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 Label Left 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.
Notes The 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.
Provenance the 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 (as "The Birth of St. John the Baptist," by Ghirlandaio, lent by the Earl of Ashburnham).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "The Robinson Collection," 1958, no. 21 (as "The Story of St. John Baptist," by Francesco Granacci, lent by the Princess Labia).
Cape Town. National Gallery of South Africa. "The Sir Joseph Robinson Collection," 1959, no. 6 (lent by the Princess Labia).
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Sammlung Sir Joseph Robinson, 1840–1929: Werke europäischer Malerei vom 15. bis 19. Jahrhundert," August 17–September 16, 1962, no. 4 (lent by Count Natale Labia and Dr. Joseph Labia).
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, mentions the series of three works in the entry for the panel now in Liverpool [see Notes], which is attributed to Domenico Ghirlandaio; states that the Liverpool panel was "obtained from a descendant of the Tornabuoni family, for whom it was painted"; identifies the series with three works described by Vasari, and calls them "finished models for . . . large frescoes". Ashburnham House catalogue . 1878 [see Ref. Waterhouse 1958], as by Ghirlandaio. Costanza Jocelyn Ffoulkes. "Le esposizioni d'arte italiana a Londra." Archivio storico dell'arte 7 (1894), p. 166, fig. 8a, accepts the attribution to Granacci, which she says was first made by Jean Paul Richter. Bernhard Berenson. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance . New York, 1896, p. 115, lists the two MMA panels as early works by Granacci in the collection of Lord Ashburnham, London. Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance . Oxford, 1932, p. 266, lists the two MMA panels as in the Joseph Robinson collection, Capetown. 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, believes that the two MMA panels are by different artists, assigning 1970.134.1, along with the Liverpool panel, to a follower of Ghirlandaio, and tentatively attributing 1970.134.2 to Granacci. Horace Shipp. "Treasures of the Robinson Collection: Some Problems of Attribution." Apollo 68 (August 1958), p. 40, ill. p. 39, doubts that the two MMA panels are by the same artist. E[llis]. K. Waterhouse. The Robinson Collection . Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1958, pp. 15–16, no. 21, gives provenance details and information on the unpublished Ashburnham catalogue of 1878; attributes all three panels to Granacci and states that "all three are somehow connected with Domenico Ghirlandajo's frescoes in Sta Maria Novella of 1486/90, in whose execution Granacci was involved". Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School . London, 1963, vol. 1, pp. 98–99, calls them cassone panels. "Text." Foreign Schools Catalogue . 1, Liverpool, 1963, pp. 83–84, under no. 2783, attributes the three panels to Granacci, with probably some help from assistants accounting for the slight differences in style; states that they were probably made to decorate the walls of a private room, and that the series must originally have included at least two more scenes depicting the baptism of Christ, the imprisonment of the Baptist, the dance of Salome, and the beheading of the Baptist; notes that a label on the back of the Liverpool panel attributes it to Ghirlandaio, states that it was painted for the Tornabuoni family, and identifies it as a sketch for the frescoes in Santa Maria Novella; rejects all three statements. Christian von Holst. "Francesco Granacci als Maler." PhD diss., Freie Universität, Berlin, 1968, p. ?, accepts the attribution to Granacci; includes the panel in Cleveland as part of the series [see Notes]. Christian von Holst. Letter to Everett Fahy . August 3, 1970, states that in 1966 he identified the Cleveland panel as an early work by Granacci and belonging to the same room decoration as the MMA and Liverpool paintings. 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, states that the series was made as a decorative cycle for a Florentine palace and dates it to the first years of the sixteenth century. 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), considers the statue on the right of the roof of the tabernacle at left to be derived from Michelangelo's lost bronze David. 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., date both MMA panels about 1510 or earllier; attribute this panel to Granacci, the Cleveland panel to the Master of the Spiridon Story of Joseph, and MMA 1970.134.2 and the Liverpool panel to different anonymous assistants of Granacci; state that the series was made for the chapel or oratory of a private home in Florence; agree that the Cleveland panel is part of the series but do not believe that it was originally directly attached to this painting; mention a panel attributed to Granacci depicting the baptism of Christ which may also have formed part of the series (formerly Gerini collection, Florence; destroyed 1944); identify the statues appearing on the tabernacle at left and the monochrome reliefs in the spandrels above the arches of the portico at right, noting that they are based on classical prototypes. Christian von Holst. Francesco Granacci . Munich, 1974, pp. 24–25, 132–35, 175, 194, 199, no. 7, figs. 15, 19–24 (overall and details), does not believe this panel was cut at the right; discusses its connection to works by Ghirlandaio and to the Codex Escurialensis; agrees that the Baptism formerly in the Gerini collection [see Ref. Zeri and Gardner 1971] probably originally formed part of the series. 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, date the series about 1505–10; consider the traditional Tornabuoni provenance credible; believe that the landscape in this picture and in the Liverpool panel are probably by the same artist and that both paintings reveal more than one hand. 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), notes the differences in style and quality between the panels; identifies the narrative at right as the warming of the child's swaddling clothes; suggests that the woman at center holding out her arms for the baby might be Mary, but notes that the figure does not have a halo; suggests various symbolic meanings for the fire at right. 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, suggests that the series was commissioned by a younger member of the Tornabuoni family as a tribute to Giovanni, the paterfamilias; dates it about 1510. 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, refers to it as a wainscot panel.