Madonna and Child Enthroned with Twelve Angels, and with the Blessing Christ [middle panel]
shortly before 1387
Painter, Florentine, c. 1350 - 1396

Most early paintings are also mystery stories, making the art historians who study them detectives of a sort. Signatures were not routine, and the inscriptions on this large altarpiece name the saints depicted, not the artist who painted them. In this case, however, the elegant figures, pastel colors, and decorative effects have pointed experts almost unanimously to Agnolo Gaddi, Florence’s most sought-after artist during the late 1300s. The more difficult question is who commissioned it, and for what place? Although hypothetical, one answer seems likely: that it was given by the prominent Florentine family of Benedetto di Nerozzo Alberti for the church of San Miniato, which stands atop one of the city’s highest hills.
We know that Alberti commissioned Gaddi for other works, and that in 1387 he added a codicil to his will providing funds for decorations in San Miniato. It is the inclusion of the particular saints we see here that links the National Gallery of Art’s altarpiece to the Alberti family and perhaps to that document. At left is the apostle Andrew, holding the symbol of his crucifixion and the rope that was used in place of nails to hang him on the cross. He was the patron saint of Alberti’s deceased son. Next to him, Benedict, considered the founder of western monasticism, displays the opening words of the rule that governed the Benedictine monks at San Miniato. Benedict was also Benedetto’s patron saint. Opposite stands Bernard of Clairvaux, the powerful French abbot of the Cistercian order. He was the patron of another of Benedetto’s sons. Finally, we find Catherine of Alexandria on the spiked wheel of her torture. Both Benedetto and his son Bernardo made dedications in her honor, and some medieval etymologies linked her name to catena, Latin for chain, a device that figured on the Alberti coat of arms.

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 2
Artwork overview
-
Medium
tempera on poplar panel
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 204 × 80 cm (80 5/16 × 31 1/2 in.)
-
Accession
1937.1.4.b
Associated Artworks

Saint Andrew and Saint Benedict with the Archangel Gabriel [left panel]
Agnolo Gaddi
1387

Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Virgin of the Annunciation [right panel]
Agnolo Gaddi
1387
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Probably in the sacristy of the church of San Miniato al Monte, Florence, from whence the triptych may have been removed shortly after 1830.[1] Bertram Ashburnham [1797-1878], 4th earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place, Battle, Sussex;[2] by inheritance to his son, Bertram Ashburnham [1840-1913], 5th earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place; by inheritance to his daughter, Lady Mary Catherine Charlotte Ashburnham [1890-1953], Ashburnham Place; (Robert Langton Douglas, London);[3] purchased 19 June 1919 by(Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[4] sold 15 December 1936 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[5] gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] Miklós Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400, Florence, 1975: 118-121, proposed this provenance. The Alberti family were patrons of the church, and Benedetto di Nerozzo Alberti left funds for its decoration in a codicil dated 1387 that was appended to his will of 1377 (now lost and known only from a seventeenth-century abstract); see Luigi Passerini, Gli Alberti di Firenze. Genealogia, storia e documenti, Florence, 1869: 2:187. Three of the four saints depicted in the side panels are associated with the Alberti family, providing further argument in support of the proposed provenance. Although in 1975 Boskovits erroneously asserted that Saint John Gualbert was represented in the altarpiece to the right of the Virgin, he corrected this in the NGA systematic catalogue by identifying the saint instead as Bernard of Clairvaux, the patron saint of Benedetto Alberti's son Bernardo, who in his will dated 1389 left money for masses to be celebrated annually for his soul in the family chapel in San Miniato, which had evidently already been consecrated (see Stefan Weppelmann, Spinello Aretino, Florence, 2003: 381). The representation of Saint Andrew, who was the patron saint of a predeceased son of Benedetto Albert also links the altarpiece to the sacristy of San Miniato, and Catherine of Alexandria, shown standing on a broken wheel, was evidently much venerated in the Alberti family. In Benedetto's will he bequeathed money for the decoration of an oratory near Florence (Santa Caterina dell'Antella) dedicated to Catherine, and his son, Bernardo, wished to build a monastery and a church in her honor (see Weppelmann 2003).
