The Archangel Gabriel

c. 1430

Masolino da Panicale

Artist, Florentine, c. 1383 - 1435 or after

Shown from the knees up, a winged angel with blond hair and pale skin faces our right in profile with arms crossed at the chest in this vertical painting. A gleaming gold halo surrounds the head and curls lining the forehead and nape of the neck. The angel looks off to our right with silver-gray eyes, and wears a long gown decorated with a brick-red floral pattern against a black background. Gold, feathered wings extend from the shoulders, and the angel leans forward from the hips. The background behind the angel could be a portion of a wall made from stacked mustard-yellow horizontal bands, perhaps boards, that fills the left half. The right half is filled with swirling shades of caramel and earth brown, and both sides are partially framed with salmon-pink bands. A sliver of floor along the bottom of the painting is patterned with pine-green and burgundy-red tiles separated by cream-white bands.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on poplar panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 76.6 × 57.8 cm (30 3/16 × 22 3/4 in.)
    framed (with NGA 1939.1.226): 111.76 × 162.08 × 50.8 cm (44 × 63 13/16 × 20 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.225

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Count Gustav Adolf Wilhelm von Ingenheim [1789-1855], Berlin and Ober-Rengersdorf, by the 1810s or 1820s;[1] sold 1930 by his descendants to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold May 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] According to Karl August Böttiger ("Gemäldesammlung des Grafen von Ingenheim," Artistisches Notizenblatt [appendix to Abend Zeitung] no. 6 [March 1827]: 26-28), Count Ingenheim acquired his Italian paintings mostly during two trips to Italy in 1816-1817 and 1822-1824. In 1827 the collection was about to be transferred from the family palace in Berlin to Paris. By 1922 the paintings, in part at least, were housed in Schloss Reisewitz in Silesia (see Richard Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century, Section IV, Vol. II, Nardo di Cione, New York, 1960: 24), whereas the NGA painting (along with NGA 1939.1.226) was probably in Ober-Rengersdorf, northeast of Dresden, in 1929 (see Bernard Berenson's letter to Edward Fowles of Duveen's Paris office on 22 June of that year, and Fowles' report to London of 3 July, copies in NGA curatorial files; Box 256, Folder 13, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).
[2] The Duveen Brothers letter confirming the sale of thirteen paintings and one sculpture, including "paintings representing 'The Annunciation' by Masolino," is dated 18 May 1936; the provenance is given as "Coll'n. Count von Ingenheim" (copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 474, Folder 5, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2071.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1935

  • Exposition de L'Art Italien de Cimabue à Tiepolo, Petit Palais, Paris, 1935, no. 303, repro.

2019

  • Fra Angelico and the Rise of the Florentine Renaissance, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2019.

Bibliography

1931

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Eine Verkündigung Masolinos." Pantheon 8 (October 1931): 413-416, repro.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:186.

1934

  • Salmi, Mario. Masaccio. Paris, 1934: 80, 154, pls. 185, 186.

1935

  • Gilles de la Tourette, François. “Chefs-d’oeuvre de la peinture italienne au Petit Palas.” La Renaissance 18 (1935): 18, repro.

  • Serra, Luigi. “La mostra dell’antica arte italiana a Parigi.” Bollettino d’arte 29 (1935): 36.

1939

  • Prampolini, Giovanni. L’Annunciazione nei pittori primitivi italiani. Milan, 1939: 53, repro.

1940

  • Suida, Wilhelm. "Die Sammlung Kress: New York." Pantheon 26 (1940): 274.

  • Longhi, Roberto. “Fatti di Masolino e di Masaccio.” Critica d’Arte 5 (1940): 181-182.

1941

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 29, repro.

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 126, no. 336.

  • Richter, George Martin. "The New National Gallery in Washington." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 78 (June 1941): 177.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 246, repro. 150.

1944

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 18, repro.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 26, repro.

1948

  • Salmi, Mario. Masaccio. 2nd ed. Rome, 1948: 111, 209-210, pls. 180, 181.

  • Kimball, Fisk and Lionello Venturi. Great Paintings in America. New York, 1948: 36, repro.

1951

  • Davies, Martin. National Gallery Catalogues. The Earlier Italian Schools. London, 1951: 276.

1956

  • Longhi, Roberto. “Fatti di Masaccio e Masolino.” In Edizione delle opere complete di Roberto Longhi. 14 vols. Florence and Milan, 1956-2000: 8, part 1 (1975): 48.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 48, repro.

  • 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.): 24, color repro.

  • Micheletti, Emma. Masolino da Panicale. Milan, 1953: 38, 53, pls. 47, 48.

1961

  • Davies, Martin. National Gallery Catalogues. The Earlier Italian Schools. London, 1961: 355.

