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Cosmè Tura

The Virgin Annunciate [middle right panel], c. 1470/1480

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 13

Medium

tempera and distemper on panel

Dimensions

overall (middle right panel): 31 x 12.4 cm (12 3/16 x 4 7/8 in.)

framed: 43.5 x 16.8 x 4.4 cm (17 1/8 x 6 5/8 x 1 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1952.2.6.c

Artists / Makers

Cosmè Tura (painter) Ferrarese, c. 1433 - 1495

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

Sir Francis Cook, 1st bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, by 1888;[1] by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House, and Cothay Manor, Somerset;[2] (Francis A. Drey, London); sold February 1947 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA.

[1] Fritz Harck, "Verzeichnis der Werke des Cosma Tura," Jb Berlin 9 (1888): 37.

[2] The bill of sale to the Kress Foundation (see note 3) states that the painting was from "the collection of the late Sir Herbert Cook of Richmond (Surrey) England." The 4th Bt. inherited the collection and managed its dispersal after World War II with the trustees of the Cook estate.

[3] Drey sold five Cook paintings to the Kress Foundation, including Tura's "Annunciation with Two Saints" (bill of sale dated 18 February 1947; copy in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Cook, 1st bt., Francis, Sir
Cook, 2nd bt., Frederick Lucas, Sir
Cook, 3rd bt., Herbert Frederick, Sir
Cook, 4th bt., Francis Ferdinand Maurice, Sir
Drey, Francis A.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.

Exhibition History

1894: Exhibition of Pictures, Drawings & Photographs of Works of the School of Ferrara-Bologna, 1440-1540, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1894, no. 5.

2005: Masterpieces in Miniature: Italian Manuscript Illumination from the J. Paul Getty Museum, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2005-2006, not in brochure.

Bibliography

1888: Harck, Fritz. “Verzeichnis der Werke des Cosma Tura.” Jahrbuch der Königlichen Preussischen Kunstsammlung 9 (1888): 37.

1888: Venturi, Adolfo. “L’arte Ferrarese nel periodo d’Ercole I d’Este.” Atti e memorie della R. deputazione di storia patria per le provincie di Romagna 6 (1888): 374.

1892: Gruyer, Gustave. “Cosimo Tura.” L’art (October - November 1892): 26.

1894: Harck, Fritz. “Austellingen und Versteigerungen: Burlington Fine Arts Club. London.” Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 17 (1894): 313.

1897: Gruyer, Gustave. L'Art ferrarais a l'époque des princes d'Este. 2 vols. Paris, 1897: 2:80.

1901: Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 7, part 3(1914):538, fig. 406.

1903: Cook, Francis. Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond. London, 1903: 11, no. 5.

1907: Berenson, Bernard. North Italian Painters of the Renaissance. New York and London, 1907: 298.

1908: Venturi, Adolfo. “L’opere de’ pittori ferraresi del ‘400 secondo il catalogo di Bernardo Berenson.” L’Arte 11 (1908): 420, fig. 1.

1911: Gardner, Edmund G. The Painters of the School of Ferrara. London, 1911: 208.

1912: Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. A History of Painting in North Italy. Edited by Tancred Borenius. 3 vols. London, 1912: 2:231 n.

1913: Borenius, Tancred. A Catalogue of the Paintings at Doughty House, Richmond, and Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook Bt. Italian Schools. Vol. I, Pt. 2. Edited by Herbert Cook. London, 1913: 139, no. 117, pl. 16.

1930: Gronau, Georg. Exhibition of Italian Art. Exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, London 1930: 137-138.

1931: Härtzsch, Otto. “Katalog der echten und falschlich zugeschriebenen Werke des Cosimo Tura.” Ph.D. diss., Hamburg University, 1931: 23-24.

1932: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932: 581.

1932: Brockwell, Maurice W. Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook. London, 1932: 20, no. 117.

1934: Longhi, Roberto. Officina Ferrarese. Rome, 1934: 26.

1936: Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936: 500.

1941: Ortolani, Sergio. Cosmé Tura, Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de'Roberti. Milan, 1941: 70-71, figs. 40, 41.

1950: Nicolson, Benedict. The Painters of Ferrara. London, 1950: 11, 18.

1951: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 74, no. 26, repro.

1953: Neppi, Alberto. Cosmè Tura: saggio critico. Milan, 1953: 87, 136.

1957: Salmi, Mario. Cosmè Tura. Milan, 1957: 43, pls. 35a-c.

1958: Ruhmer, Eberhard. Tura: Paintings and Drawings. London and New York, 1958: 41, 45, 83, 178, figs. 64-67.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 123, repro., as The Annunciation with Saint Francis and Saint Maurelius.

1960: Gilbert, Creighton. "Cosimo di Domenico di Bonaventura." In Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Edited by Alberto Maria Ghisalberti. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 30(1984):27.

1963: Bianconi, Pietro. Tutta la pittura di Cosmè Tura. Milan, 1963: 29-30, 48-51, pls. 74-77.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 132, as The Annunciation with Saint Francis and Saint Maurelius.

1966: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 82, fig. 226-229.

1968: 119, repro., as The Annunciation with Saint Francis and Saint Maurelius.

1968: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:433.

1972: Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 206, 647.

1974: Molajoli, Rosemarie. L'Opera completa di Cosmè Tura e i grandi pittori ferraresi del suo tempo: Francesco Cossa e Ercole de'Roberti. Milan, 1974: 88, figs. 29-32, pls. 28, 29.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 352, repro., as The Annunciation with Saint Francis and Saint Maurelius.

1978: Boskovits, Miklós. “Ferrarese Painting around 1450: Some New Arguments.” The Burlington Magazine 120, no. 903 (June 1978): 378.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:510-511; 2:pl. 357.

1982: Sgarbi, Vittorio. “Ai margini dell’officina.” In Giuseppe Papagno and Amedeo Quondam, eds. La corte e lo spazio: Ferrara Estense. 3 vols. Rome, 1982: 2:595.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 403, repro., as The Annunciation with Saint Francis and Saint Maurelius.

1996: Lippincott, Kristen. "Cosimo Tura." In Jane Turner, ed. The Dictionary of Art. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 31:431.

1997: Campbell, Stephen J. Cosme Tura of Ferrara: Style, Politics and the Renaissance City, 1450-1495. New Haven, 1997: 65-69, fig. 48.

1999: Molteni, Monica. Cosmè Tura. Milan, 1999: 170, 176, 181, 232, repro.

1999: Stemp, Richard. “Two Sculptures Designed by Cosmè Tura.” The Burlington Magazine 141, no. 1153 (April 1999): 209-210, fig. 5.

2000: Manca, Joseph. Cosmè Tura: The Life and Art of a Painter in Estense Ferrara. Oxford, 2000: 10, 45, 72-73, 162-164, pl. XIV, figs. 42a-d.

2002: Dunkerton, Jill. “Cosmè Tura’s Painting Technique.” In Stephen J. Campbell et al. Cosmè Tura: Painting and Design in Renaissance Ferrara. Ed. Alan Chong. Exh. cat. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2002: 142, 145, fig. 63, 157.

2002: Toffanello, Marcello. “Cosmè Tura: Drawings and its Pictorial Components.” In Stephen J. Campbell et al. Cosmè Tura: Painting and Design in Renaissance Ferrara. Ed. Alan Chong. Exh. cat. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2002: 157.

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: 660-665, color repro.

2007: Natale, Mauro, ed. Cosmè Tura e Francesco del Cossa. L’arte a Ferrara nell’età di Borso d’Este. Exh. cat. Palazzo dei Diamanti and Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, 2007: 350.