Although this provenance remains a hypothesis, it still seems a quite plausible one that, if correct, would provide the certainty that by 1830 the altarpiece was still on the altar of the sacristy. An altarpiece can apparently be seen still in place in a sketch of the sacristy's altar wall made in that year by Christoph Roller (1805-1858), in his _Tagebuch einer italienschen Reise_ (Burgdorfer Heimatsmuseum, Burgdorf, Switzerland). Unfortunately, the sketch, kindly brought to the attention of Miklós Boskovits by Stefan Weppelmann, is very small and not sufficient for identifying the Gallery's painting. What may be said for certain is only that an altarpiece composed of five panels stood on the altar of the sacristy of San Miniato in 1830, but by 1836 this altarpiece was no longer there (Weppelmann 2003, 184). It was removed and sold, presumably by the Pia Opera degli Esercizi Spirituali, which had owned the furniture and decorations of the church since 1820; see "Regesto dell' Abbazia florentina di S. Miniato," _La Graticola_ 4 (1976): 117-135.
[2] The collection, formed originally by George, 3rd earl of Ashburnham, was enlarged by his son, Bertram, after whose death no further paintings were added. See The Ashburnham Collections. Part I. Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings ..., Sotheby’s, London, sale of 24 June 1953: 3-4.
[3] According to Denis Sutton (“Robert Langton Douglas. Part III,” _ Apollo_ 109 (1979): 452, Douglas was in contact with the Ashburnham family around 1919. See also letter from Douglas to Fowles dated 1 May 1941, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: box 244, reel 299.
[4] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 422. The painting was first entered in the Duveen "X-Book" (number X 149) as by Starnina, but this was crossed out and replaced with the attribution "Agnelo [sic] Gaddi."
[5] The original Duveen Brothers invoice is in the Records of The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Subject Files, Box 2, Gallery Archives, NGA; copy in NGA curatorial files. The painting is listed as by Gherardo Starnina, influenced by Agnolo Gaddi, with the additional note that Bernard Berenson gave the painting to Gaddi.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1933
Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1933, no. 11, repro., as Altarpiece by Gherardo Starnina.
Bibliography
1931
Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: no. 52, repro.
1933
Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 1:no. 63, repro.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Die Leihausstellung frühitalienischer Malerei in Detroit." Pantheon 12 (1933): 238.
Procacci, Ugo. "Gherardo Starnina." Rivista d’arte 15 (1933): 160.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R., ed. The Sixteenth Loan Exhibition of Old Masters: Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century. Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1933: no. 11, repro.
1935
Salvini, Roberto. "Per la cronologia e per il catalogo di un discepolo di Agnolo Gaddi." Bollettino d’arte 29 (1935-1936): 287.
1941
Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: nos. 24-25, repro., as by Gherardo Starnina.
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 69, no. 4.
National Gallery of Art. Book of Illustrations. Washington, 1941: 104 (repro.), 233.
Richter, George Martin. "The New National Gallery in Washington." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 78 (June 1941): 177.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 239, repro. 106.
1946
Friedmann, Herbert. The Symbolic Goldfinch. Its History and Significance in European Devotional Art. Washington, DC, 1946: 143.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 8, repro.
1951
Galetti, Ugo, and Ettore Camesasca. Enciclopedia della pittura italiana. 3 vols. Milan, 1951: 3:2351 repro.
1960
Labriola, Ada. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Edited by Alberto Maria Ghisalberti. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 51(1998):146.
1963
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 2:69.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 54.
1967
Klesse, Brigitte. Seidenstoffe in der italienischen Malerei des 14. Jahrhunderts. Bern, 1967: 316.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 46, repro.
Boskovits, Miklós. "Some Early Works of Agnolo Gaddi." The Burlington Magazine 110 (1968): 210 n. 9.
1969
Cole, Bruce. Agnolo Gaddi. Ph.D. diss. Bryn Mawr College, 1969. Ann Arbor, MI, 1977: 73-75, 85, 208, 209.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 77, 301, 315, 369, 378, 381, 645.
Boskovits, Miklós. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In _Dizionario Enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli Incisori italiani: dall’XI al XX secolo _. Edited by Alberto Bolaffi and Umberto Allemandi. 11 vols. Turin, 1972-1976: 5(1974)186.
