Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (1977)

Page 1





Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart 9ardner Museum



SCULPTURE in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum CORNELIUS C. VERMEULE , III WALTER CAHN ROLLIN VANN. HADLEY

PUBLISHED BY THE TRUSTEES BOSTON, 1977


Copyright Š 1977 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Library of Congress Catalogue No. : 77-94517 ISBN 0-914660-03-9 (hardbound) ISBN 0-914660-04-7 (softbound) Printed in U.S.A . by Thomas Todd Company Boston, Massachusetts

Museum Editor of Publications : Paula M. Kozol Designer: Larry Webster

Cover : The Court, as seen from the Cloisters. Frontispiece : " Peplophoros" Photographs by Larry Webster


Contents vii.

Preface

ix.

Acknowledgements

xi.

Bibliography

xiii.

Note to the Reader and Floor Plan

1.

I

57.

II

Classical (numbered entries) Egyptian 1-3 Terracotta and Bronze 4-9 Statues and Relief 10-21 Torsi 22-29 Portraits and Divinities 30-38 Herms 39-45 Altars and Cinerariums 46-56 Sarcophagi 57-72 Miscellaneous 7 3-80 Medieval (numbered entries) Italian 81-101 French 102-109 Flemish 113 German 114-135

Netherlandish 110-112 Spanish 136

107.

III

Renaissance (numbered entries) Central Italian 137-151 North Italian 152-177 Outside Italy 178-185

151.

IV

Seventeenth to Twentieth Centuries (numbered entries) Seventeenth 186-193 Eighteenth 194-197 Nineteenth 198-205 Twentieth 206-211

167.

V

Doubtful Authenticity 212-221 (numbered entries)

173.

Checklist 222-269 (numbered entries)

181.

List of Agents, Dealers and Former Owners

182.

Index of Artists

183.

Index of Locations

186.

Index of Subjects



Preface Those who know the Museum casually will be pleasantly surprised by the extent of the sculpture collection which has been carefully catalogued in the following pages. While it is not a collection of masterpieces, it does contain important works. Two particularly noteworthy objects should be mentioned here : Benvenuto Cellini's bronze bust of Bindo Altoviti (No. 151) and the Gardner-Farnese sarcophagus (No. 61) from the Severan period. Several others might be singled out to characterize the best in the collection : the Graeco-Roman " Peplophoros" (No. 10), the Creeping Odysseus (No. 14) from a pedimental group, the Roman throne (No. 78), and the rare third century Centaur capitals (Nos. 79, 80) in the Classical section; the twelfth century Catalonian Christ from a Deposition group (No. 136), the late fourteenth century Sienese Angel of the Annunciation (No. 97), the retable with scenes of the Passion (No. 109) from Lorraine, ca. 1425, and the Franconian altar of the Holy Kinship (No. 122), ca. 1510-20, in the Medieval section; Civitale' s Virgin Adoring the Child (No. 139), the Minelli Entombment group (No. 167), and the Giovanni della Robbia Lamentation (No. 148) in the Renaissance section. There are certain strengths in the collection which would be difficult to find in other American museums: the group of cinerary urns or grave altars of the early Roman imperial period, the unusual collection of German woodcarving from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the Venetian stone carving which begins with examples from the twelfth century. Because these are not seen in one place but are placed throughout the galleries and installed in the Cloisters and on the Court walls, the catalogue provides a chance to consider them as a whole. The authors have been at some pains to logically limit the contents of this book. Generally speaking, the following were omitted; architectural carvings of a repetitive and non-figurative nature such as mouldings, doorways, window frames, balustrades, chimney pieces or fragments from these; furniture with carved wooden panels; small objects which may be considered objets d'art, and religious objects - small crucifixes, processional crosses, chalices, etc. The catalogue of Oriental and Islamic Art in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Mus eum (published by the Trustees, Boston, 1975) also has sculpture from the collection which is not included here. Most of the sculpture can be found on the first and third floors, in the Court, Cloisters, Long Gallery, Chapel and Gothic Room. The sculpture is sometimes integrated with the architecture, always inseparable from the European ambiance for which the Museum is best remembered. Disdaining the practice of

VII


importing or copying famous examples, Mrs. Gardner created Gothic rooms, chapels and cloisters out of unrelated objects. The success of this seemingly haphazard arrangement may be measured by its influence for more than a quarter of a century on American museums and private collections. Mrs. Gardner was assisted in finding sculpture by the same friends who helped her with other parts of the collection: Richard Norton, Bernard Berenson, Joseph Lindon Smith and Ralph Curtis. The contemporary sculpture was often acquired directly from artists whom she had met. Following Mrs. Gardner's death in 1924, Morris Carter, the Museum's Director, set out to have the entire collection catalogued. Notes on sculpture were solicited from Professor Sidney Norton Deane of Smith College (Classical), Professor Adolph Goldschmidt of the University of Berlin (Medieval), and Eric Madagan (later Sir Eric) of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Renaissance). Their opinions, in brief, were incorporated into the General Catalogue published in 1935. The present catalogue was begun at the insistence of George L. Stout, Director from 1955 to 1970. To the great good fortune of the Museum, Cornelius Vermeule, Curator of Classical Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Walter Cahn, Professor of the History of Art, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, two scholars who were familiar with the collection, agreed to write the catalogue entries. The former had often used the collection for teaching, and the latter had just published the Romanesque sculpture in the Gardner Museum in Gesta (VIII, 2, 1969), while editor of that journal. I ~as entrusted with the remaining third of the book, and have been able to delegate most of the entries for American sculpture to the Museum's Curator, Deborah Gribbon. I have been most fortunate to have had wise counsel. Two scholars were particularly generous, and the debt to Ulrich Middeldorf and John PopeHennessy is suggested by the number of times that their names appear in this book. In all cases, however, the final decisions rest with the authors. The Trustees of the Museum published this book as part of their continuing effort to bring the collection to interested persons everywhere, and to demonstrate once again the founder's very personal taste in collecting and exhibiting objects, which makes the Museum as vital today as when the collection was first opened to the public seventy-five years ago. Rollin van N. Hadley, Director

VIII


Acknowledgements The authors wish to express their appreciation to the following persons who have helped in the preparation of the catalogue: Charles Avery, Justus Bier, Rene Crozet, William H. Forsyth, Mme. J. Jeanson, Charles L. Kuhn, Ulrich Middeldorf, Helmut Nickel, Charles von Nostitz, Ronald Malmstrom, John Pope-Hennessy, Terisio Pignatti, Leon Pressouyre, Beatrice Proske, Anthony Radcliffe, Stephen K. Scher, Ursula Schlegel, Wendy Steadman, Francesco Valcanover, and to Robert C. Koepper, Center for Wood Anatomy Research, Madison, Wisconsin, for identification of wood samples. The authors also wish to recognize the contribution made by the following colleagues : Mary B. Comstock, Deborah Gribbon, Leo G. Klos, Paula M. Kozol, Jack Soultanian, Charles Talbot, and Joseph B. Pratt, Museum photographer. The Trustees acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of the Ford Foundation in this publication.

IX



Bibliography AJA Arndt and Amelung Ashmole Aurigemma Budde and Nicholls

Cahn

CIL Denkmaler La Ducale Basilica General Catalogue Harding

Hill Kuhn

Lippold

American Journal of Archaeology P. Arndt and W. Amelung, Einzelaufnahmen griechischer und romischer Skulptur, Munich, 1887 B. Ashmole, A Catalogue of the Ancient Marbles at Ince Blundell Hall, Oxford, 1929 S. Aurigemma, Le Terme di Diocleziano e il Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, 1946 L. Budde and R . Nicholls, A Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge, 1964 W. Cahn, "Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections. IV. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston," Gesta, VIII, 2, 1969, pp. 47-62 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, VI, Berlin W . von Bode, Denkmiiler der Renaissance-Sculptur Toscana, Munich, 1892-1905 La Ducale Basilica, Venice, 1888, Dettagli, V G. W. Longstreet, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Fenway Court, General Catalogue, Boston, 1935; rev. 1964 A. Harding, German Sculpture in New England Museums, Boston, 1972 G. F. Hill, A Corpus of Italian Medals of the Renaissance before Cellini, 2 vols ., London, 1930 C. L. Kuhn, "German Late Gothic Sculpture in the Gardner Museum, Boston," Mediaeval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter, Cambridge, Mass., 1939, pp. 559-73 G. Lippold, Handbuch der Archaologie, III, 1, Munich, 1950

Madagan Marquand, 1912 Marquand, 1922 Matz and von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom Moureyre-Gavoty

E. Madagan, Italian Sculpture of the Renaissance, Cambridge, Mass., 1935 A . Marquand, Della Robbias in America, Princeton, 1912 A. Marquand, Andrea della Robbia and his Atelier, 2 vols., Princeton, 1922 F. Matz and F. von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom, II, Leipsig, 1881; III, Leipsig, 1882 F. de la Moureyre-Gavoty, Musee lacquemart-Andre. Sculpture Italienne, Paris, 1975

XI


Paoletti Planiscig Pope-Hennessy, 1964 Poulsen Reinach, Rep. rel. Reinach, Rep. stat. Schottmiiller, 1913

Schottmiiller, 1933

Stout Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori Thieme-Becker

Vermeule, Festschrift Matz

XII

P. Paoletti, L' Architettura e la scultura del Rinascimento a Venezia, Venice, 1893 L. Planiscig, Venezianische Bildhauer der Renaissance, Vienna, 1921 J. Pope-Hennessy, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 3 vols., London, 1964 F. Poulsen, Catalogue of Ancient Sculpture in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, 1951 S. Reinach, Repertoire de reliefs grecs et romains, II, Paris, 1912; III, Rome, 1912 S. Reinach, R epertoire de la statuaire grecque at romaine, I-V, Paris, 1897-1931 F. Schottmiiller, Die Italienischen und Spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barocks in Marmor, Ton, Holz und Stuck, Konigliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, 1913 F. Schottmiiller, Bildwerke des Kaiser-Friedrich-Museums. Die italienischen und spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barack. Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Wachs, Berlin, 1933 G. L. Stout, Treasures from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , New York, 1969 H . Stuart Jones, ed., A Catalogue of the Ancient Sculptures Preserved in the Municipal Collections of Rome, The Sculptures of the Museo Capitolino, Oxford, 1912 H . Stuart Jones, ed., A Catalogue' of the Ancient Sculptures Preserved in the Municipal Collections in Rome, The Sculptures of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Oxford, 1926 U. Thieme and F. Becker, ed., Allgemeines Lexikon den Bildenden Kunstler von der Antike, 37 vols., Leipzig, 1907-50

C. Vermeule, " Roman Sarcophagi in America: A Short Inventory," Festschrift fur Friedrich Matz, Mainz, 1962


Note to the Reader Inventory numbers assigned to each object may be read in this way : 531e6 means sculpture, gallery 31 (Third Floor Stair Hall), east wall, sixth object moving from left to right. 0 and G stand for Exterior and Garden sculpture; SG-8e indicates sculpture formerly out of doors. A list of galleries and their numbers and a floor plan of the Museum are given below.

21

30

Dutch Room

Gothic Room

19

22

Tapestry Room

Up

~23 ....

路;;

Vl D 'n

14 10 North Cloister

6~

11 Room

Public En trance

18 Little Salon

~ J 0

..c

<I>

31 >....

~

";;

";;

:r:....

()

路;;

00

i:: 0 ....J

Vl D 'n

27

24

16

15

26

25

Raphael Room

Early Italian Room

Titian Room

Veronese Room

17

Exit

Ground Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Third Floor Plan



I Classical

1.

Canopic Jar

51Sw7

Egyptian, New Kingdom or later (1570-1085 B.C.) Alabaster, H. 13 3/4" (.35 m.) Purchased through Joseph Lindon Smith, Cairo, 1913

The cover is in the shape of a human head with simple head-dress (a wig down to the shoulders). Its fine striations contrast with the mottled and highly polished jar. The cover fits poorly and therefore is probably not original. Canopic jars were made of pottery or stone with human or animal head covers. At the time of embalming the viscera were saved separately. In the Old Kingdom, they were placed in four sections of a chest. When the Canopic jar came into use, the embalmed viscera were put in four jars, one each for the lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines. They were said to be guarded by four genii who were the children of Horus. Amset was represented by the head of a man, Hapi by the head of a baboon, Douamoutef by the head of a dog or jackal, and Qebehsenouf by the head of a hawk or falcon. Often the jars were then placed in the four compartments of a chest. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p . 101.

EGYPTIAN

I1


2. Harpocrates

51Sw8

Egyptian, probably Ptolemaic or Graeco-Roman Bronze, H . 16" (.405 m .) Provenance unknown The statue is restored at the spur at the back of the crown and at the feet and base(?) . The tip of the finger of the right hand is broken off. A square hole in the crown was for the lituus. The pitted surface has a green patina. Harpocrates (the child Horus) wears the crown of Lower Egypt; his eyes were originally inlaid with silver. The figure is unusually large for statuettes of this particular type. For the development of the type among comparable Ptolemaic bronzes, see G . Maspero, Manual of Egyptian Archaeology, London, 1914, pp. 343 ff. , fig. 309. The Graeco-Roman Harpocrates presents a more certain identification of the divinity, who was worshipped mainly at Alexandria but also in Rome (D. K . Hill, Catalogue of Classical Bronze Sculpture in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1949, pp. 36-39, Nos. 68-76, pis. 1618) . The older, purely Egyptian Harpocrates is usually shown seated rather than standing, but there are figures similar to this (G. Roeder, Aegyptische Bronzefiguren, Berlin, 1956, p . 111, No. 158a, pl. 75c). BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, pp. 101-02.

3. Horus Hawk

5Sc9

Egyptian, probably Ptolemaic (ca . 331-323 B.C.) Granite, H. 213/s", L. 191/z", W . 91/4" (.545 x .495 x .235 m .) Purchased from the Galleria Sangiorgi, Rome, 1895 The head is slightly concave on top. Breaks above the top of the base and the tail have been repaired with little restoration. Hawks of this type and of various sizes are found in every major collection of Egyptian art. They became particularly popular in monumental stone in the centuries after Amenhotep III (14101372) of the Eighteenth Dynasty placed a pair of colossal hawks in black granite at his temple of Soleb, just below the third cataract of the Nile. In the Egyptian pantheon the hawk was the sun god Horus, personified on earth by the ruling king. The best example of a monumental granite hawk set up at his original location is the bird, with crown, at the entrance to the pronaos of the


temple of Horus at Edfu. This statue, having the same wings and legs but a finer face than the Fenway Court example, has also been dated in the Ptolemaic period (J. Pirenne, Histoire de la civilisation de l't.gypte ancienne, III, NeuchatelParis, 1963, pp. 328, 439, pl. 94; K . Lange, Agyptische Kunst, Zurich-Berlin, 1939, pp. 128, 145).

It too lack s the traditional double crown and uraeus. Since the eagle of Zeus was the prime bird in the Ptolemaic and Roman Egyptian pantheon, neo-Egyptian sculptors may have modified these later h awks to conform more to classical taste (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, p. 358, No. 10, pl. 92) . General Catalogue, p. 44. J. E. Hanhisalo, " Horus: The Divine Falcon," Fenway Court 1 970, Bos ton, 1 9 71, pp. 22- 27, figs . 1 - 4 , 7- 8 . BIBLIOGRAPHY:

A fine bronze statue, well over a foot in height and probably also Saite or Ptolemaic (663-631 B.C.), is at the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts ; this hawk wears the full double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt with the rearing cobra (uraeus) in front (G. M. A. Hanfmann and B. Rowland, Jr., Archaeology, 7, 1954, p . 131). A tiny votive hawk in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is fashioned from lapis lazuli, to which gold and copper details were added, sumptuary work of the Persian or Ptolemaic periods in Egypt (W. S. Smith, Bulletin of the Museum of Fine A rts Bos to n, 52, 1954, pp. 84 ff., figs . 3-5) . Since the Gardner antiquities come mainly from Italy, a stone hawk from Egypt appears as an unusual interpolation in the Graeco-Roman to Renaissance surroundings. Such hawks were brought to Italy in antiquity, however, and excavated to adorn Rome during the Renaissance and later. A prime parallel to this hawk is provided by the basalt bird in the Museo Capitolino, said to have been found in Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli.

4

4.

Statuette of a Woman

S16s9

Greek, IV to III century B.C. Terracotta, H . 6 1/4 " (.16 m .) Provenance unknown She is standing with the left foot forward . She wears a long chi ton and a himation which is carried over the head as a hood. The left arm h angs at the side, slightly bent, with the hand protruding from the draperies. The right hand, enveloped in the himation, is held before the body, and holds up the himation. The head is slightly inclined to the right. The plinth on w hich the figure was mounted has been lost. The material is a red clay; the workmanship crude. The type resembles that of a statuette from Myrina (F. Winter, Typen der figurlichen T errakotten, Stuttgart, 1903, II, p. 51, No. 6). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Cata logu e, p. 111. GREEK TERRACOT TA

I3


5.

Plastic Vase

C16s27

South Italian, III century B.C. Terracotta, H. 2l3/4 ",Diam. 125/s" (.55 x .32 m .) Said to have been found at Canosa in Apulia. This (or a similar, less ornamented vase) was purchased from Vincenzo Barone, Naples, 1897 The central figure has lost her right wing; the other two have lost both of theirs. Lines, from turning on the potter's wheel, run horizontally around the lower body. The base is modern, somewhat larger and more elaborate than the shape of the original. A mask of Medusa is on the front, and there are three figures of Nike on the top, the one in the middle shown driving her chariot. There are traces of a white slip, and pigment remains on the face of Medusa. The shape is that of an askos, but the three vertical spouts are stopped up to serve as pedestals for the Nikai. There are two identical Canosan vases in Copenhagen (Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Musee National, Fasc. 7, IV D, Denmark 295, pl. 292, Nos. la, lb, 2} . The class of vases is called Canosa Ware (R. M. Cook, Greek Painted Pottery, London, 1960, p. 210, section 6} . They were decorated both with the white slip, added after firing, and yellow, pink, red, and blue colors. For their contexts of discovery with other vases and sculptures, see A . Oliver, Jr., The Reconstruction of Two Apulian Tomb Groups (Antike Kunst, fifth supplement), Bern, 1968, 18, pls. 1, 10 : New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 06.1021.246. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

5

General Catalogue, p . 109.

6.

Pitcher

C16el8

South Italian, III century B.C. Terracotta, H . 173/s", Diam. 13" (.44 x .33 m.) See previous for provenance There are breaks and repairs around the lip and neck. Preliminary drawing for a floral pattern remains on one lower part of the neck, and similar lines for figures appear on the body, either side of the Dionysiac head. Two separately-cast heads in high relief are attached to the body on the front and back. They once supported statuettes which were also separately moulded, and attached with pins. The head on the body proper seems to be that of a young Dionysos, while the head at the base of the handle may be Artemis Bendis, wearing a Phrygian cap.

5a


Demon of the Plow," who appears to be fighting three armed soldiers (Day, p. 7). The ends and back of the urn are plain. A young man wrapped in a himation reclines on the lid. The scene on the front is a stock one, produced from a series of similar moulds . There are numerous variations, adding or eliminating secondary figures, and reversing the position s of the protagonists.

6

For the urns in alabaster, stone, or terracotta from which this example derives, see A. Minto, Il R egio Museo Archeologico di Firenze, Rome, 1931, p . 50. The examples, together with discussion of the m yth in Etruscan art, appear in Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori, pp . 188-89, No. 4, pl. 74. An urn of this type in Vienna was found in a tomb at Chiusi together with a Roman coin of before 150 B.C. (A. Andren, Opuscula Archaeologica, 5 , 1948, p . 81, under No. 204, pl. 37) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogu e, p . 116. 5. W . Day,

"An Etruscan Cinerary Urn," Fen way Court, vol. 2, no. 1, April 1968, pp. 1-8, illus. pp. 4-6 .

