Overview
Most early paintings are also mystery stories, making the art historians who study them detectives of a sort. Signatures were not routine, and the inscriptions on this large altarpiece name the saints depicted, not the artist who painted them. In this case, however, the elegant figures, pastel colors, and decorative effects have pointed experts almost unanimously to
We know that Alberti commissioned Gaddi for other works, and that in 1387 he added a codicil to his will providing funds for decorations in San Miniato. It is the inclusion of the particular saints we see here that links the National Gallery of Art’s altarpiece to the Alberti family and perhaps to that document. At left is the apostle Andrew, holding the symbol of his crucifixion and the rope that was used in place of nails to hang him on the cross. He was the patron saint of Alberti’s deceased son. Next to him, Benedict, considered the founder of western monasticism, displays the opening words of the rule that governed the Benedictine monks at San Miniato. Benedict was also Benedetto’s patron saint. Opposite stands Bernard of Clairvaux, the powerful French abbot of the Cistercian order. He was the patron of another of Benedetto’s sons. Finally, we find Catherine of Alexandria on the spiked wheel of her torture. Both Benedetto and his son Bernardo made dedications in her honor, and some medieval etymologies linked her name to catena, Latin for chain, a device that figured on the Alberti coat of arms.
Entry
This
Lionello Venturi published this triptych in 1931 under the name of Gherardo Starnina.
The present writer proposed that Agnolo Gaddi’s altarpiece might have been executed for the sacristy of the church of San Miniato al Monte (Florence),
Although the provenance from San Miniato remains a hypothesis, it still seems to me a quite plausible one that, if correct, would give us the certainty that by 1830 the triptych was still on the altar of the sacristy. An altarpiece can apparently be seen still in situ in a sketch of the sacristy’s altar wall
As for its date, the Gallery’s first catalog (1941) cautiously suggested “the last quarter of the XIVth century,” while the volume devoted to the Duveen Pictures (1941) proposed an approximate date of c. 1380.
In the course of his career, especially between the 1380s and the early 1390s, Agnolo Gaddi produced a number of
Although successive restorations have now made it difficult to assess, the Borgo San Lorenzo panel
If such a chronological sequence of the altarpieces executed by Agnolo in the 1380s is plausible, the Gallery triptych ought to date to a period slightly preceding 1387—that is, slightly preceding the execution of the other and more important enterprise promoted by Benedetto di Nerozzo Alberti, the frescoing of the choir in Santa Croce.
Miklós Boskovits (1935–2011)
March 21, 2016
Inscription
left panel, across the bottom below the saints: S. ANDREAS AP[OSTO]L[U]S; S. BENEDICTUS ABBAS; left panel, on the book held by St. Benedict: AUSCU / LTA.O/ FILI.PR / ECEPTA / .MAGIS / [T]RI.ET.IN / CLINA.AUREM / CORDIS.T / UI[ET]A[D]MONITIONE / M.PII.PA / TRIS.LI / BENTE / R.EXCIP / E.ET.EF[FICACITER COMPLE] (Harken, O son, to the precepts of the master and incline the ear of your heart and willingly receive the admonition of the pious father and efficiently);[1] middle panel, across the bottom: AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOMINUS [TECUM] (Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; from Luke 1:28); middle panel, on the book held by the Redeemer in the gable: EGO SUM / A[ET] O PRINCI / PIU[M] [ET] FINIS / EGO SUM VI / A. VERITAS / [ET] VITA (I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, I am the way, the truth, and the life; from John 14:6; Revelations 22:13); right panel, across the bottom under the saints: S. BERNARDUS DOCTOR; S. K[A]TERINA VIRGO
Inscription Notes
[1] This is the incipit of the Rule of the Benedictine Order; see Sancti Benedicti Regula, in Jacques-Paul Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus: Series Latina, 221 vols., Paris, 1844-1864: 66:215-932.
Provenance
Probably in the sacristy of the church of San Miniato al Monte, Florence, from whence the triptych may have been removed shortly after 1830.[1] Bertram Ashburnham [1797-1878], 4th earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place, Battle, Sussex;[2] by inheritance to his son, Bertram Ashburnham [1840-1913], 5th earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place; by inheritance to his daughter, Lady Mary Catherine Charlotte Ashburnham [1890-1953], Ashburnham Place; (Robert Langton Douglas, London);[3] purchased 19 June 1919 by(Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[4] sold 15 December 1936 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[5] gift 1937 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1933
- Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1933, no. 11, repro., as Altarpiece by Gherardo Starnina.
Technical Summary
This
Outlines of areas to be painted and drapery fold lines were further delineated with brushed
All three panels retain their original thickness. Madonna and Child Enthroned has two major splits, one running from the lower edge into the mantle of the Virgin, the other diagonally across the wing of the uppermost right-hand angel. This panel has cracks caused by the removal of the original intermediate frame. Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine has a split at the lower edge and another in the frame to the left of and above the Virgin Annunciate in the gable medallion. Worm tunneling is present in all three panels, but it is most extensive in the side planks of Saint Andrew and Saint Benedict and Madonna and Child Enthroned, as well as in the gables of all three panels. There is minor
Bibliography
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- 1994
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- 1995
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- 2004
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- 2005
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- 2006
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- 2008
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- 2009
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- 2009
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- 2009
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- 2010
- Boskovits, Miklós, and Daniela Parenti, eds. Cataloghi della Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze: Dipinti. Vol. 2, Il tardo Trecento: dalla tradizione orcagnesca agli esordi del gotico internazionale. Florence, 2010: 16.
- 2011
- Gordon, Dillian. The Italian Paintings Before 1400. National Gallery Catalogues. London, 2011: under 220, no. NG568.
- 2016
- Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 121-130, color repro.
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