Madonna and Child

c. 1445/1450

Domenico Veneziano

Artist, Florentine, c. 1410 - 1461

Shown from the hips up, a woman to our left wears a sapphire-blue robe over a petal-pink dress, and she supports a pudgy, nude infant to our right in this vertical painting. Both have marble-white skin faintly tinged with green, wavy blond hair, and shiny gold halos. Their heads tilt toward each other so the woman’s cheek brushes the top of the baby’s head. She holds his body with one hand nearly flat against his torso and the other, covered with her robe, bracing his back. The baby holds the pinky of her hand against his chest with his left hand, on our right, and wraps his other arm around her heck. The woman looks down to our right with olive-green eyes under faint brows. She has a delicate nose and her pale, pink lips are parted. Her hair is covered by a sheer white cloth that falls over the shoulders of her blue robe, which is lined with golden yellow where it turns back around her neck. Her pink dress is trimmed with a band of moss green along the curving, sweetheart neckline and around the cuffs of her sleeves, and is ornamented with pearls and red, white, and blue orbs, possibly jewels. The baby looks at or toward us, his pink lips also parted and his rounded cheeks slightly blushed. He stands on his left foot, to our right, and raises his other foot, knee bent. Stylized white and pink roses with mint-green stems and leaves grow up against a royal-blue background behind the pair.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 4

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on poplar panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 83 x 57 cm (32 11/16 x 22 7/16 in.)
    framed: 124.5 x 100.3 x 9.8 cm (49 x 39 1/2 x 3 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.221

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Richard Lovell Edgeworth [1744-1817], Edgeworthstown, co. Longford, Ireland; by inheritance to his daughter, Maria Edgeworth [1767-1849], Edgeworthstown; by inheritance to her half-brother, Charles Sneyd Edgeworth [d. 1864], Edgeworthstown; by inheritance to Maria's and Charles' half-nephew, Prof. Francis Ysidro Edgeworth [1845-1926];[1] Acquired 1929 by (Julius Böhler, Munich);[2] purchased 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York);[3] sold May 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] The catalogue of the 1930 exhibition in London gives the provenance as "Professor Edgeworth, Edgeworthstown, Ireland." A more detailed list of the previous owners is given in Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America, New York, 1941: no. 42. On the Edgeworth family see The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary, Part 1, Oxford, 1953: 384, and Part 2, Oxford, 1961: 131. Julius Böhler sent Joseph Duveen a postcard of "Edgeworthstown House" and wrote in the postscript to the accompanying letter: "I am sorry I cannot give you more than the enclosed postcard regarding the pedigree of the Domenico Veneziano. This is the place and the people the picture comes from. I know nothing more and the picture was the only picture in the place." (Copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 299, Folder 1, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).
[2] Böhler Inventory card no. 226-29, Getty Research Institute gives source as "Sarasota." (copy NGA curatorial file).
[3] Correspondence between Böhler and Joseph Duveen in the Duveen Brothers Records documents the purchase from the 1930 exhibition (copies in NGA curatorial files; Box 299, Folder 1, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).
[4] The Duveen Brothers letter confirming the sale of thirteen paintings and one sculpture, including NA 1939.1.221, is dated 18 May 1936; the provenance is given as "Prof. Edgeworth Coll'n" (copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 474, Folder 5, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1326.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1930

  • Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 115 (no. 110, pl. XLI in commemorative catalogue published 1931; not in souvenir catalogue).

1935

  • L'art italien de Cimbaue à Tiepolo, Petit Palais, Paris, 1935, no. 141.

2002

  • The Flowering of Florence, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2002, no. 1, repro.

Bibliography

1930

  • Gamba, Carlo. "Problemi artistici all’esposizione di Londra." Il Marzocco 35, no. 17 (1930): 2.

  • Suida, Wilhelm. “Die Austellung italienischer Kunst in London.” Belvedere 9 (1930): 36.

  • Clark, Kenneth. "Notes on the Italian Exhibition." Life and Letters 4 (1930): 98.

