Madonna and Child with Saints Philip and Agnes

The Artist: Only during the last five decades has Donato de' Bardi emerged as an important figure in the history of north Italian painting, notable for the manner in which he responded to Netherlandish and French painting and set the stage for the achievement of Vincenzo Foppa—the outstanding painter of fifteenth-century Lombardy. We possess few documents that relate to Donato and until 1973, when Federico Zeri reconstructed his career by ascribing to him a series of works—including the portable triptych in The Met—he was known only by a signed Crucifixion in the Pinacoteca in Savona (see fig. 1 above). However, the quality of that work, with its austere composition, expressive reserve, and attention to light, clearly indicated his importance.

He was born at an undetermined date in Pavia, south of Milan, and moved to Genoa by June 1426. Key to his development must have been the painter-miniaturist Michelino da Besozzi (see 43.98.7), who had abandoned Milan for the Venice and the Veneto during the political upheavals that followed the death of Duke Giangaleazzo Visconti in 1402, but who returned during the reign of Filippo Maria, who became duke in 1412. As commented upon in the entry for the Crucifixion by Stefano da Verona (2018.87), Milan was the center of an international culture and it seems likely that Donato—like Stefano—became acquainted with Franco-Flemish illuminations. However, it was in Genoa, with its commercial ties to France and the Netherlands, that the example of Netherlandish painting made it strongest impact. We know, for example, that a member of the Lomellini family commissioned a triptych of the Annunciation from Jan van Eyck (it was later acquired by King Alfonso of Aragon and does not survive, though it is described by the humanist writer Bartolomeo Fazio, who was in Genoa from 1431–34). Among the early, Michelino-inspired works Donato painted in Genoa must be the altarpiece panel with four saints in the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti. In 1433 Donato was commissioned to paint a panel for the cathedral of Genoa, and in 1448 his taxes were reduced in recognition of his stature; the document also suggests an activity as a goldsmith. He died by March 30, 1451.

The Picture: The Virgin is shown seated on a cushion on the marble pavement, as a Madonna of Humility. The infant Christ wears a coral amulet as a talisman and coral beads around his wrists. He plays with a goldfinch, symbol of the Resurrection. The figures are rendered with exceptional attention to details, such as the teeth of the mother and child and the transparent cloth on the infant’s body. In the left wing is shown the apostle Philip and in the right one is Saint Agnes, who holds a martyr’s palm and her attribute, a lamb with a cruciform halo signifying of this and a Presentation in the Temple the Lamb of God. Unfortunately, the reverse sides of the wings of the triptych do not survive, as the panels have been thinned and cradled.

The Attributions: The signature on this refined triptych was long thought to refer to the Venetian painter Donato Bragadin, who is known from documents as a sometime associate of Jacopo Bellini and active in Venice. Thus, the picture was long discussed in the context of Venetian painting. However, in 1972, Zeri ingeniously proposed an attribution to Donato de’ Bardi, emphasizing both the quality of the two panels and the stature of Donato as seen in the Crucifixion. He then (1973) went on to reconstruct the career of the artist, ascribing to him a remarkable Presentation in the Temple and a standing Saint Jerome formerly in the Brooklyn Museum (sold, Christie's, New York, October 14, 2020, no. 4; the Saint Jerome had been ascribed to Jacopo Bellini). Of the works currently ascribed to Donato, The Met’s must be relatively early. How early depends on comparison with the panel of four saints in the Accademia Ligustica in Genoa, mentioned above. Although most scholars place The Met's panel in the 1430s, there is a possibility that, as pointed out by Strehlke (1998), it could have been painted in Milan, since the figures shown in the wings are the patron saints of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti and his mistress Agnes del Maino (1401–1465). Tempting as it is to make this association, the style of the picture would seem to argue against it. Especially the delicacy of execution, the figure types and lighting seem more developed than is found in the panel in the Accademia Ligustica.

Keith Christiansen 2011; revised 2018

Inscription: Signed (bottom, central panel): OP[V]S DONATI

[Arthur Sambon, Paris, by 1929–?before 1935]; [conte Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence, about 1935–36; sold to Kress]; Samuel H. Kress, New York (1936–37)

Palm Beach. Society of the Four Arts. "Early European Paintings," January 7–30, 1949, no. 1 (as by Bragadin).

