Madonna and Child in a Garden

c. 1460/1470

Cosmè Tura

Painter, Ferrarese, c. 1433 - 1495

A woman sits facing us on a stone bench with her hands in prayer over the head of a baby who sleeps, propped up between the woman’s knees in this vertical painting. The wood panel on which this is painted is framed by carved, curling gold vines encircling two small people in the upper corners. All the people have pale skin, and plate-like, shiny gold halos seem to rest atop the woman and child’s heads. The woman tilts her head to her left, our right, to look toward the baby with lowered eyes. Her skin is smooth and a translucent white cloth covers her head. She wears a cherry-red dress under a teal-blue cloak that falls in folds over her arms and legs, and pools around her shins and feet. She steeples her elongated fingers to touch in front of her chest. The baby wears a forest-green robe and has bare feet. He props his chin on crossed forearms, which rest on the woman’s left leg, to our right. He has blond, curly hair and delicate features. The woman sits on a stone bench with a base decorated with tan designs against a vivid orange background. Tufts of grass grow in a few areas near her feet and the bench in the dirt ground. A cloud of crimson-red, swirling forms, perhaps blossoms, behind the woman is flanked to each side by leafy, dark green bushes bearing green, round fruit. In a roundel made by the scrolling gold vine in the upper left is occupied by a winged angel facing our right in profile. The angel wears a plum-purple robe over a pine-green garment, and holds up the first two fingers of one hand, palm facing out. In the roundel in top right corner, a woman wearing a dark purple robe covering her head and body over a ruby-red dress sits facing our left in profile. She rests one hand on a book on a wooden desk in front of her and the other hand is raised, palm facing out. The background behind the roundels and the pair below is midnight blue.

Media Options

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

This work shows the Madonna and Child seated in a garden that represents Eden. The orange trees bloom with pure white flowers that symbolize Mary's virginity. An Annunciation scene appears in the raised and gilded foliate scrolls at the top of the painting.

Since antiquity, sleep was regarded as "the brother of death," and during the Renaissance, representations of the sleeping Christ Child were considered prefigurations of the death that he would suffer for mankind. In Cosmè Tura's painting, death is also foreshadowed by the stone sarcophagus on which Mary is seated.

Cosmè Tura is considered the first great painter in Renaissance Ferrara, a city in northern Italy. He spent most of his professional life in the service of the noble d'Este family, the dukes of Ferrara. Because Ferrara lacked strong artistic traditions, Cosmè was free to develop a very personal style. He may have been inspired by the works of Tuscan and Paduan artists, as well as by the Flemish, some of whose paintings figured in Ferrarese collections in the fifteenth century. In this early work, Cosmè showed an eccentric tendency to exaggerate human anatomy for expressive ends, as seen in the treatment of the Virgin's elongated hands. Purposeful distortions increase in his later works, which reverberate with spiritual and emotional fervor.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 13

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera (and possibly oil) on poplar panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 53.4 x 37.2 cm (21 x 14 5/8 in.)
    framed: 60.96 × 43.18 × 8.26 cm (24 × 17 × 3 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1952.5.29

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York).[1] Harold Irving Pratt [1877-1939] and Harriet Barnes Pratt [1879-1969], New York, by 1917 until at least 1939.[1] (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York); sold December 1943 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] The provenance of the painting in the 1939 World's Fair catalogue begins with "Joseph Duveen, Millbank," although no other source lists Duveen. The second name in the 1939 provenance in "Francis Kleinberger." The picture first came to public attention when Pratt exhibited it in 1917 at Francis Kleinberger's in New York, but there is no convincing evidence that Pratt actually acquired the work from Kleinberger's.
[2] The bill of sale was for two paintings, both of which had been in the Pratt collection (copy in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1356.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1917

  • Loan Exhibition of Italian Primitives, F. Kleinberger Galleries, New York, 1917, no. 78, repro.

1935

  • Italian Paintings of the Renaissance, The Century Association, New York, 1935, no. 16.

1939

  • Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 389.

