The Nativity

c. 1460

Domenico Gagini

Sculptor, Lombard, active c. 1449 - 1492

Media Options

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G15

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly the Manfredi family, Florence.[1] Possibly a church, Naples, in the late 19th century.[2] Henry Harris [d. 1950], London.[3] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); purchased June 1937 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] This information comes from the bill of sale between Contini Bonacossi and the Kress Foundation; see note 4.
[2] Francesco Caglioti, e-mail to NGA curator Alison Luchs, 1 May 2009, in NGA curatorial files.
[3] Wilhelm R. Valentiner ("The Early Development of Domenico Gagini," The Burlington Magazine [May 1940]: 76) and Ulrich Middeldorf (Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Sculptures XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 60-61) place the sculpture in the Harris collection, but do not indicate when.
[4] The bill of sale for the purchase of a number of paintings and this sculpture is dated 18 June 1937; copy in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 225, no. A-32.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 254, repro. 230.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 196, repro.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 419, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 156.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 139, repro.

1976

  • Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 60.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 631, no. 982, repro.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 95, repro.

1998

  • Caglioti, Francesco. “Sull’esordio brunelleschiano di Domenico Gagini.” Prospettiva 91/92, July-October 1998: 70-89, esp. 72-73, 76, 81, 86 nn. 21-26; repro. 80, fig. 14.

2012

  • Lewis, Douglas and Tom Eden. "A 'Renaissance' plaquette design from nineteenth-century Vienna." The Medal 60 (Spring 2012): 8-9, figs. 6 and 7(detail), 14 nn. 25,26, 15 n. 27.

Wikidata ID

Q63809348

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