Scenes from the Life of Saint John the Baptist | Francesco Granacci (Francesco di Andrea di Marco) | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscribed (in spandrels, left to right, beneath and beside sculptural vignettes): . . . ; S C (abbreviation for ex Senatu consulto [by decree of the Senate]); . . . ; VICTORIA (victory); S C; PACOS ([the establishment of] peace); ROMA (Rome); S C; FIDES (faith)

Gallery LabelLeft to right are shown: the Annunciation to Zacharias, the future father of John the Baptist; Elizabeth's visit with Mary (the Visitation); the Birth of John the Baptist, with Zacharias warming himself at a fireplace. The panel, which is cut at the right, was completed by a fourth scene showing the infant John taken to his father (Cleveland Museum of Art). The architecture is decorated with allegorical motifs apparently derived from Roman coins. Granacci would have become familiar with such classical details in the studio of his teacher, Domenico Ghirlandaio, where he worked alongside the young Michelangelo.

This engaging picture belongs to a series of three panels recounting the life of John the Baptist (the second is in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and the third is displayed nearby). They were doubtless painted to decorate a chapel or oratory and date from about 1510.

NotesThe scenes depict, left to right: the Annunciation to Zacharias, the Visitation, and the Birth of Saint John the Baptist.

This picture formed part of a series of panels, probably made as decoration for the walls of a room in a private home, depicting the story of the life of Saint John the Baptist. Other works in the series are "The Infant Saint John the Baptist Being Carried to Zacharias" (Cleveland Museum of Art; 44.91), "The Youth of Saint John the Baptist" (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; 2783), and "The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist" (MMA; 1970.134.2). Zeri [see Ref. Zeri and Gardner 1971] suggests that a Baptism of Christ (formerly Gerini collection, Florence; destroyed 1944) also formed part of the series, which likely included scenes of the dance of Salome and the beheading of the Baptist as well.

Provenancethe Tornabuoni family, Florence; [Samuel Woodburn, London, until after 1850; bought from a descendant of the Tornabuoni family; sold to Ashburnham]; Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place, Battle, Sussex (after 1850–d. 1878; cat., 1878, as by Ghirlandaio); Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham, Ashburnham Place (1878–at least 1894; sold to Donaldson); [Sir George Donaldson, London; sold to Robinson]; Sir Joseph B. Robinson, Cape Town (by 1923–d. 1929; his sale, Christie's, London, July 6, 1923, no. 40, as by Ghirlandaio, bought in); his daughter, Ida Louise Robinson, Princess Labia, Cape Town (1929–d. 1961); her sons, Prince and Count don Giuseppe Labia and Count don Natale Antonio Labia (1961–70; sale, Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1970, no. 39, as by Francesco Granacci, to MMA)

Exhibition History

London. New Gallery. "Exhibition of Early Italian Art from 1300 to 1550," 1893–94, no. 150.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "The Robinson Collection," 1958, no. 21.

Cape Town. National Gallery of South Africa. "The Sir Joseph Robinson Collection," 1959, no. 6.

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Sammlung Sir Joseph Robinson, 1840–1929: Werke europäischer Malerei vom 15. bis 19. Jahrhundert," August 17–September 16, 1962, no. 4.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 15, 1970–February 15, 1971, no. 188a.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," June 15–August 15, 1971, no catalogue.

References

Catalogue of the Very Celebrated & Valuable Series of Capital Pictures . . . Formed . . . by . . . the late Samuel Woodburn, Esq. . . . . Christie's, London. June 9 and 11, 1860, p. 19, under no. 77.

Ashburnham House catalogue. 1878 [see Ref. Waterhouse 1958].

Costanza Jocelyn Ffoulkes. "Le esposizioni d'arte italiana a Londra." Archivio storico dell'arte 7 (1894), p. 166, fig. 8a.

Bernhard Berenson. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. New York, 1896, p. 115.

Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 266.

Bernhard Berenson. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936, p. 228.

"The Robinson Pictures." Connoisseur 142 (November 1958), p. 96, no. 21.

Alfred Scharf. "The Robinson Collection." Burlington Magazine 100 (September 1958), p. 300, fig. 2.

Horace Shipp. "Treasures of the Robinson Collection: Some Problems of Attribution." Apollo 68 (August 1958), p. 40, ill. p. 39.

E[llis]. K. Waterhouse. The Robinson Collection. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1958, pp. 15–16, no. 21.

Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School. London, 1963, vol. 1, pp. 98–99.

"Text." Foreign Schools Catalogue. 1, Liverpool, 1963, pp. 83–84, under no. 2783.

Christian von Holst. "Francesco Granacci als Maler." PhD diss., Freie Universität, Berlin, 1968, p. ?.

Christian von Holst. Letter to Everett Fahy. August 3, 1970.

Christian Von Holst. "Three Panels of a Renaissance Room Decoration at Liverpool and a New Work by Granacci." Annual Report and Bulletin of the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool 1 (1970–71), pp. 32–37, figs. 11, 15.

Everett Fahy. "Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum: An Exhibition and a Catalogue." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29 (June 1971), p. 438, ill.

Christian von Holst. "Florentiner Gemälde und Zeichnungen 1480–1580." Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 15 (1971), p. 9, fig. 10 (detail).

Edmund P. Pillsbury. Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 1971, unpaginated, under no. 12.

Federico Zeri with the assistance of Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Florentine School. New York, 1971, pp. 180–83, 185, ill.

Christian von Holst. Francesco Granacci. Munich, 1974, pp. 24–25, 132–35, 175, 194, 199, no. 7, figs. 15, 19–24 (overall and details).

Anthony M. Clark in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965–1975. New York, 1975, p. 89, ill.

Myra Nan Rosenfeld. "A Florentine Quattrocento Altarpiece: Witness to Artistic, Religious Trends." M: A Quarterly Review of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 7, no. 2 (1975), p. 8, fig. 8.

Edward Morris and Martin Hopkinson. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool: Foreign Catalogue. [Liverpool], 1977, text vol., pp. 86–87, under no. 2783.

M. E. D. Laing. "Francesco Granacci and Some Questions of Identity." Metropolitan Museum Journal 24 (1989), pp. 153–66, figs. 1, 6, 15 (overall and details).

Anne B. Barriault. "Spalliera" Paintings of Renaissance Tuscany: Fables of Poets for Patrician Homes. University Park, Pa., 1994, pp. 87, 96–97, 156–57, no. 16.1, fig. 16.1.

Lucinda Hawkins Collinge in The Dictionary of Art. 13, New York, 1996, p. 280.

Everett Fahy in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2006–2007." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Fall 2007), p. 19.

Curatorial Department

European Paintings: All