One of a series of eight almost identical angels by the artist from the Cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, this figure was paired with and confronted an example now in the Duomo Museum in Florence. These sculptures and the others in the series flanked a larger statue of a martyr saint (Saints Stephen, Laurence, Victor, or Barnabas).
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Artwork Details
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Title:Adoring Angel
Artist:Piero di Giovanni Tedesco (Italian, died ca. 1402)
Date:ca. 1395–96
Geography:Made in Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Culture:Central Italian
Medium:Marble (Carrara marble)
Dimensions:Overall: 46 3/4 x 11 1/4 x 12 3/4 in. (118.7 x 28.6 x 32.4 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Stone
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.190.752
From the façade of the Cathedral of S. Maria Fiore, Florence; Private Collection, Florence; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 18, 1970–March 29, 1970.
Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago. "The Middle Ages: Treasures from The Cloisters and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 16, 1970–July 5, 1970.
Poggi, Giovanni. Il Duomo di Firenze: Documenti sulla decorazione della chiesa e del campanile tratti dall'archivio dell'opera. Parti I-IX. Italienische Forschungen, Kunsthistoriches Institut in Florenz, Vol. 2. Berlin: B. Cassirer, 1909. pp. xxxix, 16, 19, 20, fig. 37, doc. nos. 96, 110, 111, 115, 118.
Kauffmann, Hans. "Florentiner Domplastik." Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 47 (1926). pp. 141–57.
Paatz, Walter, and Elisabeth Paatz. Die Kirchen von Florenz: Ein kunstgeschichtliches Handbuch. Frankfurter Wissenschaftliche Beiträge, Kulturwissenschaftliche Reihe, 4, 5, Vol. 3. Frankfurt: Vittorio Klostermann, 1952. pp. 573–74, n. 499.
Rossi, Ferdinando. Il bel San Giovanni, Santa Maria del Fiore, l'Opera del Duomo. Florence: Arnaud, 1965. p. 65.
Legner, Anton. Gotische Bildwerke aus dem Liebieghaus. Frankfurt: Liebieghaus Skulpturen Sammlung, 1966. n.p.
Seymour, Charles Jr. Sculpture in Italy: 1400–1500. Harmondsworth, 1966. p. 225, n. 50.
Legner, Anton. "Liebieghaus: Museum alter Plastik, 1945-1966." Städel-Jahrbuch, n.s., 1 (1967). p. 251.
Becherucci, Luisa, and Giulia Brunetti. Il Museo dell'Opera del Duomo a Firenze. Gallerie e musei di Firenze, Vol. 1. Milan: Electa, 1969. p. 252, fig. 126.
Ostoia, Vera K. The Middle Ages: Treasures from the Cloisters and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1969. no. 80, pp. 174–175, 259.
Brunetti, Giulia. "L'Angelo del Metropolitan Museum di New York e qualche nuovo contributo a Piero Tedesco." Metropolitan Museum Journal 6 (1972). pp. 157, fig. 2–4.
"Italienische Skulptur um 1400: Untersuchungen zu den Einflussbereichen." Metropolitan Museum Journal 7 (1973). pp. 29, 36, fig. 29.
Canfield, Jr. Cass. The Incredible Pierpont Morgan: Financier and Art Collector. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. p. 117.
Kreytenberg, Gert. "Tre cicli di apostoli dell'antica facciata del Duomo fiorentino." Antichità Viva 16, no. 1 (1977). p. 27, n. 10.
Legner, Anton, ed. Die Parler und der schöne Stil, 1350-1400: Europäische Kunst unter den Luxemburgern. Vol. 1. Cologne: Museen der Stadt Köln, 1978. pp. 24–25.
Maek-Gérard, Michael. Nachantike grossplastische Bildwerke: Liebieghaus-Museum alter Plastik: Volume 2, Italien, Frankreich und Niederland, 1380-1530/40. Melsungen: Gutenberg Melsungen, 1981. p. 10.
Gillerman, Dorothy. "A Mourning St. John in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts." Gesta 25, no. 1 (1986). p. 153.
Kreytenberg, Gert. "Firenze: Scultura, secolo 14." In Enciclopedia dell'arte medievale. Vol. 6. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1995. p. 242.
Baldry, Francesca. John Temple Leader e il castello di Vincigliata: Un episodio di restauro e di collezionismo nella Firenze dell'Ottocento. Studi (Fondazione Carlo Marchi), Vol. 9. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1997. p. 143, n. 132.
Neri Lusanna, Enrica. Arnolfo: Alle origini del Rinascimento fiorentino. Florence: Polistampa, 2005. p. 412.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Lisbeth, and Jack Soultanian. Italian Medieval Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010. no. 44, pp. 214–219.
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