Madonna and Child, with the Man of Sorrows [middle panel]

c. 1360

Nardo di Cione

Artist, Florentine, active from c. 1340; died 1365/1366

Two panels on a gilded, carved, wooden frame are swung open like shutters to show a bearded, gray-haired man wearing robes standing in each wing, on either side of panel with a pointed, arched top showing a woman holding a baby. In a three-lobed shape in the apex above the woman and child, a nude man crosses his arms over his chest. All the people have pale, ivory-colored skin. Gold halos encircle each person’s head and the background of all three panels is bright gold. The woman in the center panel is shown from the hips up with her body facing us. The deep blue mantle that drapes over her shoulders and her dusty rose-pink dress beneath are trimmed in gold. A sheer veil covers her wavy blond hair and a red, triangular form sits above her forehead like a diadem. She looks to our right with dark, almond-shaped eyes. She has a straight nose, her coral-pink lips are closed, and her smooth cheeks are lightly flushed with pale pink. She holds the child in the crook of her left arm, on our right, and rests her other hand in the baby’s lap. He has short, curly blond hair and looks directly at the woman. He reaches his right arm, farther from us, around his mother’s neck and hooks his other hand in the neckline of her dress. He wears a sheer shirt edged in gold, and the fabric draped around his hips is patterned with tangerine-orange and gold, with lapis-blue clover designs. He has rounded cheeks and a pudgy tummy, but his facial features and arms are scaled more like an adult. Twisted columns separate this central panel from the shutter-like panels to each side. A single person stands in each wing, filling most of the space, and both are angled and look towards the central panel. Both men have darker, olive-toned complexions, wear long robes trimmed in gold, and stand on floors patterned with orange, gold, and sparsely spaced royal blue diamond-shapes. The man to our left has short, steel-gray hair and a trimmed beard. Wrinkles line his forehead, and his brow is furrowed. He wears a topaz-blue, long sleeved garment under a honey-orange robe, the underside of which is ruby-red where it turns back over his wrists and shoulder. He holds a book with a dark cover up in his left hand, farther from us, and a large skeleton key in his other hand. In the right panel, a balding man has a fringe of long, gray hair and a flowing, full beard. His forehead is also creased with wrinkles and his brow is furrowed. The dark, olive-green lining of his rose-pink robe shows where it folds back at his neck, over his wrists, and down the front. His robe covers a topaz-blue garment as well. He holds a book, also with a dark cover, by his side with his left hand, closer to us, and holds up a feather quill with his opposite hand. The inner edges of each of the central panel and both wings are incised with bands of decorative floral and geometric designs punched into the gold backgrounds. In the pointed peak above the central panel, the nude man is shown from the waist up in a three-lobed, clover shape that would be visible even if the wings were closed. The man’s body faces us but his haloed head tips to his right, our left. He has a beard and long brown hair, and a hole dripping blood pierces the back of his left hand, visible on our right. The base of the tryptic is inscribed with gold letters in a dark field: “AVE GRATIA PLENA DO.”

Media Options

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This panel is part of a small triptych by one of the most sought-after artists in Florence: Nardo di Cione. It must have been a prized possession. The triptych was made to be used by its owner in private devotion, at home or even away: its size and folding wings made it portable. Because the wings, which close like shutters over the central image of the Virgin and Child, protected the painted surfaces, Nardo’s artistry has survived in excellent condition. We are able to appreciate to an unusual degree the lyrical delicacy of his style and the gemlike quality of his colors.

Also apparent is the high level of Nardo’s technical skill. Notice, for example, the diaphanous quality of Jesus’s shirt and Mary’s veil. Such effects were not easily achieved using the tempera paints employed by Nardo and his contemporaries. Tempera paints, made with pigment and egg yolk, were quick-drying and could not—like oils—be blended or built up in translucent layers on the surface of the panel. Instead, delicate, opaque brushstrokes—all but invisible—were set side by side. Shading was accomplished by light hatching or by juxtaposition of differing tones. Early tempera paintings are sometimes said to have a “linear” quality. In part, this derives from the hard contours that circumscribe painted objects and the lack of convincing tonal gradation from light to dark. By contrast, Nardo’s paintings demonstrate a delicate modeling of light, intermediate, and dark tones to grant his figures the impression of three-dimensional volume.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 1

