The Virgin Adoring the Child
1480/1490
Sandro Botticelli
Painter, Florentine, 1446 - 1510
Artwork overview
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Medium
tempera on poplar panel
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall (diameter): 58.9 cm (23 3/16 in.)
framed: 82.2 x 6.4 cm (32 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.) -
Accession Number
1952.2.4
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Charles Paravey [d. by 1878], Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13 April 1878, no. 97, as by Filippo Lippi, probably bought in); probably by inheritance to Paravey's daughter, Mme Raynaud, Paris. (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 December 1929, no. 44, as by Filippo Lippi); (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York); sold October 1947 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] The invoice from Wildenstein & Co. to the Kress Foundation (copy in NGA curatorial files) is dated 30 October 1947. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2331.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1933
Five Centuries of European Painting, Los Angeles Museum of Art, November-December 1933, no. 3, repro., as The Nativity.
Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century, Detroit Institute of Arts, March 1933, no. 24, as Madonna Adoring the Child.
A Century of Progress. Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, June-November 1933, no. 109, as Nativity.
1935
Exhibition of Italian Paintings of the Renaissance, The Century Association, New York, 1935, no. 2, as Madonna Adoring the Child.
1939
Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 21, repro., as The Madonna Adoring the Child.
1941
Masterpieces of Art from European and American Collections, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1941, no. 4, repro., as Madonna Adoring the Child.
1947
Italian Paintings, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1947, no. 16, repro., as Adoration of the Child.
Bibliography
1911
Mireur, Hippolyte. Dictionnaire des ventes d’art faites en France et à l’étranger pendant les XVIIIme & XIXme siècles. 7 vols. Paris, 1902-1912: 4(1911):344.
1923
Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 12 (1931):171.
1930
Mayer, August. L. “Ein unbekanntes tondo von Botticelli.” Pantheon 6 (September 1930): 393-394, repro.
1933
Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America, 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1938:2: pl. 246.
Valentiner, William R. “Die Leihausstellung frühitalianischer Malerei in Detroit.” Pantheon 12 (1933): 238.
1935
Frankfurter, Alfred M. “Italian Paintings in Loan Display at Century Club.” Art News 33, no. 23 (1935): 11.
1938
Mesnil, Jacques. Botticelli. Paris, 1938: 225.
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: 52, no. 14, repro.
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 49.
Comstock, Helen. “Additions to the Kress Collection.” Connoisseur 127 (September 1951): 66.
1954
Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York, 1954: fig. 46.
1956
De Tolnay, Charles. “Remarques sur la Saint Anne de Léonard.” Revue de l’art 6 (1956): 163.
1958
Salvini, Roberto. Tutta la pittura del Botticelli, 2 vols. Milan, 1958: 2:22, 50, pl. 60.
1959
Friedmann, Herbert. “Two Paintings by Botticelli in the Kress Collection.” In Studies in the History of Art Dedicated to William E. Suida, Washington, DC, 1959: 120-123, repro.
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 69, repro.
1963
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School, 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:38.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 17.
Salvini, Roberto. All the Paintings of Botticelli, 4 vols. New York, 1965: 3:137, repro.
1966
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 122, fig. 333.
1967
Mandel, Gabriel. The Complete Paintings of Botticelli. Milan and New York, 1967: 104, cat. 124, repro.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 10, repro.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 34.
1974
Fahy, Everett. “Review. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools XII-XV Century by Fern Rusk Shapley; Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools XV-XVI Century by Fern Rusk Shapley; Early Italian Paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery by Charles Seymour; Italian Primitives: The Case History of a Collection and its Conservation by Charles Seymour.” Art Bulletin, vol. 56, no. 2 (1974): 285, fig. 2, as by Jacopo del Sellaio.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 38, repro.
1978
Lightbown, Ronald. Botticelli: Life and Work. 2 vols. Berkeley, CA, 1978: 1:117, pl. 41. 2:79, cat. B68.
Brigstocke, Hugh. Italian and Spanish Paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1978: 22.
1979
Morse, John D. Old Master Paintings in North America: Over 3000 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists. New York, 1979: 28.
