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Francesco di Giorgio Martini

The Nativity, with God the Father Surrounded by Angels and Cherubim, c. 1470

Not on View

Medium

tempera on panel

Dimensions

joined NGA and MMA panels: 83.5 x 57.5 cm (32 7/8 x 22 5/8 in.)

framed: 97.8 x 73.7 x 4.8 cm (38 1/2 x 29 x 1 7/8 in.)
only NGA lunette (oval): 36.6 x 51.7 cm (14 7/16 x 20 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of George Blumenthal, 1941.100.2; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.8

Accession Number

1952.5.8.combined

Artists / Makers

Francesco di Giorgio Martini (artist) Sienese, 1439 - 1501

Image Use

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

Provenance

NGA panel, God the Father Surrounded by Angels and Cherubim:
Alphonse Kann [1870-1948], Paris; purchased January 1917 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[1] sold 12 November 1920 to Robert Lehman [1892-1969], New York;[2] sold June 1943 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA.

MMA panel, The Nativity:
Charles Butler [1822-1910), London, and Warren Wood, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, by 1897; (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); purchased March 1904 by Robert Henry [1850-1929] and Evelyn Holford [1856-19434] Benson, London; returned to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); purchased June 1905 by (Alexandre Imbert, Rome);[4] sold 1917 through Francis Mason Perkins to George [1858-1941] and Florence [1875-1930] Blumenthal, New York;[5] gift 1941 to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

[1] X Book, Reel 422, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.

[2] See copy of the Duveen Brothers bill of sale to Robert Lehman, in NGA curatorial files. Robert Lehman was the son of Philip Lehman [1861-1947], and they collaborated on the formation of the Lehman collection.

[3] The bill of sale between Robert Lehman and the Kress Foundation for fifteen paintings, including "God the Father and Angels," is dated 11 June 1943; payment was made four days later (copy in NGA curatorial files).

[4] The details of Agnew's and Benson's ownership of the painting are from the Agnew stock books and outlined in the Getty Provenance Index. The painting was stock number 1142, and the initial entry is marked "half profit C[harles] F[airfax] M[urray]." The Bensons apparently had the painting on approval; the line giving Benson as the buyer 28 March 1904 is crossed out and the name and date "Alexandre Imbert, 8 June 1905," has been added.

[5] Fausto Nicolai, "More than an expatriate scholar: Frederick Mason Perkins as art dealer, agent and intermediary for American collectors of the twentieth century," Journal of the History of Collections 28, no. 2 (2016): 314-315, fig. 3.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kann, Alphonse
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Lehman, Robert
Metropolitan Museum of Art, The

Exhibition History

1904: (MMA panel) Exhibition of Pictures of the School of Siena, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1904, no. 33.

1917: (MMA panel) Loan Exhibition of Italian Primitives, F. Kleinberger Galleries, New York, 1917, no. 64.

1920: (MMA panel) Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1920, unnumbered catalogue.

1946: (NGA panel) Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 799.

1988: (joined NGA and MMA panels) Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420-1500, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988-1989, nos. 65a, 65b, repro., as God the Father Surrounded by Angels.

Bibliography

1928: Lehman, Robert. The Philip Lehman Collection, New York: Paintings. Paris, 1928: no. LII, repro. (NGA panel).

1943: Weller, Allen. Francesco di Giorgio 1439-1501. Chicago, 1943: NGA panel: 60, 63, 67-69, fig. 13; MMA panel: 62-64, 108, 117, 226, 253, fig. 11.

1945: (NGA panel) Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 51, repro.

1946: (NGA panel) Frankfurter, Alfred M. Supplement to the Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1946: 32, repro.

1952: (NGA panel) Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 28, color repro.

1959: (NGA panel) Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 80, repro.

1963: (NGA panel) Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 299, repro.

1965: (NGA panel) Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 51.

1966: (NGA panel) Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 153-154, fig. 416.

1968: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central and North Italian Schools, 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:MMA panel: 140; NGA panel: 141.

1968: (NGA panel) National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 44, repro.

1975: (NGA panel) European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 134, repro.

1979: (NGA panel) Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:190-191; 2:pl. 132.

1984: (NGA panel) Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 80, no. 30, color repro.

1985: (NGA panel) European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 160, repro.

1987: Toledano, Ralph. Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Pittore e scultore. Milan, 1987: NGA panel: 15, 31, 33, 55, 60-62, cat. 17, fig. 13; MMA panel: 63-64, cat. 18, fig. 14.

1993: Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 552, fig. 687.

2003: (joined NGA and MMA panels) 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: 278-282, color repro.

2006: Fahy, Everett. "Early Italian paintings in Washington and Philadelphia." The Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1241 (August 2006): 539.

2015: Sallay, Dóra. Corpus of Sienese Paintings in Hungary 1420-1510. Florence, 2015: 174.

2016: Nicolai, Fausto. "More than an expatriate scholar: Frederick Mason Perkins as art dealer, agent and intermediary for American collectors of the twentieth century," Journal of the History of Collections 28, no. 2 (2016): 314-315, fig. 3 (without citing the NGA painting).