The Nativity, c. 1460

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G15

Medium

marble

Dimensions

overall: 90 x 52 cm (35 7/16 x 20 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1939.1.328

Artists / Makers

Domenico Gagini (sculptor) Lombard, active c. 1449 - 1492

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Possibly the Manfredi family, Florence.[1] Possibly a church, Naples, in the late 19th century.[2] Henry Harris [d. 1950], London.[3] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); purchased June 1937 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] This information comes from the bill of sale between Contini Bonacossi and the Kress Foundation; see note 4.

[2] Francesco Caglioti, e-mail to NGA curator Alison Luchs, 1 May 2009, in NGA curatorial files.

[3] Wilhelm R. Valentiner ("The Early Development of Domenico Gagini," The Burlington Magazine [May 1940]: 76) and Ulrich Middeldorf (Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Sculptures XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 60-61) place the sculpture in the Harris collection, but do not indicate when.

[4] The bill of sale for the purchase of a number of paintings and this sculpture is dated 18 June 1937; copy in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

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

Bibliography

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 225, no. A-32.

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 254, repro. 230.

1945: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 196, repro.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 419, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 156.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 139, repro.

1976: Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 60.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 631, no. 982, repro.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 95, repro.

1998: Caglioti, Francesco. “Sull’esordio brunelleschiano di Domenico Gagini.” Prospettiva 91/92, July-October 1998: 70-89, esp. 72-73, 76, 81, 86 nn. 21-26; repro. 80, fig. 14.

2012: Lewis, Douglas and Tom Eden. "A 'Renaissance' plaquette design from nineteenth-century Vienna." The Medal 60 (Spring 2012): 8-9, figs. 6 and 7(detail), 14 nn. 25,26, 15 n. 27.