  • An Exhibition of Italian Paintings and Drawings, Fogg Museum of Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1939, no. 40, as The Virgin and Child with The Annunciation.

1946

  • Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 827.

2000

  • The Gualenghi-d'Este Hours: Art and Devotion in Renaissance Ferrara, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2000, brochure, repro. of detail, and unnumbered catalogue, fig. 54.

2002

  • Cosmè Tura: Painting and Design in Renaissance Ferrara, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2002, no. 4, repro.

2007

  • Cosmè Tura e Francesco del Cossa. L'arte a Ferrara nell'età di Borso d'Este, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, 2007-2008, no. 55, repro.

2014

  • Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, 2014-2015, no. 15, repro.

Bibliography

1907

  • Gombosi, György. “Cosimo Tura.” In Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, eds. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 33(1939):482.

1925

  • Venturi, Adolfo. “Arte ferrarese del rinascimento.” L’Arte 29 (1925): 93-94, fig. 5.

1927

  • Venturi, Adolfo. Studi dal vero: Attraverso le racolte artistiche d’Europa. Milan, 1927: 156-158, fig. 93.

1931

  • Venturi, Adolfo. North Italian Painting of the Quattrocento. Emilia. Florence and New York, 1931: 40, pl. 26.

  • Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: pl.260.

  • Härtzsch, Otto. “Katalog der echten und falschlich zugeschriebenen Werke des Cosimo Tura.” Ph.D. diss., Hamburg University, 1931: 20-21.

1932

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932: 581.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl.344.

1934

  • Longhi, Roberto. Officina Ferrarese. Rome, 1934: 23-24, fig. 62.

1935

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. “Italian Paintings in Loan Display at Century Club.” Art News 33, no. 23 (1935): 11.

1936

  • Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936: 500.

1940

  • Härtzsch, Otto. “Cosimo Tura.” Pantheon 26 (1940): 161.

1941

  • Ortolani, Sergio. Cosmé Tura, Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de'Roberti. Milan, 1941: 20-25, 87, fig. 1.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 72, repro.

1946

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. Supplement to the Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1946: 34, color repro. frontispiece

1950

  • Nicolson, Benedict. The Painters of Ferrara. London, 1950: 18.

1951

  • Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 50 n. 1.

1952

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 42, color repro.

1953

  • Neppi, Alberto. Cosmè Tura: saggio critico. Milan, 1953: 43-44, 135.

1957

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 35.

  • Salmi, Mario. Cosmè Tura. Milan, 1957: 10-12, 24, 43, pl. 1.

1958

  • Ruhmer, Eberhard. Tura: Paintings and Drawings. London and New York, 1958: 27, 33-34, 173, figs. 32, 33.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 122, repro.

1960

  • Gilbert, Creighton. "Cosimo di Domenico di Bonaventura." In Alberto Maria Ghisalberti, ed. Dizionario biografico degli italiani. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 30(1984):29.

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: 48, colo repro. pl. 47.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 301, repro.

  • Bianconi, Pietro. Tutta la pittura di Cosmè Tura. Milan, 1963: 14, 36, pls. 1, 4.

1964

  • Bonicatti, Maurizio. Aspetti dell'Umanesimo nella pittura veneta dal 1455 al 1515. Rome, 1964: 17, fig. 24.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 132.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:60, color repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 81-82, fig. 225.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 119, repro.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:433.

1969

  • Guidoni, Enrico, and Angela Marino. “Cosmus Pictor. Il Nuovo organo di Ferrara: Armonia, storia, e alchimia della creazione.” Storia dell’Arte 4 (1969): 410.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 206, 646.

1974

  • Lipton, Deborah. "Francesco Squarcione." Ph.D. diss., New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 1974: 216.

  • Molajoli, Rosemarie. L'Opera completa di Cosmè Tura e i grandi pittori ferraresi del suo tempo: Francesco Cossa e Ercole de'Roberti. Milan, 1974: 84, fig. 2, pl. 2.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 352, repro.

