  • DeWald, Ernest T. Italian Painting 1200-1600. New York, 1961: 344-345, repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 300, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 14.

1966

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Darrell Davisson. Benvenuto di Giovanni, Girolamo di Benvenuto, their altarpieces in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu, CA, 1966: 28-29, fig. 87.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 7, repro.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:42.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 26.

1974

  • Sterling, Charles. “Fighting Animals in the Adoration of the Magi.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61 (1974): 358 n. 5.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 26, repro.

1977

  • Bandera, Maria Cristina. “Variazioni ai cataloghi berensoniani di Benvenuto di Giovanni.” In Maria Grazia Ciardi Duprè Dal Poggetto and Paolo Dal Poggetto, eds. Scritti di storia dell’arte in onore di Ugo Procacci. 2 vols. Milan, 1977: 1:314.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:64-65; 2:pl. 38.

1981

  • Schmeckbier, Laurence Eli. A New Handbook of Italian Renaissance Painting. New York, 1981: 252.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 82, no. 36, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 45, repro.

1986

  • Simpson, Colin. Artful Partners: Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen. New York, 1986: 196.

1993

  • Bellosi, Luciano, ed. Francesco di Giorgio e il Rinascimento a Siena 1450-1500. Exh. cat. Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Siena 1993: 266, fig. 1.

  • Harpring, Patricia. The Sienese Trecento Painter Bartolo di Fredi. Rutherford, NJ, 1993: 141, 146, repro.

1996

  • Coté, Cynthia. "Benvenuto di Giovanni." In Jane Turner, ed. The Dictionary of Art. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 3:751.

1999

  • Bandera, Maria Cristina. Benvenuto di Giovanni. Milan, 1999: 46-51, 80, 219-220, cat. 16.

2003

  • Boskovits, Miklós, David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2003: 107-111, color repro.

  • Alessi, Cecilia. La Confraternita ritrovata: Benvenuto di Giovanni e Girolamo di Benvenuto nello Spedale Vecchio di Siena. Asciano (Siena), 2003: 103.

Wikidata ID

Q20173892

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