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:85-86; 2:pl. 57, as Circle of Botticelli, possibly Jacopo del Sellaio.
1980
Ragghianti, Carlo L. “Galleria di Washington.” Critica d’Arte 45, nos. 154-156 (1980): 218-219, as Workshop of Botticelli.
De Angelis, Rita. Botticelli: Every Painting. Milan and New York, 1980: cat. 120.
1981
Rowlands, Eliot W. “Review of Fern Rusk Shapley. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings 1979.” Apollo 144, no. 237 (November 1981): 353, as "very plausibl[y]" by Jacopo del Sellaio.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 97, no. 60, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 56, repro.
1988
Landolfi, Gemma. “Il Maestro della Natività Johnson.” In Gigetta Dalli Reogli, ed. Il ‘Maestro di San Miniato’: Lo stato degli studi, i problemi, le risposte della filologia. Pisa, 1988: 247.
Kecks, Ronald G. Madonna und Kind. Das häusliche Andachtsbild im Florenz des 15. Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1988: 47, 72, 126, fig. 155.
Baldini, Umberto. Botticelli. Florence, 1988: 299.
1989
Pons, Nicoletta. Botticelli: catalogo completo. Milan, 1989: 81, cat. 100, repro.
Lightbown, Ronald. Botticelli: Life and Work. Milan, 1989: 216-218, pl. 87.
1990
Caneva, Caterina. Botticelli: catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1990: 104, cat. 49, repro.
1992
Pons, Nicoletta. “Una bottega fiorentina di pittura nella seconda metà del XV secolo: Jacopo del Sellaio e compagni.” Ph.D. diss. Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza," 1992: 389 as Workshop of Botticelli.
Petrioli Tofani, Annamaria, ed. Il disegno fiorentino del tempo di Lorenzo il Magnifico. Exh. cat. Florence, 1992: 280.
Testi Cristiani, Maria Laura. Botticelli. Paris, 1992: 76, 95, pls. 54, 55.
1993
Deimling, Barbara. Sandro Botticelli 1444/45-1510. Cologne, 1993: 68, repro.
Brigstocke, Hugh. Italian and Spanish Paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland. 3rd ed. Edinburgh, 1993: 40.
Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 633.
2000
Olson, Roberta J. M. The Florentine Tondo. Oxford, 2000: 167, 253 note 53, fig. A18, as Workshop of Botticelli, possibly with Jacopo del Sellaio.
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: 157-161, color repro.
2005
Zöllner, Frank. Botticelli. Munich, London, and New York, 2005: 238, cat. 60, repro.
2006
Körner, Hans. Botticelli. Cologne, 2006: 368, fig. 302.
Venturini, Lisa. “Pro uno tondo Virginis Mariae. Riflessioni su forma, destinazione, iconografia nei tondi fiorentini: il caso di Botticelli.” In Davide Gasparotto and Antonella Gigli, eds. Il tondo di Botticelli a Piacenza. Milan, 2006: 37.
2009
Acidini, Cristina, William Dello Russo, and Federico Poletti. Botticelli nel suo tempo. Milan, 2009: 94, 146, 277, repro.
2010
Dumbrowski, Damian. Die religiösen Gemälde Sandro Botticellis: Malerei als pia philosophia. Berlin and Munich, 2010: 206-208, fig. 105.
2012
Humfrey, Peter. Glasgow Museums. The Italian Paintings. Glasgow, 2012: 50.
2020
De Marchi, Andrea. “Il 'Maestro dall’occhio vispo': curiosità insaziabile, generosità e passione nel metodo di un conoscitore anomalo.” In Everett Fahy. Studi sulla pittura toscana del Rinascimento. Studies in Tuscan Renaissance Painting. Scritti scelti. Ed. Andrea de Marchi and Elisabetta Sambo. Bologna, 2020: XV, as by Botticelli, perhaps with a collaborator close to Jacopo del Sellaio in the landscape.
2022
Acidini, Cristina. Botticelli. Pisa, 2022: 193-194, repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20174377