1962

  • Gioseffi, Decio. “Domenico Veneziano, l’esordio masaccesco e la tavola con i SS. Girolamo e Giovanni Battista della National Gallery di Londra.” Emporium 155 (February 1962): 62.

  • Vayer, Lajos. Masolino és Róma: Mecénas és múvész a Reneszánsz Kezdetén. Budapest, 1962: 250.

1963

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:137.

  • Berti, Luciano. “Miniature dell’Angelico (e altro).” Acropoli 3 (1963): 8, 36 n. 64.

1964

  • Berti, Luciano. Masaccio. Milan, 1964: 142 n. 191.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 84.

1966

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 93-93, fig. 254.

  • Parronchi, Alessandro. “Sulla perduta Annunciazione di Masaccio: Ricerche e proposte.” Studi urbinati di urbinati, filosofia, e letteratura 40 (1966): 175 n. 26.

1967

  • Berti, Luciano. Masaccio. University Park, PA, 1967: 149 n. 191.

  • Klesse, Brigitte. Seidenstoffe in der italienischen Malerei des 14. Jahrhunderts. Bern, 1967: 110, 439, no. 250.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 74, repro.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 123, 645.

1973

  • Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 79.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 218, repro.

1976

  • Watkins, Law B. The Brancacci Chapel: Meaning and Use. Ann Arbor, MI, 1976: 154.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:307; 2:pl. 219.

  • Arte nell’Aretino. Seconda mostra di restauri dal 1975 al 1979. Dipinti e sculture restaurati dal XIII al XVIII secolo. Exh. cat. San Francesco, Arezzo, 1979: 46.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 76, no. 20, color repro.

  • Lotti, Marcello, ed. Masaccio e l’Angelico. Due capolavori della Diocesi di Fiesole. Exh. cat. Palazzina Mangani, Fiesole, 1984: 38.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 252, repro.

  • Joannides, Paul. “A Masolino Partially Reconstructed.” Source 4 (1985): 1-5, repro.

1987

  • Boskovits, Miklós. “Il percorso di Masolino: Precisazioni sulla cronologia e sul catalogo.” Arte Cristiana 75 (1987): 53-55, 63 n. 28, nn. 58-60, repro.

  • Proto Pisani, Rosanna Caterina, ed. Masolino a Empoli. Exh. cat. Chiesa di Santo Stefano degli Agostiniani, Empoli, 1987: 24.

  • Strehlke, Carl Brandon, and Mark Tucker. “The Santa Maria Maggiore Altarpiece: New Observations.” Art Cristiana 75 (1987): 105.

1988

  • Boskovits, Miklós, ed. Arte in Lombardia tra Gotico e Rinascimento. Exh. cat. Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1988: 207.

  • Joannides, Paul. “The Colonna Triptych by Masolino and Masaccio: Collaboration and Chronology.” Arte Cristiana 76 (1988): 346 n. 2.

1990

  • Roberts, Perri Lee. “Lost and Found: The San Niccolò Annunciation Reonsidered.” Southeastern College Art Conference Review 11 (1990): 275 n. 25.

1993

  • Roberts, Perri Lee. Masolino da Panicale. Oxford, 1993: 100, 101, 194-195, 210, 212.

  • Joannides, Paul. Masaccio and Masolino: A Complete Catalogue. London, 1993: 90-95, 436-439, pls. 61-65, 445-446, 448, 451.

1994

  • Joannides, Paul. “Review of Perri Lee Roberts, Masolino da Panicale (1993).” Apollo 139 (1994): 79.

1996

  • Spike, John T. Fra Angelico. New York, London, and Paris 1996: 37.

2002

  • Strehlke, Carl Brandon, and Cecilia Frosinini, eds. The Panel Paintings of Masolino and Masaccio: The Role of Technique. Milan, 2002: 206-213, repro.

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: 472-478, color repro.

  • Parenti, Daniela. “Nuovi studi sulla tecnica di Masolino e Masaccio.” Arte Cristiana 91 (2003): 93.

2006

  • Fahy, Everett. "Early Italian paintings in Washington and Philadelphia." The Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1241 (August 2006): 537.

2024

  • De Luca, Silvia, Andrea De Marchi and Francesco Suppa, eds. Empoli 1424: Masolino e gli albori del rinascimento. Exh. cat. Museo della Collegiata di Sant'Andrea and Chiesa di Santo Stefano degli Agostiniani, Empoli, 2024: 128.

  • Suppa, Francesco. “Alterità di Masolino, frescante a Empoli sul 1424.” In Silvia De Luca, Andrea De Marchi and Francesco Suppa, eds. Empoli 1424: Masolino e gli albori del rinascimento. Exh. cat. Museo della Collegiata di Sant'Andrea and Chiesa di Santo Stefano degli Agostiniani, Empoli, 2024: 53 n. 69.

Wikidata ID

Q20173446

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