Christ Blessing

Segna di Buonaventura  (Italian, active Siena by 1298–died 1326/31)

Date:
ca. 1311
Medium:
Tempera on wood, gold ground
Dimensions:
Overall, with shaped top, 15 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (39.4 x 24.1 cm); painted surface 14 x 8 1/8 in. (35.6 x 20.6 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Bequest of Adele L. Lehman, in memory of Arthur Lehman, 1965
Accession Number:
65.181.2
  • Gallery Label

    This panel was the pinnacle of an unidentified altarpiece. Its softly modeled forms were inspired by Duccio, with whom Segna must have worked. The gold striations derive from Byzantine icons and indicate the sacred character of the figure.

  • Catalogue Entry

    Forthcoming

  • Provenance

    Arthur Lehman, New York (bought in Europe through Paul Sachs; 1926–d. 1936); Mrs. Arthur (Adele L.) Lehman, New York (1936–d. 1965)

  • References

    Raimond van Marle. "La scuola senese del XIV secolo." Le scuole della pittura italiana. 2, The Hague, 1934, p. 106 n. 1 (continued from pp. 104–5), lists it among Ducciesque works; as in the collection of A. Lehman, New York.

    Claus Virch. The Adele and Arthur Lehman Collection. New York, 1965, p. 14, ill., as attributed to Duccio, mentioning that Zeri has suggested an attribution to Segna [see Ref. 1963]; notes that the subject and composition indicate that the panel may originally have formed the central pinnacle of an altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with saints; gives provenance information.

    Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools. London, 1968, vol. 1, p. 393, lists it as by Segna.

    Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 186, 355, 609.

    James H. Stubblebine. Letter to Katharine Baetjer. August 14, 1978, writes that in his forthcoming book [see Ref. 1979], he lists this picture as by Niccolò di Segna, states that it comes from a polyptych, and dates it about 1335.

    James H. Stubblebine. Duccio di Buoninsegna and His School. Princeton, 1979, vol. 1, p. 154; vol. 2, fig. 476, lists it as by Niccolò di Segna, dates it about 1335, and states that it comes from a polyptych.

    Federico Zeri with the assistance of Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sienese and Central Italian Schools. New York, 1980, p. 90, pl. 3, suggest that it may have been the central pinnacle of a polyptych; date it to Segna's late period.



  • Notes

    This panel was originally the central pinnacle of an unidentified altarpiece. It can be dated to about 1311 on the basis of stylistic similarities to Duccio's Maestà (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena) of that date.

  • See also
110002102

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