Skip to main content
Collections Menu
SAM'S collection
Photo: Paul Macapia
Adoration of the Christ Child
Photo: Paul Macapia

Adoration of the Christ Child

Dateca. 1475
Maker Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora Italian, Florence, 1445-1497
Label TextCoinciding with the Renaissance fascination with the circle, the tondo—or round image, derived from the Italian rotondo—became popular in Florence during the second half of the fifteenth century. Although most tondi were devotional objects, they generally adorned residences rather than churches. Installed above eye level, the tondo was like a window to a heavenly realm where viewers could observe the exemplary actions of beautifully painted holy figures. The oil medium, popularized in Italy in the second half of the fifteenth century, gave the images a new naturalism, with figures that seemed more lifelike than the upright figures in the traditional altarpiece format.
Object number53.86
ProvenanceColonel Rt. Hon. C.F. Greville, England, to 1810; Colonel Thomas Hamlet, England, 1810-1863; Colonel C. Smith, England, 1863-1876; Earl of Dudley, England, from 1876; Lord Viscount d'Abernon (died 1941), England, to 1929; Leopold Davis, from 1929; [Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, to 1953]; Ivan L. Best (died 1979), Portland, Oregon; gift to Seattle Art Museum, April 3, 1953
Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia
Credit LineGift of Mr. Ivan L. Best in memory of Mrs. Best
DimensionsDiameter 35 1/2 in.
MediumOil on wood panel
Photo: Paul Macapia
Cosimo Rosselli
ca. 1495
Object number: 61.165
Saint Jerome
Jacopo del Sellaio
ca. 1485
Object number: 39.59
Photo: Eduardo Calderon
Santi di Tito
1565
Object number: 61.153
Photo: Eduardo Calderon
Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Guidi
ca. 1440
Object number: 61.159
Photo: Paul Macapia
Giovanni di Paolo
1470-75
Object number: 61.154
Christ before Pilate
German, Cologne
early 16th century
Object number: 62.196
Photo: Paul Macapia
Master of the Straus Madonna
ca. 1400-10
Object number: 61.161
Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple
Pieter Neeffs the Elder
first half 17th century
Object number: 68.233
Andrea Previtali
ca. 1517
Object number: 54.163
Madonna and Child
Bernaert van Orley
1530s-40s
Object number: 68.99
Photo: Paul Macapia
Paolo Uccello
ca. 1470
Object number: 61.173
Vincent Sellaer
ca. 1540
Object number: 2004.31