Madonna and Child

c. 1550

Jacopo Sansovino

Artist, Florentine-Venetian, 1486 - 1570

A woman and baby are modeled with papier mâché and stucco in low relief and then painted and gilded in this vertical panel. The woman and child both have peachy, pale skin and dark brown, wavy hair. To the left, the woman looks in profile at the baby she holds to our right. The woman has large, dark eyes, a delicate nose, and her lips are closed. Her head is covered by gold fabric, which falls over her shoulders. A burgundy-red dress is edged in gold under a navy-blue cloak. More gold cloth covers her lap along the bottom edge of the panel. She cradles the baby in both hands. One of the child’s shoulders and his hips are draped with pale gray fabric. He has pudgy arms and legs but a slightly muscular torso. He also has delicate features in a round, pudgy face, and he looks up at the woman. One hand grips the gray fabric and the other hooks onto a strap holding the woman’s gold cloak closed. The background is a muted greenish-brown.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G14

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    papier mache and stucco, painted and gilded

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 119.4 x 95.6 cm (47 x 37 5/8 in.)
    framed: 195.6 x 146.7 x 11.4 cm (77 x 57 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.1.6

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

A villa in Fasano, Lago di Garda.[1] Baron Max von Heyl, Darmstadt; (Galerie Hugo Helbing, Munich); sold 28 October 1930 to (Julius Böhler, Munich); sold 30 July 1931 to William Randolph Hearst [1863-1951], San Simeon, California.[2] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold 1949 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] Provenance according to Ulrich Middeldorf, Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Sculptures XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 75.
[2] Information about Hearst's ownership can be found in The William Randolph Hearst Collection: photographs and acquisition records on microfiche, Taylor Coffman, ed., New York, 1987: fiche 252. Mary Levkoff of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art kindly brought these records to the NGA's attention (see her letter of 19 September 2006 in NGA curatorial files). It appears from a hand-written notation on the typed information sheet in the Hearst files that the sculpture was sold at the 1942 Gimbel Brothers sale of the Hearst collection. This is possibly where Duveen Brothers purchased it.

Associated Names

Bibliography

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: 262, no. 109, repro.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 428, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 171.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 151, repro.

1976

  • Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 74.

1989

  • Jacopo Sansovino a Vittorio Veneto. Il rilievo in cartapesta della Madonna col Bambino. Exh. cat. Museo del Cenedese, Vittorio Veneto. Treviso, 1989: 40, 42 fig. 21, 43 n. 22.

1991

  • Boucher, Bruce. The Sculpture of Jacopo Sansovino. 2 vols. New Haven and London, 1991: 1:107-110, 254 n. 137, 265 n. 70; 2:347, 348, 351 no. 56, fig. 337.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 214, repro.

2006

  • Bonelli, Massimo and Maria Grazia Vaccari. “’Il gran quadro di basso rilievo…’ Un ritorno a Jacopo Sansovino.” In Maria Grazia Vaccari, ed. Jacopo Sansovino. La Madonna in cartapesta del Barello. Esemplari a confront. Rome, 2006: 29, n. 18

2007

  • Levkoff, Mary. "The Little-Known American Provenance of Some Well-Known European Sculptures." In Baron, Françoise, and Pierre-Yves Le Pogam. La sculpture en Occident. Études offertes à Jean-René Gaborit, réunies sous la direction de Geneviève Bresc-Bautier. Dijon, 2007: 300, fig. 6.

2008

  • Levkoff, Mary L. Hearst the Collector. Exh. cat. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 2008: 19, fig. 1.4.

2012

  • Casciaro, Raffaele. “Cartapeste di Jacopo Sansovino.” In Raffaele Casciaro, ed. Cartapesta e scultura polimaterica. Atti del convegno 9-10 maggio 2008. Galatina, 2012: 57-76, esp. 61, 70.

2013

  • Ozone, Judy L. “One of Many: A Cartapesta Relief of Jacopo Sansovino.” Facture : conservation, science, art history 1 (2013): 104-127, figs. 1, 3, 8, 12, 13.

Wikidata ID

Q63854669

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