1973
Fraser, Ian, Edith Whitehill Clowes, George Henry Alexander Clowes, and Carl J. Weinhardt. A Catalogue of the Clowes Collection. Indianapolis Museum of Art Bulletin. Indianapolis, 1973: 6.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 140, repro.
Boskovits, Miklós. Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400. Florence, 1975: 118-121, 123, 216 n. 84, 234 n. 140, 304, pl. 127.
Fremantle, Richard. Florentine Gothic Painters from Giotto to Masaccio: A Guide to Painting in and near Florence, 1300 to 1450. London, 1975: 271, fig. 553.
1976
Cole, Bruce. Giotto and Florentine Painting, 1280-1375. Icon Editions. 1st ed. New York, 1976: 140, 141, pl. 52.
1977
Cole, Bruce. Agnolo Gaddi. Oxford, 1977: 26-30, 40, 41, 89, pls. 81, 82.
1978
Boskovits, Miklós. "Review of Agnolo Gaddi by Bruce Cole." The Art Bulletin 60 (1978): 708.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:192-194; 2:pl. 134.
Sutton, Denys. "Robert Langton Douglas. Part III." Apollo 109 (June 1979): 447 [165] fig. 1, 452 [170].
1982
Barucca, Gabriele. “San Benedetto negli insiemi iconografici della Toscana dal XIV al XVI secolo.” In Patrizia Castelli, ed. Iconografia di San Benedetto nella pittura della toscana. Immagini e aspetti culturali fino al XVI secolo. Florence, 1982: 238-239, cat. 87.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 73, no 16, color repro.
Os, Hendrik W. van. Sienese Altarpieces 1215-1460. Form, Content, Function. 2 vols. Groningen, 1984-1990: 2(1990):66, fig. 48.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 162, repro.
Brown, Howard Mayer. "Catalogus. A Corpus of Trecento Pictures with Musical Subject Matter, pt. 2." Imago Musicae 2 (1985): 200, 201.
1986
Ford, Terrence, compiler and ed. Inventory of Music Iconography, no. 1. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York 1986: 1, no. 5.
Ricci, Stefania. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In La Pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo. 2 vols. Milan, 1986: 2:572.
1988
Causa, Stefano. "La Sagrestia." in La Basilica di San Miniato al Monte a Firenze. Edited by Francesco Gurrieri, Luciano Berti and Claudio Leonardi. Florence, 1988: 228, 229.
1989
Bellosi, Luciano. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In Dizionario della pittura e dei pittori. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo and Bruno Toscano. 6 vols. Turin, 1989-1994: 2(1990):471.
1990
Boskovits, Miklós, and Serena Padovani. Early Italian Painting 1290-1470. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. London, 1990: 116 n. 1.
1992
Chiodo, Sonia. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Edited by Günter Meissner. 87+ vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1992+: 47(2005):113, 114.
1994
Skaug, Erling S. Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico: Attribution, Chronology, and Workshop Relationships in Tuscan Panel Painting with Particular Consideration to Florence, c. 1330-1430. 2 vols. Oslo, 1994: 1:262, 263; 2:punch chart 8.2
1995
Halpine, Susana M. "An Investigation of Artists' Materials Using Amino Acid Analysis: Introduction of the One-Hour Extraction Method." Studies in the History of Art 51 (1995): 41-48, 61, repro. no. 7, 64-65 nn. 41-55.
Frosinini, Cecilia. "Agnolo Gaddi." in La Sacra Cintola nel Duomo di Prato. Prato, 1995: 226.
Skerl Del Conte, Serena. Antonio Veneziano e Taddeo Gaddi nella Toscana della seconda metà del Trecento. Pasian di Prato (Udine), 1995: 52-54, 56, 62, 65 n. 13, 66 n. 23, repro.
1996
Symposium, Early Italian Paintings Techniques and Analysis, Maastricht, 1996: 81, repro.
Gold Backs: 1250-1480. Exh. cat. Matthiesen Fine Art, London. Turin, 1996: 80.
1997
Bustin, Mary. "Recalling the Past: Evidence for the Original Construction of Madonna Enthroned with Saints and Angels by Agnolo Gaddi." Studies in the History of Art 57 (1997): 35-64, repro. no. 2.
