Madonna and Child

c. 1475

Benedetto da Maiano

Associated Names
Benedetto da Maiano

Artist, Florentine, 1442 - 1497

Media Options

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The half-length image of the Virgin and Child, made for contemplation in private homes, was in great demand in 15th-century Florence. This early masterpiece by Benedetto condenses layers of meaning into a simple composition. With one hand, the Christ child touches the cords of his mother's cloak, suggesting the ropes that will later bind him; with the other, he clings to her veil, a reference to the shroud that will envelop Christ's body in the tomb. His vigorous upward movement signals the final act of the drama: escape from the tomb and resurrection. While the Virgin meditates on what is to unfold, her son embraces his future in joyous exuberance.
On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M9

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    marble

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 58.3 x 39 x 9.8 cm (22 15/16 x 15 3/8 x 3 7/8 in.)
    framed: 82.6 x 64.1 x 9.5 cm (32 1/2 x 25 1/4 x 3 3/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1960.5.16

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Stefano Bardini [1836-1922], Florence, in 1893.[1] Prince Johan II of Liechtenstein [1840-1929], Vienna, by 1896;[2] Prince Franz I of Liechtenstein [1853-1938]; Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein [1906-1989]; acquired 2 April 1953 by (J. Seligmann & Co., New York);[3] sold 1954 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1960 to NGA.
[1] See letter from Alison Luchs dated 26 June 1991, in NGA curatorial files.
[2] Bode, Wilhelm von, Die Fürstlich Leichtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie, Vienna, 1896: 130.
[3] See letters to the Jacques Seligmann & Company from the Director of the Liechtenstein Collection, dated 2 April 1953, in the Jacques Seligmann & Co. Records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: Box 244; copies in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1985

  • Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the Time of Donatello, Detroit Institute of Arts; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Forte Belvedere, Florence, Italy, 1985-1986, no. 64 (English cat.), no. 99 (Italian cat.), repro.

Bibliography

1892

  • Bode, Wilhelm von. Denkmäler der Renaissance-Sculptur Toscanas in historischer Anordung. 17 vols. plates; 1 vol. text. Munich, 1892-1905: text vol.:103, pl. 329a.

1896

  • Bode, Wilhelm von. Die Fürstlich Leichtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie. Vienna, 1896: 130.

1919

  • Schubring, Paul. Die Italienische Plastik des Quattrocento. Berlin, c. 1919: 157, 281, fig. 208, as by Benedetto da Maiano.

1924

  • Dussler, Luitpold. Benedetto da Majano: ein Florentiner Bildhauer des späten Quattrocento. Munich, 1924: 82, as Benedetto da Maiano.

1927

  • Kronfeld, Adolf. Führer durch die Fürstlich-Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien. Vienna, 1927: XVII.

1928

  • Weinberger, Martin and Wilhelm von Bode. "Unbeachtete Werke der Brüder Rossellino." Münchener Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst Band V (1928): 99.

1930

  • Gottschalk, Heinz. Antonio Rossellino. Liegnitz, 1930: 96, as Benedetto da Maiano.

  • Schottmüller, Frida. Die Italienischen und Spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barock. Berlin, 1933: I: 49, no. 90.

1931

  • Kronfeld, Adolf. Führer durch die Fürstlich-Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien. Vienna, 1931: XVIII.

1944

  • Duveen Brothers, Inc. Duveen Sculpture in Public Collections of America: A Catalog Raisonné with illustrations of Italian Renaissance Sculptures by the Great Masters which have passed through the House of Duveen. New York, 1944: figs. 163-164.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 188, repro.

1954

  • Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc. A Catalogue of Seven Marble Sculptures of the Italian Trecento and Quattrocento from the Collection of his Highness the Prince of Liechtenstein. New York, 1954: 28-29, repro.

1956

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 212, no. 84, repro.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 406, repro.

1961

  • Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 37, repro.

  • Seligman, Germain. Merchants of Art: 1880-1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting. New York, 1961: 256, 281 repro. pl. 115.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 146.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 130, repro.

1975

  • Balogh, Jolán. Katalog der ausländischen Bildwerke des Museums der bildenden Künste in Budapest, IV.—XVIII. Jahrhundert. 2 vols. Budapest, 1975: 1:74-75, no. 72; 2: repro. pl. 98.

1976

  • Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 31.

1984

  • Cecchetti, Maria. Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche di Faenza. Targhe devozionali dell’Emilia Romagna Faenza, 1984: 56-58, 66-67, 144-147 no. 8-11, 157-159 no. 18-19.

1985

  • Radke, Gary M. "The Sources and Composition of Benedetto da Maiano's San Savino Monument in Faenza." Studies in the History of Art 18 (1985):22, repro.

1988

  • Kecks, Ronald G. Madonna und Kind. Das häusliche Andachtsbild im Florenz des 15. Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1988: 39, 55, 117-118, 139-140, pl. XLIII, fig. 73.

  • Lein, Edgar. Benedetto da Maiano. Frankfurt am Main, 1988: 225.

1990

  • Gentilini, Giancarlo. In Maria Pia Mannini, Il Museo Civico di Prato. Le collezioni d’arte. Florence, 1990: 95-97, no. 28.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 28, repro.

1996

  • Wilson, Timothy. Italian Maiolica of the Renaissance. Milan, 1996: 413-415, no. 161, repro. 413.

2000

  • Cecchetti, Maria. Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche di Faenza. Targhe devozionali dell’Emilia Romagna. Second edition, Faenza, 2000: 49-51, 62-65, 72-73, 112, 114, 129, 178-181, nos. 8-11 (repro. 179), 191 -193 no. 18-19, 216-221 no. 44-50a, 239 no. 72-73

2004

  • Kent, Francis William. Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence. Baltimore and London, 2004: 77, fig. 19.

2006

  • Carl, Doris. Benedetto da Maiano. A Florentine Sculptor at the Threshold of the High Renaissance. 2 vols. Turnhout, Belgium, 2006: text:54-56, 61-64, 72-73, 103; illustrations:37, pl. 15.

2008

  • Bellandi, Alfredo. In La scultura in cartapesta. Sansovino, Bernini e I Maestri leccesi tra tecnica e artificio. Exh. cat., Museo Diocesano, Milan, 2008: 28-33, 36, repro., 37, no. 2.

2012

  • Vaccari, Maria Grazia. “Modelli e livelli nella scultura votiva e devozionale in cartapesta e polimaterica. Qualche riflessione.” In Raffaele Casciaro, ed. Cartapesta e scultura polimaterica. Atti del convegno 9-10 maggio 2008. Galatina, 2012: 77-84, esp. 81.

2013

  • Langhanke, Birgit. Die Madonnenreliefs im Werk von Antonio Rossellino. Ph.D. diss. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 2013: 157-158, 247-248, 260, 266, 335, repro. fig. 109.

2017

  • Eleonora Belli. Madonne Bardini. I rilievi Mariani del secondo Quattrocento fiorentino. Madonna Reliefs from the Second Half of the Florentine Quattrocento. Ed. Antonella Nesi. Florence, 2017: 148-153 and 210—211, repro. 150

2021

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "In Pursuit of Masterpieces: The National Gallery of Art’s Acquisitions from the Prince of Liechtenstein." Artibus et historiae 42, no. 83 (2021): 329 n. 21.

Wikidata ID

Q63854562

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