Overview
This is one of a small group of loosely related paintings of the Madonna and Child that have been linked to Jacopo Tintoretto. It is evident that several different hands were involved in the production of these pictures, which vary in degree of quality. Some were undoubtedly painted in Tintoretto’s studio, while others may be by followers outside the shop.
Of the group, the Gallery’s picture is the only one with a plausible claim to be at least in part by Jacopo Tintoretto. Within the painting, certain areas are handled more skillfully than others. While the face of the Virgin is confidently rendered and convincingly three-dimensional, the hands, an important compositional element, do not show the same care. Jacopo may have participated in the painting’s execution to some extent, either leaving the peripheral areas to an assistant, or perhaps correcting and completing the assistant’s work after the figures had been worked up. Alternatively, the entire work may have been executed by a member of the studio skilled at mimicking Tintoretto’s types and technique.
Since the canvas may have been cut down, it is unclear whether the original composition was significantly different. Similar extant paintings suggest that it might have been only slightly larger, standing in the long Venetian tradition of half-length Madonnas. However, the presence of the heavenly light and cherubim raises the possibility that the Virgin was originally seated on a crescent moon, as seen in several other versions by Tintoretto and his followers.
Entry
The Gallery’s Madonna of the Stars is one of a small group of loosely related paintings of the Madonna and Child, of varying degrees of quality, that have been linked to
Of the group, the Gallery’s picture is the only one with a plausible claim to be at least in part by Jacopo Tintoretto, although opinions on this point have varied over the years.
Although the overall composition is conventional and the bodies of the Virgin and Christ Child are awkward and anatomically distorted, the face of the Virgin is confidently rendered and convincingly three-dimensional. In contrast, the hands, an important compositional element, are crude and inexpressive. While it is highly unlikely that Jacopo himself was responsible for the painting as a whole, it is possible that he participated in its execution to some extent, either leaving the peripheral areas to an assistant, or perhaps correcting and completing the assistant’s work after the latter had worked up the figures. Alternatively, the entire painting may have been executed by a member of the studio skilled at mimicking Tintoretto’s types and technique.
The cherubim and stars in the background were uncovered when the painting was acquired by the National Gallery of Art. The present title was adopted in 1948.
The links to paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto from the mid-1570s and early 1580s suggest a date of circa 1575/1585.
Robert Echols
March 21, 2019
Provenance
(Kurt Walter Bachstitz Gallery, The Hague), by 1921.[1] Ralph Harman [1873-1931] and Mary Batterman [d.1951] Booth, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, by 1923;[2] gift 1947 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1923
- Ralph H. Booth Loan Collection, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1923, no catalogue.
- 1926
- Loan Exhibition from Detroit Private Collections. Third Loan Exhibition of Old Masters, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1926, no. 12, as Madonna and Child.
- 1927
- Fifth Loan Exhibition of Old and Modern Masters, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1927, no. 20, as Madonna and Child.
Technical Summary
The painting was executed on a piece of medium-weight, plain-weave canvas that has been expanded at the very top with a narrow strip (now 3.75 centimeters) of slightly finer weight canvas. The painting has been lined to two pieces of additional fabric and the tacking margins have been removed. No cusping is evident, suggesting that the picture may have been cut down.
Microscopic examination suggests the presence of an overall thin, reddish-brown ground. The paint is thinly applied, in both a very dry and a fluid, liquid technique. Many glazes are broken through or missing, notably on the Madonna’s mantle and hands and on the Christ Child. Some fading is apparent on the Madonna’s red dress and on her mantle, which now appears brown, but originally would have been blue or purple.
Joanna Dunn and Robert Echols based on the examination report by Julie Caverne
March 21, 2019
Bibliography
- 1901
- Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 9, part 4(1929):684, as by Marietta Tintoretto.
- 1921
- Gronau, Georg. The Bachstitz Gallery Collection, vol. 3: Objects of Art and Paintings. Berlin, 1921: pl. 92.
- 1922
- Hadeln, Detlev von. Zeichnungen des Giacomo Tintoretto. Berlin, 1922: 95, repro.
- 1923
- Bercken, Erich von der, and August L. Mayer. Jacopo Tintoretto. 2 vols. Munich, 1923: 226.
- 1923
- Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Ralph H. Booth Loan Collection." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 4 (1923): 54, repro.
- 1924
- Hadeln, Detlev von. “Two Works in the Detroit Museum.” Art in America 12 (1924): 36-37, repro.
- 1931
- Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: no. 406, repro.
- 1932
- Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places. Oxford, 1932: 558.
- 1933
- Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 3:no. 554.
- 1940
- Coletti, Luigi. Il Tintoretto. Bergamo, 1940: 31.
- 1942
- Bercken, Erich von der. Die Gemälde des Jacopo Tintoretto. Munich, 1942: 108.
- 1948
- Recent Additions to the Ralph and Mary Booth Collection. Washington, 1948: unpaginated, repro.
- 1957
- Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:183.
- 1965
- Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 128.
- 1968
- National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 114, repro.
- 1970
- De Vecchi, Pierluigi. L’opera completa del Tintoretto. Milan, 1970: 113, no. 199.
- 1972
- Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 201.
- 1975
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 342, repro.
- 1975
- Rossi, Paola. I disegni di Jacopo Tintoretto. Florence, 1975: 209, fig. 9.
- 1979
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979:1:461-462; 2:pl. 329.
- 1982
- Pallucchini, Rodolfo, and Paola Rossi. Tintoretto: le opere sacre e profane. 2 vols. Venice, 1982: 1:195, no. 309; 2:fig. 405.
- 1984
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 230, no. 293, color repro.
- 1985
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 392, repro.
- 1998
- Silverstein, Alexander M. "Marietta Robusti: La Tintoretta, Daughter of Tintoretto." Unpublished manuscript, dated November 1997. [New York, 1998]: vii, 71-72, 86.
- 2009
- Echols, Robert, and Frederick Ilchman. “Toward a New Tintoretto Catalogue, with a Checklist of Revised Attributions and a New Chronology.” In Jacopo Tintoretto: Actas del congreso internacional/Proceedings of the International Symposium, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, February 26-27, 2007. Madrid, 2009: 142, no. S31, as Studio of Tintoretto, possibly Domenico Tintoretto.
- 2009
- Mazzucco, Melania G. Jacomo Tintoretto e i suoi figli: storia di una famiglia veneziana. Milan, 2009: 261.
Related Content
- Sort by:
- Results layout: