Overview
When this painting was made in 1333, according to the date given on the lower frame, the style was a bit old-fashioned. Saint Paul’s frontal stance, the intensity and fervor of his direct gaze, the inclusion of his name in red-backed gold letters on either side of his head, and the pointed arch all might have been seen in a work from the previous century. Probably this archaizing look is just what was wanted by the 12 men and women whose small figures appear below this imposing saint. These donors were likely members of a lay confraternity that commissioned the image of their patron saint. Its tall, narrow shape suggests that it was hung in front of a church pillar, where confraternity members would gather periodically for prayer and song. Lay confraternities, which performed various kinds of charitable work like caring for the sick and burying the dead, were an important part of religious and civic life. We cannot say for certain, but these six couples may have been part of the Compagnia di San Paolo that administered what later became Florence’s convalescent hospital.
Among their expressions and gestures of praise—much more than in the stern countenance of Paul—we can see
Entry
The panel, with the frontal figure of the standing saint, who is not accompanied to the sides by a series of superimposed narrative scenes of his legend as in so-called biographical icons, belongs to a type of image that began to appear in Florence and in other cities in Italy in the thirteenth century and remained widespread throughout the following century: narrow and elongated in format, these paintings were probably intended to be hung against a pillar in a church.
The composition of the painting is decidedly archaic: the device of placing the inscription of the name of the saint over a red
How, then, can this panel be inserted in the sequence of the painter’s works, assuming that the date in the inscription should be transcribed as 1333?
Miklós Boskovits (1935–2011)
March 21, 2016
Inscription
above the saint's halo: S[ANCTUS]; above the saint's shoulders: PAU LUS; on the lower frame below the worshippers: [ANNO DOMI]NI.MCCCXXXIII M...II.ESPLETUM FUIT H[O]C OPUS (In the year of the Lord 1333... this work was finished) [1]
Inscription Notes
[1] The much-abraded inscription has been variously read. Sirén (1919) transcribed it as “ESPLETUM FUIT H(OC) OPUS (ANN)O DI MCCCXXXIII MED”; Venturi (1931, 1933), as “A.MCCCXXXVI... ESPLETUM FUIT H(OC) OPUS”; Coletti (1942), accepting Sirén’s reading, interpreted the letters MED as a fragment of Mediolanum and suggested the very unlikely theory that the painting was executed in Milan. Shapley (1979) and more recent authors accepted the date 1333; Shapley considered the fragmentary letters after the year (M...II?) as probable indication of the month and day. Boskovits (1984) read the letters after the date as MEN[SE]. Conti (1994) specified that if so, the panel must have been executed within the month of July (MEN[SE IUL]II). See Osvald Sirén, “A Great Contemporary of Giotto, 1,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 35 (1919): 229; Lionello Venturi, Pitture italiane in America, Milan, 1931: no. 27; Lionello Venturi, Italian Paintings in America, translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott, 3 vols., New York and Milan, 1933: 1:no. 34; Luigi Coletti, “Contributo al problema Maso–Giottino,” Emporium 98 (1942): 463-464; Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, DC, 1979: 1:152-153; Miklós Boskovits, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting: The Fourteenth Century, sec. 3, vol. 9, The Miniaturist Tendency, Florence 1984: 349; Alessandro Conti, “Maso, Roberto Longhi e la tradizione offneriana,” Prospettiva 73-74 (1994): 43 n. 19.
Provenance
The often-repeated statement in the earlier literature that the panel comes from the Florentine monastery of San Felice in Piazza[1] does not seem to be based on any secure, or at any rate documented, evidence. Perhaps more plausible, based at least on the identity of the saint, is the more recent proposal of a provenance either from the Florentine Ospedale di San Paolo or from the nearby church of San Paolino, since a handwritten annotation on an old photograph indicated its provenance “dai padri di San Paolino.”[2] Elia Volpi [1858–1938], Florence, by the early 1900s;[3] (his sale, American Art Galleries, New York, 21-27 November 1916, seventh day, no. 1040, as “Primitive school of Tuscany, early XVth century”); (Bourgeois Galleries, New York);[4] purchased January 1920 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc. London, Paris, and New York);[5] sold 15 December 1936 to The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[6] gift 1937 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1910
- Palazzo Davanzati, Florence, between September 1910 and 1916.
- 1921
- Loan Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture by Italian Artists of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Cincinnati Art Museum, 1921, no catalogue.
- 1933
- Sixteenth Loan Exhibition of Old Masters. Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century, Detroit Institute of Art, 1933, no. 3.