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    painted surface: 45.1 × 26 cm (17 3/4 × 10 1/4 in.)
    overall: 75.6 × 30.2 cm (29 3/4 × 11 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.261.b

Associated Artworks

Two panels on a gilded, carved, wooden frame are swung open like shutters to show a bearded, gray-haired man wearing robes standing in each wing, on either side of panel with a pointed, arched top showing a woman holding a baby. In a three-lobed shape in the apex above the woman and child, a nude man crosses his arms over his chest. All the people have pale, ivory-colored skin. Gold halos encircle each person’s head and the background of all three panels is bright gold. The woman in the center panel is shown from the hips up with her body facing us. The deep blue mantle that drapes over her shoulders and her dusty rose-pink dress beneath are trimmed in gold. A sheer veil covers her wavy blond hair and a red, triangular form sits above her forehead like a diadem. She looks to our right with dark, almond-shaped eyes. She has a straight nose, her coral-pink lips are closed, and her smooth cheeks are lightly flushed with pale pink. She holds the child in the crook of her left arm, on our right, and rests her other hand in the baby’s lap. He has short, curly blond hair and looks directly at the woman. He reaches his right arm, farther from us, around his mother’s neck and hooks his other hand in the neckline of her dress. He wears a sheer shirt edged in gold, and the fabric draped around his hips is patterned with tangerine-orange and gold, with lapis-blue clover designs. He has rounded cheeks and a pudgy tummy, but his facial features and arms are scaled more like an adult. Twisted columns separate this central panel from the shutter-like panels to each side. A single person stands in each wing, filling most of the space, and both are angled and look towards the central panel. Both men have darker, olive-toned complexions, wear long robes trimmed in gold, and stand on floors patterned with orange, gold, and sparsely spaced royal blue diamond-shapes. The man to our left has short, steel-gray hair and a trimmed beard. Wrinkles line his forehead, and his brow is furrowed. He wears a topaz-blue, long sleeved garment under a honey-orange robe, the underside of which is ruby-red where it turns back over his wrists and shoulder. He holds a book with a dark cover up in his left hand, farther from us, and a large skeleton key in his other hand. In the right panel, a balding man has a fringe of long, gray hair and a flowing, full beard. His forehead is also creased with wrinkles and his brow is furrowed. The dark, olive-green lining of his rose-pink robe shows where it folds back at his neck, over his wrists, and down the front. His robe covers a topaz-blue garment as well. He holds a book, also with a dark cover, by his side with his left hand, closer to us, and holds up a feather quill with his opposite hand. The inner edges of each of the central panel and both wings are incised with bands of decorative floral and geometric designs punched into the gold backgrounds. In the pointed peak above the central panel, the nude man is shown from the waist up in a three-lobed, clover shape that would be visible even if the wings were closed. The man’s body faces us but his haloed head tips to his right, our left. He has a beard and long brown hair, and a hole dripping blood pierces the back of his left hand, visible on our right. The base of the tryptic is inscribed with gold letters in a dark field: “AVE GRATIA PLENA DO.”

Saint Peter [left panel]

