Provenance

Reportedly Trivulzio collection, Milan; [1] (Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, 1878-1955, Rome and Florence);[2] purchased 26 June 1935 by Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955), New York; [3] gift 27 September 1950 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] The information about the Trivulzio provenance is reported on the bill of sale from Alessandro Contini Bonacossi to Samuel H. Kress from 26 June 1935, as Sienese c. 1500.
[2] The bill of sale included sculptures, maiolicas, furniture, antique velvets, paintings, and enamels, for a total of one hundred objects. Copy in NGA curatorial files. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, (https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/acquisitions/ACQ143).
[3] A letter from A.M. Hind to NGA chief curator John Walker, NGA director, 12 June 1951, states that Hind first heard (from Alfred Frankfurter, editor of The Art News) of the Trivulzio nielli, with which this enamel was acquired, in Kress's hands in 1937. Marie-Madeleine Gauthier, in a letter to NGA curator Alison Luchs of 25 June 1984, mentions a sale of the Trivulzio collection in London, 6 June 1939; no catalogue has been located. Both letters are in NGA curatorial files.
[4] An affidavit of 21 August 1956 by Herbert L. Spencer, executive director, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, states the Trivulzio collection of nielli and enamels were given by Samuel H. Kress to the Foundation on 27 September 1950 (Kress no. 0-150/1-9); original in National Gallery of Art Archives. Secretary and General Counsel Records – Major Donor Files; copy in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1993

Wikidata ID

Q62286646