Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, Saint Peter, and Two Angels

c. 1290

A woman and child sit on a throne against a shiny gold background in this vertical panel painting. Two winged angels in the upper corners and two men in the lower corners are about half the size of the woman and child. They all have pale skin with pink cheeks and gold halos. The woman’s head tilts to our right, and she looks off over our right shoulder with hazel eyes. She has a narrow nose, and her lips are set in a line. Her brows angle downward and her chin pulls back, creating a slightly distorted triangular face. A marine-blue mantle covers her head and wraps around a blush-pink robe. The child sits upright with his body facing us and his head turned to look to our left. He has short, light brown hair with light brown eyes, and he wears a scarlet-red robe with a dusty rose-pink mantle draped over one shoulder and across his lap. He points to our left with one hand and holds a white scroll lined with black in the other. They sit on a wide, rust-red seat with a tomato-red cushion. The angels in the upper corners hold up a cloth patterned with garnet-red flowers and black and gold pinwheels behind the pair. The angel on the left wears a muted pink cloak over a sage-green robe, and the other angel wears a bone-white cloak over pink. The two men standing in the lower corners look up at the woman and child. The man on the left has long brown hair and beard and wears a muted pink robe over a long, furry garment. He holds a long scroll in his right hand, on our left. The abbreviated writing on the scroll reads, “ECE AGNU DEI: UI.” The man in the lower right is balding and has a gray beard. He wears an orange cloak wrapped around a dark blue robe. Two gold keys hang on red thread in his left hand, on our right. The panel has a wide, cranberry-red border decorated with black and gold stylized flowers and vines.

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This small painting is less than 10 inches across, and it was surely made for the private devotions of the person who owned it. That the owner was of modest means is suggested not only by the painting’s size but also by the limited use of gilding. The area of the gold background is relatively small, and the frame, which is carved from the panel, is not gilded at all. Instead, it is painted red and bears a simple decoration of daisies linked in a chain. Daisies were sometimes symbolic of the blessed souls in heaven or of Christ’s Incarnation.

The painting’s execution is quick, even cursory. The artist, whose identity remains unknown, has used a shorthand technique for rendering the mouths of the Virgin and the blessing Christ, as well as the subsidiary figures, using only dark lines at the corners. The folds of Jesus’s robe have an almost metallic angularity. Nevertheless, the Virgin’s eyes convey wistfulness as she considers the future of her son, whom she presents to the spectator; and the wildness of John the Baptist, on the left, is lively and direct. The artist probably trained in the orbit of Cimabue, who softened the abstraction and stylization inherited from Byzantine art.

The composition is a variant of the type of the Hodegetria Virgin, a type that originated in Byzantium and is found in many of the Gallery's Madonnas of this period (the Byzantine Enthroned Madonna and Child and Lippo Memmi’s Madonna and Child with Donor are just two). The Virgin, “She Who Points the Way,” does not point towards her Son as “the Way,” as in the Byzantine prototype. In presenting him to the viewer instead, her affectionate maternal role has priority over her more impersonal function within the Church.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 1

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    painted surface (original panel including painted frame): 34.3 × 24.7 cm (13 1/2 × 9 3/4 in.)
    overall (including added wooden strips): 36 × 26 cm (14 3/16 × 10 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1952.5.60

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, Saint Peter, and Two Angels, c. 1290

