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Benozzo Gozzoli

Saint Ursula with Two Angels and Donor, c. 1455/1460

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 4

Medium

tempera on panel

Dimensions

overall: 44.5 x 28.5 cm (17 1/2 x 11 1/4 in.)

framed: 60.6 x 41.9 x 5.1 cm (23 7/8 x 16 1/2 x 2 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1939.1.265

Artists / Makers

Benozzo Gozzoli (artist) Florentine, c. 1421 - 1497

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

on halo of central saint: .SANCTA.VREVLA.VIRGO. (original inscription, miscorrected during an early restoration, was "VRSVLS"); on halo of saint in upper right:.ANGELVS.; on halo of saint in upper left: .ANGELVS.; below nun in lower left, partially legible, "o" above the other letters: Suora .Ginevera.

Provenance

Grand Duke Georg II Saxe-Meiningen [1826-1914], who possibly acquired it during the third quarter of the nineteenth century in Florence;[1] by 1900 in his castle at Meiningen, Saxony;[2] sold in the mid- or late 1920s.[3] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold March 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] Although it does not appear among the ten early Italian panels described by Max Jordan in the collection of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in 1872 (see Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy, from the II to the XVI Century, German ed. trans. Max Jordan, 6 vols. in 8 parts, Leipzig, 1869-1876: 4:592-593), it is likely that at that time the collection had already assumed its definitive aspect. Two of the more important items, the pair of Saints by Perugino now in New York (see Pietro Scarpellini, Perugino, Milan, 1984: 114) were still in Florence in 1850, with the dealer Metzger (see Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de'più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti, ed. Le Monnier, 14 vols., Florence, 1850 (originally 1568): 6:47 n. 2), and it is likely that Johann Metzger and his son, Ludwig, suppliers of early Italian pictures to the Berlin and Munich galleries, also provided paintings of the same kind to Meiningen Castle. On the Metzgers see John Fleming, "Art Dealing in the Risorgimento-II," The Burlington Magazine 121 (1979): 497 n. 2.

[2] See Bernard Berenson, The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, 2nd ed., New York and London, 1900: 106.

[3] The collection was probably broken up in the 1920s. A triptych by Bernardo Daddi, now in the Frick Art Museum in Pittsburgh (no. 1973.27), was sold in 1920 (see Richard Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, sec. 3, 2nd ed., Florence, 1991: 4:234), and Filippino Lippi's Adoration of the Child (NGA 1937.1.18), left the Saxe-Meiningen collection in 1929. In any case, Gozzoli's panel, recorded by Bernard Berenson, "Quadri senza casa: Il Quattrocento fiorentino. Part 3," Dedalo 12, no. 11 (November 1932): 837, as on the market, obviously must have changed ownership sometime before that date.

[4] The Duveen Brothers letter confirming the sale of twenty-four paintings, including NGA 1939.1.265, is dated 9 March 1937; the provenance is given as "Saxe-Meiningen Coll'n" (copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 474, Folder 5, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1907.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Georg II Saxe-Meiningen, Grand Duke
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.

Exhibition History

2022: Out of the Kress Vaults: Women in Sacred Renaissance Painting, Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, CT, 2022, no. 14, repro.

Bibliography

1900: Berenson, Bernard. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, 2nd ed. New York and London, 1900: 106.

1901: Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 7(1910):430 n. 1.

1908: Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. A New History of Painting in Italy, from the II to the XVI Century. 3rd edition. 3 vols. Ed. Edward Hutton. London, 1908-1909: 2(1909):486 n. 3.

1909: Berenson, Bernard. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, 3rd ed. London, 1909: 114.

1909: Voss, Georg. Herzogtum Sachsen-Meiningen Bau-und Kunst-Denkmäler Thüringens, no. 34. Jena, 1909: 5, part 1:1.

1923: Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 11(1929):216 n. 1.

1930: Hoogewerff, Godefridus Johannes. Benozzo Gozzoli. Paris, 1930: 93.

1932: Berenson, Bernard. “Quadri senza casa: il Quattrocento fiorentino – 3” Dedalo 12, no. 11 (1932): 837.

1933: Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl.216.

1941: Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: nos. 49-50, repros.