Bakkenist, Tonnie, René Hoppenbrouwers, and Hélène Dubois, eds. Early Italian Paintings: Techniques and Analysis. Maastricht, Netherlands, 1997: 81, repro.
Halpine, Susana M. "Analysis of Artists’ Materials Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography." In Early Italian Paintings: Techniques and Analysis. Edited by Tonnie Bakkenist, René Hoppenbrouwers and Hélène Dubois. Maastricht, Netherlands, 1997: 22, 23.
1998
Frinta, Mojmír S. Punched Decoration on Late Medieval Panel and Miniature Painting. Prague, 1998: 100, 244, 283, 290, 322, 481.
Labriola, Ada. “La decorazione pittorica.” In L’Oratorio di Santa Caterina: osservazioni storico-critiche in occasione del restauro. Edited by Maurizio De Vita. Florence, 1998: 52.
2000
Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Materials and Meaning in the Fine Arts 1. New Haven, 2000: 108-109, color fig. 102, 103.
2001
Merzenich, Christoph. Vom Schreinerwerk zum Gemälde: Florentiner Altarwerke der ersten Hälfte des Quattrocento. Berlin, 2001: 89, 189, fig. 49.
2003
Weppelmann, Stefan. Spinello Aretino und die toskanische Malerei des 14. Jahrhunderts. Florence, 2003: 184.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 11, no. 6, color repro.
Secrest, Meryle. Duveen: A Life in Art. New York, 2004: 438.
Medicus, Gustav. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia. 2 vols. Edited by Christopher Kleinhenz. New York, 2004: 1:393
Skaug, Erling S. "Towards a Reconstruction of the Santa Maria degli Angeli Altarpiece of 1388: Agnolo Gaddi and Lorenzo Monaco?" Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 48 (2004): 255.
2005
Boskovits, Miklós, and Daniela Parenti, eds. Da Bernardo Daddi al Beato Angelico a Botticelli: dipinti fiorentini del Lindenau-Museum di Altenburg. Exh. cat. Museo di San Marco. Florence, 2005: 80.
2006
Sander, Jochen. "The ‘Standard Altarpiece’ of the Gothic Period: The Polyptych." In Kult Bild: das Altar- und Andachtsbild von Duccio bis Perugino. Exh. cat. Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main. Petersberg, 2006: 95, 96.
2008
Löhr, Wolf-Dietrich, and Stefan Weppelmann, eds. Fantasie und Handwerk: Cennino Cennini und die Tradition der toskanischen Malerei von Giotto bis Lorenzo Monaco. Exh. cat. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Munich, 2008: 291.
2009
Boskovits, Miklós, ed. The Alana Collection, Newark, Delaware, USA. Vol. 1, Italian Paintings from the 13th to 15th Century. Florence, 2009: 4, repro. 10.
Damiani, Giovanna, ed. Le arti a Firenze tra gotico e Rinascimento. Exh. cat. Museo Archeologico, Aosta. Florence, 2009: 76.
Tartuferi, Angelo, ed. L’Oratorio di Santa Caterina all’Antella e i suoi pittori. Exh. cat. Santa Caterina dell’Antella, Bagno a Ripoli-Ponte a Ema. Florence, 2009: 159.
2010
Boskovits, Miklós, and Daniela Parenti, eds. Cataloghi della Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze: Dipinti. Vol. 2, Il tardo Trecento: dalla tradizione orcagnesca agli esordi del gotico internazionale. Florence, 2010: 16.
2011
Gordon, Dillian. The Italian Paintings Before 1400. National Gallery Catalogues. London, 2011: under 220, no. NG568.
2012
Natali, Antonio, Enrica Neri Lusanna, and Angelo Tartuferi, eds. Bagliori dorati: Il Gotico Internazionale a Firenze 1375-1440. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2012: 102.
2016
Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 121-130, color repro.
Inscriptions
across the bottom: AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOMINUS [TECUM] (Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; from Luke 1:28); on the book held by the Redeemer in the gable: EGO SUM / A[ET] O PRINCI / PIU[M] [ET] FINIS / EGO SUM VI / A. VERITAS / [ET] VITA (I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, I am the way, the truth, and the life; from John 14:6; Revelations 22:13)
Wikidata ID
Q20173280