Virgin and Child with Saints Paul and Peter
Date1310 - 20
Maker
Pietro Lorenzetti
Italian, Siena, active by 1306, died ca. 1348
Label TextThis altarpiece format echoes the cross-section of a church. The central image is the infant Jesus nestled in his mother's arms; they are flanked by two saints. Above, pointed pinnacles portray other sacred figures. More elaborate altarpieces also had a predella, a lower tier of narrative scenes.
Pietro and his brother Ambrogio were the most original artists working in Siena in the fourteenth century, making it an artistic rival to Florence. In 1348, an outbreak of the plague killed many Sienese--possibly including the Lorenzetti brothers--and ended this artistic flowering.
This painting would have originally been placed above an altar in a dimly lit Christian church in the town of Siena, in central Italy. To help worshippers meditate on the sacred figures, the artist strikes a delicate balance, creating recognizably human figures but situating them in a divine realm. The holy figures have human emotions, and their eyes seem to dart around the altarpiece; at the same time, they remain behind the frame, and the gold background surrounding them signifies a sacred space.
Object number61.157
ProvenanceAchillito Chiesa, Milan; [Achillito Chiesa sale, American Art Association, New York, April 16 1926, no. 48 of catalogue, as Pietro Lorenzetti; bought by [Ercole Canessa* (1868-1929), Paris and New York)]; Private collection, Rome, 1930; Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi (1878-1955), Florence; sold to Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955), New York, February 12, 1934; gift from Kress to National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1939 - deaccessioned 1952; returned from NGA to Kress; gift from Kress to Seattle Art Museum, since 1952, accessioned 1961
*Note from National Gallery of Art: "Ercole and his brother Cesare formed the antiquarian firm E.& C. Canessa, active in Naples, Paris and New York. Following the death of Cesare c. 1923, the partnership was dissolved. E.& C. Canessa contiued to operate in Naples and Ercole Canessa operated the New York and Paris businesses under his own name. Following Ercole's death in there was an estate sale held at the American Art Association Anderson Galleries, New York, 29 March 1930 but this painting was not included."
Photo CreditPhoto: Nathaniel Willson
Exhibition HistoryWashington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1941-1951.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Italian Art: Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952. Text by William Suida and Sherman Lee. Cat. no. 3, pp. 5, 9, 11-12.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Renaissance Art in Focus: Neri di Bicci and Devotional Paintings in Italy, Mar. 25, 2004 - Dec. 31, 2005. Text by Elizabeth Darrow and Nicholas Dorman. No cat. no., pp. 9, 22, 51-53, figs. 1-5.Published ReferencesCeccchi, Emilio. Pietro Lorenzetti. Milan: Fratelli Treves Editori, 1930; pp. 7-8, figs. 10-12.
Preliminary Catalogue of Painting and Sculpture: Descriptive List with Notes. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1941; p. 110.
Suida, William, and Richard Fuller. European Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1954; p. 16, reproduced p. 17.
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Italian Schools XIII-XV Century. London, England: Phaidon Press for the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1966; pp. 51-52, fig. 130.
Zeri, Federico, and Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian paintings: Sienese and Central Italian Schools a Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980; p. 31.
Ishikawa, Chiyo. The Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1997; pp. 29-30, fig. 13.
Brennan, Robert. Painting as a Modern Art in Early Renaissance Italy. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019; p. 136, fig. 44.Credit LineSamuel H. Kress Collection
Dimensions48 7/8 x 50 3/8 in. (124.1 x 128 cm)
MediumEgg tempera and gold on wood
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