  • Constable, W. G. “Quelques aperçus suggérés par l’Exposition italienne de Londres.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th ser., no. 3 (1930): 287.

  • Mackowsky, Hans. “Austellung italienischer Kunst in London.” Der Cicerone 22 (1930): 100.

1931

  • Gamba, Carlo. “Dipinti fiorentini di raccolta americane all’esposizione di Londra.” Dedalo 11, no. 9 (February 1931): 583, 576, repro.

  • Gamba, Carlo. “Opere giovanili del Botticelli.” Bollettino d’arte 25 (1931-1932): 501.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl.199.

1934

  • Pudelko, Georg. “Studien über Domenico Veneziano.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 4 (January 1934): 145, 150 n. 1, 165-166, fig. 11.

  • Boeck, Wilhelm. “Domenico Veneziano.” Pantheon 13 (1934): 78, 84, repro.

1935

  • Serra, Luigi. "La mostra dell’antica arte italiana a Parigi: la pittura." Bollettino d’arte 29 (1935-1936): 33, 37, repro.

1937

  • Busuioceanu, Alexandru. “Una nuova Madonna di Domenico Veneziano.” L’Arte n.s. 8 (1937): 99-100.

1938

  • Kennedy, Ruth Wedgwood. Alesso Baldovinetti, a critical & historical study. New Haven, 1938: 5-7, 200 n. 6.

1940

  • Suida, Wilhelm. "Die Sammlung Kress: New York." Pantheon 26 (1940): 274.

1941

  • Richter, George Martin. "The New National Gallery in Washington." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 78 (June 1941): 177.

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 42, repro.

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 57, no. 332.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 246, repro. 98.

1944

  • Pope-Hennessy, John. “The Development of Realistic Painting in Siena-II.” The Burlington Magazine 84, no. 495 (June 1944): 144.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 30, repro.

1951

  • Clark, Kenneth. Piero della Francesca. London, 1951: 3.

1952

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 14, color repro.

  • Paccagnini, Giovanni. “Una proposta per Domenico Veneziano.” Bollettino d’arte 37 (1952): 118.

1953

  • D’Ancona, Paolo, and Maria Luisa Gengaro. Umanesimo e rinascimento. 3rd ed. Turin, 1953: 165-166.

1954

  • Berti, Luciano. “Notizia di Domenico Veneziano.” In Mostra di quattro maestri del primo Rinascimento. Exh. cat. Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 1954: 81.

1958

  • Wohl, Hellmut. “Domenico Veneziano Studies.” Ph.D. diss., New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 1958: 232-244, passim.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 57, repro.

  • Hartt, Frederick. “The Earliest Works of Andrea del Castagno: Part One.” The Art Bulletin 41 (June 1959): 178 n. 43.

1960

  • Wohl, Hellmut. "Domenico di Bartolomeo da Venezia." In Alberto Maria Ghisalberti, ed. Dizionario biografico degli italiani. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 40(1991): 608-609.

1961

  • Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 6, color repro.

  • Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 35, color repro. pl. 30.

  • Zeri, Federico. Due dipinti, la filologia e un nome. Turin, 1961: 45.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 298, repro.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:62. 2:pl.708.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 42.

  • Mallé, Luigi. “Appunti albertiani in margine al ‘Della pittura’.” Arte Lombarda 10 (1965): 215.

  • Bacci, Mina. Domenico Veneziano. Milan, 1965: pls. 8, 9.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:32, color repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 103, fig. 278.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 35, repro.

  • Shell, Curtis. “Domenico Veneziano. Two Clues.” In Festschrift Ulrich Middeldorf. 2 vols. Berlin, 1968: 1:150, 153, 154, pl. 85, fig. 4.

1969

  • Clark, Kenneth. Piero della Francesca. 2nd ed. London and New York, 1969: 11.

1971

  • Battisti, Eugenio. Piero della Francesca. 2 vols. Milan, 1971: 1:35.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 66, 645.

1974

  • Meiss, Millard. French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourgs and their Contemporaries. New York, 1974: 3, part 1:246.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 108, repro.