1978

  • Boskovits, Miklós. “Ferrarese Painting around 1450: Some New Arguments.” The Burlington Magazine 120, no. 903 (June 1978): 377.

  • Riccomini, Eugenio. Cosmè Tura. I Maestri del colore. New ed. Milan, 1978: 5, 7.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:509-510; 2:pl. 356.

1981

  • Leighton, Patricia. “Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon.” Rutgers Art Review 2 (1981): 34, fig. 5.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 116, no. 97, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 403, repro.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 18, repro.

1993

  • Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 486, fig. 587.

  • Dorigato, Attilia. Carpaccio, Bellini, Tura, Antonello e altri restauri quattrocenteschi della Pinacoteca del Museo Correr. Exh. cat. Museo Correr, Venice, 1993: 61.

1996

  • Campbell, Stephen J. “Pictura and Scriptura: Cosmè Tura and Style as Courtly Performance.” Art History 19 (1996): 277-278, fig. 39.

  • Steinberg, Leo. The Sexuality of Christ in the Renaissance and in Modern Oblivion. 2nd rev. and expanded ed. Chicago, 1996: 294.

1997

  • Campbell, Stephen J. Cosme Tura of Ferrara: Style, Politics and the Renaissance City, 1450-1495. New Haven, 1997: 16, 18, fig. 9.

  • Barstow, Kurtis. "The Gualenghi-d'Este Hours": Art and Devotion in Renaissance Ferrara. Ph.D dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1997: viii, 22-23, 212 fig. I.9

  • Conradi, Katja. Malerei am Hofe der Este: Cosmè Tura, Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de’ Roberti. Hidesheim, 1997: 33-34, fig. 9.

1998

  • Visser Travagli, Anna Maria, and Giordana Mariani Canova with Federico Toniolo. La miniature a Ferrara dal tempo di Cosmè Tura all’eredità di Ercole de’ Roberti. Exh. cat. Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, 1998: 24, 29, 170, repro.

  • Manca, Joseph. “Boiardo and the Visual Arts in Ferrara: Comparisons and Convergences.” In Charles Ross and JoAnn Cavallo, eds. Fortune and Romance: Boiardo in America. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. Tempe, AZ, 1998: 264-265, fig. 3.

1999

  • Molteni, Monica. Cosmè Tura. Milan, 1999: 19, 23, 93-94, 191, 217, 232, repro.

2000

  • Manca, Joseph. Cosmè Tura: The Life and Art of a Painter in Estense Ferrara. Oxford, 2000: 23, 24, 61, 63, 84, 164-166, fig. 43, pl. XV.

  • Barstow, Kurt. The Gualenghi-d’Este Hours: Art and Devotion in Renaissance Ferrara. Getty Monograph Series. Los Angeles, 2000: 83-84, fig. 54.

2002

  • Dunkerton, Jill. “Cosmè Tura’s Painting Technique.” In Stephen J. Campbell et al. Cosmè Tura: Painting and Design in Renaissance Ferrara. Ed. Alan Chong. Exh. cat. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2002: 145.

  • Syson, Luke. “Tura and the ‘Minor Arts’: The School of Ferrara.” In Stephen J. Campbell et al. Cosmè Tura: Painting and Design in Renaissance Ferrara. Ed. Alan Chong. Exh. cat. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2002: 39-40.

  • Campbell, Lorne. “Cosmè Tura and Netherlandish Art.” In Stephen J. Campbell et al. Cosmè Tura: Painting and Design in Renaissance Ferrara. Ed. Alan Chong. Exh. cat. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2002: 92.

  • Toffanello, Marcello. “Cosmè Tura: Drawings and its Pictorial Components.” In Stephen J. Campbell et al. Cosmè Tura: Painting and Design in Renaissance Ferrara. Ed. Alan Chong. Exh. cat. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2002: 154, 157.

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: 656-660, color repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 26, no. 18, color repro.

2013

  • Acres, Alfred. _ Renaissance Invention and the Haunted Infancy_. London and Turnhout, 2013: 105-106, fig. 73.

Wikidata ID

Q20173787

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