Abraham | Lorenzo Monaco (Piero di Giovanni) | Collection Database | Works of Art

Gallery LabelThese exceptionally well-preserved panels show Old Testament prophets: Moses is shown with the tablets of the Ten Commandments; Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac prefigures that of Christ; David, holding his harp is considered a direct ancestor of Christ; and Noah's ark prefigures the Church. The function of these four paintings, possibly as flanking elements of an altarpiece, has been debated.

These are among the finest works of Lorenzo Monaco, who, at the time they were painted (about 1408–10), was the leading master in Florence. They betray his admiration for the sculpture that Donatello and Nanni di Banco were creating in those years, for the Cathedral of Florence.

NotesThis work belonged to the same ensemble as the paintings of Noah, Moses, and David (MMA 65.14.2–4). Opinions vary regarding the original context of this series of panels and whether it included a similar representation of Saint Peter (Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York; formerly Lotzbeck collection, Schloss Nannhofen, near Munich; formerly on loan to the Alte Pinakothek, Munich).

The panel is 5/8 in. thick (unthinned), with a vertical grain. Its original lipped edge remains on the bottom and top, with remnants on the right. There are bare extensions of wood on all sides, and the point of the arch has been repaired and regilt. In addition to nail holes for attaching later molding, there are two nails 3 1/8 in. from the left edge and 2 1/8 in. from the right edge. These are both behind spandrel-fillings, added later, that are also present in the Noah and Moses, but not in the cut-down David. The edges are gessoed and painted black.

Provenanceprivate collection, Florence (until 1841; Biondi sale, Benou, Paris, March 12–13, 1841, no. 8, as "Sacrifice d'Abraham," as attributed to Beato Angelico); Henri Chalandon, La Grange Blanche, Parcieux, near Trévoux (by 1909); Chalandon family, La Grange Blanche (until 1956; sold to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, Paris and New York, 1956–65; sold to MMA]

Exhibition History

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat.

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

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence 1300–1450," November 17, 1994–February 26, 1995, no. 32a.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions," October 24, 2008–February 1, 2009, online catalogue.

References

Bernhard Berenson. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. 3rd ed. New York, 1909, p. 154.

Raimond van Marle. "Late Gothic Painting in Tuscany." The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 9, The Hague, 1927, p. 168 n. 3.

W. Suida in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. 23, Leipzig, 1929, p. 392.

Millard Meiss. "Letter: Four Panels by Lorenzo Monaco." Burlington Magazine 100 (October 1958), p. 359.

Millard Meiss. "Four Panels by Lorenzo Monaco." Burlington Magazine 100 (June 1958), pp. 191–96, figs. 6, 9 (overall and detail).

"Nei musei americani." Sele arte 7, no. 41 (May–June 1959), p. 17, ill. (detail).

Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School. London, 1963, vol. 1, p. 120.

Millard Meiss. Letter to Thomas Hoving. January 20, 1964.

Theodore Rousseau in "Ninety-fifth Annual Report of the Trustees, for the Fiscal Year 1964–1965." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 24 (October 1965), p. 56, ill. p. 40.

Guy-Philippe de Montebello. "Four Prophets by Lorenzo Monaco." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 25 (December 1966), pp. 155–69, figs. 1, 5, 13, 19 (overall and details).

Bernard Berenson. Homeless Paintings of the Renaissance. Bloomington, 1970, p. 250.

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. 62–67, ill.

Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 111, 254, 609.

Bernard Berenson. Looking at Pictures with Bernard Berenson. New York, 1974, p. 106.

Alte Pinakothek München: Katalog V, Italienische Malerei. Munich, 1975, pp. 66–67.

Miklòs Boskovits. Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370–1400. Florence, 1975, pp. 349–50.

Anthony M. Clark in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1965–1975. New York, 1975, p. 80, ill.

Sylvia Hochfield. "Conservation: The Need is Urgent." Art News 75 (February 1976), p. 27.

Rolf Kultzen in Alte Pinakothek München. Munich, 1983, p. 300 [English ed., 1986, p. 303].

Enza Biagi in La pittura in Italia: il Duecento e il Trecento. revised and expanded ed. Milan, 1986, vol. 2, p. 592.

Marvin Eisenberg. Lorenzo Monaco. Princeton, 1989, pp. 22–23, 79, 109, 112, 148–49, 151–53, 168, colorpl. 5, fig. 41.

Andrew Ladis. "With the filters off." Times Literary Supplement (April 3, 1992), ill. p. 20 (detail).

Laurence B. Kanter in Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence: 1300–1450. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1994, pp. 234, 253–61, no. 32a, ill. (color).

Erling S. Skaug. Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico: Attribution, Chronology, and Workshop Relationships in Tuscan Panel Painting. Oslo, 1994, vol. 1, pp. 284, 286; vol. 2, punch chart 8.13.

Dillian Gordon. "Renaissance Painting and Illumination at the Metropolitan." Apollo 140 (February 1995), p. 51.

James Czarnecki in The Dictionary of Art. 19, New York, 1996, p. 680.

Mojmír S. Frinta. "Part I: Catalogue Raisonné of All Punch Shapes." Punched Decoration on Late Medieval Panel and Miniature Painting. Prague, 1998, p. 519.

Charlotte Hale. "The Technique and Materials of the 'Intercession of Christ and the Virgin' Attributed to Lorenzo Monaco." The Fabric of Images: European Paintings on Textile Supports in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. London, 2000, p. 37.

Paul Jeromack. "Getty Buys Northumberland Raphael—Met Nets Lorenzetti." The Art Newspaper.com. 2002 [www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10234].

Anna Bisceglia in Lorenzo Monaco: A Bridge from Giotto's Heritage to the Renaissance. Exh. cat., Galleria dell'Accademia. Florence, 2006, p. 160, under no. 21.

Laurence Kanter in Lorenzo Monaco: A Bridge from Giotto's Heritage to the Renaissance. Exh. cat., Galleria dell'Accademia. Florence, 2006, pp. 186, 189–90, no. 29c, ill. (color).

Angelo Tartuferi in Lorenzo Monaco: A Bridge from Giotto's Heritage to the Renaissance. Exh. cat., Galleria dell'Accademia. Florence, 2006, pp. 29, 168, under no. 23.

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