Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi

Italian, 1878 - 1955

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Shown from the lap up, a young woman sits facing us as she cradles a plump baby in her lap in this square painting. They both have pale, peachy skin and blond hair. They are softly lit from the upper left, and the background behind them is inky black. A sea-blue cloth drapes over the woman’s head and across her shoulders. Its top edge is rolled back slightly, revealing tendrils of long, wavy hair framing her face. A thin gold line creates a delicate halo around head. Her scarlet-red gown is gathered and belted high above the waist. A cobalt-blue mantle lined with pumpkin orange drapes down over her shoulders, the arm of her chair, and her lap. She tilts her head slightly to our left, and lowers her eyes to gaze at or toward the child. She holds his torso with her right hand, to our left, and rests her other hand across his ankles. The child wears a dove-gray tunic with rolled up sleeves. His short hair lies in flat swirls, and his chubby cheeks are tinged with pale pink. Clusters of short gold rays fan out from the top and sides of his head. He fingers the hem of his tunic with his left hand as he turns his upper body to his right, our left, to pluck a carnation with tan, spiky petals on a long, thin green stem with his other. This carnation and at least one other with a wine-red center is held in a wide, squat, cream-white vase decorated with fern-green scallops and leaves.
Bernardino Luini, The Madonna of the Carnation, c. 1515, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.152

The Madonna of the Carnation

Bernardino Luini · c. 1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.152

Andrea della Robbia, Italian 16th Century, Saint Peter, c. 1900/1925 (figure); c. 1550 (framing garland), glazed terracotta, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.329

Saint Peter

Andrea della Robbia, Italian 16th Century · c. 1900/1925 (figure); c. 1550 (framing garland) · glazed terracotta ·  Accession ID  1939.1.329

Three women, two men, and a baby sit on or stand near a throne with a curved top in this vertical painting. All the people have light, peachy skin. A younger woman, Mary, holds a nude baby as she sits on the lap of a second woman, Saint Anne, on the throne. The edges of Saint Anne’s white habit are visible along her forehead and across her neck, and she wears a raspberry-pink robe covering her head, shoulders, and arms. She holds both hands out, with her right hand, to our left, palm down. She looks off to our left, and her lips are parted. On her lap, Mary’s blond hair is pulled back, and she wears a ruby-red dress under a lapis-blue robe. She looks down at the baby who sits on her right knee, to our left. The baby also has blond hair, and he reaches for the hand of a third woman kneeling next to him, to our left. That woman’s reddish-blond hair is pulled back, and she wears a golden yellow wrap over a spruce-green dress. A red cloth hangs down her back and pools over the back of her bent knees and legs. She looks down at her right hand as the baby holds the third finger. The two men stand to either side of the throne. Both have bald heads, each with a ring of hair, and they are cleanshaven. The one to our left stands just behind the kneeling woman, and wears a moss-green, hooded robe with loose sleeves. He holds one hand to his chest, and a faint wound is visible on the back of his palm. The man on the other side faces the throne in profile facing our left. He wears a black cape wrapped around a white robe. He holds a book in one hand and a long stem of white flowers in the other. The throne sits in front of a shadowed, rounded niche. It is lined with a garland dotted with fruit, possibly oranges and lemons. Behind Saint Anne’s head, a gold circle is held up by two winged angels. Along the base of the throne, an oval medallion sits against a design of scrolls and flowers. The medallion shows a person kneeling on a box and another with a sword raised. The throne sits on two steps. On the steps near the kneeling woman are a gold crown, a sword with a gold hilt, and a bit of a broken, wooden wheel.
Correggio, The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, 1510/1515, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.83

The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine

Correggio · 1510/1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.83

North Italian 14th Century, Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait, c. 1380/1400, repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.191

Costume Ornament with Profile Portrait

North Italian 14th Century · c. 1380/1400 · repoussé silver, gilded, and translucent enamel, attached to a strip of velvet ·  Accession ID  1961.9.191

Marco Zoppo, Saint Peter, c. 1468, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.271

Saint Peter

Marco Zoppo · c. 1468 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.271

A light-skinned woman and winged boy face each other in a verdant landscape in this horizontal painting. The pair are in the center of the composition. To our left, the woman sits in profile on a moss-green stump, facing our right in profile. She wears a tall diadem over her hip-length blond hair, and her lips are parted. She wears a shell-pink, short-sleeved gown with soft pleats. Her far leg is bent with her foot on the ground, and her near leg is slightly extended. To our right, the boy steps toward and reaches for the woman. He is nude except for a white sash that wraps around his far shoulder, across his back, under his gold wing, and around his near thigh. The ends of the sash fly out behind him. Around them, an emerald-green field is strewn with yellow and red flowers. A dead tree trunk stands to the left of the woman, and two slender trees grow to our right. Beyond the woman and child, a hill with steep sides rises to top of the composition. It is carpeted with lime-green growth, and a zigzagging, sage-green path climbs to a flat area at the top. White paths wrap around the hill to either side, and are bordered by green grasses, trees, and fields. The paths lead back to buildings and misty blue mountains in the far distance. Tiny, pale strokes of color suggest people on the hill and strolling along the paths.
Anonymous Artist, Venus and Cupid in a Landscape, c. 1505/1515, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.142

Venus and Cupid in a Landscape

Anonymous Artist · c. 1505/1515 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.142

