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.
Notes The scenes depict, left to right: the Annunciation to Zacharias, the Visitation, and the Birth of Saint John the Baptist.
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.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.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.Italian Pictures of the Renaissance . Oxford, 1932, p. 266, lists the two MMA panels as in the Joseph Robinson collection, Capetown.Pitture italiane del rinascimento . Milan, 1936, p. 228.Connoisseur 142 (November 1958), p. 96, no. 21.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.Apollo 68 (August 1958), p. 40, ill. p. 39, doubts that the two MMA panels are by the same artist.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".Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School . London, 1963, vol. 1, pp. 98–99, calls them cassone panels.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.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.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.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29 (June 1971), p. 438, ill.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.Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage . Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 1971, unpaginated, under no. 12.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.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.in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965–1975 . New York, 1975, p. 89, ill.M: A Quarterly Review of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 7, no. 2 (1975), p. 8, fig. 8.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.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."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.in The Dictionary of Art . 13, New York, 1996, p. 280.in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2006–2007." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Fall 2007), p. 19, refers to it as a wainscot panel.
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