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Sassetta

Madonna of Humility, c. 1435/1440

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 3

Medium

tempera on poplar panel

Dimensions

overall: 48.4 x 21.2 cm (19 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.)

framed: 62.9 x 25.4 cm (24 3/4 x 10 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1939.1.246

Artists / Makers

Sassetta (artist) Sienese, probably 1392 - 1450

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

(M.F. Steinmeyer, Lucerne), by 1929.[1] Edward Hutton [1874-1969], London. (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence);[2] sold October 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] According to Raimond van Marle, "Quadri senesi sconosciuti," La Diana 4 (1929): 309-310. The painting is also listed as belonging to the same owner by Bernard Berenson, The Italian Painters of the Renaissance, Oxford,1932 reprint: 512, and Italian ed. reprint, trans. Emilio Cecchi, Milan, 1936: 440. In a letter of 28 February 1951 to John Walker (in NGA curatorial files), Edward Forbes writes that he thought the NGA painting was the same as one he saw "for sale in Steinmeyer's Gallery in Lucerne in 1933 or 1935."

[2] Hutton's and Contini-Bonacossi's ownership is stated by John Pope-Hennessy, Sassetta, London, 1939: 91 n. 31.

[3] The bill of sale for eleven paintings, including NGA 1939.1.246, is dated 17 October 1936 (copy in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1383.

Associated Names

Contini Bonacossi, Alessandro, Count
Hutton, Edward
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.

Bibliography

1907: Perkins, Frederick Mason. "Sassetta." In Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, eds. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 29(1935):482.

1929: Marle, Raimond van. “Quadri senesi sconosciuti.” La Diana 4 (1929): 309-310, pl. 10.

1932: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932: 512.

1933: Gengaro, Maria Luisa. “Il primitivo del Quattrocento senese: Stefano di Giovanni, detto il Sassetta.” La Diana 8 (1933): 23.

1936: Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936: 440.

1939: Pope-Hennessy, John. Sassetta. London, 1939: 68-69, 91 n. 31, pl. 15a.

1941: Brandi, Cesare. “Giovanni di Paolo.” La Arti 3 (1940-1941): 249 n. 34.

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 178, no. 357, as Madonna and Child..

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 246, repro. 184.

1947: Brandi, Cesare. Giovanni di Paolo. Florence, 1947: 73 n. 34.

1948: Graziani, Alberto. "Il Maestro dell'Osservanza." Proporzioni 2 (1948): 80.

1949: Brandi, Cesare. Quattrocentisti senesi. Milan, 1949: 55, 190 n. 32.

1953: Sandberg Vavalà, Evelyn. Sienese Studies. Florence, 1953: 236.

1957: Carli, Enzo. Il Sassetta e il Maestro dell’Osservanza. Milan, 1957: 38-40, pl. 42.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 38, repro.

1963: [Pini, Umberto.] “Collezioni private a Milano e in Italia. Un altarolo del Sassetta.” Acropoli 3 (1963): 56.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 120.

1966: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 140-141, fig. 383.

1968: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:387.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 108, repro.

1969: Os, Hendrik W. van. Marias Demut und Verherrlichung in der sienesischen Malerei: 1300-1450. The Hague, 1969: 124.

1972: Bolaffi, Alberto, and Umberto Allemandi, eds. Dizionario Enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli Incisori italiani: dall’XI al XX secolo. 11 vols. Turin, 1972-1976: 10(1975):175.

1972: Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 183, 645.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 318, repro.

1977: Torriti, Piero. La Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena. I Dipinti dal XII al XV secolo. Genoa, 1977: 246.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:414-415; 2:pl. 295, 230B.

1982: Il Gotico a Siena: Miniature, pitture, oreficerie, oggetti d’arte. Exh. cat. Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, 1982: 384.

1984: Zeri, Federico, Mauro Natale, and Alessandra Mottola Molfino, eds. Dipinti toscani e oggetti d’arte dalla collezione Vittorio Cini. Milan, 1984: 34.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 367, repro.

1986: Alessi, Cecilia. "Sassetta/Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo." In Federico Zeri, ed. La pittura in Italia. Il Quattrocento. 2 vols. Milan, 1986: 2:752.

1988: Christiansen, Keith, Laurence B. Kanter, and Carl Brandon Strehlke, eds. Painting in Renaissance Siena 1420-1500. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988: 88.

1991: Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 155, color repro.

1992: Maetzke, Annamaria, ed. Il Museo Diocesano di Cortona. Florence, 1992: 61.

1993: Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 397.

2001: Appuntamento a Torino: Capolavori a convegno. Exh. cat. Antichi Maestri Pittori, Turin, 2001: unpaginated, 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: 628-631, color repro.

2016: Bacchi, Andrea, and Andrea De Marchi, eds. La Galleria di Palazzo Cini. Dipinti, sculture, oggetti d'arte. Venice, 2016: 109.