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

Church of San Francesco, Pisa; Carlo Lasinio [1759-1838], Pisa;[1] possibly Francis Douce [1757-1834], London, by 1829;[2] Mrs. Fanshaw; (sale, Christie & Manson, London, 21 March 1835, no. 80).[3] (country sale, Patterdale Hall, Ullswater, near Penrith, Cumbria, 8 August 1934); (P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London); sold 8 April 1935 to (Gualtiero Volterra, Florence);[4] (Count Alessandro Contini-Bonaccossi, Florence), by 1935; sold 1948 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[5] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] Wilhelm Suida (letter dated August 1935; copy in NGA curatorial files) and Roberti Longhi (“Giudizio sul Duecento,” Proporzioni 2 [1948]: 16) could still read “Lasinio’s inscription” on the back of the panel, according to which the painting came from the “Sacristy of S. Francesco at Pisa [and] is Cimabue’s work”. This inscription must clearly have been in Italian and written on a paper label glued onto the wood, as usually was the case with paintings subjected to Lasinio’s expertise. It would also have been accompanied by the customary wax seal of the Pisan collector and dealer; see the back of panels 40559 and 40560 in the Pinacoteca Vaticana (Francesco Rossi, Catalogo della Pinacoteca Vaticana. Vol. 3: Il Trecento. Umbria, Marche, Italia del Nord, Vatican City, 1994: figs. 105, 108) and that of no. 174 in the Museo Amedeo Lia at La Spezia (Federico Zeri and Andrea De Marchi, La Spezia. Museo Civico Amedeo Lia. Dipinti, Milan, 1997: fig. 376). The label of the NGA painting was lost during its restoration in 1948 (typewritten note in the NGA curatorial files); however the examination report of the NGA Painting Conservation Department, 21 July 1988, states that “…x–radiographs both before and after the cradling show a dense circular area to the right of the Virgin’s head, which may be a seal or stamp on the reverse of the panel.”
[2] Donata Levi ("Carlo Lasinio, curator, collector and dealer," The Burlington Magazine 135 (1993): 133-148) points out that in 1829 Lasinio offered Francis Douce a series of paintings, illustrated with a sketch representing fourteen panels of Italian masters. The last of these, reproduced at the bottom right of the sheet (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms Douce d 57, fol. 84; fig. 86 in Levi’s article), is identified with the caption “Madonna di Cimabue / 1200”, but unfortunately in this case Lasinio failed to provide any sketch of the composition. Dillian Gordon (National Gallery Catalogues. The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, London, 2003: 32-36) has identified the panel that Lasinio attributed to Cimabue, which together with the others was presumably sold to Douce in 1830, with a small painting, a genuine work of Cimabue acquired by the National Gallery in London (inv. 6583). Gordon’s proposal is, of course, a hypothesis based on the small dimensions of the work and Lasinio’s attribution to the Florentine artist. There is, however, no evidence that the London painting was ever in Lasinio’s collection and, in any case, as the same scholar remarks, “the small label on the back (£ 6.15.4’) strongly suggests that it was acquired in England.” Thus, the alternative identification of Lasinio's "Cimabue" with the NGA panel also may be hypothesized.
[3] A Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Italian, French, Flemish Dutch and English Pictures…The Property of Charles John West etc.. Lots 75-90 in this catalogue, indicated as the “property of a Lady”, were, as the archives of Christie’s in London advised NGA systematic catalogue author Miklòs Boskovits, the paintings from the collection of Mrs. Fanshaw. Dorothy Lygon and Francis Russell (“Tuscan Primitives in London Sales: 1801 - 1837,” The Burlington Magazine 122 [1980]: 113) identify the woman as a Miss Fanshawe, “…one of three sisters who lived in Berkeley Square and knew Thomas Hope…”
[4] In his letter of 16 May 1963 to John Walker (in NGA curatorial files), James Byam Shaw states that Mayer, his former partner in the Colnaghi firm, had purchased the painting “at a country sale” on 8 August 1934, and then he himself resold it on 8 April of the following year “to Volterra the Italian dealer”, clearly a reference to Gualtiero Volterra, Contini-Bonaccossi's agent in London.
[5] As was his habit, Contini-Bonaccossi sought advice about the painting he had acquired by consulting the most highly respected experts of Italian painting of the day. Of these, Wilhelm Suida's and Giuseppe Fiocco's opinions (copies in NGA curatorial files) are dated August 1935 and were written in Florence, where the painting evidently was located at that time. The painting was eventually taken to New York and is one of twenty-eight works listed in the purchase offer addressed to the count by the Kress Foundation on 7 June 1948, and accepted by him on 11 July 1948 (copies in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1369.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1941

  • Coletti, Luigi. I Primitivi. 3 vols. Novara, 1941-1947: 1(1941):33-34.

1948

  • Longhi, Roberto. "Giudizio sul Duecento." Proporzioni 2 (1948): 16, 45, pls. 19-20.

  • Pope-Hennessy, John. "Review of Proporzioni II by Roberto Longhi." The Burlington Magazine 90 (1948): 360.

1949

  • Garrison, Edward B. Italian Romanesque Panel Painting: An Illustrated Index. Florence, 1949: 18, 100 (no. 251 A), repro.

1950

  • Salvini, Roberto. "Postilla a Cimabue." Rivista d’arte 26 (1950): 54.

1951

  • Galetti, Ugo, and Ettore Camesasca. Enciclopedia della pittura italiana. 3 vols. Milan, 1951: 1:672.

  • Brandi, Cesare. Duccio. Florence, 1951: 135 n. 13.

1954

  • Volpe, Carlo. "Preistoria di Duccio." Paragone 5, no. 49 (1954): 18.

1955

  • Ragghianti, Carlo Ludovico. Pittura del Dugento a Firenze. Florence, 1955: 124, 127, fig. 191.

1956

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 50, no. 16, repro., as by Cimabue.

  • Samek Ludovici, Sergio. Cimabue. Milan, 1956: 24, 32, pls. 8-9.

1958

  • Salvini, Roberto. "Cimabue." In Enciclopedia Universale dell’Arte. Edited by Istituto per la collaborazione culturale. 15 vols. Florence, 1958-1967: 3(1960):472.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 15, repro., as by Cimabue.

1960

  • Bologna, Ferdinando. "Un capolavoro giovanile di Duccio." Paragone 11, no. 125 (1960): 9-10, 25 n. 7, 27 n. 16.

  • Boskovits, Miklós. "Cenni di Pepe (Pepo), detto Cimabue." In Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Edited by Alberto Maria Ghisalberti. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 23(1979):542.

1963

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:50.

  • Battisti, Eugenio. Cimabue. Milan, 1963: 109, fig. 35.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 28.

1966

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 5-6, fig. 9.