Twelve naked, pudgy, little boys gather in, over, and around a wide, open, wooden barrel set in front of a sprawling, tree-like grape vine in this round painting. The boys all have light skin and short, blond hair. The barrel is set on flat, wooden beams. The vine behind it has a twisting brown trunk and the dark green canopy is dotted with purple grapes, and it spreads to fill the rounded top of the composition. The clear sky behind the tree is turquoise blue. One boy wearing a crown of grapes and leaves perches in the tree and looks down at the others. He holds a glass with red liquid in one hand and a thin staff in the other. Of the three boys in the barrel, one drinks from a shallow bowl and another holds up a basket of grapes. The third, in the center, holds a bunch of grapes down over the front edge of the barrel. On the ground around the barrel, one boy to our left holds an elongated, gold cornucopia topped with fruit as he looks toward another child straddling the shoulders of a third. At the front center, a boy kneels and drinks from a cup near one who sleeps, stretched out on the ground, using a pitcher as a pillow. To our right, one boy looks up at the tree and the final two play together around another, smaller barrel. The circular painted panel is surrounded by a gold frame.
Mariotto Albertinelli, Putti with a Wine Press, c. 1500, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.72

Putti with a Wine Press

Mariotto Albertinelli · c. 1500 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.72

German 16th Century, Christ in Limbo (the Harrowing of Hell), 16th century, nielloed silver, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.151

Christ in Limbo (the Harrowing of Hell)

German 16th Century · 16th century · nielloed silver ·  Accession ID  1961.9.151

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Book Cover with Christ in Majesty

French 13th Century · c. 1210 · champlevé enamel on copper, with traces of gilding, mounted on wooden backing ·  Accession ID  1961.9.182

Sixteen men and women sit, stand, or play music at or around a table surrounded by white marble buildings in this vertical painting. All the people have pale skin, and most have round faces with small features and wear dresses or robes in canary yellow, rose pink, lavender purple, moss green, topaz blue, or golden brown. Two stone steps along the bottom of the composition lead up to the table, which is covered with a white cloth. Three people are on our side of the table and the rest are next to or on the other side of it. A young, clean-shaven man brings a glass filled with red liquid on a tray at the left end of the table. Two people sit at the table set with two silver platters and a gold, fist-sized vessel. To our left, the man leans away from the woman and looks up and to our right, toward the musicians who sit and play on a raised platform. The man at the table wears a red hat with a billowing black feather, and his brows are gathered. To our right, the woman holds her hands up in front of her chest, palms facing each other. She looks to our right at a pair of men standing on our side of the table in the bottom right quadrant of the composition. Those two men have darker toned, peachy-colored skin, long beards, straight, pointed noses, and angular features. Both look off to the left. In this pair, the man to our left holds a club in one hand and leans back. He wears a royal-blue jerkin, a muted purple, knee-length toga, and shin-high, toeless sandals over bare, muscular legs. Decorative slits are cut into his jerkin so puffs of the white linen shirt he wears underneath can be pulled through. To our right in this pair, the other man faces our left in profile. He leans heavily against a tall staff and wears tattered white and earthy-brown clothing. A white cloth is tied around his scraggly hair and another around a wound on one shin. Two dogs growl at each other at this man’s bare feet. The third person on our side of the table kneels next to a tub-sized, silver and gold wine cooler, which holds a gold urn. A dog next to the cooler crouches and growls at the table or musicians, the tail erect and ears back. The musicians sit on a shallow platform to the right. The platform is as high as the people standing in front of it, and it is covered with a forest-green cloth. The musicians play instruments resembling a horn, violin, and cello, and the fourth holds an open book and lifts one finger, conducting. A similar platform across from them, to the left of the table, is covered with a white cloth and holds a display of oversized gold urns and silver platters. White arches carved with statues and decorations rise behind the table and frame a view of thin clouds across a vivid blue sky. The sky also fills much of the top quarter of the composition, and a scarlet-red curtain has been pulled to the left and tucked behind the silver dishes.
Italian 17th Century, The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, 1618/1628, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.88

The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man

Italian 17th Century · 1618/1628 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.88

Bibliography

1961

  • Walker, John. "A Note on the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art," in An Anthology of Paintings and Sculptures in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961.

1967

  • Salmi, Mario. "La Donazione Contini-Bonacossi." Bolletino d'Arte 52 (October-December 1967): 222-232.

1969

  • Nova Phlips, J. "Un Don aux Offices." Connaissance des Arts 214 (1969): 86-96.

1970

  • Nova Philips, J. "Chef d'oeuvres pour Florence." Connaissance des Arts 219 (1970):118-124.

1971

  • "The Contini Gift to Florence." The Burlington Magazine CXII (1971):435.

1974

  • Berti, L. and L. Bellosi. Inaugurazione della Donazione Contini Bonacossi: Itinerario Palazzina della Meridiana 9 febbraio 1974. Florence , 1974

1988

  • de'Giorgi, Elsa. L'eredità Contini-Bonacossi. Milan, 1988.

1991

  • Perry, Marilyn. "Five-and-dime for millions: the Samuel H. Kress Collection." Apollo 133, no. 349 (March 1991): 157-160

1994

  • A Gift to America: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Exh. cat. The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Seattle Art Museum; The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1994: 12-59.

1995

  • Zeri, Frederico. Confesso che ho sbagliato.Milan, 1995