Allegory

c. 1515-1525

Pietro degli Ingannati

Artist, Venetian, mentioned 1529 - 1548

A nude woman, pudgy child, and two satyrs, which have men’s heads and torsos with goat’s legs and horns, are in a landscape in this octagonal painting. The scene is divided in half by a tree stump which only reaches to the center of the composition. To the left of the stump, the pale-skinned, nude child stands and hunches over to draw on the ground with a V-shaped compass. Two pieces of paper and a violin lie nearby. The landscape behind him has a body of water leading back to a town with buildings streaked with peach, perhaps flames. A band of peach sky separates the blue silhouettes of mountains lining the horizon from the vivid blue sky above. At the bottom center of the painting, a shield with an oval horizontally striped with red and white leans on the boy’s side of the tree, which has one leafy branch growing on the left side. One satyr holds a jug and kneels close to the tree with his back to it as he looks back over one shoulder. He and the other satyr both have dark, peach-toned skin and full beards. The second satyr hovers to the right of the nude, sleeping woman, both hands reaching for her or the rose-pink cloth surrounding her. The woman has blond curls, a round face, and she sleeps with one hand resting across her belly and her head tipped to our left. The trio are on a grassy area enclosed by dense, dark-green bushes and trees.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 25

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly Fletcher family, Asolo, Italy, 18th century. Probably purchased in Italy by Sigmund Pollak, by 1936; sold 1941 to his brother-in-law, Felix Laurence, New York;[1] sold to Dr. and Mrs. George H. Alexander Clowes, Dover, Massachusetts; gift 1948 to NGA.
[1] A notorized affidavit from Felix Laurence provided to Clowes at the time of his purchase from Laurence recounts the provenance of the painting from Pollak (copy in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1988

  • The Pastoral Landscape: The Legacy of Venice, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988-1989, no. 40, fig. 69, as Attributed to Pietro degli Ingannati.

Bibliography

1938

  • Kieslinger, Franz. “Gedanken zu einem neuaufgefunden Giorgionebild.” Belvedere 13, nos. 1-4 (1938): 61-66, fig. 79, as by Giorgione.

1955

  • Berenson, Bernard. Lotto. Milan, 1955: 18, fig. 6, as Imitator of Lorenzo Lotto.

1956

  • Berenson, Bernard. Lorenzo Lotto. New York, 1956: 3-4, pl. 6, as Close to Pietro degli Ingannati.

1957

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:92, as by Pietro degli Ingannati.

1958

  • Tervarent, Guy de. Attributs et symboles dans l'art profane, 1450-1600. 3 vols. Geneva, 1958-1964: 2(1959):390.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 135.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 121, repro.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 165, 647, as by Pietro degli Ingannati.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 362, repro.

1978

  • Caccialupi, Paola. "Pietro degli Ingannati." Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte 11 (1978): 28, 33, 36, fig. 9, as by Pietro degli Ingannati.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:246-247, 544; 2:pl. 168, 168A, as Attributed to Pietro degli Ingannati.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 199, no. 235, color repro., as by Venetian School.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 420, repro.

1986

  • Ford, Terrence, compiler and ed. Inventory of Music Iconography, no. 1. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1986: 4, no. 92.

1992

  • Hoffman, Sabine. "Igannati, Pietro degli." In Allgemeines Künsler-Lexicon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. 119 vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1992-2023: 76(2013):277, as Attributed to Pietro degli Ingannati.

1997

  • Brown, David Alan, Peter Humfrey, and Mauro Lucco. Lorenzo Lotto: Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1997: 80, fig. 1, labeled as Venetian School but described as by Pietro degli Ingannati.

2016

  • Humfrey, Peter. "Pietro degli Ingannai as a Painter of Mythologies." Arte Veneta 73 (2016): 162-163, fig. 1, as Allegory of Virtue and Vice, by Pietro degli Ingannati.

Wikidata ID

Q20175960

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