The richly decorated surfaces and extensive use of silver and gold indicate that this panel—one of the artist's finest and best preserved works—derives from an important altarpiece, though its early history is not known. It is likely that a predella showing scenes from the life of the Virgin was originally below the main panel of the Coronation.
The early provenance is unknown. The painting is illustrated in photographs of the Galleria Bardini, Florence, made about 1890 (for which see F. Scalia and C. de Benedictis, eds.,"Il Museo Bardini a Firenze," vol. I, 1984, pls. 73, 74), and was published in 1907 as in the possession of Stefano Bardini (F. M. Perkins, "Ancora dei dipinti sconosciuti della scuola senese," Rassegna d'arte senese, 3, 1907, p. 82). According to an unconfirmed report, Bardini owned the painting for some thirty years. At some date after 1907 it was purchased by Alphonse Kann, Paris, from whom it was acquired by Philip Lehman in November 1913. Bequeathed by Philip Lehman to Pauline Ickleheimer. Acquired by Robert Lehman in 1946.
F. Mason Perkins. "Ancora dei dipinti sconosciuti della scuola senese." Rassegna d'arte senese 3, nos. 3/4 (1907), p. 82.
F. Mason Perkins. "Dipinti senesi sconosciuti o inediti." Rassegna d'arte 14 (1914), p. 163.
Joseph Breck. "Some Paintings by Giovanni di Paolo: I." Art in America 2 (April 1914), p. 280, fig. 1.
Collection of Mediaeval and Renaissance Paintings. Cambridge, Mass., 1919.
Raimond van Marle. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. Vol. 9, Late Gothic Painting in Tuscany. The Hague, 1927, p. 438.
Helen Comstock. "Paintings by Giovanni di Paolo in America." International Studio 87 (1927), pp. 49-50, 52.
Robert Lehman. The Philip Lehman Collection, New York: Paintings. Paris, 1928, Pl. 50
.
August L. Mayer. "Die Sammlung Philip Lehman." Pantheon 5 (1930), pp. 110, 115.
Lionello Venturi. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931, Pl. 133.
Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 246.
Marialuisa Gengaro. "Eclettismo e arte nel Quattrocento senese." La Diana 7 (1932), pp. 230-231.
Lionello Venturi. Italian Paintings in America. Vol. 1, Romanesque and Gothic. New York, 1933, Pl. 162.
Edward S. King. "Notes on the Paintings by Giovanni di Paolo in the Walters Collection." Art Bulletin 18 (June 1936), p. 233 n. 34.
John Pope-Hennessy. Giovanni di Paolo, 1403–1483. London, 1937, pp. 71-72, 106. Pl. 17.
Cesare Brandi. Giovanni di Paolo. Florence, 1947, pp. 83-84.
Theodore Allen Heinrich. "The Lehman Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12 (April 1954), p. 218.
Charles Sterling, ed. Exposition de la collection Lehman de New York. Exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, 1957, no. 19, Pl. 15.
The Lehman Collection. Exh. cat.Cincinnati, 1959, no. 31.
George Szabó. The Robert Lehman Collection: A Guide. New York, 1975, p. 51, pl. 22.
Cristina De Benedictis inIl Museo Bardini a Firenze. Milan, 1984, p. 125, pls. 73, 74.
Enrica Neri Lusanna. Die Kirchen von Siena. Vol. 1, Munich, 1985, pp. 284-285.
John Pope-Hennessy assisted by Laurence B. Kanter inThe Robert Lehman Collection. Vol. 1, Italian Paintings. New York, 1987, pp. 118-120, no. 49.
Keith Christiansen inPainting in Renaissance Siena: 1420–1500. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, no. 33a.
John Pope-Hennessy. "Giovanni di Paolo." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 46 (Fall 1988), pp. 43-46, no. 63.
Keith Christiansen. "Notes on 'Painting in Renaissance Siena'." Burlington Magazine 132 (March 1990), p. 210.
Philippe de Montebello. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 1994, p. 351.
Andrew Ladis. "Sources and Resources: The Lost Sketchbooks of Giovanni di Paolo." The Craft of Art: Originality and Industry in the Italian Renaissance and Baroque Workshop. Ed. Andrew Ladis and Carolyn Wood. Athens, Ga., 1995, pp. 70-73, fig. 24.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 53.
Cathleen Hoeniger. "The Restoration of Early Italian 'Primitives' During the 20th Century: Valuing Art and its Consequences." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 38 (1999), p. 148.
Rebecca Arkenberg. "Renaissance Organs." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York, 2002.
"Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia): The Coronation of the Virgin (1975.1.38)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. 2006.
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia) (Italian, Siena 1398–1482 Siena)
ca. 1450
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