The Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1475/1485

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G15

Medium

terracotta

Dimensions

overall: 81 × 65 cm (31 7/8 × 25 9/16 in.)

framed: 132.72 × 102.87 × 11.11 cm (52 1/4 × 40 1/2 × 4 3/8 in.)
framed weight: 92.987 kg (205 lb.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1939.1.333

Artists / Makers

Francesco di Simone Ferrucci (sculptor) Florentine, 1437 - 1493

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Count Mastiani, Florence.[1] Charles Fairfax Murray [1849-1919], London and Florence. Andrea di Robilant, Venice;[2] (his sale, Galleria Bellini, Florence, 22-27 May 1933, no. 30, as by Andrea Verrochio); probably purchased by (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); purchased July 1934 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] The invoice from Contini Bonacossi to the Kress Foundation, dated 13 July 1934, includes five paintings on panel and one terracotta, which is identified as Nativity by Andrea Verrocchio, formerly in the collection of Count Mastiani, Florence (copy in NGA curatorial files). A typed label tacked to the reverse of the wood frame around the sculpture includes the information "Formerly in Coll. of Count Mastiani Florence."

[2] Provenance according to Ulrich Middeldorf, Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Sculptures XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 41; Fairfax Murray's ownership is documented by a photograph in the Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence.

Associated Names

Contini Bonacossi, Alessandro, Count
Galleria Bellini
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Mastiani, Count
Murray, Charles Fairfax
Robilant, Andrea di

Exhibition History

1935: Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance, A.S. Drey Galleries, New York, 1935, no. 16, as by Andrea del Verrocchio.

2019: Verrocchio: Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence, Palazzo Strozzi and Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence (as Verrocchio: Master of Leonardo); National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2019-2020, Florence catalogue, no. 5.3, repro; Washington catalogue, no. 21, repro.

Bibliography

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 238, no. A-37, as by Verrocchio.

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 254, repro. 238, as by Verrocchio.

1943: Swarzenski, Georg. "Some Aspects of Italian Quattrocento Sculpture in the National Gallery." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th series, 24 (November 1943): 297 fig. 12, 298.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 173, as by Verrocchio.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 153, repro., as by Verrocchio.

1976: Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 41.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 84, repro.

2009: Pisani, Linda. "Maestro di Pio II (?). 21. Madonna col Bambino." In Andrea De Marchi and Gabriele Fattorini, eds. La collezione Salini: Addenda Pittura e scultura (secoli XIV-XVI). Vol. 3 of 4 vols. Florence, 2015: 174, as a late work.