6a

For the figures that once stood above the heads and for their imaginative parallels, compare K. A. Neugebauer, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Fuhrer durch das Antiquarium, II, Vasen, Berlin, 1932, p. 176, Inv. 3194, pl. 95. Here Skylla appears above the horned head of a rivergod. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p . 114.

7.

Cinerarium

S16ell

Italo-Etruscan, ca. 150 B.C. Terracotta, H. (with cover) 121/4", L. 121/s", W. 61/4" (.312 x .308 x .16 m.)

Purchased from Vincenzo Barone, Naples, 1897 The lid, made of a darker clay than the base, rests imperfectly on the base. Traces of white slip remain. The front base shows a scene of combat, said to be part of the Athenian-Persian battle of 490 B.C. on the plain of Marathon. Dott. Mario Bizzarri of the Museo Fondazione Faina, Orvieto, Italy, has identified the central figure as Echetlos, "The

8.

Bowl or Basin

M16s3

Roman, Pompeiian, I century B.C. or I to II century A.O . Bronze, Diam. 133/4 ", H . 51/s" (.349 x .13 m.) Said to have been fo und at Pompeii. Purchased frorr Vincenzo Barone, Naples, 1897

ROMAN BRONZE

I5


47, Nos. 635-43, pl. XCVI). One is dated as early as the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the Saite period from 663 to 525 B.C. For one Hathor cow of the Egyptian late period (Twenty-sixth to Thirty-first Dynasties), see the example with bulls on the faience bowl of the Queen of the Kushite King Piankhy (751 to 716 B.C.) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (W. S. Smith, Ancient Egypt as represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 1960, p. 170, fig. 107) .

10. 11

"Peplophoros

S5c2

Graeco-Roman, copy of a work of ca. 455450 B.C.

The bottom of the bowl wh ich is badly corroded has been restored in part in copper. The bowl has two snake-shaped handles, and sits on a small circular detached stand. This is perhaps a footbath and probably had its own foot terminating in three animals' feet. The Museo Nazionale, Naples, has a number of similar bowls, with varied forms of feet and handles. They are also from Pompeii, confirming the provenance of this object (Chiurazzi, Societa anonima, Napoli, Naples, 1929, pp. 174-75, Nos. 330-32) . BIBLIOGRAPH Y:

G en era l Catalogue, p.

113.

9.

Hathor Cow

S17ell

Hellenistic or Graeco-Roman Bronze, H. 3 1/s " , L. 3 5/s" (.08 x .093 m.) Gift of William Amory Gardner (purchased perhaps in Athens, 1886) The right front leg is broken away and the left front leg damaged from above the knee. A hole at the back of the head and two opposing mortises at the midsection suggest former attachments. The surface is worn with a dark green and light brown patina with traces of encrustation. The figure has been solid cast on a rectangular plinth or base, with Hathor-like (sky-goddess) crown between the horns. The surfaces of the animal' s skin are crosshatched, and wrinkles are shown at the shoulders. There appears to be a collar, similarly represented, around the neck. Since such animals, notably the Apis bull, were worshipped in the Roman Empire as late as the reign of the Emperor Julian the Apostate (A.O. 361 to 363) and appear on his Roman imperial coins, this statuette may have been made at the height of the Roman imperial period. Compare the nine similar bronzes, all representations of the Apis bull, in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (G. Steindorff, Catalogue of the Egyptian Sculpture in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1946, pp. 146-

Greek marble, probably from the islands, H. (less plinth) 581/4" (1.48 m.); Plinth : H . 33/s", W. 303/4", D . 19" (.085 x .78 x .48 m.)

Discovered March 1901, on the site of the Gardens of Sallust, property of the Sisters of San Giuseppe, between the Via Lucullo and the Via Sallustiana. Purchased through Richard Norton, Rome, 1901 ; the statue resided in the American Academy at Rome until 1936 The missing head and neck were carved from a separate block of marble, and adjusted to the cavity at the top of the torso. Also missing are the forearms, with scattered losses in the skirt. The surface of this statue has been brought to a high, alabasterlike polish. The statue has been identified as a good copy in marble of an original of the late Transitional period, which also influenced a bronze " dancer" in Naples from Herculaneum. Three other related " dancers" from the same find appear to have no direct prot6types, suggesting that famous Greek


10

1oa

statues were not only copied directly but altered for decorative purposes. The lady, perhaps a youthful goddess such as Persephone, wears a high-girt Doric chiton with ample overfold. The chiton is represented as sewed at the right side, where a long wavy seam with horizontal stitches is shown.

of quality, see B. 5. Ridgway, " Two Peplophoroi in the United States," Hesperia, 38, 1969, pp. 213-22, pis. 54-57.

The provenance as well as the quality of this copy confirms that it must have been prized in antiquity as a work of garden sculpture in the best sense of the term. For the milieu out of which this statue came, both as an original and as a copy

BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Mariani, " Di un'altra statua muliebre vestita di peplo," Bulletino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma, 29, 1901, pp. 71-81, pl. 6. Reinach, Rep. stat., III, 1904, p . 185, No. 10. M emoirs of the American Academy in Rome, I, 1915- 16, title page. General Catalogue, p. 44. S. N. Deane, " A Statue in the Gardner Museum," AJA, 42, 1938, pp. 288 ff., fig. 1. C. Picard, Manuel d'archeologie grecque, La sculpture, II, 1 , Pa ris, 1939, p . 158, n. 2. Lippold, p . 133. Stout, p. 62, illus. p . 63 .

GRAECO-ROMAN STATUES

I7



11.

Artemis or an Amazon

S5c6

Graeco-Roman, based on a creation of the V or the first quarter of the IV century,B.C. Pentelic marble (?), H . 525/s" (1.34 m.) Said to have been found at Tusculum; in the art market at Rome in 1895 (Reinach) Paul Arndt, publishing the statue when it was in the art market in Rome, identified the body as a copy, otherwise unknown, of an Amazon of the third quarter of the fifth century B.C. He recognized the head as closer to the time of Praxiteles (about 375 B.C.) , but could not tell from its condition and weathering whether or not it belonged with the body. The pantherskin boots are more appropriate to a Roman imperial cuirassed statue than to such an elegant goddess. This suggests that the right foot and most of the lower left leg are ancient but from another statue. The plinth is modem, and it is questionable whether or not the tree trunk support is ancient and belongs with the left leg. The statue has weathered considerably, and this makes it difficult to say whether or not the head, seemingly ancient, belongs to the body. Given the antiquity of the body, identification as an Amazon is problematic, based on the preoccupation in Adolf Furtwangler's time (1890 to 1905) with the four famous statues of Amazons dedicated about 435 B.C. in the Artemision at Ephesos. Early critics of the Gardner statue mentioned it in connection with the Dionysos from the Hope collection at Deepdene near Dorking in Surrey, England. Since the Hope Dionysos, a majestic concept of the young god, has been identified with Kephisodotos, father or uncle of Praxiteles about 375 B.C., it seems a logical compromise to link the Gardner Amazon with the same transitional sculptor. This would explain the combination of fifth and early fourth century styles (see, generally, Lippold, p. 224). As an early example of later classical representation of Artemis the huntress, the statue has several parallels among Roman copies, good and bad, famous or otherwise. A statuette in the Stanza de! Fauno of the Museo Capitolino could reproduce a contemporary original (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, p. 328, No. 24, pl. 82) . BIBLIOGRAPHY : Reinach, Rep. stat., II, 1, 1931, p. 325, No. 1; IV, 1913, p. 193, No. 4. Arndt and Amelung, Nos. 172-74, also under No. 1793. General Catalogue, p. 44.

GRAECO-ROMAN STATUES

I9



12.

Goddess (Persephone?) or Woman

SScl

Greek, I century B.C. or A.O., after a work of ca. 3SO B.C. Greek island marble, H. S9 1/2" (1.SlS m.) Purchased through Richard Norton, Rome, 1901 This life-sized figure stands on a small plinth. The right arm, which was raised, is lost, as is the left forearm which probably held an attribute. The face has two scars, one above each brow, and the tip of the nose is missing. The edge of the right shoulder has been repaired. She is clothed in a long chiton covered by an ample himation. The type is that of funerary statuary after about 340 B.C. This excellent version of a Praxitelean or postPraxitelean statue has been dated in the first century (B.C. or A.O.). In every sense the work can be considered Greek, rather than the expression of a Graeco-Roman copyist, and an earlier date would be entirely possible.

her neck, on her chest and shoulders just where the garment begins. Despite the fact that this statue has attracted no notice in the literature of Fenway Court and elsewhere, it is one of the handsomest ancient sculptures in the collection. The work would seem to be good carving of the time of the late Roman Republican copyists, perhaps from the atelier of Pasiteles around SO B.C. In this respect it resembles the Archaistic Artemis from Pompeii and the body in Florence, cited in connection with No. 34 following . Although derived from older models, it also creates a decorative effect similar to the ancient replicas of the Electra from the group in Naples termed " Orestes and Electra" (M. Borda, La Scuola di Pasiteles, Bari, 19S3, pp. 43 ff ., figs. 7, 8, and 12) . Several Archaic and Archaistic small bronzes show the type of figures from which the drapery and body of the statue at Fenway Court were derived (Reinach, R ep. stat., II, 2, 1931, p . 6SO, especially No. 8, Louvre, Paris) .

In the period around 3SO B.C. the most immediate parallel, in head, swing of the body, and arrangement of drapery, is the Muse with the double flutes (Terpsichore) at the left on one of the three slabs (No. 216) of the Praxitelean base from Mantinea, in Athens (Lippold, p. 238, pl. 8S, 2). For the many Roman variations as freestanding statues, divine or funerary, see under Poulsen, pp. 224 ff., Nos. 308, 312, 392a, etc. A head in the Walter Baker collection, New York, is of similar type, quality, and construction, the neck having been worked for insertion in a draped statue. It has been termed an original of about 320 B.C., having been part of a funerary statue, which probably stood in a naiskos or architectural setting (0. von Bothmer, Ancient Art from New York Private Collections, New York, 1961, p. 28, No. 113, pls. 32, 36). Reinach, Rep . stat., IV, General Catalogue, p. 43.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

No.

3.

1913,

p.

412,

13.

Archaistic Torso of a Goddess (?)

5Ss41

Roman, late Republican, ca. SO B.C. Pentelic marble, H . 30" (.762 m.) Provenance unknown A small part at the lower left side has been restored in plaster. The drapery is characterized by divided vertical folds running down the front. The head and neck were worked separately and inserted. In this respect, they must have resembled the head of a goddess (Artemis?) as described in No. 34. She wears a string of large (amber?) beads around ROMAN STATUES

i11


14.

Odysseus Creeping Forward During the Theft of the Palladium S5s23 Graeco-Roman, ca. 50 B.C., in the style of 490 B.C.

Pentelic marble, H . 251/4 ", L. 441/2" (.65 x 1.13 m.)

Found September 1885, in the Gardens of Sallust, on the property of Giuseppe Spithoever (Villa Spithoever), in Rome. Purchased in 1898 through Richard Norton Composed for a left-hand angle of a pediment group, the figure kneels with his left leg doubled, his foot supported on his bent toes. The remaining upper part of his right leg has been broken off and repaired. His left hand holds a scabbard while his right hand grasps a sword which is missing most of its blade. A piece is chipped out of the rim of the cap. This is a Graeco-Roman imitation of a lateArchaic, early-classical pedimental figure. The Odysseus, identified not only by his stealthy pose but by his conical headgear, a helmet over

a felt cap, was probably one of a group of two or three heroes set up on a pedestal, as a reminiscence of a famous older work in a city such as Argos. It would have looked well in a garden exedra in the suburbs of Rome. One other participant in the drama would have been Diomedes. Some idea of the effect of the group, translated into late Hellenistic terms, can be visualized from the sculptures found in the Antikythera wreck and now exhibited in the lower courtyard of the National Museum in Athens. The prototype has been shown to have been a rendering comparable to the poses and actions of figures in the pediments of the so-called Temple of Aphaia on Aegina (R. Lullies and M. Hirmer, Greek Sculpture, New York, 1960, pp. 67-68, pis. 72-77, 82-87). Original discovery: R. Lanciani, Notizie deg/( Scavi di Antichita, 1885 (September), p . 341. Idem, Bulletino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma, 34, 1906, p. 183, commenting on the following, C. L. Visconti, Bulletino Comunale, 15, 1887, p. 274. V . Poulsen, "Odysseus in Boston," Acta Archaeologica, 25, 1954, pp. 301 ff., illus. (scholarly rediscovery of the figure). Museum of Fine Arts, The Trojan War in Greek Art, A Picture Book, Boston, 1963, No. 37. E. Lessing, The Voyages of Ulysses, Freiburg, 1965, p. 85, col. pl. 23 and cover. W . B. Stanford and J. V. Luce, The Quest for Ulysses, London, 1974, p. 158, fig. 128 and p. 246, No. 128.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

15.

Relief of a Maenad or Hora

5Ssl9

Graeco-Roman, I or II century A.O. Pentelic marble (?), H. 561/2", W. 23" (1.435 x .585 m.) From, it is said, a set of eight reliefs, seven being in the Museo delle Terme, Rome, which were found in Rome in 1908, near the Via Praenestina. 12

II



Purchased from Antonio and Alessandro Jandolo, Rome, 1897 This is a relief from a large base or fountain basin. A Maenad or Hora moving to the left, she was grasping the ends of her veil with raised and lowered hands. The Gardner relief, separated from the rest in late antiquity or the Middle Ages, was evidently cut down and reused for some, perhaps pedestrian purpose. This resulted in the loss of the Maenad' s left forearm, lower legs, and feet; the upper mouldings of scrolled, floral acanthus have also been cut away. Her nose has been chipped.

sions and marble but from the pose, which fits the series admirably (as No. 8; see below) and closes the composition at the end of the processional dance; the figure is a virtual repetition, the only such in the series, of one which is placed on nearly the opposite side (No. 5). Her counterpart is introducing the second half of the dance and is looking ahead at those in the first half. For developed views of the seven slabs in the Museo delle Terme in Rome, see Reinach, Rep. rel., III, 1912, p . 337, No. 1 and further bibliography. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The relief is one of a series of Graeco-Roman decorative carvings after Pergamene models, going back ultimately through the fourth century to the latter part of the fifth century B.C. The examples in the Museo Nazionale in Rome are described in the basic publication by E. Loewy in Notizie degli Scavi (1908, pp. 445 ff.) ; and in the various editions of Aurigemma (e.g. Rome, 1946, p. 35, pl. 18) . The variety of poses and rhythmic relationships in the dancing figures can be termed truly amazing, as regards sculptural composition in classical antiquity. To this can be added the dramatic postures of the arms and the details of draperies. The cataloguers of the sections in Rome have suggested that the eight reliefs adorned a funerary structure, perhaps a small, circular tomb, or that they were part of a colossal cylindrical base for a Dionysiac tripod. That the relief in the courtyard wall at Fenway Court belongs in the series is evident not only from the dimen-

General Catalogue, p. 45. Stout, p. 60,

illus. p. 61.

16.

Eros Transported on a Dolphin

SGe4

Graeco-Roman, copy of a Hellenistic creation of ca. 100 B.C. Greek island or western Asia Minor marble with crystals, H. (without plinth) : 17% ", W . (same) : 39" (.45 x .99 m .) Purchased through Richard Norton, Rome, 1901 There is a break at the right hip through the upper left leg. The nose is lost and the face is generally abraded. His wings, right arm and shoulder, left hand, right lower leg, the dolphin's tail, and minor details are missing. The dolphin's upper jaws or snout and parts of Eros' hair have been restored in cement. The left half of the plinth (W. 26" = .66 m .) is restored, in Italian marble(?).


This is a Roman version, perhaps utilitarian, a copy of considerable quality, of a heroic decorative concept created in the Hellenistic world about 100 B.C., that is, at the height of the socalled Hellenistic rococo. The Eros on the dolphin represents the next stage in the progress from divine struggle to mythological triviality after the post-Pergamene group of satyrs battling giants or snakes (compare, in this respect, Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori, pp. 81-82, No. 8, pl. 28) . There are other Graeco-Roman replicas and variants of the same Hellenistic original, doubtless popular in Roman nymphaea in a manner similar to the setting in the first outdoor garden at Fenway Court. A group in the Lateran collection has a waterbird on the plinth (Reinach, Rep. stat., II, 2, 1931, p. 468, No. 2), while a much damaged copy in Syracuse, from Katania, has a large squid or octopus in front of the Eros (Ibid., p. 468, No. 5). The original must have stood in some Hellenistic agora, perhaps at a seaport along the western coast of Asia Minor. BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Vermeule, European Art and the Clas sical Pas t, Cambridge, Mass., 1964, pp. 89-90

and note (use of the group in the lower left of Titian's The Rape of Europa, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum).

17.

Funerary Statue of a Boy

SG-8e

Roman, perhaps of the Antonine period Marble, H. 371/s" (.943 m .) Provenance unknown The figure has weathered considerably with injury to the face . The right hand and the bird (?) it holds, and the top of the tree trunk are restored. The portrait head is of the " Annius Verus" type. His lowered right hand held what seems to be a pet bird on the tree trunk support. His left forearm and hand were extended. For such statues, compare an example, Hermes as a boy, or vice versa (Ashmole, p. 15, No. 27, pl. 26) . The numismatic evidence for portraits of Annius Verus, a typically late Antonine little boy with curly hair, is provided by bronze medallions where his features are presented together with those of his older brother the future emperor Commodus (J. M. C. Toynbee, Roman Medallion s, New York, 1944, pl. 42, No. 6) . For the " Annius Verus" type in other portraits in marble, see Poulsen, p . 492, No. 705, pl. 58 and V. Poulsen, Gnomon, 38, 1966, p. 87, as perhaps the young Lucius Verus, Emperor A.O. 161 to 169.

18. Small "Statue" of a Woman (?) in the SG-8e Costume of the Theater Roman, ca. A.O. 220 Marble, from western Asia Minor, H . 333/4" (.857 m.) Provenance unknown She wears a perforated woolen undergarment and a cloak wrapped about her waist. She grasps a flute in her right hand. The shoulders around the neck and the draped body from the upper thighs to the feet and plinth have been restored in concrete. Weathering has considerably abraded the original stone. This fragment would seem to have been part of a Muse sarcophagus with nine or more figures ROMAN STATUES

I 15


appears to have held a small scrinium or case for writing equipment in his raised hands, against the left side of his chest. His neck has been restored in concrete and marble, and the legs from above the knees have been reconstructed in similar fashion, to suggest restored antiquity. The plinth is mostly thus composed. The nose was lost in antiquity and repaired with a dowel. For the boy's head, compare the example at Sion House near London, dated toward the middle of the third century (F. Poulsen, Greek and Roman Portraits in English Country Houses, Oxford, 1923, p. 110, No. 109 and plate).

in high relief across the front (Vermeule, Festschrift M atz, pl. 29, No. 1, pl. 30, No. 2). The cutting of the hair and the style of the face would date the work around A.O. 220. For the costume of the Muse, compare M . Wegner, Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, V, 3, Die Musensarkophage, Berlin, 1966, pis. 73, 102, 142. The style is paralleled in a fragment in Florence (Ibid., p.17, No. 29, pl. 52; compare also, No. 183, pl. 47, in Rome) . 19.

"Eros Apoxyomenos" or Funerary Statue of a Boy SG-8e Graeco-Roman, III century A.O. Marble, H . 33% " (.861 m.) Provenance unknown The portrait head is of the third century A.O. This was made separately because the marble has weathered differently. The boy is posed in the stance of the Apoxyomenos of Lysippos, and he

19


20.

