Head of Christ

Inscription: Inscribed (on Christ's collar): :PACEM:MEAM:dOVOBIS (My peace I give unto you [John 14:27].)

[Elia Volpi, Florence, about 1912]; Baron Wladimir de Grüneisen, Florence; Dr. Ernst Schwarz, New York (until d. 1957; ?his heirs until 1959; sale, Christie's, London, June 26, 1959, no. 47, "The Property of a Gentleman formerly in the Collection of the late Dr. Ernst Schwarz," as by B. Daddi, for 2,800 gns. to "Leadbeater" [Linsky]); Mr. and Mrs. Jack Linsky, New York (1959–his d. 1980); The Jack and Belle Linsky Foundation, New York (1980–81)

Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum. "An Exhibition of Italian Panels & Manuscripts from the Thirteenth & Fourteenth Centuries in Honor of Richard Offner," April 9–June 6, 1965, no. 16 (as "Holy Face," tentatively attributed to the Pistoiese school, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Jack Linsky).

New York. The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Medieval Art from Private Collections," October 30, 1968–March 30, 1969, no. 13 (as "Holy Face," by a Tuscan painter, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Jack Linsky).

Millard Meiss. Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death. Princeton, 1951, pp. 35–38, fig. 42, as whereabouts unknown; attributes it to a follower of the Cioni, possibly Pistoiese, and dates it 1380; notes that it may have been intended as a likeness of one of the "sacra facies" images venerated in Rome; adds that the textile held by the two angels can be interpreted as either a cloth of honor behind Christ's head or as Saint Veronica's veil imprinted with the likeness of Christ, making it a very early example of a Veronica; observes that the size and inscription suggest its possible use as a pax [see Notes].

Samuel J. Wagstaff Jr. An Exhibition of Italian Panels & Manuscripts from the Thirteenth & Fourteenth Centuries in Honor of Richard Offner. Exh. cat., Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Hartford, 1965, p. 19, no. 16, cites Ref. Meiss 1951.

Miklós Boskovits. "Some Early Works of Agnolo Gaddi." Burlington Magazine 110 (April 1968), pp. 211–12, fig. 67, tentatively attributes it to Agnolo Gaddi, dating it about 1370; notes that there was probably a Byzantine prototype.

Carmen Gómez-Moreno. Medieval Art from Private Collections. Exh. cat., The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1968, unpaginated, no. 13, ill., supports the suggestion that it was used as a pax, remarking that the brocade held by the angels and the tooled halo recall the more common silver or siler-gilt paxes, and that the decoration on the back indicates that both sides were meant to be seen.

Miklòs Boskovits. Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370–1400. Florence, 1975, p. 370, attributes it to the Master of the [Orcagnesque] Misericordia and dates it 1370–75.

Bruce Cole. Agnolo Gaddi. Oxford, 1977, p. 1 n.2, rejects Boskovits' [see Ref. 1975] attribution to Agnolo Gaddi and calls it late Trecento, perhaps from Pistoia.

Richard Offner. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. Ed. Hayden B. J. Maginnis. supplement, A Legacy of Attributions. New York, 1981, p. 12, lists it as by the Master of the Virgin of Mercy (Misericordia Master), whom he calls a student of Andrea di Cione.

Keith Christiansen. "Fourteenth-Century Italian Altarpieces." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 40 (Summer 1982), pp. 10, 13, fig. 14 (color), as attributed to Niccolò di Tomasso [sic]; dates it about 1370 and states that the frame is original but regilt; identifies it as a pax.

Keith Christiansen in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1981–1982. New York, [1982], p. 37, ill., as attributed to Niccolò di Tommaso; dates it about 1372 and finds the execution more refined than most of Niccolò's known panel paintings.

Federico Zeri. Letter to Keith Christiansen. January 20, 1982, attributes it to the Master of the Orcagnesque Misericordia, whom he believes is Giovanni Gaddi; agrees with Boskovits' [see Ref. 1975] dating of about 1370–75.

Miklós Boskovits. "La fase tarda del Beato Angelico: una proposta di interpretazione." Arte cristiana 71 (January–February 1983), p. 24 n. 9, attributes it to the Master of the [Orcagnesque] Misericordia.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 8, ill. (obverse and reverse).

Claudia Däubler-Hauschke. Geburt und Memoria: zum italienischen Bildtyp der "deschi da parto". Munich, 2003, p. 52 n. 17, mentions it with examples of two-sided, painted "Kußtafeln".

Adrian W. B. Randolph. Touching Objects: Intimate Experiences of Italian Fifteenth-Century Art. New Haven, 2014, p. 228, fig. 118 (color), refers to it as a pax and notes that "repeated kissing appears to have abraded the surface of the painting on Christ's forehead".

The engaged frame is from Florence and dates to about 1380–1400 (see figs. 1–3 above). This two-sided molding is made of poplar and secures the double-sided panel painting within its stepped rabbet. It is marble painted on its sides. The profile of the frame is narrower on the back where its delicate original water gilding remains visible. The heavier gesso and burnished water gilding on the front mask the profile. The carved pearls appear to be added at a later time. No hinge marks on the sides indicate that the panel was an independent object, possibly a pax.

Timothy Newbery with Cynthia Moyer 2017; further information on this frame can be found in the Department of European Paintings files

This painting was made as an independent object, as suggested by the lack of hinge marks on the original frame. It may have served as a pax (or Osculatorium), a tablet used in passing the kiss of peace during the mass (see Meiss 1951). Such objects were usually made of metal, but painted ones are known. The size of the work, its hieratic quality, and the inscription are especially appropriate for this liturgical function, and the decoration on the back indicates that both sides were meant to be seen. While the image may be interpreted as showing Christ before a cloth of honor, it more likely represents Saint Veronica's veil (sudarium), miraculously imprinted with the head of the Christ during the journey to Calvary.

The back is decorated with a white bordered, purple quatrefoil design on a green background. Inside the quatrefoil is a geometric configuration consisting of squares and triangles of white, purple, and black.

The Master of the Orcagnesque Misericordia is the name given by Richard Offner (1981) to the painter of a Madonna of Mercy in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence.