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Giovanni Francesco Susini

The Young Saint John the Baptist, c. 1610/1630

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G10

Medium

Carrara marble

Dimensions

overall: 102.9 x 54.9 x 54.6 cm (40 1/2 x 21 5/8 x 21 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Patrons' Permanent Fund

Accession Number

2005.109.1

Artists / Makers

Giovanni Francesco Susini (sculptor) Florentine, 1585 - c. 1653

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

The pose of this boy, who appears ready to jump up, recalls paintings and sculpture by Michelangelo, to whom the statue was once attributed. But the refined physique reflects Susini's training by his uncle Antonio, an assistant to the late 16th-century bronze sculptor Giovanni Bologna. In Florentine art the city's patron saint, John the Baptist, often appears as a boy, providing a devout role model for children. The Lamb of God at his feet symbolizes Jesus, whose coming John foretold. With holy water filling the shell in John's hand, the statue might have stood against the wall of a chapel, with one figure gazing toward the altar, the other toward entering worshippers.

Provenance

Purchased 1900 near Bologna by (Albitez), as by Andrea Sansovino, for Daniel Z. Noorian [d. 1929], New York and Newark;[1] (his estate sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, 12-14 March 1931, no. 643, as by Sansovino, bought in);[2] retained by Noorian's widow, Belle Ward Noorian; possibly (sale, Parke-Bernet, New York,1942);[3] (Piero Tozzi [1882-1974], New York);[4] his estate; purchased 26 October 2005 through (Robert Simon Fine Art, New York, New York) by NGA.

[1] Provenance as given on http://www.robertsimon.com/works(underscore)html/susini.html, accessed 8 March 2012.

[2] Auction records state that the purchaser was Virginia Butts, and The New York Times coverage of the auction results list the buyer as N. Lind, but the sculpture was evidently unsold and remained with Noorian's widow.

[3] This sale has not yet been identified.

[4] No records concerning this sculpture have been discovered in The Tozzi Archive, housed in The Onassis Library for Hellenic and Roman Art, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Associated Names

American Art Association
Noorian, Daniel K.
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc.
Simon, Robert B., Mr.
Tozzi, Piero

Exhibition History

1949: Leonardo Da Vinci Loan Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum, 1949, no. 101, repro., as Attributed to Pierino da Vinci.

1957: Loan for display with permanent collection, Casa Buonarotti, Florence, 1957-1959.

1965: Vatican Pavilion, New York World's Fair, 1965, as Attributed to Michelangelo, not in catalogue.

2018: The Sculpture of Giovan Angelo Montorsorli and his Circle: Myth and Faith in Renaissance Florence, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, 2018-2019.

Bibliography

1964: Creighton, Gilbert. "The Hundred-Dollar Misunderstanding." [Review of Fernanda de' Maffei, Michelangelo's Lost St. John: The Story of a Discovery]. The New York Review of Books 3, no. 1 (20 August 1964).

1964: De'Maffei, Fernanda. Michelangelo's Lost St. John. New York, 1964: as Michelangelo.

1964: "Lost But Not Found" Review of De' Maffei, Michelangelo's Lost St. John. Times Literary Supplement (4 October 1964).

1965: Isermeyer, Christian Adolf. "Das Michelangelo-Jahr 1964 und die Forschungen zu Michelangelo als Maler und Bildhauer von 1959 bis 1965" Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 28, no 4-5 (1965): 315-318.

1965: Lombardo, Josef Vincent. Michelangelo: The Pieta and Other Masterpieces. New York, 1965: 19-24, pls. 12-14, as by Michelangelo.

1965: Neugass, Fritz. "Ein Jungendwerk Michelangelos." Weltkunst 35, no. 13 (July 1965): cover, 563, repros., as Attributed to Michelangelo.

1973: Baldini, Umberto. L'opera completa di Michelangelo scultore. Milan, 1973: as "derived from Pierino da Vinci."

1976: Lombardo, Josef Vincent. Michelangelo: New Discoveries. New York, 1976: as by Michelangelo.

1995: Beck, James. "Pierino da Vinci: fra Michelangelo e Leonardo." and Pedretti, Carlo.”Il nipote scultore.” In Mario Cianchi, ed. Pierino da Vinci: Atti della giornata di studio; Vinci, Biblioteca Leonardiana, 26 maggio 1990. Florence, 1995: 13-15, 25-28, figs. 5, 8, 10, 36, 38, pl. 21; and figs. 5, 8, 10, 36 and 38, pl. XXI, as Attributed to Pierino da Vinci.

2002: Parronchi, Alessandro. "Una nuova ipotesi di attribuzione per il San Giovannino Tozzi." Labyrinthos 41/42, 2002: 25-46, as by Pietro Bernini and Gianlorenzo Bernini.

2003: Parronchi, Alessandro. “Una nuova attribuzione per il San Giovannino Tozzi,” in Alessandro Parronchi. Opere giovanili di Michelangelo VI: Con o senza Michelangelo. Florence, 2003: 71-78, fig. 99-121, as Pietro and Gianlorenzo Bernini, c. 1614-15.

2003: Pratesi, Giovanni, ed. Repertorio della scultura fiorentina del Cinquecento. 3 vols. Turin, 2003: 3:fig. 636, as Pierino da Vinci.

2005: Vogel, Carol. "This Deal Came Around Twice." The New York Times (20 November 2005).

2006: D.M. [David Masello or Dana Micucci]. “A Boy and His Lamb.” Arts & Antiques 29, no. 11 (November 2006): 68.

2012: Caglioti, Francesco. “Il ‘San Giovannino’ mediceo di Michelangelo, da Firenze a Ubeda.” Prospettiva 145 (January 2012; published June 2013): 2-81, esp. 5-6, 34-37, repro., 58-59 nn. 34-38, 60 n. 39, as Gianfrancesco Susini.

2012: Leigh, Catesby. "Reviving Sacred Sculpture." First Things (June/July 2012): 19-21, repro.

2015: "Art for the Nation: The Story of the Patrons' Permanent Fund." National Gallery of Art Bulletin, no. 53 (Fall 2015): 24, repro.

2016: Freddolini, Francesco. "A Rediscovered Work by Domenico Pieratti: The Bust of Louis Hesselin." Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz LVIII Heft 3 (2016): 417-418, n. 30, repro.

2019: Scholten, Frits. “Dusting off terracottas: a critical reception history of Johan Gregor van der Schardt’s artistic legacy.” Simiolus. Netherlands quarterly for the history of art41, no. 3 (2019): 131-152, esp.145 (repro.), 146.