Small Head and Torso of a Silenus with 516c10 Wineskin Graeco-Roman Pentelic marble (?), H. 111/2" (.29 ~.) From Rome, seen at the dealer-sculptor Alberici's studio in 1896 by H . de Villefosse, who sent a photograph to 5. Reinach (see below) . Purchased in Rome, 1897, through Joseph Lindon Smith and Alfredo Barsanti The figure stood on a strong diagonal, as if in the process of staggering unsteadily with his burden. His right arm and left hand were attached with iron dowels, one of which remains. The work is precise, with a polish to the surfaces that brings out the contrasts of textures. A Silenus in Syracuse, without the wineskin, offers much the same qualities of style and carving (Reinach, R ep. stat., IV, 1913, p . 551, No. 1 ; Notizie degli Scavi, 1909, pp. 344-46, fig. 7) . The motif is a variation of the statues of Eros carrying an amphora, designed as fountain figures (Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori, p. 148, No. 33, pl. 53). Erotes and Sileni of this type were often fashioned in threes or fours and set in niches, as in the instance of a fountain excavated in Tarragona. Here, child-satyrs holding wineskins have been carved in very high relief in the niches (A. Garcia y Bellido, Esculturas romanas de Espana y Portugal, Madrid, 1949, I, pp. 426-27, No. 432; II, pl. 308). The composition can be related in similar fashion to the crouching Silenus with wineskin, which copies the supporting Sileni of the stage in the theater of Dionysos at Athens (Stuart Jones, op. cit., p . 251, No. 104, pl. 87) . Reinach, Rep . stat., III, 1904, p. 18, No. 1. General Catalogue, p. 121.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

wide snub form ; the forehead is frowning . The ears are pointed for those of a Silenus. A complete statue of this late Hellenistic or GraecoRoman type in the tradition of the fourth century B.C. is preserved at Petworth House, Surrey, England, in the collection of the Earls of Egremont (Lord Leconfield) (M. Wyndham, Catalogue of th e Collection of Creek and Roman Antiquities in th e Possession of Lord Leconfield, London, 1915, pp . 86-87, No. 54) . The most famous Sileni in this tradition are those found along the Euripus or decorative canal in Hadrian' s villa at Tivoli (S. Aurigemma, Villa Adriana, Rome, 1961, pp. 10033).

21.

Head of Silenus with Liknon

58w5

Graeco-Roman, late Severan period (ca. A .D . 200240)

Crystalline Greek marble, perhaps from northwest Asia Minor, H . 9" (.023 m .) Provenance unknown This is part of the figure of a Silenus who carried a flat basket of fruit on his head. Only the head, the left hand grasping the basket, and the basket itself are preserved. The head is bald at the top, and is encircled by a Bacchic garland. The face has beard and mustache. The pupils were lightly incised in antiquity. The nose, of which the tip is lost, has a GRAECO-ROMAN STATUES \ 17


22.

Torso of a Man

S8e10

Graeco-Roman, copy of a work of ca. 440 B.C., or earlier Crystalline marble from northern Greece (?), H. 271/s" (.69 m.) Provenance unknown This life-size marble torso was part of a statue whch was made in at least three parts. There are dowel holes at the back, just below the neck, on the backs of both arms, and at the spine (probably for fixing in a niche) and on the sides below the hips. The right shoulder is chipped on the front and the chest is abraded. This is a copy of an athletic statue of the period of the Doryphoros of Polykleitos, about 440 B.C., or earlier. It may be a replica of a statue of the Transitional era (480-450 B.C.) and related either to a contemporary copy in Athens, the so-called Omphalos Apollo, or a copy in the British Museum, the Choiseuil Gouffier Apollo (Lippold, p. 102, pl. 32, 1; K . A. Pfeiff, Apollon, Die Wandlung seines Bildes in der griechischen Kunst, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1943, pp. 78-79, pls. 27-28) .

The weight is on the right leg, with the right hip thrown out. This corresponds to the Polykleitan sta nce, while most earlier athletic statues (except the Choiseuil Apollo) reverse the position of legs and hips. This torso seems to be closely related to copies of the Doryphoros, with somewhat softer handling of muscular structure and ribcage than is apparent in the famous, complete marble copy in Naples from Pompeii (Lippold, p. 163, pl. 59, 1) . For the quality of this copy, compare the torso in Copenhagen, disassembled in modem times from a composite restoration to make a statue of Zeus (Poulsen, p. 359, No. 512, pl. IX, second supplement) . That in the Museo Nazionale in Rome, however, is harder and drier with hardly more muscular detail than seen here (R. Carpenter, Greek Sculpture, A Critical Review, Ch icago, 1960, p. 275, pl. XIV). The Doryphoros has a more pronounced cant to the right hip and a slant upward to the right in the lower line of the pelvis; this is quite evident in Berlin K . 151, the Pourtales copy (C. Picard, Manuel d' archeologie grecque, La sculpture, II, 1, Paris, 1939, pp. 279 ff., fig. 122).


Despite the reversal of weight and position of the legs, the Kassel Apollo offers a similar treatment of surface structure (Pfeiff, op. cit., pp. 81-84, pl. 31). Replicas are usually, but not necessarily, distinguished by the hair on the shoulders (E. Schmidt, Der Kasseler Apollon und seine Repliken, Antike Plastik, V, 1966, pp. 16 ff., pls. 14-18; and the variant from S. Maria di Capua, pl. S3). It could be that the Gardner torso represents a mirror reversal of the canonical type known from the most famous copy as the Kassel Apollo. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p.

57.

23.

Torso and Right Leg of Herakles

512wl3

Graeco-Roman, copy of a work of ca. 4SO B.C. Greek island marble, H. 293/s" (.74S m .) Provenance unknown A fragment still attached to the side of the right thigh indicates that the right arm was bent and that the hand rested against the thigh. He stands with his weight on his left leg, his left hip is thrown out. The skin of the Nemean lion is arranged over his left shoulder and, like a cloak, around his left upper arm.

5. N. Deane identified this statue as " A GraecoRoman imitation of the Greek transitional style of 480-4SO B.C. The marked definition of the principal muscles of the trunk and the attitude of the figure are stylistic qualities originating in the middle V century" (Museum archives). In this respect the body and position of the legs can be compared to those of the so-called Zeus in Munich, a Graeco-Roman copy of a statue of a god, ruler, or hero based on a work created about 4SO B.C. (A. Furtwangler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, New York, 189S, pp. 212-19, fig. 90). As in the instance of a small statue of Herakles in the Museo Chiaramonti of the Vatican, the adaptation as a representation of the hero may have been made in the fourth century B.C., or in later classical times (C. Vermeule, Journal of Hellenic Studies, 77, 19S7, p. 291, fig. 6). In its present Graeco-Roman form, with the lion's skin arranged like a military cloak, the statue may have been a portrait of a Roman, perhaps a young prince, as Herakles. In this form, the statue would have paralleled that of the young Caracalla, fragments of which, with the head, are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (G. M . A. Richter, Roman Portraits, New York, 1948, No. 107). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, pp. 80-81.

23

24.

Torso and Right Leg of Dionysos or Apollo 58e3 Graeco-Roman, Pasitelean school ca. SO B.C. Greek island marble, H. 28" (.71 m.) Provenance unknown Strands of curly hair lie on the shoulder. Two large, rectangular puntelli for a support remain against the right leg. The carving has the softened forms of a work of the Pasitelean school of eclectic revivalism, about SO B .C. While it is impossible to identify this statue as a Dionysos or Apollo, the former seems more likely, from the highly decorative, almost trivial aspects of the carving. GRAECO-ROMAN TORS! \

19


The so-called statue of Apollo wearing the Delphic wreath, from the Hope collection at Deepdene and later with Spink and Son, London, possesses a similar body (Greek and Roman Antiquities, London, 1926, p. 11, No. 11). The relationship with the athlete of Stephanos, pupil of Pasiteles, can be emphasized by comparing this torso with the marble copy signed by Stephanos in the Villa Torlonia-Albani, Rome (M. Borda, La Scuola di Pasiteles, Bari, 1953, pp. 22 ff., figs. 2-3). The right hand figure in the group from San Idelfonso, in Madrid, a youth in the late style of Polykleitos as understood by the Pasiteleans, also shows the sculptural milieu from which this statue came (A. Blanco, Museo del Prado, Catalogo de la Escultura, Madrid, 1957, pp. 30-32, No. 28-E, pls. 10-11). BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 56.

25.

Torso and Right leg of Dionysos

5Ss18

Graeco-Roman, early imperial period Greek marble, from western Asia Minor (?), H. 241/2" (.62 m.) From the art market in Rome, 1906 There are long strands of hair on the neck. Part of a support (seemingly a tree trunk) remains against the back of the right leg. A diagonal break runs through the hip to the top of the missing left leg. This is a statue of better-than-average workmanship for a Graeco-Rornan copy. The body, indeed the whole statue, is based on a representation (statue) of a god or an athlete created about 440 B.C. or later, under Polykleitan influence (Lippold, pp. 178-79, pl. 63, 1, a youth from the


Odescalchi collection, in Copenhagen; Poulsen, pp. 201-02, No. 271, pl. 19, as a work also influenced by the sculptors in the generation before Polykleitos). The adaptation as a statue of Dionysos or Apollo may be no older th.a n the early imperial period, the age of the copyists. Arndt and Amelung, pis. 812-13. Reinach, Rep. stat., II, 2, 1931, p. 785, No. 5.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

26. Torso

S27w64

Graeco-Roman, Julio-Claudian period 11 Large-grained Greek island marble, H . 18% (.475 m.) Purchased in Rome The upper half of a torso is of Praxitelean or Skopasian type and is made of Thasian marble. The head, which was turned to the subject's own left, was lost by an irregular break leaving part of the neck. The torso terminates in a curve where it may have joined another piece. Part of a support (?)remains on the left hip.

26

The strong posture recalls one of the Florentine Niobids, but the forms appear more mature. The Hermes in Madrid, from the Farnese collection in Rome, seems to most modern critics to belong to the generation of Kephisodotos, father or uncle of Praxiteles. The original statue must have stood in Athens, since parts of a replica were found in the Athenian Agora there. The chest and ribcage of the Gardner torso are somewhat softer than the copy in Madrid, which has been dated in the Julio-Claudian period (A. Blanco, Museo de! Prado, Catalogo de la Escultura, Madrid, 1957, pp. 40-41, No. 39-E, pl. 21). The original of the statue of which this torso once formed a part could have been a Hermes, a free replica of the statue attributed to Kephisodotos, or it may have been a somewhat later Praxitelean or postPraxitelean work closer to the date of the Niobids in Florence. On the problems of attribution involved in the Niobids, whether to Praxiteles, to Skopas, or to an unknown follower of these, see G. M . A. Richter, The Sculptures and Sculptors of the Greeks, New Haven, 1950, p. 275. Arndt and Amelung, No. 1997. Reinach, Rep. stat., V, 1924, p. 345, No. 3 . General Catalogue, p. 238.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

26a

GRAECO-ROMAN TORSI

I 21


and Sir Robert Peel collections, now in the Museum at Providence, Rhode Island (S. B. Luce, " A Praxitelean Torso," Bulletin of the Rhode Island School of Design, 10, 1922, pp. 30-33 and cover}, identified as a Greek original (Reinach, R ep. stat., V, 1, 1924, p. 48, Nos . 5 and 6} . It can also be compared in these respects to the torso of Dionysos (?) in the Art Museum at Princeton University (Picture Book, Record of the Art Museum, 25 1966 [pub!. 1969] PP• 46-47}. I

I

All the variations on this theme go back through transformations of one kind or another to the Sauroktonos, the resting satyr ("marble faun"), or even the type of the Hermes of Praxiteles (Lippold, pp. 240 ff., pl. 84) . Torsos of Eros also give the form and proportions, ones that have been identified with the youth of Praxiteles, about 360 B.C. (C. Picard, Manuel d' archeologie grecque, La sculpture, III, 2, Paris, 1948, pp. 550 ff., figs . 229-32; Budde and Nicholls, pp. 28-29, No. 52, pis. 16, 17, and full documentation). For the relation of the type to the Apollo Lykeios identified with Praxiteles, see A. M. Woodward, Annual of the British School at Athens, 28, 1926-27, pp. 23-26, fig. 6, in connection with a torso found in front of the scenae frons of the theater at Sparta. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, pp. 56-57.

28.

Lower Part of a Kneeling Male Figure 512w14 Graeco-Roman Luna marble, H. 8 3/4" (.222 m.) Provenance unknown

27.

Torso of Dionysos

58e9

Graeco-Roman, Antonine period (A.D. 140-190} Coarse-grained Greek (?) marble, H. 361/4" (.92 m .) Provenance unknown There is a large chip off the front of the left thigh and part of the right buttock. The torso leans against a vine-stump support. There are traces of a fillet, from a wreath, on the right shoulder. The drilling of the leaves and grapes suggests that this copy was carved in the Antonine period, A.D. 140 to 190. This torso is a close counterpart to the similarly preserved example from the Sir David Wilkie

A satyr or Silenus (?}, this was probably once part of the support for a table or console. The head and arms are missing, as is all of the body above the lower part of the chest. Wrinkles here indicate the figure's shoulders and head were bent quite forward, befitting a human bearing a considerable burden. The figure kneels on a small plinth. The type in Graeco-Roman decorative art is derived from a post-Pergamene group of Atlas supporting the world, a motif also used for Atlantes and, eventually, decorative (architectural and furniture} figures from the Dionysiac repertory. A similar supporting figure, larger in scale, was used in the enrichment of the theater at Pompeii (Reinach, R ep. stat., II, 2, 1931, p . 424, No. 6} . Such statues could also be supports for fountains, as a satyr in Copenhagen demonstrates (Poulsen, p. 345, No. 485, pl. XXXVI). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 81.


29.

Torso and Upper Legs of a Silvanus or a Youthful Male Season 58e2 Graeco-Roman, II or III century A.O. Greek island marble, H. 183/s" (.465 m .) Purchased from Vincenzo Barone, Naples, 1897 A cloak or skin containing fruit around the shoulders is tied in a knot of goat's feet on the right shoulder. The left arm and most of the hand are preserved though abraded and grasp the overladen garment. There are similar torsos and statues, those with young, beardless heads being called Seasons and those with older, bearded faces being identified as Silvanus (Reinach, Rep. stat., II, 1, 1931, pp. 43 ff.; ibid., V, l , 1924, p. 21) . As Silvanus this figure would have held a pedum or sickle in the extended right hand. The drilling in the undercut areas points to the statue having been created in the second or third centuries A.D. It is interesting in this connection to note that Silvanus appears on medallions of Antoninus Pius about A.O. 140 and later in the Antonine period (J . M. C. Toynbee, Roman Medallions, New York, 1944, pp. 140, 209, etc.).

28

29

The forms of the body are strong and muscular, as if the copyist had added cloak and fruits to an athletic statue in the tradition of Polykleitos. Otherwise, the statue is, for its own immediate merits, an awkward or routine, lifeless version of such superb decorative statues as the group of satyrs holding up grapes from Hadrian's Villa and elsewhere, work of the imperial school of Aphrodisias (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, pp. 309-10, No. l , pl. 77). As Silvanus, this statue would have had a head similar to that once in the Henriette Hertz and Melchett collections (E. Strong, Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Antiques in the Possession of Lord Melchett, Oxford, 1928, p. 37, No. 36, pl. 38) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 56.

GRAECO-ROMAN TORSI

I 23


30.

Head of a Youthful Divinity (?)

527e38

Graeco-Roman, after a creation of the Severe style (ca. 465 B.C.) Greek marble, probably Pentelic, H . 153/s" (.39 m.) Provenance unknown Most of the nose is gone. A scored line runs down the center of the face. The original relates to a group of statues of Apollo in the latter part of the Transitional period. This copy looks as if it had been adapted for insertion in a herm or a statue such as that in the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome (Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori, pp. 108-09, No. 56, pl. 38). The long hair down the back of the neck is perfectly permissible for a male statue in the Transitional period. The prototype of this head resembles that of the Apollo from Cherchel in

Algeria (Lippold, p. 111, pl. 36, 1) and bears a facial likeness to the Apollo from the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (Ibid., p. 120, pl. 45, 2) . The arrangement of the hair leads thence to that of the Demeter from Cherchel (Ibid., p. 181, pl. 63, 4) . The Conservatori statue, as seen also in the replicas of the head (including that in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), was slightly later than the Fenway Court head. It has been identified as Demeter, having a Persephone as companion statue. The slight turn of these heads, as opposed to the strong frontality of the Gardner head, would seem to favor the latter's origin as part of a herm rather than as part of a statue. The Gardner head also has a herm-like quality in the carving of the curls in the hair and the surfaces of the face. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 248.


31a

31

31.

Head of a Divinity (Apollo ?)

Sl0s2

Graeco-Roman, after a creation of the late V or early IV century B.C. Greek marble, probably from western Asia Minor, H. (max.) 13", W. (at eyebrows) 111/4 " (.33 x .285 m.) From "Maria de Capua" (Santa Maria di Capua) near Naples. Purchased through Richard Norton, 1903

The piece has been discolored by incrustation. The tip of the nose and the chin are chipped, and the back part of the crown of the head has been cut away, conceivably for finishing in another material or for incorporation into an architectural setting. The invention of this noble, overlifesized head and its parted, wavy hair lies in the generation of the Amazons of Polykleitos and others around 435 B.C. Other, related, figures include the Aphrodite Valenti (Lippold, p. 213, pl. 70, 4), and even the Leda of the period between the late fifth century masters and Praxiteles (Ibid., p . 221, pl. 79, 3) . Thus, the type is close to various female divinities of the late fifth and fourth centuries and ultimately to the Apollo Lykeios created by Praxiteles in the fourth century B.C.

There are nearly fifteen Roman copies of heads from a famous statue of Apollo playing the kithara, created early in the fourth century B.C. ; the Barberini Apollo in Munich shows a version of the complete figure. A number of heads are in the form of herm busts and are of indifferent quality or preservation. This example preserves the monumental vigor of the original, which must have been a cult image in a temple as well known as that of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae in Arcadia (Poulsen, pp. 72-73, under No. 66, pl. V). BIBLIOG RAPH Y :

General Catalogu e, p. 63.

32.

Small Head of Hermes

512w9

Graeco-Roman, copy of a work of the IV century B.C. Greek marble, H. 51/2", W. 5 1/2", Th. 6" (.14 x .14 x .15 m.) Provenance unknown The nose and lips are badly chipped and much of the chin is broken off. He wears a petasos shaped like a World War I helmet, with wings. An iron pin in his neck indicates his head was once used as a restoration on a torso. This is a typical Graeco-Roman decoraGRAECO-ROMAN PORTRAITS AND DIVINITIES

I 25


tive version of a type going back to the fourth century B.C. (compare, Ashmole, p. 47, No. 106, pl. 14, after an original of the period about 350 B.C. or slightly later). The famous Shobden Hermes, once in Lord Bateman's collection and now in the Los Angeles Museum of Art, presents an excellent copy of the type of statue after which this head is derived (C. Vermeule and D. von Bothmer, "Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis," AJA, 60, 1956, pp. 342-43, and further refs.). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 81.

33.

Small Head of Dionysos

512wll

Graeco-Roman, copy of a work of the III century B.C. Pentelic marble, H. 53/4" (.145 m.) Provenance unknown There is slight abrasion of the nose and chin. This head is of the familiar Graeco-Roman type with a heavy fillet and clusters of grapes and vine leaves in the hair. The eyes were inset separately, hollowed to receive colored stones or glass. It came from a small statue, one probably set in a Roman rustic shrine. As a concept of the young Dionysos, the presentation was a popular one in Hellenistic and Roman times.