  • Michener, James A. “Four Miracles—And A Masterpiece.” Reader’s Digest 89 (November 1966): 164.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 21, repro.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 54, 311, 410, 646, 665.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 70, repro.

  • Sindona, Enio. L’opera completa di Cimabue e il momento figurativo pregiottesco. Milan, 1975: 117, 118, fig. 49.

1976

  • Boskovits, Miklós. Cimabue e i precursori di Giotto: affreschi, mosaici e tavole. Florence, 1976: n.p. [9], no. 22.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:133-134; 2:pl. 93.

1980

  • Lygon, Dorothy, and Russell Francis. "Tuscan Primitives in London Sales: 1801-1837." The Burlington Magazine 122 (1980): 113, 116.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 89, repro.

  • Tartuferi, Angelo. "Pittura fiorentina del Duecento." In La Pittura in Italia. Le origini. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo. Milan, 1985: 236, 240 n. 43.

1986

  • Tartuferi, Angelo. "Pittura fiorentina del Duecento." In La Pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo. 2 vols. Milan, 1986: 1:278, 282 n. 41.

1987

  • Marques, Luiz. La peinture du Duecento en Italie centrale. Paris, 1987: 5, 107, 135, 244 n. 173, 282, pl. C.

1988

  • Tartuferi, Angelo. "Un libro e alcune considerazioni sulla pittura del Duecento in Italia centrale." Arte cristiana 76 (1988): 434, 440 n. 26.

1990

  • Grabski, Józef, ed. Opus Sacrum: Catalogue of the Exhibition from the Collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson. Exh. cat. Zamek Królewski, Warsaw, 1990. Vienna, 1990: 30.

  • Tartuferi, Angelo. La pittura a Firenze nel Duecento. Florence, 1990: 47, 49, 57 no. 56, fig. 180.

1992

  • Hall, Nicholas H. J., ed. Colnaghi in America: A Survey to Commemorate the First Decade of Colnaghi, New York. New York, 1992: 134.

  • Tartuferi, Angelo. "Cimabue." In Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Edited by Günter Meissner. 87+ vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1992+: 19(1998):223.

1993

  • Levi, Donata. "Carlo Lasinio, Curator, Collector and Dealer." The Burlington Magazine 135 (1993): 147.

1994

  • Carli, Enzo. La pittura a Pisa dalle origini alla Bella Maniera. Pisa, 1994: 23.

1995

  • Ciatti, Marco, and Cecilia Frosinini, eds. La Madonna di San Giorgio alla Costa di Giotto: studi e restauro. Problemi di conservazione e restauro 3. Florence, 1995: 36.

1998

  • Bellosi, Luciano. Cimabue. Edited by Giovanna Ragionieri. 1st ed. Milan, 1998: 163-164, 241 n. 41, 251, 267, 289.

  • Labriola, Ada. "Gaddi, Gaddo." In Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Edited by Alberto Maria Ghisalberti. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 51(1998):155.

2000

  • Labriola, Ada. "Lo stato degli studi su Cimabue e un libro recente." Arte cristiana 88 (2000): 344.

2002

  • Giorgi, Silvia. "Azzo di Mazzetto." In La pittura in Europa. Il Dizionario dei pittori. Edited by Carlo Pirovano. 3 vols. Milan, 2002: 1:39.

2003

  • Boskovits, Miklós, and Angelo Tartuferi, eds. Dipinti. Vol. 1, Dal Duecento a Giovanni da Milano. Catalogue of the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence.1st ed. Florence, 2003: 227.

2004

  • Tartuferi, Angelo, and Mario Scalini, eds. L’arte a Firenze nell’età di Dante (1250-1300). Exh. cat. Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, 2004: 116.

2005

  • Wollesen, Jens T. Hasten to My Aid and Counsel: The Answers of the Pictures. Private Devotional Panel Painting in Italy around 1300. New York, 2005: 87-88, 182-183, 257 fig. 61.

2006

  • Morozzi, Luisa. "Da Lasinio a Sterbini: ‘primitivi’ in una raccolta romana di secondo Ottocento." In AEIMNEΣTOΣ. Miscellanea di studi per Mauro Cristofani. 2 vols. Edited by Benedetta Adembri. Florence, 2006: 2:915 n. 30.

  • Flora, Holly. Cimabue and Early Italian Devotional Painting. New York, 2006: 38 n. 89.

2007

  • Boskovits, Miklós. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. Sec. I, Vol. II: The Mosaics of the Baptistery of Florence. Florence, 2007: 214 n. 174.

2012

  • Evans, Lisa. "Anomaly or Sole Survivor? The Impruneta Cushion and Early Italian 'Patchwork'." Medieval Clothing and Textiles 8 (2012): 144-152, fig. 7.5

2016

  • Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 378-384, color repro.

Inscriptions

on the scroll held by Saint John the Baptist: E[C]CE / AGNU[S] / DEI:[ECCE] / [Q]UI [TOLLIT PECCATUM MUNDI] (from John 1:29)

Wikidata ID

Q15974343

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