Faith
1475/1480
Artist, Florentine, 1429 - 1484
In the art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Virtues were often personified by human figures carrying identifying attributes. Faith in this case had a chalice and a cross, now broken. As represented by Mino da Fiesole, a contemporary of Desiderio da Settignano and Antonio Rossellino, Faith and a companion piece Charity appear as slender young girls in clinging, layered gowns with fine pleats. Their heavy mantles are carved in distinctive, angular folds. Typical of Mino's style is the fine, precise, sharp-edged treatment of textile folds and locks of hair, giving these features an ornamental quality different from the softer approach of Desiderio and Antonio Rossellino.
Set in arched niches, the figures must have been intended as part of a monument combining architecture and sculpture, probably a wall tomb inside a church. The Virtues would represent reasons for the deceased person's good memory on earth and hopes for Paradise.
Faith and Charity stand on bases treated as little banks of clouds, as if they were already in heaven themselves. Hope, the third theological Virtue mentioned in Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, might have completed such a group.
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 5
Artwork overview
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Medium
marble
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
overall: 126 x 43 cm (49 5/8 x 16 15/16 in.)
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Accession
1937.1.118
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Purchased 1864 by Charles Timbal [1821-1880], Paris; sold 1872 with his collection by Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his estate; purchased 1930 with the entire Dreyfus collection by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[1] purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[2] gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] Provenance prior to Mellon Trust is according to David Finley's notebook donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1977, now in the Gallery Archives.
[2] The original Duveen Brothers invoice is in Gallery Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Bibliography
1883
Perkins, Charles. Historical Handbook of Italian Sculpture. London, 1883: 402.
1907
Vitry, Paul. "La collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus: I. - La Sculpture." Les Arts 72 (December 1907): repro. 15, 20.
1937
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 83.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 228, no. A-7.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 253, repro. 231.
1944
Duveen Brothers, Inc. Duveen Sculpture in Public Collections of America: A Catalog Raisonné with illustrations of Italian Renaissance Sculptures by the Great Masters which have passed through the House of Duveen. New York, 1944: figs. 122-124.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 157, repro.
Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 177, note 28, repro. 98, 99, 101.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 162.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 143, repro.
1973
Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 42.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 624, no. 964, repro.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 108-109, color repro.
1992
National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 288, repro.
1994
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 152, repro.
2013
Moskowitz, Anita F. Forging Authenticity: Bastianini and the Neo-Renaissance in Nineteenth-Century Florence. Florence, 2013: 53, fig. 30 (detail).
Wikidata ID
Q63809891