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 90, no. 376.

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 247, repro. 122.

1945: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 46, repro.

1954: Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York, 1954: fig. 93.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 63, repro.

1963: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:97.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 61.

1966: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 115-116, fig. 315.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 53, repro.

1969: Padoa Rizzo, Anna. “Benozzo ante 1450.” Commentari 20 (1969): 56, 57, 59, 62 n. 16, fig. 6.

1972: Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 25, 645.

1972: Padoa Rizzo, Anna. Benozzo Gozzoli pittore fiorentino. Florence, 1972: 31, 107, fig. 24.

1973: Bonsanti, Giorgio. “Arti.” Antologia Viesseux 28-29 (1972-1973): 88.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 160, repro.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:228; 2:pl. 154

1983: Early Italian Paintings and Works of Art 1300-1480 in Aid of the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum. Exh. cat. Matthiesen Fine Art, London, 1983: 50.

1984: Toscano, Bruno. “Jacopo Vincioli.” Prospettiva 33-36 (1983-1984): 64, 66, 69, 74 n. 31.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 185, repro.

1989: Padoa Rizzo, Anna. Arte e committenza a Pistoia alla fine del XV secolo: Benozzo Gozzoli e i figli Francesco e Alesso. Nuove Ricerche. Pistoia, 1989: 19.

1990: Bartalini, Roberto. “Benozzo Gozzoli.” In Luciano Bellosi, ed. Pittura di luce: Giovanni di Francesco e l’arte fiorentina di metà Quattrocento. Exh. cat. Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 1990: 109.

1992: Dalli Regoli, Gigetta, and Gemma Landolfi. “Un testo profetico medievale in un codice quattrocentesco: Vaticinia Pontificum e il Ms. Harley 1340 della British Library.” In Melania Ceccanti and Maria Cristina Castelli, eds. Il codice miniato: rapporto tra codice, testo e figurazione. Atti del III Congresso di storia della miniatura, 20 – 23 ottobre 1988, Palazzo Casali, Cortona. Florence, 1992: 423.

1992: Padoa Rizzo, Anna. Benozzo Gozzoli. Catalogo completo. Florence, 1992: 44, cat. 19.

1996: Ahl, Diane Cole. Benozzo Gozzoli. New Haven, 1996: 253, 266, pl. 319.

1998: Mencarelli, Rosaria. “Opus Benotii de Florentia: La pala della Sapienza Nuova di Benozzo Gozzoli.” In Vittoria Garibaldi, ed. Beato Angelico e Benozzo Gozzoli: Artisti del Rinascimento a Perugia. Itinerari d’arte in Umbria. Cinisello Balsamo (Milan), 1998: 67, fig. 5.

1998: Minardi, Mauro. “Benozzo Gozzoli giovane e gli studi recenti.” Arte Cristiana 86, no. 786 (1998): 240 n. 35.

2001: Nessi, Silvestro. Benozzo Gozzoli. La vita - Le opere. Perugia, 2001: 76.

2003: Ahl, Diane Cole. “Le opere di Benozzo Gozzoli in Umbria.” In Enrico Castelnuovo and Alessandro Malquori, eds. Benozzo Gozzoli: Viaggio attraverso un secolo. Convegno Internazionale di Studi (Firenze – Pisa, 8 -10 gennaio 1998). Pisa, 2003: 110-111.

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: 342-345, color repro.

2003: Dalli Regoli, Gigetta. “Presenza della parola nella pittura di Benozzo.” In Enrico Castelnuovo and Alessandro Malquori, eds. Benozzo Gozzoli: Viaggio attraverso un secolo. Convegno Internazionale di Studi (Firenze - Pisa, 8 - 10 gennaio 1998). Pisa, 2003: 169, fig. 56.

2003: Padoa Rizzo, Anna. Benozzo Gozzoli. Un pittore insigne, “pratico di grandissima invenzione”. Milan, 2003: 81, fig. 33.

2021: Nocentini, Serena, and Valentina Zucchi. "Benozzo, pittore fiorentino." In Serena Nocentini and Valentina Zucchi, eds. Benozzo Gozzoli e la Cappella dei Magi. Exh. cat. Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, 2021: 22.