The Marriage of the Virgin

c. 1490/1491

Luca Signorelli

Artist, Cortonese, 1445/1450 - 1523

About twenty colorfully dressed people fill a long room behind an old man and young woman standing before a bishop in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale or ash-white skin, and their clothing is in shades of golden yellow, raspberry pink, pumpkin orange, teal, sea blue, or pea green. The men wear tunics and leggings or robes, and some have turbans or feathered hats. The women wear gowns and white or sheer head scarves. The man at the center of the composition, the bishop, wears a pearl-white robe and conical mitre hat. His white hair falls past his shoulders, and he has a long, curly beard. A balding, bearded man and young woman with honey-blond hair stand in front of him. Each has traces of gold halos around their heads. They face each other, and each reaches out one hand, which the bishop in turn holds. The groups of men to our left and women to our right look in all directions, though few look at the couple at the center. An older woman at the rightmost edge of the group stands out. Her gray-toned face is lined, and she wears a black robe. Her eyes are screwed shut, her mouth downturned, and she holds up one hand, palm out. One man in the group to our left plays a lute and others break sticks. More broken sticks are strewn on the ground around the men. The walls of the room are pale lavender or plum purple.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 7

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 21.6 x 48 cm (8 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.)
    framed: 34.6 x 61 x 5.1 cm (13 5/8 x 24 x 2 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.9.39

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Thomas Blayds, London; (his sale, Christie & Manson, London, 30-31 March 1849, 1st day, no. 81, as The Birth of St. John; and the companion); Harris.[1] Edward Habich [1818-1901], Kassel, probably from the 1890s;[2] presented 1900 to the Königliche Gemäldegalerie, Kassel;[3] sold around 1920;[4] Rudolf Chillingworth, Nürnberg; (his sale, Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, 5 September 1922, no. 111, in same lot as Presentation of Virgin);[5] (Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam), by 1930; Desirée Goudstikker von Saher, from 1949.[6] (Piero Tozzi [1882-1974], New York);[7] sold February 1955 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[8] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] The buyer's name at the Blayds sale appears in an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Getty Library, Los Angeles (copy in NGA curatorial files).
[2] According to Oscar Eisenmann, Ausgewählte Handzeichnungen alterer Meister aus der Sammlung Edward Habich zu Cassel, Lübeck, 1890: n.p., preface, Habich built up his collection in 1880s. At the time of the 1892 sale of his collection (see Katalog der ausgewählten und reichhaltigen Gemälde-Sammlung des Rentners Herrn Edward Habich zu Cassel, sale catalogue, Haberle, Cologne, 9-10 May 1892), the NGA painting was apparently not yet in his possession.
[3] The date of the donation is given in Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Cassel, Amtliche Ausgabe Berlin, 1913: 63. Girolamo Mancini, Luca Signorelli, Florence, 1903, is the first to cite the painting as belonging to the Kassel Gallery.
[4] Miklós Boskovits, author of the NGA systematic catalogue entry on the painting, could not find any record of the sale, which probably occurred in the years of Germany's economic and political crisis just after World War I.
[5] About Chillingworth and the sale of his collection, see Catalogue de la Collection Chillingworth, Tableaux anciens, XIIIe-XVIIe siècles, 1922: 5 (for the sale held at the Grand Hotel National in Lucerne under the direction of Galeries Fischer, Lucerne, and Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 5 September 1922), and "Versteigerung--Ergebnisse in Luzerne," Kunstchronik Kunstmarkt 33 (1922): 49-50.
[6] See Catalogue des Nouvelles Acquisitions de la Collection Goudstikker, a catalogue for an exhibition shown in Amsterdam and Rotterdam November 1930 and January 1931 (no. 39 in the series of catalogues published by the dealer Jacques Goudstikker). The NGA painting is no. 2585 in Goudstikker's personal record of the works of art he acquired, his so-called "Black Book," which indicates the dealer owned a half share of the painting with Dr. Hans Wenland (original in the Archive of Jacques Goudstikker and Desi Goudstikker-Halban, Amsterdam City Archives; copy in NGA curatorial files). The Goudstikker firm and most of its contents were sold in July 1940 to Alois Miedl, an agent of Hermann Goering, to whom Miedl subsequently sold some of the inventory. However, the July 1940 contract for the sale of the firm specifically noted that any works of art in which third parties held interest were not included in the sale (see C.I.R. #2 - The Goering Collection, 1945; Consolidated Interrogation Reports, 1945; Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas, 1942-1946 [RG 239]; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington; RG239/Entry73/Box 80; copy in NGA curatorial files). The Goudstikker firm continued to operate throughout World War II under Miedl's direction. According to documents in the Dutch State Archives, the NGA painting was not sold to Goering. It was discovered in one of Miedl's buildings in the Netherlands after the war and returned to Goudstikker's widow, Desirée Goudstikker von Saher, on 18 May 1949 (Dutch State Archives ARA, NBI 857, nr. 7, copy in NGA curatorial files; see also letter dated 24 March 1999 from the Inspectie Cultuurbezit of the Netherlands, in NGA curatorial files.)
[7] Possibly on half share with Aquavella Galleries, New York, according to Tozzi card no. 147, The Tozzi Archive, The Onassis Library for Hellenic and Roman Art, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (copy in NGA curatorial files).
[8] The bill from Piero Tozzi to the Kress Foundation is dated 9 February 1955 (see copy in NGA curatorial files and The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2240).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1930

  • Nouvelles Acquisitions de la Collection Goudstikker, Heerengracht 458, Amsterdam; Kunstkrinig, Rotterdam, 1930-1931, no. 69, repro.