Nardo di Cione

1360

Two panels on a gilded, carved, wooden frame are swung open like shutters to show a bearded, gray-haired man wearing robes standing in each wing, on either side of panel with a pointed, arched top showing a woman holding a baby. In a three-lobed shape in the apex above the woman and child, a nude man crosses his arms over his chest. All the people have pale, ivory-colored skin. Gold halos encircle each person’s head and the background of all three panels is bright gold. The woman in the center panel is shown from the hips up with her body facing us. The deep blue mantle that drapes over her shoulders and her dusty rose-pink dress beneath are trimmed in gold. A sheer veil covers her wavy blond hair and a red, triangular form sits above her forehead like a diadem. She looks to our right with dark, almond-shaped eyes. She has a straight nose, her coral-pink lips are closed, and her smooth cheeks are lightly flushed with pale pink. She holds the child in the crook of her left arm, on our right, and rests her other hand in the baby’s lap. He has short, curly blond hair and looks directly at the woman. He reaches his right arm, farther from us, around his mother’s neck and hooks his other hand in the neckline of her dress. He wears a sheer shirt edged in gold, and the fabric draped around his hips is patterned with tangerine-orange and gold, with lapis-blue clover designs. He has rounded cheeks and a pudgy tummy, but his facial features and arms are scaled more like an adult. Twisted columns separate this central panel from the shutter-like panels to each side. A single person stands in each wing, filling most of the space, and both are angled and look towards the central panel. Both men have darker, olive-toned complexions, wear long robes trimmed in gold, and stand on floors patterned with orange, gold, and sparsely spaced royal blue diamond-shapes. The man to our left has short, steel-gray hair and a trimmed beard. Wrinkles line his forehead, and his brow is furrowed. He wears a topaz-blue, long sleeved garment under a honey-orange robe, the underside of which is ruby-red where it turns back over his wrists and shoulder. He holds a book with a dark cover up in his left hand, farther from us, and a large skeleton key in his other hand. In the right panel, a balding man has a fringe of long, gray hair and a flowing, full beard. His forehead is also creased with wrinkles and his brow is furrowed. The dark, olive-green lining of his rose-pink robe shows where it folds back at his neck, over his wrists, and down the front. His robe covers a topaz-blue garment as well. He holds a book, also with a dark cover, by his side with his left hand, closer to us, and holds up a feather quill with his opposite hand. The inner edges of each of the central panel and both wings are incised with bands of decorative floral and geometric designs punched into the gold backgrounds. In the pointed peak above the central panel, the nude man is shown from the waist up in a three-lobed, clover shape that would be visible even if the wings were closed. The man’s body faces us but his haloed head tips to his right, our left. He has a beard and long brown hair, and a hole dripping blood pierces the back of his left hand, visible on our right. The base of the tryptic is inscribed with gold letters in a dark field: “AVE GRATIA PLENA DO.”

Saint John the Evangelist [right panel]

Nardo di Cione

1360

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Madonna and Child, with the Man of Sorrows [middle panel], c. 1360

This horizontal painting is made up of three parts: in the center square panel, a woman reclines under a wooden shelter set into a rocky cave, which is surrounded by angels, and narrower wings to either side are each occupied by a standing man. All the people have pale skin, which is tinged with faint green. The three panels are joined with a gold frame, and the gold background behind the central scene and the men in the side panels are covered with a noticeable network of cracks. In the central panel, a cobalt-blue robe nearly envelopes the reclining woman’s body; this is Mary. It covers her head and falls open where she crosses her wrists over her chest to show a pink garment underneath. A flat gold halo encircles her head ,and her body is surrounded by a field of crimson red, almost like an aura. She rests under a wooden structure with a pitched roof, which is surrounded by craggy, barren rock. A swaddled infant lies in a rectangular, tray-like manger. The infant’s head is also surrounded by a gold halo. Fine gold rays emanate down into the structure from a star just above the peak of the roof. A bull and a donkey look down at the baby from the far side of the manger. The interior of the structure behind them is black. In a smaller scale, two women wash a haloed infant in a tub in front of the rocky cave near the lower left corner of this panel. A man with a white beard and hair sits to our left of Mary, holding a pink cloak at his throat and looking toward the infant. Above and around the rocks, seven winged and haloed angels cluster on each side. One angel to the right presents a scroll with black writing to two men accompanied by a dog and several sheep in the lower right. The man in the panel to the left, Isaiah, has a gray beard and long, wavy hair, and he wears a lilac-purple cloak draped over a coral-orange robe. In his right hand, on our left, he holds an unfurled scroll with large black lettering. His other hand is raised with one finger pointing upward. He looks to our left, away from the central scene. On the right, Ezekiel, echoes Isaiah's pose. Ezekiel holds an open scroll with his left hand, on our right, and his other hand is raised. He also wears a coral-colored robe, but his is overlaid with a blue cloak. His receding hair is short and brown, as is his beard. Like Isaiah, he takes up most of the height of the panel and gazes to our left, toward the central panel.