Technical Summary
The wooden support, which has not been
Bibliography
- 1919
- Sirén, Osvald. "A Great Contemporary of Giotto, 1." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 35 (1919): 228 (repro.), 229, 230, 236.
- 1920
- Sirén, Osvald. "The Buffalmaco Hypothesis: Some Additional Remarks." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 37 (1920): 183.
- 1923
- Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 3(1924):276, 277, 287, 290.
- 1927
- Offner, Richard. "A Great Madonna by the St. Cecilia Master." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 50 (1927): 97.
- 1931
- Offner, Richard. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. I: The School of the S. Cecilia Master. New York, 1931: 17.
- 1931
- Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: no. 27, repro.
- 1933
- Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Die Leihausstellung frühitalienischer Malerei in Detroit." Pantheon 12 (1933): 238, repro. 239.
- 1933
- Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 1:no. 34, repro.
- 1935
- Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Giovanni Balducci a Firenze e una scultura di Maso." L’Arte 38 (1935): 29, fig. 25.
- 1937
- Cecchi, Emilio. Giotto. Milan, 1937: 174, pl. 177.
- 1937
- "The Mellon Gift. A First Official List." Art News 35 (20 March 1937): 15.
- 1940
- Paatz, Walter and Elisabeth Paatz. Die Kirchen von Florenz: ein kunstgeschichtliches Handbuch. 6 vols. Frankfurt am Main, 1940-1954: 2(1941):51.
- 1941
- Coletti, Luigi. I Primitivi. 3 vols. Novara, 1941-1947: 2(1946):xli.
- 1941
- Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 12, repro., attributed to Giotto, as St. Paul with Twelve Adorers.
- 1941
- National Gallery of Art. Book of Illustrations. Washington, 1941: 114 (repro.), 233.
- 1941
- Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 80-81, no. 3, as by Follower of Giotto.
- 1941
- Richter, George Martin. "The New National Gallery in Washington." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 78 (June 1941): 177 n. 3.
- 1942
- Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 239, repro. 116, as by Follower of Giotto.
- 1942
- Coletti, Luigi. "Contributo al problema Maso-Giottino." Emporium 98 (1942): 463-464.
- 1947
- Offner, Richard. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. V: Master of San Martino alla Palma; Assistant of Daddi; Master of the Fabriano Altarpiece. New York, 1947: 7, 39, 42 n. 1, 94 n. 1.
- 1949
- Coletti, Luigi. "Il Maestro colorista di Assisi." Critica d’arte 8-9 (1949-1950): 447.
- 1949
- Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 7, repro., as by Follower of Giotto.
- 1950
- Florisoone, Michel. Giotto. Paris, 1950: 116 n. 6.
- 1951
- Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 23 n. 1.
- 1951
- Galetti, Ugo, and Ettore Camesasca. Enciclopedia della pittura italiana. 3 vols. Milan, 1951: 2:1604, 1606.
- 1952
- Salvini, Roberto, ed. Tutta la pittura di Giotto. Biblioteca d’arte Rizzoli. Milan, 1952: 52.
- 1958
- Offner, Richard. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. VIII: Workshop of Bernardo Daddi. New York, 1958: 46 n. 2.
- 1963
- Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:58.
- 1963
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 297, repro., as by Follower of Giotto.
- 1965
- Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 36.
- 1966
- Vigorelli, Giancarlo, and Edi Baccheschi. L’opera completa di Giotto. 1st ed. Milan, 1966: repro. 122-123.
- 1968
- National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 29, repro.
- 1969
- Wilkins, David G. "Maso di Banco: A Florentine Artist of the Early Trecento." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1969. Ann Arbor, MI, 1979: 214.
- 1972
- Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 63, 437, 645.
- 1973
- Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 40.
- 1973
- Preiser, Arno. Das Entstehen und die Entwicklung der Predella in der italienischen Malerei. Hildesheim and New York, 1973: 37, 38, fig. 10.
- 1975
- Boskovits, Miklós. Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400. Florence, 1975: 22, 195 n. 47, 243 n. 201.
- 1975
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 90, repro.
- 1975
- Fremantle, Richard. Florentine Gothic Painters from Giotto to Masaccio: A Guide to Painting in and near Florence, 1300 to 1450. London, 1975: 47, 50, fig. 92.
- 1979
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:152-153; 2:pl. 107.
- 1981
- Salvini, Roberto. Giotto: Werkverzeichnis. Die großen Meister der Malerei. Frankfurt, 1981: 94, fig. 191.
- 1982
- Tambini, Anna. Pittura dall’Alto Medioevo al Tardogotico nel territorio di Faenza e Forlì. Faenza, 1982: 112.