33

The monumental prototype for this portrayal of the god of wine is represented by a head in the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome (Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori, p. 134, No. 11, pl. 49) after an original dated in the third century B.C. The Gardner head is paralleled in size and quality, as well as general appearance, by the head of the leaning Dionysos (and his companion the satyr Ampelos?) with a goat curled up at his feet, in the Argos Museum. The ultimate source of this head and its several variants has been shown to have been a statue created in the circle of Praxiteles, perhaps best known from a large head in the Duke of Devonshire's collection at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire (A. Furtwangler, Journal of Hellenic Studies, 21, 1901, p . 215, fig. 3 ; E. Strong, Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Antiques in the Possession of Lord Melchett, London, 1928, p. 18, No. 13, pl. 18). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

26

II

General Catalogue, p. 80.


34

34.

Head of a Goddess

S16w18

Graeco-Roman, Archaistic Pentelic marble, H. 11" (.28 m.) Apparently purchased through Richard Norton, Rome, 1899 The lower part of the neck, the back of the head and a piece at the left side of the neck have been broken and replaced. Pieces are missing at the neck and under the chin on the left side, at the crown of the head on the right, and parts of the hair on the left side toward the back. The tip of the nose is broken off. The head of a goddess, probably Artemis, is in the Archaistic manner, imitating a work of about 510 B.C. With its diadem of rosettes, the head seems to be similar to that of the statues in Naples, from Pompeii, or the headless statue in the Museo Archeologico, Florence and the head in Venice (Lippold, p. 387, pl. 134, 4). A marble head in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, worked for insertion in a draped statue, has the

diadem of rosettes and hollowed eyes, once inlaid to imitate an original statue in bronze (G. H . Chase and C. C. Vermeule, Greek Etruscan & Roman Art, Boston, 1972, pp. 169, 173, 181, fig . 162) and an Archaistic head in the Sala dei Monumenti Arcaici of the Palazzo dei Conservatori shows how many variations on this general theme could be produced in Graeco-Roman times (Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Co nservatori, p. 219, No. 11, pl. 83). This goddess could be an early work of Dossena (Italian, 1878-1937), which was certainly recut from an ancient portrait bust. The carving around the eyes, their shape in particular, and the concentric position of the small mouth suit neither Archaic Greek nor Archaistic Graeco-Roman sculpture. The powerful neck muscles, however, seem to belong to the previous use of the head as a Roman portrait, or a Roman copy of a Greek athletic head and neck, one worked for insertion such as a Skopasian Meleager. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 119.

GRAECO-ROMAN PORTRAITS AND DIVINITIES

I27


35.

Head of a Roman

SG-8e

Roman, late Republican or early imperial period, ca. so B.C.-A.D. 2S Italian limestone (?), H. (of head) 9 1/z" (.24 m.) Provenance unknown This head, from a draped commemorative or funerary statue, has been set on a Renaissance garden herm, designed to match the female herm or Caryatid set opposite (No. 36). The material seems to be a hard white limestone, which has weathered considerably. The terminal figure is intended to represent Herakles. The head as a funerary portrait is akin to the likeness of Publius Gessius from his family tombstone, found near Rome and now in Boston (G. H. Chase and C. Vermeule, Greek Etruscan & Roman Art, Boston, 1972, pp. 217-18, 239, fig. 211). There are many similar likenesses, in marble or in native Italian materials such as travertine (Poulsen, p . 392, No. SS7, pl. XXXXIV). 35 detail

36.

Veiled Head of a Roman Woman

SG-8e

Roman, late Republican or early imperial period, ca. SO B.C.-A.D. 60 Luna marble (?), H . (of head) 10" (.2SS m.) Provenance unknown The nose and ears are mostly gone; the mantle which is drawn up over the head is considerably weathered. This head, from a draped commemorative or funerary statue, has been set on a Graeco-Roman garden herm, the lower parts of which were, restored in the Renaissance. A sensitive handling of the hair under the drapery and the classical structure of the eyes amid their surroundings suggest a date in the Augustan or Julio-Claudian periods. Since the terminal figure is female, clad in the lion' s skin, a representation as Omphale was intended. 36 detail

Herms or Caryatids such as this were used to support the roofs of small shrines and garden houses in country estates of the Roman imperial period. For similar balustrade herms from Bithynia, now at Izmit (Nicomedia), see M. J. Mellink, after N. Firatli (AJA, 70, 1966, p. 1S9, pl. 42, figs. 18 f.) ; these are Julio-Claudian or, more likely, Hadrianic and represented the four seasons. Others, original or with various restorations, are illustrated in Reinach, Rep. stat., II, 2, 1931, pp. S22-26 ("Termes"), especially pp. S24-26.


37.

Head of Aphrodite

5Ss21

Graeco-Roman, Antonine or Severan period, based on the Capitoline type Crystalline Greek island marble, H . 9" (.23 m .) Provenance unknown The nose has been mostly broken away and the surfaces damaged, but there is no restoration. The copy would appear, from the drilling of the hair, to belong to the Antonine or Severan periods of the Roman Empire. The original was created in the fourth century B.C., perhaps about 330 B.C., under the influence of the Knidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles. Some have claimed the Capitoline Aphrodite as a rival work by Lysippos, while F. P. Johnson thought it might have been fashioned by Skopas (Lysippos, Durham, North Carolina, 1927, pp. 55-57, 186-89). Like the Knidia, the Capitoline type survives in a number of copies (Lippold, p . 291, pl. 104, 1 ; B. M . Felletti Maj ," Afrodite pudica Saggio d'arte ellenistica," Archeologia Classica, 3, 1951, pp. 33-65) . Heads of Aphrodite similar to this were used widely in the Hellenistic period for various representations of the goddess, including the principal version of the Aphrodite crouching in her bath (R. Lullies, Die Kauernde Aphrodite, Munich, 1954, pp. 13-14, No. 11, fig. 11 : Rome, Museo Torlonia, No. 170).

For the portrait head, which is alien to the terminal figure, compare also the bust of an unknown woman in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from Livia's villa at Primaporta (G. H. Chase and C. Vermeule, Greek Etruscan & Roman Art, Boston, 1972, pp. 219-20, 237, 242, fig. 218). Also, although turned to one shoulder in the manner of Hellenistic portraits, a good parallel is provided by an anonymous Roman lady from Ephesos (J. Inan and E. Rosenbaum, Roman and Early Byzantine Portrait Sculpture in Asia Minor, London, 1966, pp. 122-23, No. 139, pl. 81) and the so-called Octavia (without the mantle over the head) from Nicomedia in Bithynia (Ibid., pp. 61-62, No. 12, pl. 8).

GRAECO-ROMAN PORTRAITS AND DIVINITIES

I 29


38.

Bust of a Man

S27e28

Roman, style of ca. A.D. 150 Pentelic marble, H. 231/4" (.59 m .) Provenance unknown Most of the nose and bits of the right ear, including the lobe, have been restored in plaster. The surfaces are, seemingly, encrusted. His features are perhaps those of an Asiatic Greek. The shape of the nude bust, extending to below the chest, is in the heroic tradition of the Trajanic period. The head is turned to the sitter's left shoulder, like the later busts of Caracalla. For the form of the bust and the handling of the hair and beard, compare the bust in Copenhagen, identified as that of the sophist Alexandros and found in the grave of the Licinians (Poulsen, pp. 485-86, No. 695, pl. LVII; see also a contemporary of Antoninus Pius, p. 483, No. 690b, second supplement, pl. XI). For the combination of hair, beard, and bust, an unknown Roman of the (late) Hadrianic period from the Albani collection offers an excellent parallel (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, p . 89, No. 7, pl. 26) . Another bust from the A lbani collection duplicates the Fenway Court portrait's general features in mirror reversal, the head being turned to the right (Ibid., p . 116, No. 45, pl. 30). A similar portrait was photographed in the art market (presumably in Italy) many years ago and

could present the same man, perhaps by the same sculptor (Arndt and Amelung, No. 5070). His hair is less curly and undercut than those whose portraits imitate the young Marcus Aurelius, as the bust of C. Volcacius Myropnous from the Ostia necropolis (R. Calza, Museo Ostiense, Rome, 1947, pp. 11, 43, No. 38) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p . 247.

39.

Small Herm of a Nature God

SOe12

Graeco-Roman Luna marble, H. 85/s" (.22 m .) Provenance unknown Behind the forelock are the stumps of two horns. On either side of the forehead are clusters of berries. A break in the base has been repaired. The god is bearded with pointed ears and curly hair. For comparable watergods, who share the feature of pointed ears with Dionysiac figures, see Ashmole, p. 49, No. llla, pl. 25. Other herms of rustic creatures are often hard to identify, as one general bearded type was used in a number of these secondary, decorative sculptures (A. Garcia y Bellido, Esculturas romanas de Espana y Portugal, I, pp. 435-36, Nos. 449, 451; II, pis. 316-17).


40.

Herm of Dionysos

S27e23

Graeco-Roman, ca. 50 B.C.-A.D. 125, after an original of ca. 460-420 B.C. Pentelic marble, H. 15%" (.405 m .) Provenance unknown The bearded divinity derives from a type created in Athens in the fifth century B.C. The styling of hair and beard suggests that the face was reworked in Mediaeval times, probably in northern Italy at the beginning of the thirteenth century. There are many indications of the Graeco-Roman model, as the examples in the Giardino of the Palazzo dei Conservatori (Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori, p . 251, Nos. 102, 103, pl. 97). The direct Graeco-Roman prototype for the Gardner herm is one once in the European art market (Arndt and Amelung, No. 5097). That heads such as these were also related to statues in the Archaistic style is indicated by a Graeco-Roman Dionysos in Munich (P. Wolters,

Fuhrer durch die Glyptothek Konig Ludwig' s I zu Miinchen, Munich, 1935, p. 16, No. 180) from Terracina (with modern but correct head). Decorative herms of this iconographic type were set up by Romans in villas and parks; they could equally represent Oionysos or Hermes (Poulsen, pp. 118-19, No. 147a, pl. XI and other examples on this plate).

40

General Catalogu e, p. 245. W . Cahn and C. Vermeule, "Adventures of a Graeco-Roman Marble Herm," Fenway Court, Boston, 1970, pp. 26-32, figs. 1-6. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

39

GRAECO-ROMAN HERMS

I 31


42.

41.

Herm of Dionysos

SG-8e

Graeco-Roman, Archaistic version of a work of the V century B.C. Crystalline Greek marble, H . 15" (.38 m.) Said to have been found near Pompeii. Purchased from Vincenzo Barone, Naples, 1897 This is generally weathered with most of the nose gone. The bearded herm or bust is complete, with the essentially rectangular base and vertical sockets for wooden " arms" on which to hang garlands. This sculpture must have been, therefore, a work designed for a Roman courtyard or garden. There are a number of decorative works of this Archaistic type, the originals of which can resemble the head of the Zeus by Pheidias at Olympia, as known from coins (J. R. McCredie, "Two Herms in the Fogg Museum," AJA, 66, 1962, pp. 188-89, No. 2, pl. 56, figs . 3-4). Identification as Dionysos is borne out by comparison with an unusual head of the fifth century type in Cambridge (Budde and Nicholls, pp. 65-66, No. 103, pl. 34), an offshoot of L. Curtius, Zeus und Hermes, Roemisches Mitteilungen, Erstes Ergiinzungsheft, Munich, 1931, pp. 58 ff., type C.

Small Herm of the Bearded Dionysos and Eros (?) S5s39 Graeco-Roman, Archaistic Italian marble, H. 6 1/2" (.165 m.) Purchased from the Galleria Sangiorgi, Rome, 1895 There is a break under his beard and her chin. Her nose and chin are chipped. The base has been restored in cement. A dowel can be seen at the top center of their heads, perhaps for attachment to a balustrade above. The beardless divinity could be female and thus might be named Ariadne, as in the instance of a Janiform herm in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, derived from a South Italian Greek work of the early fifth century B.C. (Budde and Nicholls, p. 19, No. 38, pl. 11). For the literature on herms such as this, see Poulsen, p. 238, under No. 337, termed "bearded and beardless gods." With the addition of fins, scales, or oak leaves, these divine combinations could be variously interpreted as marine deities, or as HippolytusVirbius, the rustic gods of Nemi (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, pp. 150-51, under No. 28, pl. 37) . Aphrodite and Eros are similarly combined, the latter creating a work similar to this head, in a herm in Madrid (A. Blanco, Museo del Prado, Catalogo de la Escultura, Madrid, 1957, p. 29, No. 26E, pl. 9). 43.

Herm of Dionysos or Aphrodite and Ariadne 5Ss26 Graeco-Roman, Archaistic Greek marble from western Asia Minor, H: 13" (.33 m.) Provenance unknown The right side of the face of the herm (43b) with the deeply modelled hair is especially injured. Both heads are partly covered by a veil. Both are youthful types with softened facial features. The relationship with Archaic prototypes is purely subjective, and doubtless such double herms were created as garden sculpture in the Graeco-Roman period. The identification is not easy, for the copyist borrowed elements from several different types of herms and combined them to produce his decorative work.

41

Although this double herm is in the form of a bust, for placement on a pedestal or pillar, such double herms could terminate in Archaistic, draped figures, leading finally to decorative shafts (Poulsen, pp. 54-55, No. 40, pl. III). Two shafts in the Sala delle Colombe of the Museo Capito-


43

GRAECO-ROMAN HERMS

I 33


lino illustrate the normal Roman garden settings for such double herms; they show that the rectangular, tapering parts were often carved with attributes of the divinities represented (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, pp. 141, 144, Nos. 12, 14, pl. 34). 44.

Herm Bust of a Greek Man of Affairs or Intellect S27w54 Graeco-Roman, copy of a work of ca. 320280 B.C. Pentelic marble, H. 20 1/2" (.52 m.) Said to have been found in Rome, 1901, near 5. Saba on the Aventine; purchased in Rome in the same year through Richard Norton A corner of the bust has been broken away, and it has the usual rectangular slots for insertion of wooden " arms." The nose is gone and there is slight injury to both brows.

44

Poulsen suggested that the subject of this impressive herm could be the Athenian fifth-century general Miltiades, but Richter has pointed out that the likeness is not a replica of the Miltiades herm from Rome, now in Ravenna. I have proposed that the subject is a philosopher, replica of a portrait of about 320 to 280 B.C.; the likeness is close to those of Epicurus and Metrodorus, leading philosophers of this period. General Catalogue, p. 239. V. Poulsen, " Poet or General, an Iconographical Puzzle," Burlington Magazine, 92, 1950, p. 196, figs. 12, 15. C. Vermeule, Greek & Roman Portraits, 470 BC-AD 500, Boston, 1959, No. 7 and parallels. G. M. A. Richter, The Portraits of the Greeks, I, London, 1965, p. 96, No. 7*, figs. 388-89.

BIBLIOG RAPHY :

45.

Small Herm of a Macedonian Hellenistic Ruler (?) SOe13 Graeco-Roman, early imperial period Greek island marble, H . 51/2" (.14 m.) Provenance unknown Weathering has erased most of the features. A crack in the base has been repaired in plaster. This is decorative work of the early imperial period, suitable for a garden or courtyard. The ruler may be Pyrrhus of Epirus or Philip V of Macedon (Ashmole, p. 48, No. 111, pl. 25; also the example in Cambridge, where the type has been discussed in some detail, Budde and Nicholls, pp. 55-56, No. 88, pl. 30) . The vogue for these small terminal busts of famous Greek warriors belonged to the period


when Romans were collecting statues, busts, and reliefs of philosophers and other men of letters for their libraries, as the "Pyrrhus" in Naples and a pendant, unidentified warrior testify {T. Lorenz, Galerien van Griechischen Philosophenund Dichterbildnissen bei den Romern, Mainz, 1965, pp. 13-14, pls. 8, No. 4, 10, No. 5 , showing the groupings with which these herms were found in the garden of the Villa of the Pisoes [Pisoni] at Herculaneum) . 46.

Cinerarium or Grave Altar

527e29

Roman, early imperial period Pentelic marble, H . 251/2", L. 18 1/ 4 ", W .153/s" (.65 x .465 x .39 m.) Said to have been found near S. Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome. Purchased through Richard Norton, 1901

The lid is missing and there is a chip off the right front volute. On the principal side is an uninscribed rectangular name plate. A garland enframes this, above

which two cocks fight in spirited fashion. Heads of females, probably Medusae, once filled the volutes left and right. An altar with garlands, torch, and bucrania appears at the lower center, and sphinxes crouch on plinths at the comers, below elaborate legs designed to suggest further the altar-like arrangement of the ensemble. The depth and quality of carving are well above average. There is a variety of unusual, complex enrichment on the two secondary faces. Rams' heads spring from the large volutes, between which are a cuirass and shields, two pelta-shaped, also a trumpet. From the spirals that echo the rams' horns hangs a large garland in front of closed portals. These doors, with panels and knockers, are set on an altar with a garland, flowers, and bucrania at the comers. The corners of the cinerarium are carved in the form of table legs, resting on the backs of crouching sphinxes. The legs on one corner of each side form part of the same design which has been discussed in connection with the front of the um. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p.

246.

ROMAN ALTARS AND CINERARIUMS

I 35


47.

Cinerarium or Grave Altar

5Sc7

Roman, early imperial period Pentelic marble (?), H. 23", W . 14", L. 121/z" (.585 x .355 x .317 m .) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1899 A hole below the name plate, now plugged with marble, and smaller cuttings in the sides, suggest that the altar was once used as a fountain basin. A vertical crack runs down the garland and through the plinth.

lines of the lower corners; in the center above the garland, a hound is shown crouching to attack a rabbit. At the bottom center, a pair of facing birds, perhaps ravens (Apollo) or crows, tug at the ends of the garland's ribbon. The area of the inscription plaque has been chiselled away, in ancient or later times. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 44.

An uninscribed name plate is flanked by rams' heads, from which hangs a heavy garland. At the lower corners are seated griffins. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 44.

49.

Rectangular Cinerarium

Roman, early imperial period Pentelic marble (?), H. 251/2", L. 171/z", W. 121/z" (.65 x .445 x .32 m.) Purchased from the Galleria Sangiorgi, Rome,

48.

Cinerarium or Grave Altar

58w9

SSclO

Roman, early imperial period Pentelic marble, H . 23 1/z", W . 14", L. 111/4" (.596 x .355 x .285 m.) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1899 An elaborate garland is suspended from bovine skulls. Swans peck at the fruit from the ground

1895

There is some discoloration and the man's head and face are especially marred. A garland hangs across the upper part of an inscribed plate. Torches flank the portals below. In the open doors, a man and woman clasp hands. Bay trees fill the areas between the pilasters on the sides. The inscription reads:


OIS•MANIB Q•MINVCIPRIMIGEN ET•MINVCIAE•SVCCESSAE CONIVGI•EIVS Q MINVCIVS ICARVS PARENTIBVS OPTIMIS

"To Quintus Minucius Primigenus and Minucia Successa his spouse Quintus Minucius Icarus to the best of parents." Style and proportions of the man and woman . follow the tradition of Lar altars and other quasi-

official, municipal monuments in the early Empire. The design of husband and wife before open portals is rare on cineraria or sepulchral altars (Poulsen, pp. 570-71, No. 798, pl. LXVIII, where the portals are termed the gates of Hades). Minucia Successa is mentioned in another inscription, found in the area of the Vatican palace (CIL, VI, No. 18258) . A Q. Minucius Primus is mentioned in an inscription, said to come from the Via Latina or the Via Appia and recorded by ligorio but condemned by the editors of the Corpus (CIL, VI, No. 2405*). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p .

54.

ROMAN ALTARS AND CINERARIUMS

I 37


50.