Madrid. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. "El renacimiento mediterráneo: Viajes de artistas e itinerarios de obras entre Italia, Francia y España en el siglo XV," January 31–May 6, 2001, no. 68.

Museu de Belles Arts de València. "El renacimiento mediterráneo: Viajes de artistas e itinerarios de obras entre Italia, Francia y España en el siglo XV," May 18–September 2, 2001, no. 68.

Alba, Italy. Fondazione Ferrero. "Napoleone e il Piemonte: capolavori ritrovati," October 28, 2005–February 27, 2006, no. 16.

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT.

Arthur Sambon. "Donato Bernardo di Giovanni Bragadin: Pittore veneto in contrada di San Lio." L'arte 32 (January–February 1929), pp. 15–21, ill., as in a private collection; attributes it to Donato Bragadin and dates it about 1452.

Margaret Sloane Patterson in "A Gift of Two Italian Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 33 (January 1938), pp. 6–8, ill., attributes it to Bragadin.

"New Metropolitan Pictures." Art News 36 (Janauary 15, 1938), p. 13, ill.

Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, pp. 171–72, ill., attributes it to Bragadin and calls it a Madonna of Humility.

Herbert Friedmann. The Symbolic Goldfinch: Its History and Significance in European Devotional Art. Washington, 1946, pp. 114, 156, pl. 91 (detail of central panel), attributes it to Bragadin; notes the unusual detail of the drooping or dead goldfinch held by the Christ Child.

Roberto Longhi. Viatico per cinque secoli di pittura veneziana. Florence, 1946, pp. 51–52, pl. 29, attributes the MMA painting and a Presentation in the Temple (private collection, Lombardy) to Bragadin.

Luigi Coletti. Pittura veneta del Quattrocento. Novara, 1953, p. XXX, pl. 60A, attributes it to Bragadin.

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 12.

Carlo Volpe. "Donato Bragadin ultimo gotico." Arte veneta 9 (1955), pp. 17, 21, fig. 22, attributes it to Bragadin and dates it about 1440.

Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School. London, 1957, vol. 1, p. 49, pl. 58, attributes it to Bragadin.

Fern Rusk Shapley. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Vol. 2, Italian Schools: XV–XVI Century. London, 1968, p. 29, no. K1101, fig. 69, attributes it to Bragadin and dates it probably about 1450.

Pietro Zampetti. A Dictionary of Venetian Painters. Vol. 1, 14th & 15th Centuries. Leigh-on-Sea, 1969, p. 35, attributes it to Bragadin.

K[runo]. Prijatelj in Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Vol. 13, Rome, 1971, p. 669, attributes it to Bragadin.

Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 35, 328, 367, 444, 607, as by Bragadin.

Federico Zeri. Letter. April 5, 1972, attributes it to Donato de' Bardi and calls it an early work, "close to four saints, hitherto without any attribution, in Genoa".

Fern Rusk Shapley. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Vol. 3, Italian Schools: XVI–XVIII Century. London, 1973, p. 389, Addenda, accepts Zeri's attribution [see Ref. Zeri 1972] to Donato de' Bardi.

Federico Zeri. "Rintracciando Donato De' Bardi." Quaderni di Emblema 2 (1973), pp. 35–46, figs. 35 (overall), 36a, 36b (details), attributes it to Donato de' Bardi and dates it about 1430–40, comparing it to French miniatures; adds the Four Saints in the Accademia Ligustica, Genoa, to the painter's oeuvre [see Ref. Zeri 1972].

Roberto Longhi. Opere complete di Roberto Longhi. Vol. 10, Ricerche sulla pittura veneta: 1946–1969. Florence, 1978, p. 47, pl. 25, reprints text of Ref. 1946.

Elena Rossetti Brezzi. "Per un'inchiesta sul Quattrocento ligure." Bollettino d'arte 68 (January–February 1983), p. 8, fig. 5, follows Zeri's attribution and dating, comparing features of the composition of the Madonna and Child to a painting in the Santuario di Santa Maria della Castagna, Quarto (Genoa) signed by Andrea de Aste and dated 1424.

