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Overview

A favorite Florentine Renaissance sculptural type, this bust of a young boy reveals Desi-derio as one of the finest marble carvers of all time. Even Leonardo da Vinci learned from his subtle transitions and sensitive expressions. Through keen observation, consummate chisel work, and careful abrasion, Desiderio transformed stone into wispy hair, layered cloth, and soft flesh. Appearing still and composed at first glance, the child has subtle indentations around the mouth and a slightly turning face, suggesting a mood about to change. The original subject may have been the infant Christ, or a portrait later changed into a sacred image, suggested by a hole drilled to hold a halo stem.

Provenance

Purchased 1846 in Italy by Eugène Piot [1812-1890], Paris; sold 26 April 1864 to Paul van Cuyck, Paris.[1] Louis-Charles Timbal [1821-1880], Paris; sold 1872 with his collection to Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris;[2] his estate; purchased 1930 with the entire Dreyfus collection by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[3] purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[4] gift 1937 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1932
Italian Sculptures from the Dreyfus Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1932.
1935
Exposition de L'Art Italien de Cimabue a Tiepolo, Musèe du Petit Palais, Paris, 1935, no. 1038.
2006
Desiderio da Settignano: Sculptor of Renaissance Florence, Musée du Louvre, Paris; Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006-2007, no. 11, repro.

Bibliography

1907
Vitry, Paul. "La collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus: I. - La Sculpture." Les Arts 72 (December 1907): repro. 3, 4, 6, 8, 10.
1937
Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: repro. opposite page 25.
1937
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 79, 83, repro.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 221, no. A-2, pl. XV.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 253, repro. 227, as Bust of a Little Boy.
1943
Swarzenski, Georg. "Some Aspects of Italian Quattrocento Sculpture in the National Gallery." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th series, 24 (November 1943): 289 fig. 5, 290-291.
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. 60-62, as Bust of a Boy.
1948
Louchheim, Aline B. "Children Should Be Seen." Art News Annual 46 (1948): 52, repro.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 152, repro., as Bust of a Little Boy.
1949
Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 175-176, note 20, repro. 77-79, as Bust of a Little Boy.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 152, as Bust of a Little Boy.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 135, repro., as Bust of a Little Boy.
1973
Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 42, 43 repro.
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 35-36, pl. 14, as Bust of a Little Boy [incorrectly identified as Samuel H. Kress Collection].
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 626, no. 971, repro., as Bust of a Little Boy.
1990
Luchs, Alison. "Duveen, the Dreyfus Collection, and the Treatment of Italian Renaissance Sculpture: Examples from the National Gallery of Art." Studies in the History of Art 24 (1990):34-35, repro.
1994
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 73, repro.
1996
Tansey, Richard G. and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages. 10th ed. Fort Worth, 1996: 713, color fig. 21.48.
2003
Gregori, Mina, ed. In the Light of Apollo: Italian Renaissance and Greece. 2 vols. Exh. cat. National Gallery and Alexandros Souzos Museum, Athens, 2003-2004: 1:207.
2011
Bormand, Marc. "De la naissance à la mort. Diversité d'espression dans l'oeuvre de Desiderio da Settignano." In Connors, Joseph, Alessandro Nova, Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi and Gerhard Wolf, eds. Papers from a colloquium held at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, Max-Planck-Institut, and at Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence, May 9-12, 2007 on occasion of the exhibition in Florence dedicated to Desiderio da Settignano. Venice, 2011: 31, repro. p. 32.
2019
Butterfield, Andrew et al. Verrocchio, Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence. Washington, 2019: 124, fig. 1, 126, 143.

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