Scholarly Series:  Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gustav Adolf Wilhelm von Ingenheim [1789-1855], who acquired it in the first half of the nineteenth century, probably in Italy;[1] Ingenheim family, Schloss Reisewitz, Silesia; sold 1922 to (A.S. Drey, Munich); sold 1923 to Henry Goldman [1856-1937], New York;[2] sold January 1937 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[3] sold 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] According to Richard Offner (A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century, Section IV, Vol. II, Nardo di Cione, New York, 1960: 24), who obtained the information from Dr. Manfred Graf von Ingenheim, a descendant of the collector, Count von Ingenheim “had acquired some of his paintings during his stay in Italy (1820–1840), and had received others as gifts from the king of Prussia.” Indeed, the center panel of the National Gallery’s triptych has a label on the reverse that reads, “Kaiser Friedrich Palais / Zimmer No. 251 / Lfde No. 39,” but the painting has not yet been located in an early catalogue of the Prussian royal collections. According to a contemporary report (Carl August Böttiger, “Gemäldesammlung des Grafen von Ingenheim.” Artistisches Notizenblatt [appendix to Abend Zeitung] 7 [1927]: 26-28), by 1827 the count had no fewer than seventy-eight select Italian Old Masters (“auserwählte Stücke italienischer Meister”) in his collection, which at that time was housed in Munich but was about to be transferred to Paris. Carl August Böttiger, who quotes the collector’s words, claims these paintings were purchased in Italy in the years 1816-1817 and 1822-1824.
[2] Offner 1960, 24.
[3] Letter, Henry Goldman to Duveen Brothers, 5 January 1937; copy in NGA curatorial files. Goldman confirms the sale to the company of nine paintings and one sculpture; Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 312, box 457, folder 4.
[4] Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, National Gallery of Art, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979, 1:342.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2008

  • L'eredità di Giotto. Arte a Firenze 1340-1375, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2008, no. 36, repro.

Bibliography

1907

  • Gronau, Hans Dietrich. "Nardo di Cione." In Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Edited by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 26(1932):40.

1923

  • Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 3(1924):655.

1924

  • Offner, Richard. "Nardo di Cione and His Triptych in the Goldman Collection." Art in America 12 (1924): 99, 101, 105-106, 111, fig. 1.

1927

  • Gommosi, Gyorgy. "Nardo di Cione és a Szépművészeti Múzeum somzée-féle Madaonnaja." Az Országos Magyar Szépművészeti Múzeum. Évkönyvei 5 (1927-1928): 16.

  • Offner, Richard. Studies in Florentine Painting: The Fourteenth Century. New York, 1927: 97, 100, 101, 103-105, fig. 1.

  • Offner, Richard. Italian Primitives at Yale University: Comments and Revisions. New Haven, 1927: 16.

1931

  • Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: no. 44, repro.

1932

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places. Oxford, 1932: 384.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 1:no. 54, repro.

1936

  • Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento: catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere con un indice dei luoghi. Translated by Emilio Cecchi. Milan, 1936: 330.

1937

  • Gronau, Hans Dietrich. Andrea Orcagna und Nardo di Cione: eine stilgeschichtliche Untersuchung. Berlin, 1937: 86 n. 152, 89.

1940

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

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 138, no. 372.

  • National Gallery of Art. Book of Illustrations. Washington, 1941: 154 (repro.), 241.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 247, repro. 157.

1944

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 52, repro. no. 83

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 14, repro., as Madonna and Child with Saints.

1947

  • Offner, Richard. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. V: Master of San Martino alla Palma; Assistant of Daddi; Master of the Fabriano Altarpiece. New York, 1947: 150, 296.

1949

  • Coletti, Luigi. "Il Maestro colorista di Assisi." Critica d’arte 8-9 (1949-1950): 447.

1951

  • Toesca, Pietro. Il Trecento. Storia dell’arte italiana, 2. Turin, 1951: 638 n. 159.

1958

  • Offner, Richard. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. VIII: Workshop of Bernardo Daddi. New York, 1958: 99, 115.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 21, repro.

