The Marriage of the Virgin
c. 1490/1491
Artist, Cortonese, 1445/1450 - 1523
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 7
Artwork overview
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Medium
tempera on panel
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Credit Line
-
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