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Title:Madonna and Child with Angels
Artist:Workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio (Italian, Florence 1448/49–1494 Florence)
Medium:Tempera on canvas, transferred from wood
Dimensions:Diameter 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
Object Number:14.40.635
baron Michele Lazzaroni, Paris (until 1911); [Duveen, New York, 1911; sold for $110, 000 to Altman]; Benjamin Altman, New York (1911–d. 1913)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," June 15–August 15, 1971, no catalogue.
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
Bernhard Berenson. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. 2nd ed. New York, 1904, p. 125, attributes to Sebastiano Mainardi a Madonna tondo in the Palazzo Torrigiani, Florence, that may be this work [see Ref. Fahy 1998].
Handbook of the Benjamin Altman Collection. New York, 1914, pp. 65–66, no. 43, attributes it to Mainardi.
W. G. Blaikie Murdoch. "The Metropolitan Museum, New York." Connoisseur 45 (June 1916), pp. 67, 74, ill. p. 73, attributes it to Mainardi.
François Monod. "La galerie Altman au Metropolitan Museum de New-York (1er article)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 5th ser., 8 (September–October 1923), p. 183, attributes it to Mainardi and observes the influence of Verrocchio.
Géza De Francovich. "Sebastiano Mainardi." Cronache d'arte 4 (May–June 1927), p. 174, fig. 14, attributes it to Mainardi and dates it about 1490–91.
Handbook of the Benjamin Altman Collection. 2nd ed. New York, 1928, p. 52, no. 24.
Raimond van Marle. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. Vol. 13, The Renaissance Painters of Florence in the 15th Century: The Third Generation. The Hague, 1931, pp. 221–22, fig. 152, attributes it to Mainardi, dates it to "the first years of the 16th century," and notes the influence of Filippino Lippi.
Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 322.
Bernhard Berenson. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936, p. 287.
Moritz Hauptmann. Der Tondo: Ursprung, Bedeutung und Geschichte des italienischen Rundbildes in Relief und Malerei. Frankfurt, 1936, p. 202 n. 1, attributes it to Mainardi and considers the Cini version (formerly in the Palazzo Caregiani) a replica [see Notes].
Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, pp. 55–56, ill., as by Mainardi; calls the Cini tondo "an inferior replica, or copy".
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 62.
Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School. London, 1963, vol. 1, pp. 127–28, lists it as a replica of the Cini tondo, but then lists the Cini tondo as "replica of New York"; notes restoration and repainting.
Francis Haskell. "The Benjamin Altman Bequest." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), pp. 272, 275, fig. 8 (Altman gallery installation), attributes it to Mainardi; quotes a 1912 letter to Duveen in which Altman expresses dissatisfaction with this picture.
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, p. 139, ill., attribute it to Mainardi; state that the Cini tondo is "of superior quality".
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 117, 343, 606, as by Mainardi.
Colin Simpson. Artful Partners: Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen. New York, 1986, pp. 135–37, 296 [British ed., "The Partnership: The Secret Association of Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen," London, 1987].
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 27, ill.
Meryle Secrest. Duveen: A Life in Art. New York, 2004, pp. 114, 460, lists it as by Mainardi.
Gert Jan van der Sman inGhirlandaio y el Renacimiento en Florencia. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2010, pp. 200, 322, under no. 48, dates it to the early 1490s and notes that its condition is inferior to that of the Cini version.
A similar version of the composition formerly in the Palazzo Caregiani, Venice, is now in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice (see Hauptmann 1936 and Zeri and Gardner 1971).
This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Fra Filippo Lippi (Italian, Florence ca. 1406–1469 Spoleto)
ca. 1440
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