- 1983
- Volpe, Carlo. "Il lungo percorso del ‘dipingere dolcissimo e tanto unito.’" In Storia dell’arte italiana 2: dal Medioevo al Novecento. pt. 1, dal Medioevo al Quattrocento. Edited by Federico Zeri, Giulio Bollati and Paolo Fossati. Turin, 1983: 265 n. 11, 275 n. 23.
- 1984
- Boskovits, Miklós. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. 9: The Miniaturist Tendency. Florence, 1984: 71, 349-350, pls. 177b, 178.
- 1984
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 73, no. 12, color repro.
- 1985
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 111, repro.
- 1985
- Ferrazza, Roberta. "Elia Volpi e il Commercio dell’arte nel primo Trentennio del Novecento." In Studi e ricerche di Collezionismo e Museografia, Firenze 1820-1920. Pisa, 1985: 414 n. 50.
- 1985
- Wilkins, David G. Maso di Banco: a Florentine Artist of the Early Trecento. New York, 1985: 209.
- 1986
- Offner, Richard, and Miklós Boskovits. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. I: The School of the S. Cecilia Master. 2nd ed. Florence, 1986: 309.
- 1989
- Offner, Richard, Miklós Boskovits, and Enrica Neri Lusanna. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. III: The Works of Bernardo Daddi. 2nd ed. Florence, 1989: 35 n. 15, 37, 87, 391.
- 1991
- Offner, Richard, and Miklós Boskovits. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. IV: Bernardo Daddi, His Shop and Fllowing. 2nd ed. Florence, 1991: 166 n. 3, 513.
- 1992
- Boskovits, Miklós, ed. The Martello Collection: Further Paintings, Drawings and Miniatures 13th-18th Centuries. Florence, 1992: 54.
- 1992
- Labriola, Ada. "Daddi, Bernardo." In Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Edited by Günter Meissner. 87+ vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1992+: 23(1999):356.
- 1993
- Ferrazza, Roberta. Palazzo Davanzati e le collezioni di Elia Volpi. Florence, 1993: 128, 174 fig. 165, 216 n. 52, 220 n. 70.
- 1993
- Meoni, Lucia. San Felice in Piazza a Firenze. Florence, 1993: 41 fig. 27, 44.
- 1994
- Conti, Alessandro. "Maso, Roberto Longhi e la tradizione offneriana." Prospettiva 73-74 (1994): 36, 38 fig. 6, 43 n. 19.
- 1994
- Ladis, Andrew and Hayden B. J. Maginnis. "Sculpture’s Pictorial Presence: Reflections on the Tabernacles of Orsanmichele." Studi di storia dell’arte 5-6 (1994-1995): 45, 49 n. 3, 53 fig. 6.
- 1994
- Skaug, Erling S. Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico: Attribution, Chronology, and Workshop Relationships in Tuscan Panel Painting with Particular Consideration to Florence, c. 1330-1430. 2 vols. Oslo, 1994: 1:99, 108, 110 n. 174; 2:punch chart 5.3.
- 1996
- Neri Lusanna, Enrica. "Daddi, Bernardo." In The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane Turner. New York and London, 1996: 8:442.
- 2001
- Offner, Richard, Miklós Boskovits, Ada Labriola, and Martina Ingendaay Rodio. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century. Sec. III, Vol. V: Master of San Martino alla Palma; Assistant of Daddi; Master of the Fabriano Altarpiece. 2nd ed. Florence, 2001: 635.
- 2004
- Secrest, Meryle. Duveen: A Life in Art. New York, 2004: 444.
- 2004
- Strehlke, Carl Brandon. Italian Paintings, 1250-1450, in the John G. Johnson Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 2004: 102 n. 4.
- 2005
- Boskovits, Miklós, and Daniela Parenti, eds. Da Bernardo Daddi al Beato Angelico a Botticelli: dipinti fiorentini del Lindenau-Museum di Altenburg. Exh. cat. Museo di San Marco. Florence, 2005: 70.
- 2008
- Skaug, Erling S. "Bernardo Daddi’s Chronology and Workshop Structure as Defined by Technical Criteria." In Da Giotto a Botticelli: pittura fiorentina tra gotico e rinascimento. Atti del convegno internazionale Firenze, Università degli Studi e Museo di San Marco, May 20-21, 2005. Edited by Francesca Pasut and Johannes Tripps. Florence, 2008: 82-83.
- 2013
- Walmsley, Elizabeth. "Italian Renaissance Paintings Restored in Paris by Duveen Brothers, Inc., c. 1927-1929." Facture: conservation, science, art history 1 (2013): 58-77, fig. 14.
- 2016
- Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 64-72, color repro.
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