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This wooden, painted, free-standing sculpture is of a young woman standing and holding an open book with one hand and holding the other to her chest. The woman’s skin, gown, and long mantle are painted cream white. The mantle covers the back of her head and has a denim-blue lining visible in the folds around her shoulders, waist, and inside the hanging sleeves. It falls just below her knees and wraps around her long gown. The skirt below her knees has traces of brick red but much of the pigment there is lost. In this photograh, her body is angled to our right but she turns her head to look down in front of us with pale brown eyes. Wavy, brown hair is parted down the middle to frame her face. Her right hand, on our left, is raised to touch her chest while her other hand holds an open book at her waist, its pages facing outward. She stands on an octagonal wooden base painted gold. The surface of the sculpture is cracked, flaking, and worn in some areas, allowing the underlying wood to show through.

Pisan 14th Century

The Virgin Annunciate, 1325/1350

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 2

Medium

wood, polychromed and gilded

Dimensions

overall: 162.3 x 53.8 x 39.9 cm (63 7/8 x 21 3/16 x 15 11/16 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1961.9.98

Artists / Makers

Pisan 14th Century (sculptor)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

These two graceful figures, rare life-sized painted wood sculptures surviving from the late Middle Ages, enact the Annunciation as described in the gospel of Saint Luke. Mary responds with restrained amazement to the angel's news that she will become the mother of Christ. Carved completely in the round, with traces of early painting still visible, the statues might have flanked the entrance to the high-altar area of a church. They are early copies from a popular pair of 14th-century marble statues in the church of Santa Caterina in Pisa, Italy. Carbon dating has indicated that each was carved from a tree that was felled at least 600 years ago.

Provenance

(Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955], Florence and Rome); purchased 1950 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1961 to NGA.

[1] Provenance according to Ulrich Middeldorf, Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Sculptures XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 8.

Associated Names

Contini Bonacossi, Alessandro, Count
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.

Bibliography

1956: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 254, 256, no. 106, repro. 257, as by Nino Pisano.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 391, repro., as by Nino Pisano.

1961: Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 6-8, color repro. 9, 10, as by Nino Pisano.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 163, as by Nino Pisano.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 144, repro., as by Nino Pisano.

1976: Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 8.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 280, repro.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 174, repro.

2016: National Gallery of Art. Highlights from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, 2016: 38, repro.