Rectangular Cinerary Urn

S8e15

51 . Rectangular Cinerary Chest

S3e23

Roman, late Julio-Claudian or early Flavian period Pentelic marble, H . 71/4 ", L. 12", W. 91/4" (.185 x .305 x .235 m .)

Roman, Julio-Claudian or early Flavian period Pentelic marble, H. 6 1/z", L. 101/2", W . 8 1/z" (.165 x .265 x .215 m.) Provenance unknown

From the 'de Dorides' collection, Piazza Trinita de' Monti No. 3. Before that it was in the house of Giovanni Battista Orsini and, ultimately, in S. Maria di Monte Cordano

The left lower corner at the back is broken off.

A garland is suspended from rams' heads which flank an inscribed name plate. Below, two birds are pecking at the fruits, and there are two others near the corners.

Two dolphins below the rectangular name plate (uninscribed) come together toward a third, _ much smaller, dolphin in perspective frontally. A large palm or acanthus leaf is shown spread like a fan on each of the ends.

The inscription reads: VALERIAE路PORPHYRIDI " To Valeria Porphyris, VIX路ANN路xvm who lived eighteen years, VALERIVS路PHILIPPVS Valerius Philippus, PATRONVS her patron." The carving is good, if not exciting, work of the latter part of the Julio-Claudian or early Flavian period. R. Lanciani, Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma, 1892,

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

p . 300. CIL, VI, No. 28247 = No. 34182.

5'.l


The dolphin motif and blank tablet are not usually found on cinerary chests. The form of the vegetation on the ends is unusual, also, but it does occur in more monumental form on the ends of a sarcophagus with the birth and childhood of Dionysos in the Museo d~lle Terme, Rome, belonging to the latter part of the second century A.D. (F. Matz, Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, IV, 3, Die Dionysischen Sarkophage, 3, Berlin, 1969, pp. 357-59, No. 206, pl. 217) . The leaves of this sarcophagus are considerably more complex, as befits the grander scale of its design and execution. The Gardner urn is difficult to date, for the work is hardly exceptional. It would seem to belong to the Julio-Claudian or early Flavian periods. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p . 28.

52. Circular Cinerarium

SG-Be

Roman, late Julio-Claudian or Flavian period, ca. A.D. 60-90 Crystalline Greek (Thasian?) marble, H. 13", Diam. at base: 161/2" (.33 x .42 m.) Recorded in the Vigna Pacca A horizontal crack through the lower portion of the urn is repaired in cement. The inscription plate is supported by Tritons in a wavy sea. The inscription reads: 庐 K <J! EIIOICE <l.>OIBIAN OGNIKH路 fAYKYTA THMNH MHC::XAP IN

" To the God(s) of the Universe. Phoibianos made this for Nike Glykyta in farewell memory."

The heads of the Tritons were partly carved on the missin g lid. The carving seems to have been done in the late Julio-Claudian or Flavian periods, about A.D. 60 to 90. lnscriptio nes Graecae Siciliae et ltaliae, XIV, Berlin, 1890, No. 2101. Matz and von Duhn, A ntike Bildwerke in R om, III, p. 213, No. 3993. BIBLIOG R APH Y :

53.

Rectangular Cinerary Urn

58w8

Roman, late I century A .D. Greek island marble(?), H. 101/4 ", L. 131/z", W. 131/z" (.26 x .345 x .345 m.) Probably purchased in Rome, 1895. It has a lon g history there, moving from 5. Biagiode l'anello to the Piazza di Siena and then to an architect (Carimino or Carimini) in the via di 5 . Giovanni in Laterano The front is especially worn with a break at the rim which runs down through the name plate. Holes at the bottom and on the rim indicate that this was once used as a fountain basin. ROMAN ALTARS AND CINERARIUMS

I 39


This urn is without a lid. The front, around the inscribed tablet, and the sides are enriched with ivy leaves and berries, hanging from complex candelabra. Each side is framed in water leaf moulding. The inscription reads : DIISMANIBVS

Without a lid, the upper part of the body and all of the surfaces are considerably abraded. Around an inscribed plate with elaborate mouldings, two Erotes, perched on eagles, hold a heavy garland. This runs across the face below the inscribed plaque, and two large birds fill the area between, one pecking at the buds and berries .. The inscription (as preserved) reads:

IVLIAE

(damage)

CLAV DIANAE

D•M

(damage) LIO VIXANN•X (damage)

CROCO•SATRIA

CLAVDIARESTI

IVGI•SVO•B•M•F•

IVL

TVTA VIROET•F

" To the Gods and Shades To Julia Claudiana and to Julius (damage) Who lived for (more than) ten years Claudia Restituta (dedicated this) to the man and woman." This and the following small, rectangular urn, less spectacular than the so-called grave altars, belong to the latter part of the first century A.D., the Flavian or even the Trajanic periods. A cinerary urn from the Tomb of the Platorini at Rome shows the monumental development of this type in the Julio-Claudian period (Aurigemma, p . 77, pl. 44). Another, in the Roman municipal collections, shows the leaves in their same, simple forms (D. Mustilli, II Museo Mu ssolini, Rome, 1939, p. 45, No. 31, pl. 31; Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, p. 57, No. 14, pl. 11). BIBLIOGRAPHY : CIL, VI, No. 20417 (with provenances). Matz and von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom, III, p. 207, No. 3968. General Catalogue, p. 54.

VALERIO

EVCARPIA•CON

" To the Gods and Shades To Valerius Crocus Satria Eucarpia His Wife Made (This) In Loving Memory." The motif of Erotes supporting a heavy garland dates this um in the Hadrianic period (A.D. 117-138) when such designs were becoming standard on sarcophagi. Such designs on cineraria, however, are not common. One without the eagles and paired birds is in the Museo Capitolino in Rome (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, p . 57, No. 17, pl. 11). Since the deceased is named as a freedman of the Emperor Hadrian, this circular cinerarium must also belong in this period, or the early Antonine age at the latest. An example identical with that at Fenway Court, possessing its lid but uninscribed, was sold at auction in Lucerne, 7 December 1962 (Ars Antiqua, IV, 17, No. 59, pl. 22). CIL, VI, No. 27975 ; Matz and von Duhn, Antike Bildwerke in Rom, III, p. 207, No.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

3970.

54.

Cinerary Urn

SG-8e

Roman, Hadrianic period (A.D . 117-138) Luna marble, H . 9", W. 14" (.23 x .355 m.) From the house of the architect (Carimino or Carimini) in via S. Giovanni in Laterano, Rome

55.

Cinerarium or Grave Altar

S27e39

Roman, I to II century A.D. Pentelic marble, H . 303/4 ", L. 245/s ", W. 185/s" (.78 x .625 x .475 m.) Said to have been found on the Via Ostiense behind S. Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome. Purchased through Richard Norton, 1901 The altar is in excellent condition. An inscribed plaque is flanked by rams' heads, from which hangs a garland. In the area above the garland, Eros approaches a sleeping Psyche (?) or Ariadne, a cloth held in his outstretched hand. Outside the garland, at the lower left, Eros watches a scene at the lower right, the punishment of another Eros by Aphrodite (?).

40

II


56.

Small Altar with Dionysiac Reliefs

516s23

Roman, p rob ably II or III cen tury A .D. Pentelic m arble (?), H . 261/2", W. 141/2", D. 16" (.675 x .37 x .405 m.) Apparently purch ased from Stefano Bardin i, Florence, 1897 On the front of this altar between elaborate but roughly carved upper and lower m ouldin gs appears a dancing Pan with M aenads to h is left and right, the last holdin g a tympanum. Pan has lost h is left lower leg. The Maen ad on th e left side held an object wh ich is now indistin guishable. T he lower right leg of the Maenad with a tympanum is chipped off. For style and type, compare an example in the Palazzo dei Con servatori, Rom e (Stuart Jones,

55

The inscription reads : DIS•MANIBVS P•CIARTI•LASI P•CIARTIVS ALEXANDER FRATRICARISSIMO

" To the Gods and Shades To Publius Ciartius Lasus Publius Ciartius Alexander To his dearest brother."

The lid is somewhat too small, but lids of irregular size were often used in antiquity. The Corpus lnscriptionum Latinarum lists six other stelai, plaques, an altar, and a cippus found with this, in the same family burial complex. The family were evidently Greek freedmen from the Thracian or Asia Minor Propontis. There are many other examples, of excellent quality, that combine variations on the standard theme of garlands hanging from rams' heads (Aurigemma, pp. 76- 78, pl. 44 ; Poulsen, pp. 573-74, No. 802, pl. LXIX) . A related example in Cambridge, carved with an inscription to a freedman of Trajan, shows that such chests were in u se well into the second century A .D . (Budde and Nicholls, p . 94, No. 153, pl. 51) . CIL, VI, No. 34833, then with the dealer, Jandolo, in Rome. General Catalogue, p. 248.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

ROMAN A LTARS AND CI NERARIUMS

I 41


Palazzo dei Conservatori, p . 122, No. 83, pl. 43) . Oionysiac candelabrum bases of the first and second centuries A.O. provided iconographic sources and stylistic suggestions for altars such as this (R. Calza, Museo Ostiense, Rome, 1947, pp. 6-7, No. 12, pl. p. 39). BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 109.

57.

peror Trajan (A.O. 98-117), and the carver of the inscription was probably also a Greek, unsure of his Latin letters. A similar sarcophagus, of less precise carving or preservation, is in the Sala dei Monumenti Arcaici of the Palazzo dei Conservatori (Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori, p. 224, No. 2la, pl. 86) . General Catalogue, p. 80. Vermeule, Festschrift Matz, p. 101, No. 5.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Small Sarcophagus

512s2

Roman, ca. A .O. 125 Proconessian marble, H . 141/2", L. 61", W . 12" (.37 x 1.55 x .305 m .) Purchased from Dr. Henry C. Sartorio, Rome, 1923 Losses to the rim at the left of the name plate and at the back center have been restored in marble; another loss at the front left comer has been repaired in cement. A crack runs down from the top left of the name plate and across the top of the garland. This sarcophagus, and Nos. 58, 59, and 60, is carved with a strigilar-shaped design, so named after the curved metal instrument with which Greek and Roman athletes scraped the oil from their bodies after exercising. Here the strigils are found on either side of a name plate in the shape of a Maltese cross. This has rosettes in the corners and a garland across the lower face. The marble seems to be Pavonazzetto. The inscription reads : D

M

VIPIA E•M•F• HYGIAE• PARENTES·FILIAE• PIISSIMAE•FECERVNI•

" T o the Gods and Shades To Ulpia Hygia the daughter of Marcus The parents made this for a most devoted daughter." The style of the lettering suggests a date about A.O. 125. The family were freedmen of the Em57

42

II

58.

Fragment of a Sarcophagus

58n4

Roman, III century A.O. Crystalline Greek (Thasian?) marble, H. (as preserved) 201/2", W. 26" (.52 x .66 m.) Purchased from Vincenzo Barone, Naples, 1897 The main decoration is in the form of strigils. At the left edge an Amorino is visible, supporting a section of a tondo with the drapery of an imago clypeata visible within. His face, right arm and legs just below the thighs are lost. This fragment, in the Chinese Loggia, has been turned on its right end, carved with a relief in the Gothic style on the reverse (see No. S6s2) and is now used to support the table of an altar in the Spanish Chapel.


For the motif of an Amorino, satyr, or similar figure supporting the imago clypeata, compare the sarcophagus in Copenhagen with Victories and seasons (Poulsen, pp. 546-47, No. 778a, first supplement, pl. XII) . The Amorino may be one of three treading grapes or olives in a tub, as beneath the imago clypeata of a season sarcophagus in the museum at Cagliari on Sardinia (G. Pesce, Sarcofagi romani di Sardegna, Rome, 1957, p . 19, No. 1, pl. 1).

A similar sarcophagus is drawn as Dal PozzoAlbani, Windsor, No. 8333, a relief n ot otherwise identified (C. Vermeule, T he D al PozzoAlbani D rawings of Classical Antiquities in th e Royal Library at W indsor Castle, T ra nsactions of the American Philosophical Society, 56, Part 2, Philadelphia, 1966, p. 21, with further parallels). BIBLIOG R APH Y :

Vermeule, Fes tschrift Matz, p . 100,

No. 3 .

60. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 48.

59.

Sarcophagus

SG-7w

Roman, III century A.D. Marble, H . 193/4 ", L. 79", W. 221/2" (.SO x 2.01 x .57 m.) Provenance unknown The figures have scattered losses, particularly in their faces. Strigilar panels on the front divide three Dionysiac scenes. Bacchus supported by the satyr Ampelus is in the center, while a running satyr and a dancing Maenad with tympanum are seen at each front end or corner. Reveling satyrs, each with a Dionysiac staff, and trees appear on the short sides. A panther in the lower left corner turns to look at Bacchus. Another panther appears in the left front end.

Sarcophagus

59s3

Roman, III or IV century A.D. Italian limestone, H . 21", L. 81" (.533 x 2.05 m.) Purchased from Attilio Simonetti, Rome, 1906 Holes near the upper corner show that the sarcophagus was used for a founta in basin. The strigilar carving on the front flanks an uninscribed name plate of the simplest, rectangular shape with !outer or basin-shaped supporting moulding below. There are many similar sarcophagi, difficult to date without the help of inscriptions ; an example at the Capuchian convent (Convento dei Cappuccini) in Cagliari on Sardinia has been dated in the third or fourth centuries (G. Pesce, Sarcofagi romani di Sardegna, Rome, 1957, p. 83, No. 35, fig. 78) . See also the example built into the wall of the church of S. Lucifero, dated in the late third century (Ibid., pp. 88 ff., No. 47, fig. 91). On the other hand, the sarcophagus in the

ROMAN SARCOPHAGI

I 43


Villa Medici at Rome has been placed about A.D. 200, on the basis of stylistic and some epigraphic

evidence (M. Cagiano de Azevedo, Le Antichita di Villa Medici, Rome, 1951, p . 81, No. 87, pl. 36, 67). BIBLIOGRAPHY: General Catalogue, pp. 59-60. Vermeule, Festschrift Matz, p. 101, No. 5.

61.

Sarcophagus with Satyrs and Maenads Gathering Grapes 512e3 Roman, Severan period (A.D. 222-235) Pentelic marble, H . 411/2", L. 881/s", W. 40" (1.055 x 2 .24 x 1.015 m.)

From Tivoli (according to Aldroandi) and Rome, the Famesina (1556) and the Palazzo Farnese (and, allegedly, the Villa Sciarra). Purchased from the Sciarra collection, Rome, 1898, through Richard Norton One long side and both ends are finished. The second long side was left unpolished. On the front and at the left end the base is decorated with floral ornament in low relief. At the right end and at the back the base is marked only with horizontal lines . A shallow break runs in a diagonal on all sides of the sarcophagus, unevenly and more superficially on the front . Where the break begins at the top of the right end a wedge of modem marble has been inserted and the relief on this fragment is restored. Another small wedge is found in a corresponding position on the left end; but this has no connection with the break or crack. There are minor restorations on the front, where the relief is high; at the back the relatively low relief has protected the figures from injury. The sarcophagus is of the later imperial Greek (Attic) type which normally has one or more figures of the deceased reclining on the lid, as if on an elaborate couch. This sarcophagus, of the height of the Severan period, is one of the most elegant examples of Roman imperial manneristic elongation to have survived to Renaissance and later times. Its first major appearance in the visual repertory of European antiquarianism was about 1620, among the Dal Pozzo-Albani drawings at Windsor Castle and in the British Museum (Vermeule, The Dal Pozzo-Albani Drawings of Classical Antiquities in th e British Museum, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 50, Part 5, 1960, p. 12, No. 55, figs. 23-26) . The body of the sarcophagus had been noticed in Ulisse Aldroandi's commentary on collections in Rome about the middle of the previous century. A relief with scenes from the life of Dionysos, which may have sur-

vived until about 1525 (Ibid., p. 10, No. 27), could have been used as the lid, if such were not of the type with figures on a couch, as discussed above. Taste and design were certainly strongly associated with the market for sarcophagi in the Latin West, especially Rome, but the sarcophagus has certain features, notably the lower mouldings, in common with those produced in Attica for export. For this reason, although evidently found in or near Rome, the Farnese-Gardner sarcophagus has been included by V. Kallipolitis (p. 26, No. 145) and A. Giuliano (p. 69, No. 458) in their brief, comprehensive listings of Attic imperial sarcophagi (see below). The elegance of the carving is matched on other sarcophagi created in a grand and courtly style as late as the reign of Severus Alexander (A.O. 222 to 235), dating arrived at by the presence of portrait features in some figures of the group (R. Turcan, Les sarcophages romains a representations dionysiaques, Bibliotheque des Ecoles Frarn;:aises d' A thenes et de Rome, Fascicule DeuxCent-Oixieme, Paris, 1966, pp. 288-90, etc., including notices of additional minor listings). The groups of reveling figures on the most completely carved side have long been recognized as combining stock motifs from a sculptural repertory that must go back to Hellenistic painting, for they occur with variations on one long side and the left end of a sarcophagus in the Museo Capitolino, Rome. The interwoven grape arbor above and the mouldings below are also similar; the animals on the other short end of the sarcophagus still in Rome come from a different repertory of historical and funerary carving, one related to the sculptures of the Column of Marcus Aurelius, about 180 to 190, in Rome (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, pp. 29-30, No. lOa, pl. 7). The Farnese-Gardner sarcophagus can be considered one of the latest expressions of monumental pagan sculpture used for non-historical, decorative purposes in antiquity. Later sarcophagi, especially those of the Sidamara type, may include mythological figures, but they are placed as adjuncts to architectural settings rather than as an interwoven frieze. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Codex Coburgensis, fol. 485, 148, 1550-54. E. Platner, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, 1837, III, 3, p. 421, 1. Matz and von Duhn, II, pp. 29-33, No. 2254. Reinach, Rep. rel., II, Paris, 1912, p. 199, No. 1. G. H . Chase, Greek and Roman Sculpture in American Collections, Cambridge, Mass., 1924, pp. 154-55, fig. 185. General Catalogue, p. 78. F. Matz, Berichte der VI Internat. Kongress fur Archaologie, Berlin, 1940, p. 503, pl. 5Sb. K. Lehmann-Hartleben and E. Olsen, Dionysiac Sarcophagi in Baltimore, Baltimore, 1942, p. 31. V. Kallipolitis, Chronology of Attic Mythological Sarcophagi of the Roman Period,



62

Athens, 1958 (in Greek), p. 26, No. 145. F. Matz, Ein Romisches Meisterwerke, Der Jahreszeitensarkophag Badminton - New York, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archiiologischen Instituts, Neunzehntes Ergiinzungsheft, Berlin, 1958, pp. 139, 161. Idem, Gnomon, 31, 1959, p . 696. Vermeule, Festschrift Matz, p. 100, No. 2. A. Giuliano, Il Commercio dei Sarcofagi Attici, Rome, 1962, p. 69, No. 458. C. Vermeule, " Aphrodis iaca : Satyr, Maenad and Eros. A RomanoHellenistic Marble Group of the Third Century A.D. in Boston," Essays in Memory of Karl Lehmann, New York, 1964, p . 361, fig. 9. F. Matz, Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs, IV, 1, Die Dionysischen Sarkophage, l, Berlin, 1968, pp. 106-10, No. 9, pis. 13-15, figs. 4-6, No. 9 (with literature to 1959) . Stout, p . 64, illus. p. 65.

on an example from the Via Appia, with masks on a table where the supporting eagle appears (Stuart Jones, Museo Capitolino, p. 38, No. 36a, pl. 8) . For the portrait bust in a tondo with support alluding to imperial apotheosis, as here, see R. Winkes, Clipeata Imago, Studien zu einer romischen Bildnisform, Bonn, 1969, pp. 208 ff., etc. The positions of Earth and Ocean can be reversed, and these sarcophagi could be used equally for men, although (as at Fenway Court) the numbers with women predominate (compare Reinach, Rep. rel., III, Rome, 1912, p. 339, No. l , for an example in the Museo Torlonia in Rome) .