Federico Zeri with the assistance of Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, North Italian School. New York, 1986, pp. 1–2, pl. 8, call it apparently an early work by Donato de' Bardi, suggesting a date of about 1430 or possibly earlier; give information on the state of preservation.

Federico Zeri. "Un problema nell'area di Donato de' Bardi." Paragone 37 (May 1986), p. 10, attributes four panels to a painter close to Donato; notes that the form of their haloes is extremely rare and that similar types appear only in the MMA painting and in the Four Saints in the Accademia Ligustica, suggesting that they may all be products of the same workshop.

Mauro Natale in La pittura in Italia: il Quattrocento. Ed. Federico Zeri. revised and expanded ed. [Milan], 1987, vol. 1, p. 16.

Mauro Natale in Arte in Lombardia tra Gotico e Rinascimento. Exh. cat., Palazzo Reale. Milan, 1988, p. 188.

Andrea De Marchi. "Andrea de Aste e la pittura tra Genova e Napoli all'inizio del Quattrocento." Bollettino d'arte 76 (July–October 1991), pp. 124–25, 129 nn. 47–48, fig. 22, discusses the dating, calling the MMA work later than the Four Saints in the Accademia Ligustica.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 99, ill.

Vittorio Natale in The Dictionary of Art. Ed. Jane Turner. Vol. 3, New York, 1996, p. 226, dates it probably 1430s and calls it "a key example of the exchanges between northern Italy and transalpine Europe," noting the influence of both Pisanello and Bellini, and also of French illuminations and Provençal painting.

Carl Brandon Strehlke. "'Li magistri con li discepoli': Thinking about Art in Lombardy." Quattro pezzi lombardi (per Maria Teresa Binaghi). Brescia, 1998, pp. 35–37, pl. 6 (detail), dates it to the 1430s and notes that its small size indicates that it was made for a private patron; suggests Filippo Maria Visconti and his mistress Agnes del Maino, whose names match those of the two saints appearing on the wings of the triptpych.

Mauro Natale in El renacimiento mediterráneo: Viajes de artistas e itinerarios de obras entre Italia, Francia y España en el siglo XV. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2001, pp. 426–31, ill. (color), and figs. 68a, 68c (details), dates it about 1435; on the basis of its reserved character and sober iconography suggests it was commissioned by a person of high social rank; finds the figure types indicative of northern Italian art in general and not specifically Venetian.

Carl Brandon Strehlke. "Madrid and Valencia, the Mediterranean Renaissance." Burlington Magazine 143 (May 2001), p. 319.

Massimiliano Caldera in Napoleone e il Piemonte: capolavori ritrovati. Ed. Bruno Ciliento and Massimiliano Caldera. Exh. cat., Fondazione Ferrero, Alba. Savigliano, Italy, 2005, pp. 174–77, no. 16, ill. (color, overall and detail).

Ilaria Fiumi in Gentile da Fabriano and the Other Renaissance. Ed. Laura Laureati and Lorenza Mochi Onori. Exh. cat., Spedale di Santa Maria del Buon Gesù, Fabriano. Milan, 2006, p. 234 [Italian ed., "Gentile da Fabriano e l'altro Rinascimento"], relates it to Antonio da Fabriano's "Saint Anne with the Infant Mary and Saints Joachim and Joseph" (Pinacoteca Civica, Gualdo Tadino).

Stefania Buganza. Palazzo Borromeo: la decorazione di una dimora signorile milanese al tramonto del gotico. Milan, 2008, pp. 168, 193 n. 158, fig. 79 (center panel).

Christine Seidel. "Jean Bapteur zwischen Nord und Süd." Die Apokalypse der Herzöge von Savoyen: Begleitband zur Faksimile-Ausgabe des Manuskripts Cod. E. Vitr. 5 der Real Biblioteca des Monasterio di San Lorenzo im Escorial. Simbach am Inn, Germany, 2011, p. 96, fig. 3.

Melanie Holcomb in Jewelry: The Body Transformed. Ed. Melanie Holcomb. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2018, p. 19, fig. 7 (color detail).

Old Masters. Christie's, New York. October 15, 2020, p. 14, under no. 4, fig. 1 (color).

A portable triptych with its original frames, which were disengaged and partially regilt when the panels were cradled.

This work may not be lent.