1960

  • Offner, Richard. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. IV, Vol. II: Nardo di Cione. New York, 1960: iv, v, xiii, 23–25, 27, 83, 98, pls. IIIa–c.

1963

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:152.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 95.

1966

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 34, fig. 75.

1967

  • Klesse, Brigitte. Seidenstoffe in der italienischen Malerei des 14. Jahrhunderts. Bern, 1967: 294, 371.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 84, repro.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 146, 312, 418, 440, 645, 661.

  • "Nardo di Cione." 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: 8(1975):85.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 252, repro.

1978

  • Gealt, Adelheid Medicus. "Nardo di Cione’s Standing Madonna with the Child." The Minneapolis Institute of Art Bulletin 64 (1978-1980): 79 n. 7.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:342; 2:pl. 249.

1980

  • de Botton, Judith. "Notes sur Bartolomeo Bulgarini." Revue de l’art 48 (1980): 29 n. 5.

1982

  • Ladis, Andrew. Taddeo Gaddi: Critical Reappraisal and Catalogue Raisonné. Columbia, 1982: 75 fig. 43.

1983

  • Cole, Bruce. "Some Thoughts on Orcagna and the Black Death Style." Antichità viva 22, no. 2 (1983): 27-28, 36, fig. 1.

1984

  • Kotalíka, Jiřího, ed. Národní Galerie v Praze. Prague, 1984: 52.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 290, repro.

1991

  • Petrocchi, Stefano. "Nardo di Cione." In Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale. Edited by Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana. 12 vols. Rome, 1991-2002: 8(1997):650.

1992

  • Kreytenberg, Gert. "Cione, Nardo di." In Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Edited by Günter Meißner. 87+ vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1992+: 19(1998):262.

  • Ladis, Andrew. "The Reflective Memory of a Late Trecento Painter: Speculations on the Origins and Development of the Master of San Martino a Mensola." Arte cristiana 80 (1992): 328-329.

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: 1:176-178; 2:punch chart 6.10.

1995

  • Skerl Del Conte, Serena. Antonio Veneziano e Taddeo Gaddi nella Toscana della seconda metà del Trecento. Pasian di Prato (Udine), 1995: 108, fig. 63.

1996

  • Kreytenberg, Gert. "Cione." In The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane Turner. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 7:336.

1998

  • Frinta, Mojmír S. Punched Decoration on Late Medieval Panel and Miniature Painting. Prague, 1998: 50, 509.

  • Ladis, Andrew. "Richard Offner: The Unmaking of a Connoisseur " In A Discerning Eye: Essays on Early Italian Painting. Edited by Andrew Ladis. University Park, PA, 1998: 12.

2000

  • Kreytenberg, Gert. Orcagna, Andrea di Cione: ein universeller Künstler der Gotik in Florenz. Mainz, 2000: 173.

2001

  • Tartuferi, Angelo. Dal Duecento agli Orcagna: il restauro della Madonna col Bambino di ignoto fiorentino del Duecento e del trittico di Santa Maria degli Angeli di Nardo di Cione. Livorno, 2001: 68, 75 n. 32.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 13, no. 8, color repro.

  • Secrest, Meryle. Duveen: A Life in Art. New York, 2004: 466.

2005

  • Schmidt, Victor M. Painted Piety: Panel Paintings for Personal Devotion in Tuscany, 1250-1400. Florence, 2005: 68 n. 76.

2008

  • Tartuferi, Angelo, ed. L’eredità di Giotto: arte a Firenze 1340-1375. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2008: 16 (repro.), 168, repro. 169.

2009

  • Kanter, Laurence B. "Riconsiderazioni orcagnesche: due pannelli della collezione Crespi attribuiti al Maestro della Predella dell’Ashmolean Museum." In I fondi oro della collezione Alberto Crespi al Museo Diocesano: Questioni iconografiche e attributive. Edited by Museo Diocesano di Milano. Cinisello Balsamo (Milan), 2009: 55.

Inscriptions

on base of the frame: AVE.GRATIA.PLENA.DO[MINUS TECUM] (Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; from Luke 1:28)

Wikidata ID

Q20173218

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