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Overview

One of Domenico Veneziano's major works is an altarpiece that he painted about 1445 for the Church of Santa Lucia dei Magnoli, in Florence. The incident illustrated in this small panel from the base of the altarpiece is John's act of exchanging his rich, worldly clothes for a rough, camel–hair coat. In the few known representations of John in the wilderness that preceded Domenico's version, the emphasis was placed either on the divine origin of the saint's animal skin or on his preaching. Domenico, however, shifted attention from mere narration to the spiritual significance of John's decision to forsake luxury in favor of a life of piety.

Rather than showing the saint in the usual manner, as a mature, bearded hermit, Domenico painted a youthful figure. Clearly classical in appearance, his saint is one of the earliest embodiments of the Renaissance preoccupation with antique models. However, a fusion of pagan and Christian ideas is suggested; the Grecian type is transformed into a religious being by the golden halo above his head. Another innovative combination of elements exists in the arrangement of this male nude in a landscape that retains artistic features from the High Gothic era of the late Middle Ages. Symbolic rather than realistic, the rugged mountains enliven the drama of John's decision by emphasizing the desolate nature of his chosen environment.

Provenance

Main altar of the church of Santa Lucia de' Magnoli, Florence, probably until the early 18th century.[1] Sacristy of the same church, by 1728.[2] Third altar on the right of the nave of the same church, by 1762 and probably until the early 1800s.[3] Bernard Berenson [1865-1959], Settignano, acquired, perhaps in London, by July 1913;[4] presented 1919 by his wife, Mary Berenson, to Carl W. Hamilton [1886-1967], New York;[5] sold 1942 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1943 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1926
Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Furniture and Art Objects from the Collection of Carl W. Hamilton, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, 1925-1926, no. 64.
1930
Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 132 (no. 112 and pl. XLII in commemorative catalogue published 1931; not in souvenir catalogue).
1935
Exhibition of Italian Paintings of the Renaissance, The Century Association, New York, 1935, no. 6.
1946
Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 715.
1979
Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979, no. 40, repro.
1990
Pittura di luce. Giovanni di Francesco e l'arte fiorentina di metà Quattrocento, Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 1990, no. 7, repro.
1992
Una scuola per Piero. Luce, colore e prospettiva nella formazione fiorentina di Piero della Francesca, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 1992-1993, no. 11c, repro.
2004
From Filippo Lippi to Piero della Francesca: Fra Carnavale and the Making of a Renaissance Master, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004-2005, no. 22A, repro.
2018
The Renaissance Nude, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2018-2019, no. 22, repro. (shown only in Los Angeles).

Bibliography

1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 24, color repro.
1944
Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 27, repro.
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 28, repro.
1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 39-41, repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 59, repro.
1959
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Early Italian Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Three in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 28, color repro.
1960
Newton, Eric. The Arts of Man. Greenwich, Connecticut, 1960: 103-104, repro.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 10, as St. John in the Wilderness.
1961
Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 34-35, color repro. pl. 28.
1963
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:62.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 78, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 42.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:34, color repro.
1966
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 103-104, fig. 280.
1968
Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 26-27, color repro.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 35, repro.
1974
Pesenti, Franco Renzo. "Dismembered works of art - Italian painting." In An Illustrated Inventory of Famous Dismembered Works of Art: European Painting. Paris, 1974: 22, 36-37, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 108, repro.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:159-162; 2:pl. 114.
1979
Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 22, pl.7.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 88, no. 47, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 131, repro.
1990
De Marchi, Andrea. “Domenico Veneziano.” In Luciano Bellosi, ed. Pittura di luce. Giovanni di Francesco e l’arte fiorentina di metà Quattrocento. Exh. cat. Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 1990: 67.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 16, repro.
1992
Pons, Nicoletta. "Domenico Veneziano." In Saur. Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Munich and Leipzig, 119 vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1992-2023: 28(2001):408.
1993
Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 374-375, fig. 434.
1997
Fulton, Christopher. "The Boy Stripped Bare by His Elders: Art and Adolescence in Renaissance Florence." Art Journal 56, 2 (Summer 1997): 33, fig. 3.
2003
Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 241-250, color repro.
2003
Gregori, Mina, ed. In the Light of Apollo: Italian Renaissance and Greece. 2 vols. Exh. cat. National Gallery and Alexandros Souzos Museum, Athens, 2003-2004: 1:185, 186 fig. 4.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 22-23, no. 16, color repro.
2010
Rowley, Neville. “Pittura di luce: La manière claire dans la peinture du Quattrocento.” Ph.D. Diss., Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2010: 145 n. 549, fig. 22
2012
Natali, Antonio, Enrica Neri Lusanna, and Angelo Tartuferi, eds. Bagliori dorati: Il Gotico Internazionale a Firenze 1375-1440. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2012: 308.
2013
"Vasari and the National Gallery of Art." National Gallery of Art Bulletin 48 (Spring 2013): 6, repro.
2017
Valeri, Stefano. Quattrocento pittorico centroitaliano. Fra Carnevale, tre camerinesi e un Piero della Francesca. Rome, 2017: 101-102, fig. 41.

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