1934

  • Italiaansche Kunst in Nederlandsch Bezit, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1934, no. 339.

2012

  • Luca Signorelli "de ingegno et spirito pelegrino", Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, 2012, no. 36, repro.

Bibliography

1901

  • Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 7, part 2(1913): 409 n.

1903

  • Mancini, Girolamo. Vita di Luca Signorelli. Florence, 1903: 182.

1909

  • Berenson, Bernard. The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance. 2nd ed. New York, 1909: 248.

1910

  • Eisenmann, Oscar. Kurzes Verzeichnis der Gemälde in der Königlichen Galerie zu Cassel. 2nd ed. Kassel, 1910: 37, no. 480b.

1913

  • Katalog der Königlichen Gemäldegalerie au Cassel. Berlin, 1913: 63, no. 480b.

1921

  • Venturi, Adolfo. Luca Signorelli. Florence, 1921-1922: 64.

1922

  • Beirmann, Georg. “Die Sammlung Chillingworth Verstiegerung Am 5. September in Luzern.” Der Cicerone 14 (1922): 661.

  • “Die Verteigerung der Sammlung Chillingworth.” Der Cicerone 14 (1922): 568.

  • “Versteigerung—Ergebnisse in Luzern.” Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt 33 (1922): 950.

1923

  • Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 16(1937):54.

1927

  • Dussler, Luitpold. Luca Signorelli. Des Meisters Gemälde. Stuttgart, 1927: 168, 211, repro.

1934

  • Marle, Raimond van. “La pittura antica all’esposizione d’arte antica italiana d’Amsterdam.” Bollettino d’Arte 28 (1934-1935): 309-310.

1953

  • Salmi, Mario. Luca Signorelli. Novara, 1953: 17, 50-51.

  • Mostra di Luca Signorelli. Exh. cat. Cortona and Florence, 1953: 23, 35.

  • Dussler, Luitpold. “Review of the Signorelli Exhibition at Cortona.” Kunstchronik 6 (1953): 304.

  • Salmi, Mario. “Chiosa Signorelliana.” Commentari 4 (1953): 111.

  • Salvini, Roberto. “La mostra del Signorelli.” Bollettino d’Arte 38 (1953): 284.

1954

  • Ragghianti, Carlo L. “Review of the Signorelli Exhibition at Cortona.” Critica d’Arte 7 (1954): 97.

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: 168, no. 66, repro.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 91, repro.

1964

  • Scarpellini, Pietro. Luca Signorelli. Florence, 1964: 143.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 122.

1966

  • European Art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. A Catalogue. Richmond, VA, 1966: 14.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 109, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 96, fig. 231.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:401.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 188, 647.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 326, repro.

1978

  • Carli, Enzo. Volterra nel Medioevo e nel Rinascimento. Pisa, 1978: 95.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:428-429; 2:pl. 307.

1980

  • Carli, Enzo. La Pinacoteca di Volterra. Pisa, 1980: 60.

1982

  • Brigstocke, Hugh. “Lord Lindsay as a Collector.” Bulletin of the J. Rylands University Library of Manchester 64, no. 2 (Spring 1982): 293.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 108, no. 83, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 372, repro.

1989

  • Paolucci, Antonio. La Pinacoteca a Volterra. Florence, 1989: 134.

1991

  • Gizzi, Corrado, ed. Signorelli e Dante. Exh. cat. Castello Gizzi, Torre de’ Passeri, 1991: 302.

2000

  • Yeide, Nancy H. "Behind the Lines: Lessons in Nazi-Era Provenance Research." Museum News 79, no. 6 (November/December 2000): 51, repro.

  • Weston-Lewis, Aidan, ed. ’A Poet in Paradise.’ Lord Lindsay and Christian Art. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2000: 88.

2002

  • Kanter, Laurence B., and Tom Henry. Luca Signorelli: The Complete Paintings. Milan, 2002: 116, 178-179, cat. 26.

2003

  • Boskovits, Miklós, David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2003: 637-642, color repro.

2012

  • Henry, Tom. The Life and Art of Luca Signorelli. New Haven and London, 2012: 110, fig. 105.

2023

  • Henry, Tom, ed. Signorelli 500: Maestro Luca da Cortona, pittore di luce e poesia. Exh. cat. Palazzo Casali-MAEC, Cortona, 2023: 127.

Wikidata ID

Q20174529

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