62.

No. 4.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Sarcophagus with Flying Erotes

Vermeule, Festschrift Matz, p. 101,

SG-7e

Roman, ca. A.D. 230 Crystalline Greek (Thasian?) marble, H . 20", L. 77", W . 22 1/z" (.51x1.955 x .57 m .) Provenance unknown The Eros at the left corner has lost his arms; all the Erotes have chipped noses. Holes along the rim were probably both for attaching the lid and, in Renaissance or later times, for a metal grill in connection with use as a basin. An imago clypeata bust of the deceased is supported on either side by flying Erotes. Two others hold attributes at the corners . An eagle supports the shield, while Tellus or Gaia (with cornucopiae) and Oceanus recline to the left and right, below. A bow appears below each flying Eros. Ketoi or marine monsters appear on each short side or end. From the woman's hair style, the sarcophagus must h ave been carved about A.D. 230. There are many sarcophagi with genii in related schema, flanking a shield or a half-figure bust with drapery behind (Poulsen, p. 563, No. 789b, first supplement, pl. XIII). The genii on the front corners sometimes lean on reversed torches, as

63.

Garland Sarcophagus

5Sc3

Greek imperial period, western Asia Minor, ca. A .D . 250 Limestone, H . 173/s", L. 481/4", W. 213/4 " (.44 x 1.225 x .55 m .) Purchased from Antonio and Allessandro Jandolo, Rome, 1897 There are many losses ; the principal side shows serious weathering and discoloration, especially to the faces . The supporting figures are missing their heads and, in some cases, their limbs. At the corners near the bases are sphinxes or griffins, so worn as to be hardly distinguishable. Holes in the base and rim again suggest that this was once part of a fountain, with a protective grill around the basin. This sarcophagus, of the western Asia Minor type, is dated about A.D . 250 from the child's portrait. Winged Erotes and Nikai (on the corners) support the garlands above which are heads of Medusa (end), maenads, and other Dionysiac or theatrical figures . The lid would have been gabled, of the Asia Minor type. For the arrangement of the large bust of a child amid standard decorative motifs,


compare the season sarcoph agus of the same date from Ince Blundell H all (Ashmole, p. 9 0, No. 233,

pl. 47). It has been suggested that this sarc.o phagu s could be a Roman version of the Asia M in or types, perhaps because of the boldness of the portrait bust, but the general style and details of carving seem to h ave ample parallels in work from the upper Maeander Valley.

BI!ILIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p. 43.

K. Leh-

ma n n-Hartleben and E. Olsen, Dionysiac Sarcophagi in Baltimore, Baltimore, 1942, p. 69, figs. 23, 26. F. Matz, Ein Romisches Meisterwerke, Der ]ahreszeitensarkophag Badminton - New York, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archi:iologischen lnstituts, Neunzehntes Ergi:i nzun gsheft, Berlin, 1958, p. 51, motive 7, b . 2 . Vermeu le, Festschrift Matz, p. 100, No. 1. R. Turcan, Les Sarcophages romains a representations dionysiaques. Essai de chronologie et d'histoire religieuse, P a ris, 1966, p. 69, n . 2.

ROMAN SARCOPHAGI

I 47


64.

Section of the Lid (?) of a Sarcophagus 523wl Roman, ca. A.D. 300 Proconessian marble, H . 9 1/z", L. 583/s" (.24 x 1.485 m.) Found in Rome, 1888 in the Vigna Colonna on the Appian Way, between the Porta S. Sebastiano and the tomb of Caecilia Metella There are diagonal breaks; losses at the Erotes' feet and in the background are filled in with cement. This fragment of a sarcophagus shows two sets of four Erotes engaged in seasonal occupations. A pair of Erotes kneel, holding the inscribed tablet at the center. At the outer corners two Erotes watch (left) the bringing of fagots for a fire and (right) the pouring of incense on a flaming, garlanded altar. The inscription reads : D

RIAE GAI SALVIDOMI TI•RVFINI

c

A perfect stylistic, and therefore chronological, parallel is furnished by a fragment in the same museum, showing an Eros (doubtless once one of four) carrying a massive garland on his shoulders (Ibid., pp. 37-38, No. 6, fig. 23) . Another lid of this nature is set on top of a season sarcophagus of the Constantinian period, as is often the case; the ensemble was excavated in what appears to have been a Christian basilica at Ampurias (A. Carda y Bellido, Esculturas romanas de Espana y Portugal, Madrid, 1949, I, pp. 267-72, No. 271; II, pls. 218-22). BIBLIOGRAPHY: logue, p. 194.

CIL, VI, No.

31754.

General Cata-

65.

Sarcophagus of the Rome-Ravenna Style 57w11

M

ETMEMO

as the sarcophagus in the Cagliari museum (C. Pesce, Sareofagi romani di Sardegna, Rome, 1957, pp. 34-35, No. 4, fig. 21).

" To the divine Shades and to the memory of Caius Salvius Domitius Rufinus, (our) dear father."

p

The distinctive carving and drilling of the Erotes' hair and faces belong to the years before or after A.D. 300. There are a number of similar sarcophagus fronts or lids, e.g. the examples from the Mattei collections in Rome (Reinach, Rep. rel., III, Paris, 1912, p. 296). The division afforded by the inscription plate lends itself admirably to seasonal subjects on the left and right,

Roman, possibly XIX century, style of the V or VI century A.D. Proconessian marble, H. 22" , L. 81", W. 24" (.56 x 2.055 x .61 m.) Provenance unknown Only the front of the sarcophagus is carved. The principal design consists of a large "vase of life" on an acanthus calyx, from which spring two scrolled vines with leaves and grapes. Two peacocks face each other on either side of the vase, and smaller animals or birds fill the remaining free areas of surface. These include a


lamb and a lion, a stag and a horse, a wolf and a panther (or leopard) , and the various other birds. The grooves in the upper rim, near the ends, suggest that the sarcophagus was used as a water trough, although the carving on the front is unusually fresh. The relief is said to have been done in imitation of the Roman style of the sixth century A.D., the motifs being derived from similar ones in ivory on the Episcopal throne of Maximianus in the church of 5. Vitale in Ravenna. General Catalogue, p . 51. W. Lowrie, Monuments of the Early Church , Princeton, 1969, p. 285, fig. 114. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

67.

66.

Fragment of a Sarcophagus (?)

50e4

Roman, II or III century A.D. Marble, H. 75/s", W. 61/4" (.193 x .158 m .) Provenance unknown

All that remains is his upper body. A satyr, seen partly from the back, moves to the right, a cloak over his left shoulder and a bunch of grapes in his raised right hand.

Fragment of a Sarcophagus

50w8

Roman, III century A .D . Marble, H. 133/4" (.349 m .) Provenance unknown The nose and chin of Herakles are broken off, his right arm abraded, his left arm lost. A crack runs across his neck. His hair, beard, and horse's mane are deeply undercut and drilled. This fragment from the right front of a large sarcophagus shows Herakles moving to the right, endeavoring to tame the horses of D iomedes. A sarcophagus front once in the Villa Ludovisi in Rome shows the whole cycle of the Labors of Herakles, with this deed presented in similar fashion in the same position (C. Robert, Die antiken Sarkophag-Reliefs, III, 1, Berlin, 1897, pp. 126-27, No. 103, pl. 29). 68.

Fragment of a Sarcophagus

SOel

Roman, III century A.D. Marble, H. 2l1/4 ", W. 101/s" (.540 x .257 m .) Provenance unknown The left wing meets the front of the relief at right angles indicating that this end was also decorated. This seems to be part of a sarcophagus. If so the relief, subjects as well as style, must have been something like the ends and back of the FarneseGardner sarcophagus, described above (No. 61). If not from a sarcophagus, this fragment could derive from a large Dionysiac decorative relief, in the Neo-Attic tradition but in the more baroque style of Attic sarcophagi in the second and third centuries A.D. (see W . Fuchs, Die Vorbilder der Neuattischen Reliefs, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archiiologischen Instituts, Zwanzigstes Ergiinzungsheft, Berlin, 1959, pis. 21-27, 29, 33, for various large marble vases and related reliefs).

A running Eros from a sarcophagus with Eroschildren at play is represented moving to his own left and holding a staff(?) in his left hand; a reed lies on the ground between his feet. (This may be a victor's palm, from athletic games.) Compare the sarcophagus with athletic children, known from a drawing of about 1620 (Vermeule, The Dal Pozzo-Albani Drawings of Classical Antiquities in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 56, Part 2, Philadelphia, 1966, p. 53, No. 8765) . (see overleaf)

ROMAN SARCOPHAGI

I 49


hand suggests a marine or mountain divinity. The figure, in reverse, is like one of the geographical divinities in the lower right portion of the famous Judgment of Paris sarcophagus in the wall of the Villa Medici in Rome (M. Cagiano de Azevedo, Le antichita di Villa Medici, Rome, 1951, pp. 68-69, No. 54; C. Vermeule, European Art and the Classical Past, Cambridge, Mass., 1964, p . 8, fig. 7) . Such reclining figures are common to a number of mythological sarcophagi (e.g. the Rape of Persephone sarcophagus in the Uffizi, Florence, G. A. Mansuelli, Galleria degli Uffizi, Le sculture, I, Rome, 1958, pp. 238-39, No. 257) . 70.

Left Corner of the Lid of a Large Sarcophagus SGclO Roman, III century A.D. Marble, H . 9% ", W . 143/4" (.252 x .375 m.) Provenance unknown The section of relief has been broken irregularly on all outer edges.

68

69.

Fragment of a Sarcophagus

A mask of a male geographical divinity in relief appears to the left of the lid. On the symbolism of the " masks" on the comers of sarcophagus lids, Silens, satyrs, Maenads, winds, marine divinities, and others, see F. Cumont, Recherches sur le symbolisme fun eraire des Romains, Paris, 1942, pp. 162-65, figs . 29-31, and also K. Lehmann-Hartleben and E. Olsen, Dionysiac Sarcophagi in Baltimore, Baltimore, 1942, pp. 20, 82, fig. 1, etc.

SO es

Roman, III century A.O. Marble, W . 101/2" (.27 m .) Provenance unknown His head is mostly lost, hair on the neck and part of the chin remaining. A reclining male figure is represented on this fragment from the lower front center of a sarcophagus. The attribute of a reed (?) in his right

71.

Fragment of the Lid of a Sarcophagus

SOe7

Roman, late III century A.D . Italian (Luna) marble, H. 83/s", W. 135/s" (.213 x .346 m.) Provenance unknown Eros rides or flies to the left on a sea monster, which has a wolf's head and wears a collar. The tails of a pair of similar sea beasts appear at the 50

II


left. There is a fillet moulding at the top, and much of the bottom edge is preserved. Lids of this type, continuing through the fourth century, were often associated with sarcophagi of the strigilar type (like No. 58, above) . Their general symbols for eternity were well suited to the Judeo-Christian sarcophagi of the period from Constantine the Great to the death of Honorius, that is A.D . 306 to 423 (C. Vermeule, Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, LXX, 1972, pp. 40-42, under No. 24).

A goddess or heroine in short tunic and cloak flying behind her shoulders strides through a forest (a tree at her left) towards a boar (head and pieces of foreleg only preserved) charging past her, from her left. She holds a bow in h er raised left hand and an object like a rock or a bow-puller against her right breast, in her right hand. It may have been a puntello or support for a staff or an arrow. This lady is either Atalanta in the scene of Meleager's hunt of the Calydonian boar or the goddess Artemis in the semi-divine hunting expedition of a Roman general. A Meleager sarcophagus in the Mattei collections, Rome, has a figure of this type moving between Meleager and the boar. The hounds obscure her feet (Reinach, Rep. rel. , III, 1912, p. 298, No. 4). 73 .

fragments of a Bowl

71

72.

Fragment of a Mythological Sarcophagus SOe3

S16s24

Roman, imperial period Marble, H . 181/2", L. 28 1/2", W. 22 3/4 " (.47 x .725 x .58 m.) Purchased in Rome, 1897, through Joseph Lindon Smith and Alfredo Barsanti The handles are in the form of a pair of lions or panthers climbing over the rim. Part of the face of one lion is missing. Holes at the animals'

Roman, ca. A.D . 225-250 Greek marble, from the islands or western Asia Minor, H . 173/s", W. 81/4" (.442 x .209 m.) Provenance unknown

lower abdomens run up through their bodies to their mouths, perhaps as channels for water. The material is a veined, alabaster-like marble. The ancient portions comprise only the upper two thirds of one animal and all of the second, with adjoining sections of the bowl, and a section of the rim and bowl which has been inserted in the restoration. The foot is restored. The modern parts were probably made in Italy in the sixteenth century. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p.

109.

ROMAN MISCELLANEOUS

I 51


Shafts of the former type have been found in Rome and at villa sites along the Alban Hills, especially in Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. The second shaft is somewhat rarer, but parallels have been recorded. A number related to both types are in Sir John Soane' s Museum in London. An example nearly identical with the second, found on the Esquiline, is in the municipal collections of Rome (Stuart Jones, Palazzo dei Conservatori, pp. 224-25, No. 24, pl. 86; D. Mustilli, II Museo Mussolini, Rome, 1939, p. 46, No. 35, pl. 26).

74.

Bowl with Griffin Heads

58e4

Roman, late Julio Claudian or early Flavian, ca. A.O. 60-90 Marble, Diam. 11 1/4 ", H. to rim : 71/4" ( .285 x .185 m.) Provenance unknown The bottom is lost. A pattern of laurel leaves and berries in low relief covers the bowl. Above this is a cyma recta moulding between a flat and a rolled fi llet. The rim has a slightly depressed surface, intended to receive the lid. Three griffin heads spring from the upper moulding. A similar cinerary urn, complete with lid, is on deposit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from the collections of the Boston Athenaeum. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

Genera l Catalogue, p . 57.

75, 76.

Two Enriched Shafts

5Sc8, SScll

Roman, I or early II century A.O. Marble, S5c8 : H . 735/s" (1.87 m.) ; S5cll : H . 671/z" (1.715 m .) Said to have come from the Gardens of Sallust. Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1899 There are breaks in both shafts: S5c8 has two, one in the middle and one near the top; S5cll has four in the upper half, at the middle, two-thirds of the way up, an inch above that, and at the top. Each is now mounted on one of the rectangular cineraria. One is in the form of a twisted vine or stem ending in foliage and surmounted by twin pinecones with double rosettes on either side (S5cll). The second is hexagonal, with garlands hung on the upper half and slender torches in acanthus-bordered frames on the sides of the lower half (S5c8).

The idea for these decorative shafts grew out of marble candelabra, similar but with flat dishes on the top. They were set in front of Roman shrines or in halls and parks (Poulsen, pp. 21011, No. 282a, first supplement, pl. V) . For the foliage finial of the twisted column, compare the complex example from the Ince Blundell Hall collection (Ashmole, p. 91, No. 241, pl. 28). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 44.


78.

Throne

5Sc4

Roman, late II century A.D., copy of a work of the late Hellenistic period Greek marble, probably Pentelic, H. 251/4 ", W. 26 1/4", D. 251/2" (.64 x .665 x .65 m.) Said to be from Telesina, South Italy (Richter suggested Telese, near Beneventum, in a letter, April 23, 1954) . Purchased in Rome, 1901, through Richard Norton The upper portion of the back and the arms of the throne are lost. Black areas around the seat and upper edge suggest that the marble was burned. The throne shows a bearded, winged figure clothed in Near Eastern garb, with legs terminating in large acanthus scrolls. At the sides are seated

77.

Pedestal

59el6

Roman, I century A .D . Marble, H. 14", W. 141/4", D. 13%" (.355 x .36 x .35 m.) Provenance unknown This square marble base is cut at the top to receive a block of nearly cylindrical shape, but with projections at the left and right in front. In the center of this shallow cutting is a deeper circular sinking. The pedestal is severely eroded and stained. At the bottom of the pedestal is a plain fascia, above which is a cyma reversa. Above the relief are a cyma recta and a fascia. On the front a hippocamp with writhing tail bounds to the right to attack another marine monster, which turns its serpent-like neck and head to face its assailant. On the left side of the base, at the left, is a ceremonial shield. At the right is a hippocamp swimming to the right. On the right end of the base is a hippocamp moving to the left, and a large face somewhat like that of the conventional solar disk, a head of Medusa surrounded by serpents. The designs may refer to the naval victories of Augustus or the Flavians, motifs similar to those found on coins. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p . 59.

ROMAN MISCELLANEOUS

I 53


sphin xes, their bodies turning into similar, scrolled foliage. Their heads and shoulders have been worn away. A Latin inscription, of priestly or possibly funerary nature, remains at the front, beneath the seat itself. The inscription reads : ucrNIAE L.F. POSTUMI. (" Of Licinia, daughter of Lucius, the wife of Postumus." ) These letters have been dated by M. Guarducci " before the end of the second century A.O.," and this throne, together with its three replicas, on the Athenian Akropolis, in Berlin, and in a Roman church, seem to be copies of a famous lost work of the late Hellenistic period (Richter) . The combination of

figured decoration and foliage seen here go back to Greek and, ultimately, Achaemenid (Persian) designs in monumental media and in metalwork of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. H . Mobius, Athenische Mitteilungen, 51, 1926, p. 120. G . M . A. Richter, Ancient Furniture, Oxford, 1926, p. 13. General Catalogue, p. 44. M. Bieber, AJA, 43, 1939, p. 718, and refs. D. M. Robinson, Olynthus, X, Baltimore, 1941, pp. 32-33, n. 154. G . M . A . Richter, " The Marble Throne on the Akropolis and its Replicas," AJA, 58, 1954, pp. 271 ff., pl. 50. Idem , The Furniture of the Greeks Etruscans and Romans, London, 1966, p. 33, figs. 160-61. J. E. Hanhisalo, " New Thoughts on Four Roman Thrones," Fenway Court 1973, Boston, 1974, pp. 21-29, figs. 1-3. BIBLIOGRAPHY :


79,80.

Pair of Figured Capitals

Sl0s4, Sl0s6

Roman, III century A.D ., ca . A.D. 220-285 Pentelic marble, Sl0s4: H. 16" , W . 19" , D . 201/4" (.40 x .48 x .51 m .); Sl0s6: H. 153/4 " , W . 181/4 " , D. 191/2" (.395 x .46 x .49 m .) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1897 There are losses overall, especially to the foliage and to the bodies and h eads of the Centaurs, and to the heads and attributes of the figures . From the complex foliage emerge Centaurs with amphorae. The four main figures on each side of each capital are taken from the Dionysiac repertory, with M aenads being prominent. A satyr( ?) and Silenus (?)on a walled city, with fruits, over an arched gate, are also present. The figures in the centers of each side of the capital on the left are (clockwise): running Dionysos (?), the nude god (Silenus?) with fruits of the vineyard on top of an arched gate, with stonework indicated, swirling Maenad seen from the back, a nd Ariadne(?) seen frontally.