1977

  • Levi d'Ancona, Mirella. The Garden of the Renaissance: Botanical Symbolism in Italian Painting. Florence, 1977: 349.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:158-159; 2:pl. 112.

1980

  • Wohl, Hellmut. The Paintings of Domenico Veneziano. Oxford, 1980: 35, 75-76, 129, 133-134, pls. 132-136.

1981

  • Christiansen, Keith. “Review of Hellmut Wohl, Domenico Veneziano.” Apollo 114 (1981): 66.

1982

  • Christiansen, Keith. Gentile da Fabriano. London, 1982: 43.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 09, no. 49, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 131, repro.

1986

  • Frulli, Cristina. “Domenico Veneziano/Domenico di Bartolomeo.” In Federico Zeri, ed. La pittura in Italia. Il Quattrocento. 2 vols. Milan, 1986: 2:620.

1988

  • Kecks, Ronald G. Madonna und Kind. Das häusliche Andachtsbild im Florenz des 15. Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1988: 55, 75, 94-95, 97, repro.

1990

  • Christiansen, Keith. “Florence. Masaccio and the ‘pittura di luce.’” The Burlington Magazine 132 (October 1990): 739.

  • De Marchi, Andrea. “Domenico Veneziano.” In Luciano Bellosi, ed. Pittura di luce. Giovanni di Francesco e l’arte fiorentina di metà Quattrocento. Exh. cat. Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 1990: 68.

1991

  • Enescu, Theodor, ed. Paintings from the National Museum of Art in Bucharest. Exh. cat. Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, 1991: 26.

  • Paolieri, Annarita. Paolo Uccello, Domenico Veneziano, Andrea del Castagno. Florence, 1991: 53, 54, repro.

1992

  • Pons, Nicoletta. "Domenico Veneziano." In Saur. Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Munich and Leipzig, 119 vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1992-2023: 28(2001):409.

  • Bellosi, Luciano, ed. Una scuola per Piero: Luca, colore e prospettiva nella formazione fiorentina di Piero della Francesca. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 1992: 58, 71.

1993

  • Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 373, fig. 432.

1996

  • Christiansen, Keith. "Domenico Veneziano." In Jane Turner, ed. The Dictionary of Art. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 9:102.

  • Popescu, Grigore Arbore, ed. Da Antonello da Messina a Rembrandt: Capolavori d’arte europea dal Museo nazionale d’arte di Romania, Bucarest e dal Museo nazionale Brukenthal, Sibiu. Exh. cat. Museo della Permanente, Milan 1996: 26.

1997

  • Old Masters Brought to Light. Paintings from the National Museum of Art Romania. Exh. cat. Art Services International, Alexandria, VA, 1997: 34.

1999

  • Cavazzini, Laura, ed. Il fratello di Masaccio: Giovanni di Ser Giovanni detto lo Scheggia. Exh. cat. Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno, 1999: 43.

2003

  • Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 251-254, color repro.

2006

  • Fahy, Everett. "Early Italian paintings in Washington and Philadelphia." The Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1241 (August 2006): 538.

2010

  • Rowley, Neville. “Pittura di luce: La manière claire dans la peinture du Quattrocento.” Ph.D. Diss., Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2010: 145 n. 549, fig. 22

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: 306.

2013

  • Langhanke, Birgit. Die Madonnenreliefs im Werk von Antonio Rossellino. Ph.D. diss. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 2013: 250, n. 31.

2016

  • Paolucci, Antonio, et al, eds. Piero della Francesca: Indagine su un mito. Exh. cat. Museo San Domenico, Forlì, 2016: 98.

2017

  • Brilliant, Virginia. Italian, Spanish, and French Paintings in the Ringling Museum of Art. Sarasota, FL, and New York, 2017: xix.

2022

  • De Marchi, Andrea and Davide Civettini. Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino: Cristo di Dolori. Florence, 2022: 7, 40, n. 22.

Wikidata ID

Q3842467

You may be interested in

Loading Results