Provenance

Kaiser Friedrich Museum

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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.
Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, 1308-1311, tempera on single poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.8

The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel

Duccio di Buoninsegna · 1308-1311 · tempera on single poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.8

A woman supports a pudgy baby who sits on a stone ledge in this vertical painting. They both have pale skin, rosy cheeks, blond hair, and subtle halos made of gold dots. The woman’s body faces us, and her head tips to our left. She looks at us with brown eyes under delicate brows, and she has a straight nose, full cheeks, and her small, bow-shaped lips are slightly parted. A translucent white veil wraps around her hair and falls to her shoulders. Her rose-pink dress is pleated vertically down the front, and her lapis-blue cloak falls from her shoulders. Gold lettering lines the neckline of the dress and the full sleeves of the cloak. A gold star is painted on her right shoulder, to our left, and gold dots create shimmering highlights on her clothing. She braces the baby’s chest with one hand, and the other rests behind the forest-green pillow on which he sits. The child has small, light brown eyes, a delicate nose, and round cheeks. A white cloth wraps around his chest and falls across his lap. He holds onto the woman’s hand with one of his own, and his other hand grips the woman’s ring finger. The woman stands behind the ledge in front of a carved, round-topped niche. The niche is inset with laurel-green stone around a half shell that curves over her head. The upper corners and back of the niche below the shell are set with pink stone against the white molding.
Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child, c. 1440, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.290

Madonna and Child

Fra Filippo Lippi · c. 1440 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.290

Close to us, a bearded, balding man leads a donkey carrying a woman and child to our right against a hilly landscape in this horizontal painting. All three people have pale, peachy skin and halos. The man has a gray beard and hair, and wears a royal-blue tunic under a ruby-red robe. He leans on a walking stick and looks back at the donkey. The woman riding the donkey wears a blue and gold brocade-like cloak covering her head and body. She has a straight nose, small pink lips, and she looks toward the infant she holds close to her body. The baby wears a white garment and reaches for the woman’s face with one hand as he turns to look over his shoulder toward us. The path they walk on is lined with grass and detailed plants. A river runs parallel to the path a short distance away. The horizon line comes about two-thirds of the way up the painting is lined with green trees, blue mountains, and a few buildings to our left. Wispy white clouds sweep across an azure-blue sky streaked with peach near the horizon.
Vittore Carpaccio, The Flight into Egypt, c. 1515, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.28

The Flight into Egypt

Vittore Carpaccio · c. 1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.28

Florentine 15th Century, Sienese 15th Century, Fortuna, c. 1450/1475, bronze, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1957.14.9

Fortuna

Florentine 15th Century, Sienese 15th Century · c. 1450/1475 · bronze ·  Accession ID  1957.14.9