79

ROMAN MISCELLANEOUS

I 55


80

In the capital on the right, they are : reveling Maenad with tympanum, Dionysos with thyrsos, running Maenad with tympanum, and vine-crowned satyr on top of two baskets of grapes which form an arched gate, the sides being acanthus leaves. The design is rare. Most comparable examples are collected in E. von Mercklin, Antike Figuralkapitelle, Berlin, 1962, and figured capitals of similar complexity are illustrated as figs. 1228 ff., with none given as having Centaurs. General Catalogue, p . 63: suggested as from the eastern shore of the Adriatic.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:


II Medieval

81. Chancel Slab

513w2

North Italian, VIII-IX century Marble, H. 30", L. 711/2" (.762 x 1.816 m .) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1899 The relief has been cut down along the narrow sides and bottom. There is a break running downward along an oblique path on the left side. The design consists of two large circles with looped corners, separated by a downward-pointing branch which marks the center of the slab . The circles are defined by broad bands which carry a twisted guilloche-like strand. In the roundel at the left, there are concentric circles formed by a chain and a striated band. A rather deeply cut rosette marks the center. In the right circle, there is a Greek cross decorated with a

twisted band, and rosettes in the four quadrants. The work is comparable in its general configuration to the tomb slab of S. Bertulf in the crypt of S. Colombano at Bobbio, while the principal motif occurs on another Bobbio monument, the reworked back of the relief of S. Cumianus, given by King Liutprand (712-43) to the same church (R. Kautzsch, " Die langobardische Schmuckkunst in Oberitalien," R omisches Jahrb uch fu r Ku nstges ch ichte, V, 1941, pp. 27-29) . A combination of circular patterns carved in low relief with more assertive, recessed rosettes characterizes the transenna panels of S. Abbondio in Como (R. Cattaneo, Architecture in Italy from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century, London, 1896, p. 221). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p.

83.

VIII-IX CENTURY ITALIAN

I 57


82.

Chancel Slab

513w5

North Italian, VIII-IX century Marble, H . 28", W. 53" (.811 x 1.346 m.) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1899 The slab has suffered damage through later re-use. The edges have been trimmed and given the form of an ogee moulding. The surface along the upper and especially the lower zone has been pared of its low relief decoration. The part of the design still remaining is partly framed by a sequence of circles containing sixpointed stars. The dominant subject within this border, running across the length of the slab, is an arcade of ten intercolumniations containing Greek crosses . Below, the remains of a panel framed by a twisted strand and containing foliage can be distinguished, along with additional bits of foliage on both sides. The combination of arches and flowering foliage conveys the suggestion of paradisiac peace. The crosses underscore this connotation of eschatological hope.

The motif of crosses within an arcade is found in a relief at Gubbio, which also belongs to this conventionally-termed Longobardic style (I. Moretti and R. Stopani, Architettura romanica religiosa a Gubbio, Florence, 1973, p. 102), and on an early Medieval lintel in the Musee Sorely at Marseille, where the crosses alternate with trees and palmette plants (D. Drocourt, SaintVictor de Marseille. Site et Monument, Marseille, 1973, No. 49) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 83.

83.

Stylobate Lion

S10s3

North Italian, late XII or early XIII century Red Marble, H. 233/4 ", L. 401/2", W. 133/4" (.605 x 1 .03 x .35 m.) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1897 The nose, mane, forelegs and rear of the lion are


considerably worn. The nose of the figure is lost and areas along the column base are chipped. The animal holds a rabbit or dog-like beast in its claws. The burden of the base of a column on its back is shared by a kneeling atlante.on its right flank. The corresponding space on the other side is filled by a wedge-shaped block, roughly hewn along a vertical section where the work was separated from its point of anchor. The combination of lion and atlante, a compressed version of the tiered arrangement of the same motifs found in the supports flanking the major entrances of the cathedrals of Trani and Ferrara, is seen again in Giovanni da Campione's north portal at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo (S. Angelini, S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, Bergamo, 1968, pp . 48-49). The characterization of the lion, periwigged in a loosely undulating mane, is echoed in the somewhat grosser animals from Quattro Castella near Reggio Emilia now in The Cloisters, New York (No. 53.64.1.2) as well as more distantly in a number of examples around Parma and Verona. Porter, with the present monument presumably in mind, alluded to " the strongly Nicolo-esque character of . . . the lions in the courtyard of Fenway Court" but the work is decidedly more advanced in style than the sculpture of this master and his school. Indeed, the conception of the animal and especially that of the kneeling figure presupposes the sculptor's acquaintance with works of Benedetto Antelami (1150-ca. 1230) or his circle. BIBLIOGRAPHY : A . Kingsley Porter, Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads, Boston, 1923, p. 299, n. 1. General Catalogue, p. 63. Cahn, p . 53, No. 8, fig. 8.

84.

Stylobate Lion

SlOsS

Tuscan, second half of the XII century Carrara marble, H . 24% ", L. 47", W. 14" (.63 x 1.195 x .355 m.) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1897 A break runs from the column base, along the lion's mane, through the left side of the face to the mouth ; parts of the brow, eye and cheek are chipped, as well as the column base. The joints of the hind legs are missing. Encrustations are evident especially on the sides and rear of the lion and on the body of the figure. An embattled figure, imprisoned in the claws of the beast, plunges a knife in its flank (the vertical slab visible in front of the animal's hind quarters is an unnecessary support) . The masterfully crisp handling of the stone brings into sharp relief the contained ferocity of the beast, whose sleekly angular body is massively weighted by the cylindrical bulk of the head. The flame-like tufts of the flattened mane are worked out with the help of the drill. The work should be compared to the stylobate lions of the pulpit in the Collegiata at Barga and the support of the lectern at Pescia (W. Biehl, Toskanische Plastik des fruhen und hohen Mittelalters, Leipzig, 1926, pis. 141, 58a, b) . The gesture of the slave knifing the animal is duplicated in one of the portal lions of S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas at Pistoia (Ibid. , pl. 56a). For the Classical antecedents of such combats, see R . Bernheimer, Romanische Tierpla stik und die Ursprunge ihrer Motive, Munich, 1931, pp. 114-15. BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p. 63. Cahn, pp. 52-53, No. 7, fig. 7.

XII CENTURY ITALIAN

I 59


rated with the four evangelist symbols, a type of construction frequently encountered in Romanesque Italy. The work is in a vein of style not far removed from the famous Ascension of Alexander embedded on the north fai;:ade of San Marco, though of an undeniably more desiccated quality. The rendering of the same type of ornament in the form of incised grooves is also found in the basilica (La Ducale Basilica, pl. 309U18). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p . 42. Cahn, p. 54,

No. 10, fig. 10.

85.

Fragment of a Decorative Relief

5Sn21

Venetian, XII century Marble, H. 23" (.584m.) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1897 There remains only the upper section of an upright slab ; parts of the border are broken away. The relief is vertically divided by a tree which is flanked above by a pair of confronted griffins, and below by heads entwined in foliage, a pair of birds in the same heraldic stance. The wiry, unsubstantial forms which characterize the work, uncommon in the vast production of Venetian decorative sculpture, are found again in a decorative relief in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Pope-Hennessy, 1964, p. 25, No. 25). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

G eneral Catalogue, p. 42. Cahn, p. 5 6,

No. 13, fig. 13.

87.

Basin

S10n9

North Italian, Milan(?), ca. 1100 Marble, H. 10 1/z", L. 24 1/z", W. 221/2" (.265 x .62 x .57 m.) Provenance unknown Part of the rim at the back of the basin is broken off. The stone is worn with losses to the relief especially on the left side. The rim is underscored by a broad band of interlace. Below, on two sides, a pair of crouching lions are back-to-back and joined at the corners under one head. One of the remaining faces shows a lion and a bird. The other was left undecorated. The carving in low relief and the characterization of the beasts in combination with geometric interlace is very close to Milanese work of the late eleventh and early years of the twelfth century, notably the pulpit of Sant'Ambrogio and the capitals of S. Maria Aurona in the Castello Sforzesco (E. Arslan, Storia di Milano, III, Milan, 1954, pp. 524 ff., with older bibliography) .

86.

Relief with the Symbol of Luke

SSsll

North Italian, Veneto (?),XII century Marble, H. 35 1/z", W. 29" (.877 x .725 m.) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1897 The winged ox displays an open book inscribed : + s.tvcAs. The upper edge of the slab is emphasized by means of a raised strip incised with a schematic baluster ornament. The relief in all likelihood formed part of a pulpit in which the outer faces of the parapet were deco60

I II

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p . 62. Cahn, pp.

53-54, No. 9a, fig. 9.

88.

Capital

S10n8

North Italian, late XII or early XIII century Red Verona marble, H. 12", L. 19", W . 19" (.305 x .48 x .48 m .) Provenance unknown


89, 90.

Two Lion Antefixes

S5s2-s, S5s6-s

Tuscan, XII century Marble, H. 14 1/z", W. 9 1/z" (.368 x .241 m.) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1897 Claws of the left paws of both lions and parts of the brow and nose of No. 90 are chipped off. The bodies of the animals terminate behind the mane and forepaws in a flat plinth. One of the beasts belabors a man, the other grasps a ram.

There are losses to the comers and some decoration, the tips of the tails of three and the left leg of one of the dragons (?). The overturned block serves as the base for the above. A dragon-like beast decorates each of its four faces . The center of each face is marked by a single crocket joined to the astragal. Goldschmidt (Museum archives) considered the carving to be Veronese, and possibly of the same provenance as the red marble stylobate lion (No. 83) . BIBLIOGRAPH Y :

53-54, No. 9.

General Catalogue, p. 62. Cahn, pp.

The sculptures must have served as antefixes on each side of a doorway, at the springing of an arch above the lintel. Such a disposition is frequent in Tuscany and can be seen in numerous examples at Pisa, Massa Marittima and the Romanesque churches of Lucca. The Gardner beasts are remarkable for their extraordinary stylization, which begs comparison with lion protomes of ancient Near Eastern origin. They are quite close, however, to the group still in situ above the main portal of S. Michele at Lucca. A fragmentary lion with a similarly pronounced orientalizing quality from the fac;:ade of the cathedral of Pisa is in the Museo Civico, Pisa (W. Biehl, Toskanische Plastik des fruhen und hohen Mittelalters, Leipzig, 1926, pl. 41). General Catalogue, p. 43. Cahn, pp. 54-55, No. 11, figs. lla, b.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

91.

Decorative Relief

SSslO

Venetian, XII century Marble, H . 403/4 ", W. 23 1/z" (1.035 x .597 m.) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1897 Sections of the columns, parts of the peacocks' plumage, the necks of the birds, and areas of the border are restored. XII CENTURY ITALIAN

I 61


The relief is divided along the vertical axis by a pair of columns twisted into a knot at the center and surmounted b y heraldically addorsed birds. A pair of peacock s flank the central motif. The carving, aside from some unsightly repairs, is very advanced in style, certain elements of the design, like the b irds' legs, having been entirely freed from the block. A relief sketched by Ruskin at the Casa Falier is similar in showing peacocks flanking a double column, though a single bird only is perched at the top (Ston es of Ven ice, London, 1853, II, pl. XV) .

The panel is framed by a wide border delineated by a stepped- tooth and decorated with rosettes. This type of rosette border is found also on a keystone from Venice in Berlin (W. F. Volbach, Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Italien und Byzanz, Berlin, 1930, p . 29, No. 1761) . BIBLIOG R APHY :

General Catalogu e, p . 42. Cahn, pp.

55-56, No . 12, fig. 12.

92.

Architectural and Sculptural Elements from an Ambo 59e5s - 59e8s South Italian, Gaeta, church of S. Lucia, first quarter of the XIII century Marble with green and red porphyry (see measurements below) Purchased from Ditta Pio Marinangeli, Rome, 1897

a. b. c. d.

Mark : H . 173/s", W . 20" (.441 x .508 m .) Luke : H . 185/s", W. 201/s " (.473 x .512 m.) Deer : H . 185/s", W . 201/s" (.473 x .512 m .) Basilisk : H . 177/s " , W . 197/s" (.405 x .505 m.)

Fragments of moldings e. H. 8 5/s", W . 28" (.220 x .712 m .) f . H . 83/4 " , W . 17" (.222 x .431 m .) g. H. 8" , W . 185/s" (.203 x .473 m .) Decorative panels

h. H . 171/4", W . 4 5/s " (.438 x .117 m .) i. H. 175/s", W . 4 1/s" (.447 x .105 m.) j . H . 181/s", W . 3 1/2" (.461 x .089 m .) Fragments of moldings k . H . 5 3/4 ", W . 11 1/4" (.147 x .362 m.) I. H . 5 7/s ", W . 153/4" (.149 x .400 m .) The larger fragments are four panels with carvings in relief framed by strips of Cosmatesque inlays (considerably restored) . Two of the slabs exhibit the symbols of the Evangelists Mark and Luke. A third sh ows a deer and the fourth, a perching rooster with a dragon-like tail, to be identified, in accordance with Medieval descriptions, as a basilisk.

62

I II


92 in situ

The complementary pair of Evangelist symbols and two further panels respectively showing a griffin and a siren can still be seen in the church of S. Lucia in Gaeta. The Gaeta panels are presently mounted against the terminal walls of the aisles of the church, in the narrow spaces adjoining altars of post-Renaissance date. In its original state, the dismantled ambo included at least four additional panels with purely ornamental Cosmatesque inlay designs, which form a part of the present Gaeta reconstitution, and possibly additional slabs of the same type of reliefs now lost. The monument was typologically related to the ambos of S. Cesareo in Rome and S. Maria in Civita Castellana (E. Hutton, The Cosmati, London, 1950, pls. 46, 47) so far as the panelled composition is concerned. But in the incorporation of reliefs with fantastic creatures, it is perhaps most closely reflected in the representation of an ambo in the Exultet Roll of the Pisa Museo Civico, dated in the eleventh century (M. Avery, The Exultet Rolls of South Italy, Princeton, 1936, p. 25, pl. LXXXIX) and ultimately, in the kind of early Christian monuments represented by the ambo of the cathedral of Ravenna (W. F. Volbach, Early Christian Art, London, 1961, p. 347, No. 183).

The three fragmentary marble and Cosmatesque work strips visible in the upper part of the haphazard Boston arrangement match the design of the architectural framework at Gaeta. As indicated by the contrasting treatment of the edges of each strip, the panels were alternately framed by eggand-dart and leaf-and-tongue borders. How the narrower strips on the right and left sides of the Boston arrangement (h, i, j) and the two fragments with rinceaux at the center (k, 1) fitted into the scheme is unclear. The church of S. Lucia in Gaeta - S. Maria in Pensulis in Medieval times - is a modest threeaisled edifice of the twelfth century. Some authors have suggested, though without giving evidence, that the dismantled ambo stems from the Duomo (S. Aurigemma and A. de Santis, Gaeta-FormiaMinturno, Rome, 1955, p . 14). The date of the work, too, remains problematic. It is noteworthy for its expert and subdued classicism - qualities now better exemplified in the Gaeta than in the Boston fragments, the surfaces of the latter having suffered some abrasion. This stylistic orientation is in contrast to the greater crowding and agitated manner of the reliefs decorating the famous candelabrum of the XIII CENTURY ITALIAN

I 63


Duomo, which is markedly later in date. G. Matthiae, the most recent authority to have dealt with the Gaeta fragments, has made a good case for a date no earlier than the first quarter of the thirteenth century (" Componenti del gusto decorativo cosmatesco," Rivista dell'Istituto Nazionale d' Archeologia e Storia dell' Arte, 1952, pp. 267-68). The monument is perhaps best understood as a manifestation of the strong sub-current of interest in the antique in the art of Rome and southern Italy in the decades surrounding the year 1200. (For the principal monuments and the historical background, see H . Wentzel," Antiken-Imitationen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts in Italien," Zeitschrift fiir Kunstwissenschaft, 1955, pp. 2972.) BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p. 60. Cahn, pp. 51-52, No. 6, fig. 6. For the Gaeta fragments, see : A. Frothingham, " Notes on Byzantine Art and Culture in Italy a nd Especially Rome," AJA, 1895, pp. 203-05. E. Bertaux, L'art dans l'ltalie meridionale, Paris, 1904, pp. 608-09. P. Fantasia, " Sui monumenti medievali di Gaeta e specialmente sul Campanile e sul Candelabro," Annali de! R . Instituto Tecnico Giovan Battista Porta in Napoli, 1920, pp. 226-35. For the church, see most recently A . Venditti, Architettura Bizantina nell'Italia meridionale, Naples, 1967, II, pp. 684 ff. and passim.

93.

Decorative Roundels Venetian, XII-XIII century Stone Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Moise dalla Torre and Dino Barozzi, Venice, 1897. The decorative roundels inventoried below are part of a vast production of such reliefs principally employed in the embellishment of the fac;:ades of Venetian palaces and mercantile structures like the Fondaco dei Turchi from the twelfth century onward. Although the use of stone or terracotta ornamental roundels is well documented in the early Medieval architecture of Armenia and the lands around the eastern and southern Mediterranean, the immediate impulse behind this Venetian production was of Byzantine origin and came through the medium of imports of Byzantine decorative sculpture. The medallions in the courtyard of the Gardner Museum show considerable variation in style and quality, and they no doubt include works of widely differing dates. Their chronology is unfortunately bound to remain most uncertain since an adequate investigation of this type of sculpture, much of which still graces the walls of the city and the surrounding territory's old houses and churches, has never been undertaken. Eight medallions em-

bedded in the marble revetment of the north fac;:ade of San Marco, which have been related to the work of late-eleventh century local ateliers, furnish the most reliable point of departure (La Ducale Basilica, pis. 59, 68; H . Buchwald, "The Carved Stone Ornament of the High Middle Ages in San Marco, Venice/' Jahrbuch der Oesterreichischen Byzantinschen Gesellschaft, XI-XII, 1962-63, pp. 169-210) . A few among the Gardner pieces exhibit the same rimless, slightly concave disks, and come fairly close to the dry precision which characterizes these carvings (No. 930). The plump forms of the striking medallion with a lion attacking a centaur (No. 93e), which strongly recall the sculpture in ivory on Byzantine rosette caskets, roughly approximate the style of a series of ornamental slabs decorated with animals in combat or heraldically flanking a tree at San Marco, perhaps still executed in the late eleventh century (Buchwald, op. cit., pp. 185 ff., figs. 23, 26-27) . In another group among the Gardner medallions, which must be substantially later in date, the disk is outlined by a rim and deeply hollowed out, with the design correspondingly more autonomous of the block (Nos. 93g, h) . The source and variants of this type of decorative sculpture have been studied by H . G . Franz, "Das Medaillon als architektonisches Schmuckmotiv in der Italienischen Romanik," Forschungen und Fortschritte, 1957, pp. 118-25, and " Das Schmuckmedaillon in der Baukunst des Mittelalters in Italien, Byzanz und dem Islamischen Orient," Zeitschrift fiir Kunstwissenschaft, 1959, pp. 111-38. a. S5w7. Bird on the back of a hare, pecking its head. Crude version of the design in h, u and v. Diam. 91/2" (.24 m .) . b . S5w8. Bird on the back of a hare, pecking its head. Similar to the above, but reversed. Diam. 101/2" (.27 m.). c. S5w9. Bird attacking bird. Similar to j. Diam. 101/2" (.27 m.) . d. S5wl0. Bird attacking bird. Similar to the above. Diam. 11" (.279 m .). e. S5wl9. Centaur attacked by a lion. The same composition inverted in S5w22, which is possibly a modern imitation (not inventoried here). Diam. 17" (.432 m .) . f . S5w20. A dolphin-like animal swallowing a fish. Wide, upcurved rim. Diam. 14" (.355 m.). g. S5w21. A pair of addorsed hounds, with facing heads joined. Rim with incised groove. There are other examples on a house in the Campo S. Maria Mater Domini and an " Antico Palazzo a S. Apostoli" (P. Selvatico, Sulla architettura e sulla


scultura in Venezia, Venice, 1847, p . 74) . Diam. 14" (.355 m.) .

h. S5w23. A bird on the back of a hare, pecking at its head. The motif is in wide circulation, other examples are in Brescia (G . Panazza, L' arte Medioevale nel territorio Bresciano, Bergamo, 1942, fig . 181), Vienna (L. Planiscig, Die Estensische Kunstsammlung, Vienna, 1919, I, p . 6, No. 12), and in Venice, at S. Maria dei Carmini, the courtyard of the Ca' d' Oro and other sites. Diam. 12" (.305 m .). i. S5w24. Striding griffin, wings outspread. Diam. 14" (.355 m.). j. S5n7. A pair of lions(?) in combat, one sinking its teeth into the neck of the other. Diam. 12" (.304 m .). k. S5n8. Hound-like animal with head twisted back, chewing on a morsel. Diam. 11" (.279 m .).

I. S5n9. Griffin attacking a hare. Similar tom. Diam. 111/z" (.292 m .). 93c

m . S5n15. Griffin attacking a deer. The same motif occurs on a medallion at San Marco (La Ducale Basilica, pl. 59) and on one of the ornamental slabs in the basilica (Ibid., pl. 247 M 18) . Diam. 121/2" (.317 m.) . n. S5nl6. A pair of bears(?) addorsed, with heads turned back face to face . Wide rim with bead-andreel design. Diam. 14 1/z" (.37 m.). o. S5nl8. Eagle, wings outspread, ensnaring a hare in its claws. An identical design is in the University of Kansas Museum of Art, Lawrence (Handbook, 1962, p. 20) . Diam. 15" (.38 m .). p . S5nl9. A griffin attacking a deer(?). Rim decorated with a pearly band. Diam. 13" (.333 m .) .

q. S5e8. A pair of addorsed birds with heads turned back, jointly pecking a leaf. There are similar designs in the University of Kansas Museum of Art, Lawrence (Handbook, 1962, p . 20) and in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Nos. 26.18990. Diam. 11" (.279 m.). r. S5e9. A bird attacking a hare. Design as in h, u and v. s. S5e10. Eagle in frontal view, wings outspread, holding in its claws a serpent which bites its wing. Wide, heavily ornamented border. A decorative roundel with the same motif is in San Marco (La Ducale Basilica, pl. 59). The iconography has been dealt with by R. Wittkower (" Eagle and Serpent. A Study in the Migration of Symbols," Journal of the Warburg In stitute, 1958-59, pp. 209-25) and W . Deonna (Deux etudes de symbolisme religieux, Collection Latomus, XVIII, Brussels, 1955, pp. 54 ff.) . Diam. 15 1/z" (.381 m.).

XII-XIII CENTURY ITALIAN

I 65


t. S5e14. A pair of birds, the first standing on the back of the second and pecking its head. Ruskin recorded a similar piece on a house belonging to the Erizzo family near the Arsenal (Stones of Venice, II, pl. XVII) and another example is in Vienna (L. Planiscig, ISJie Estensische Kunstsammlung, Vienna, 1919, I, p . 6, No. 11). Diam.103,4" {.273 m.). u . S5el8. A hare in the snares of a bird. Similar to h, though inverted and cruder in execution. Diam. 12" {.305 m.).

93m

v. S5e21. A bird attacking a hare. Design as in h and u . Grooved rim as in g. Diam. 14" {.355 m.). w. S5e24. A pair of confronted ostriches, with necks overlapping and beaks joined, their claws resting on a pommel. Denticulated rim. Other examples of the paired bird motif are in the Ca' d' Oro and in the Ravenna Museo Nazionale (M. Salmi, L' abbazia di Pomposa, Rome, 1936, p. 113, fig. 220). Diam. 14" {.355 m.) . 93r

x. S5e27. A lion sinking its teeth in the neck of a smaller feline beast. Diam. 101/2" (.265 m.). y. S5s8. A pair of confronted pheasants or partridges, beaks joined. There is a comparable group in a Venetian relief in Berlin (0. Wulff, Altchristliche und Mittelalterliche Bildwerke, Berlin, 1911, pp. 24-25, No. 1745), virtually identical to S5e13 which is possibly a modern copy {not inventoried here). Diam. 101/2" {.265 m.). z. S5s9. A pair of confronted hounds standing on a semi-circular mound with heads turned back to bite their tails. Diam. 11" (.279 m.).

93s

aa. S5s12. A pair of addorsed peacocks, with heads turned back and beaks joined. Diam. 105/s" (.269 m .). bb . S5sl3. Four lions joined at the center in a single head. The same design occurs on a medallion of San Marco (La Ducale Basilica, pl. 59) and in mosaic on the pavement of Otranto. Diam. 83/4" (.222 m.) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p.

42.

56-59, No. 14, figs . 14b, f, g, i, I, p, t, x.

93w

93Y

66

I II

93x

Cahn, pp.


94.

S. Agnes

530s37

Aquila, ca. 1315 Polychromed and gilt poplar, H. 521/2" {l.33 m.) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1897 Areas of the crown, left shoulder, disc, hem and both hands have been restored. Parts of the disc have flaked off. The figure is crowned and wears a mantle with a star pattern over a robe suggesting ermine. The polychromy is post-Medieval in date. A disc held in front of the body shows the lamb with the cross, executed in tooled gesso. Previtali assigns the work to a sculptor active around Aquila in the Abruzzi, who carved the statue of 5 . Catherine in the Gualino collection, Rome. BIBLIOGRAPHY: General Catalogue, p. 269. G. Previtali, "An Italian Hypothesis for the Two Saint Agnes Sculptures at Fenway Court," Fenway Court 1976, Boston, 1977, pp. 36 ff.

95.

S.Agnes

530s5

Spoleto?, second quarter of the XIV century Polychromed and gilt poplar, H . 601/4" {l.53 m .) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1899

The polychromy is abraded, flaked, and in the area of the middle of the body, fragmented. The tips of four fingers from the right hand are missing. The figure is clad in a long blue robe, with a gilt mantle covering the head, shoulders, and drawn over the lower part of the body. An ornate panel imitating embroidery covers the breast. The standing saint holds a lamb in her left hand, the traditional attribute of 5 . Agnes. Her right arm is half upraised in a gesture of address. The work has been convincingly connected by Previtali with a group of wooden sculptures, strongly marked by French influence, found in the region between Spoleto and Aquila. The foremost among these is the Madonna of Spoleto Cathedral; another comparable image is a standing saint from the Abruzzi in the Liebieghaus, Frankfurt (Gotische Bildwerke aus dem Liebieghaus, Frankfurt, 1966, Nos. 28-29). BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p . 265. G. Previtali, " An Italian Hypothesis for the Two Saint Agnes Sculptures at Fenway Court," Fenway Court 1976, Boston, 1977, pp. 39 ff.

XIV CENTURY ITALIAN

I 67


97.

96.

Relief with Two Saints

56s2

Angel of the Annunciation

524e6

Neapolitan, first half of the XIV century Marble, H. 201/2", W . 26" (.52 x .66 m.) Purchased from Vincenzo Barone, Naples, 1897

Sienese, late XIV century Polychromed and gilt poplar, H . 66" (1.675 m.) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1899

The surface of the relief, with the exception of the very top and bottom, is eroded.

The polychromy and gilding are badly damaged and in places entirely lost. The surprisingly well preserved state of the head, by contrast, suggests a restoration, as already noted by Goldschmidt and Christensen (Museum archives). The surface is copiously pitted with wormholes. There are some repairs at the base.

The relief is carved on the back of a third-century strigillated sarcophagus (see above, No. 58) turned sideways. It shows two crowned female figures in discourse within an arcade. Although it might seem that the work is incomplete and originally comprised additional figures, this cannot have been the case, since the width of the panel embraces the full height of the sarcophagus. The right side of the panel, nonetheless, lacks the vertical border of the arch, now made up in cement. It seems likely that the relief served as one of the narrower ends of a Gothic sarcophagus. Although the figures are without haloes, one (left) holds a lamb and should therefore be identified as S. Agnes. The other (right) bears an unidentifiable object in the left hand and gestures in speech with the right. The style is in the strongest degree indebted to French art. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

68 I II

General Catalogue, p . 48.

The archangel' s long robe is blue, the outer tunic is red. Both garments have gilt and tooled borders at the hem and sleeves. The statue of the archangel is part of an Annunciation, one of a number of such groups produced in and around Siena in the late fourteenth and first thirty years of the fifteenth century. Wundram, who gives a comprehensive list of these monuments, believes them to derive from a single archetype, which he identifies as a work in Berlin, attributed by him to the young Jacopo della Quercia. The monuments in question, however, differ substantially, and with one firmly dated exception, their chronology remains very tentative. The Gardner archangel has been attributed to Domenico di Nicolo dei Cori (Sienese, 1363-1453) by Brandi, an opinion endorsed by Carli. It is a stiffer, more archaizing work than the Annunciation from San Antonio in Montalcino (Museo d' Arte Sacro) with which this sculptor is sometimes credited, and still further from the more advanced and better documented mourning Virgin and S. John the Evangelist in the church of San Pietro a Ovile in Siena. Payments for the latter figures which were executed by Nicolo in collaboration with the painter Martino di Bartolommeo for the Cappella de! Crocefisso in the Duomo are recorded between 1414 and 1416 (Pope-Hennessy, 1955, p. 217). While the question of authorship must therefore remain open, the Gardner and Montalcino archangels are more than casually related. The figures are constructed in much the same way and the configuration of the drapery, especially in the lower half of the body, is quite similar. The pronounced axiality of the body, its forward stride largely masked by the ponderous mass of the garment, occurs in comparable form in the archangel of the Seligmann collection, New York, a work of high quality with a partly Sienese, partly Florentine stylistic pedigree (W.R. Valentiner, Catalogue of an Exhibition of Italian Gothic and Early Renaissance Sculptures, Detroit, 1938, No.17) .



Brandi, followed by Carli and Wundram, has convincingly identified the Annunciate Virgin in the Musee Jacquemart-Andre as the companion piece of the Gardner statue (Musee Jacquemart-Andre, Catalogue itineraire, Paris, 1929, p . 120, No. 844, with incorrect measurements. The work is 1.70 m. in height) . BIBLIOGRAPHY: General Catalogue, p. 197. Madagan, pp. 59-60. C. Brandi, " La mostra della scultura in legno a Siena," L' Immagine, 1949 (Not available to the writer). E. Carli, La scultura lignea senese, Milan, 1951, pp. 46-48. C. Ragghianti, " Arte a Lucca Spicilegio," Critica d' Arte, 1960, p . 75. E. Carli, La scultura lignea italiana, Milan, 1961, pp. 73-80. M. Wundram, "Die Sienesische Annunziata in Berlin," ]ahrbuch der Berliner Museen, VI, 1964, p. 42, n . 34, p. 43, n. 6 . C. Del Bravo, Scultura senese del Quattrocento, Florence, 1970, pp. 28-29, 37, 57, pl. 77. MoureyreGavoty, No. 67.

98 .

Personification of Faith

512e2

Neapolitan, last quarter of the XIV century Marble, H. 41" (1.04 m .) Purchased from Vincenzo Barone, Naples, 1897 The statue is in three sections, the head broken and the body more neatly sectioned. The upper part of the attribute is broken off and there are numerous abrasions. The statue is a fairly prosaic exercise in the style best represented in Naples through the activity of Tino da Camaino in the second and third decades of the fourteenth century. It reproduces in somewhat mechanical form the surface organization of garment folds, and notably the contrasting treatment of a tubular, firmly modelled torso and the much more active articulation of the lower section of the figure. The life of the drapery, however, seems unprovoked by movement or stresses in the body underneath. A rough approximation of the same s tyle, which maintained itself in currency in Naples as late as the first years of the fifteenth century, is found in the tomb of Raimondo Orsini del Balza in Santa Chiara, datable around 1370 (S. Fraschetti, " I sarcophagi dei reali angioni in Santa Chiara a Napoli," L' arte, I, 1898, p. 409). The figure holds a taper (partly broken) in oblique fashion across the body. It must be one of a group of four Cardinal virtues in all probability stemming from a funerary monument like the Del Balza tomb or the tomb of T ommaso Sanseverino (d. 1358) at Sanseverino Rota in the Campania (Campania, Touring Club Guide, Milan, 1940, pl. 170), in both of which the taper is held the same way. This attribute identifies the figure as a personification of Faith, at least in its most common

70

I II

manifestation. Some variants of the motif, presumably based on an iconographic innovation in Nicola Pisano's Siena pulpit, are to be interpreted as Charity (R. Freyhan, "The Evolution of the Caritas Figure in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries," Journal of the Warburg Institute, 1948, pp. 68-86). A statue closely related to the Gardner work and ascribed to an anonymous sculptor of the end of the thirteenth century is found in the cathedral of Naples (Storia di Napoli, Naples, 1967-74, III, p. 153). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p . 77.


99. 5. Christopher

528w2-s

Venetian, ca. 1400 Gilt linden wood, H. 23" (.585 m .) Purchased from Dino Barozzi, Venice, 1899 Part of the saint's staff is broken off. There is a break in his right leg, wormhole damage and some losses in the gilding. The right hand of the Christ Child is lost. The saint strides in a schematized mound of water, reposing on the upper part of a three-sided trilobed arcade. He holds the Christ Child high against the right shoulder. The work is in the style conventionally associated with the activity of the Masegne brothers (Jacobello and Pierpaolo dalle Masegne) in the final quarter of the fourteenth century, as indicated by Goldschmidt (Museum archives), though surely not by their hand. It is comparable in type to the relief of S. Christopher dated 1384 which flanks the entrance of the former Scuola della Carita (Academia) and in a more precise stylistic sense, to the figures in the reliefs from S. Andrea della Certosa in the Patriarcal Seminary, which have been attributed to the following of the Masegne (L. Planiscig, " Geschichte der Venezianischen Skulptur im XIV. Jahrhundert," Jahrbuch der Kun sthistorisch en Sammlungen des Allerhochsten Kaiserhauses, XXXIII, 1916, p. 159, fig. 110,pp.203-04, figs . 154-55). 100

100.

Virgin and Child

530sll

Austrian or North Italian, ca. 1425 Polychromed and gilt wood, H. 173/4" (.45 m .) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1897 The extended right arm of the Child is broken off, and there are losses in the Virgin' s crown and throne. The breaks along the bottom of the carving were caused when it was wrenched from its original setting. With the exception of the flesh tones and hair, the entire work is gilt. The polychromy and gilding are flaked off in places.

99

The carving formed part of an Adoration of the Magi, with the Child's arm extended to receive the gift of one of the Kings. It is regarded as J\Torth Italian under German influence by Kuhn, who notes in general terms a kinship with the Virgin and Child of the tympanum in Campo San Zaccaria in Venice. This work is assigned to the Master of the Mascoli Altar and dated around 1430 (Planiscig, p . 24, fig. 20). xv

CENTURY ITALIAN

I7 1


The pronounced weiche Stil (" Soft Style" ) effects as well as the form of the crown and of the throne would tend to argue for a more northerly origin . The sculptor was likely schooled in the T rentin oAlto Adige region with its mingled artistic culture of partly Austrian, partly Venetian obedience. The conception of the figure lends itself to comparison with the group of the Coronation of the Virgin from the high altar of the parish ch urch of Bolzano (Bozen), commissioned from Hans of Judenburg in 1421 and now in Nuremberg (H. Stafsk i, Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Elfenbein, Nuremberg, 1965, pp. 192 ff., Nos. 175-77) and to other sculpture of the same area, like the S. Margaret by a Judenburg sculptor in Groslobming (K. Garzarolli von Thumlackh , Mittelalterliche Plastik in Steiermark, Graz, 1941, pp. 33-34, fig. 31) . BIBLIOGRA PH Y:

559-60, fig. 1.

72

I II

General Ca talogue, p .

267.

Kuhn, pp.

101.

Gabled Shrine with the Virgin and S30s31 Child Veneto, second half of the XV century Polychromed and gilt wood, H . 32t!z" , W . 23" (.825 x .585 m .) Provenance unknown The Virgin's red robe is covered by a gilded outer m antle with traces of blue. The flat ground behind her is painted in imitation of a starry sky. The polychromy and gilding are worn and in places flaked off entirely. The pinnacles of the gabled frame are broken off, and there are some losses in the ajoure tracery. Along the bottom, the design is incomplete, showing only the upper part of an applied tri-lobed arcade. The wood has wormhole damage. In the two cusped hollows at the base of the arch, there are identical coats of arms d' argent ala tour


de geules which have not been further identified. At the center, the Virgin, hands joined in prayer, kneels on a cushion. The infant Christ lies asleep in her lap. The representation of the sleeping Child has sometimes been interpreted as an intimation of the Passion (G. Firestone, "The Sleeping Christ Child in the Renaissance," Marsyas, II, 1942, pp. 43 ff. Contra, see C. Gilbert, " On Subject and Not-Subject in Italian Renaissance Pictures," Art Bulletin, 34, 1952, pp. 206-07) . Such an interpretation is in this instance encouraged by the infant's crossed hands over the chest, a gesture which recalls representations of the Man of Sorrows. Although it may in its present form have served as a devotional image, the work is only a remnant of a larger whole. In all likelihood, it was the center of the upper tier of an altarpiece and originally flanked by standing figures in arcades, as illustrated in two altars by Domenico da Tolmezzo in Zuglio (1482) and Illegio (1497). In such a scene, the place below the Virgin in the lower section would be occupied by Christ, S. Peter, or, as in the retable of Illegio, the patron of the church S. Florian (G. Marchetti and G. Nicoletti, La scultura lignea nel Friuli, Milan, 1956, pp. 69-70; E. Carli, La scultura lignea italiana, Milan, 1961, fig . CXXVII) . The design of the ornate frame points to Venice or to the surrounding territory, where the iconographic type of the Madonna with the sleeping Child was also much favored. There is a close analogy in Pietro Alemanno's altar at Ascoli Piceno, dated 1483 (P. Zampetti, " Considerazioni su Pietro Alemanno," Arte Veneta, 1951, pp . 101-10) . A shrine with the Madonna and Child in the Turin Museo Civico is a fragment of a similarly dismembered Venetian altar of the end of the century (L. Malle, Le sculture del Museo d'arte antica. Museo Civico di Torino, Turin, 1965, p. 120, pl. 65). In general terms, the characterization of the Virgin in the Gardner carving adheres to the preference for flowing, curvilinear forms first made fashionable by the International Gothic style around 1400. Yet the work is unlikely to antedate the final quarter of the fifteenth century. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

G e neral Catalogue, p. 268.

102.

Capital

S9n3

Angouleme, beginning of the second quarter of the XII century Limestone, H . 14", L. 18", D . 13" (.355 x .455 x .33 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897

More than half of the head and face of one of the corner figures is broken away. The corners of the top and some of the bottom rim are chipped. A dense weave of tentacular, muscle-bound foliage covers the surface of the block. The comers are marked by standing, helmeted figures, each blowing a pair of horns. This motif derives from a calendrical illustration occasionally employed for the month of March (L. Pressouyre, " Marcius Corna tor. Note sur un groupe de representations medievales du mois de mars," M elanges d' archeologie et d' histoire, Rome, 1965, pp . 395-473) . Stylistically, the work has close affinities to certain Angouleme productions, as shown by comparison with a very similar capital in the local archeological museum (Gudiel Photo No. 2113) . Another capital of the same type with hornblowers is found at Ronsenac (J. George and A . GuerinBoutaud, Les eglises romanes de I' ancien diocese d' Angoulem e, Paris, 1928, p. 283, fig. 264C) . BIBLIOG RAPHY :

G eneral Catalogu e, p . 62. Cahn, p . 49,

No. 2, fig. 2 .

XII CENTURY FRENCH

I 73


103.

Impost Block with Scenes of the Passion 59n2 West French, beginning of the second quarter of the XII century Limestone, H. 11", L. 24" , D. 173/4" (.28 x .61 x .45 m .) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897 Much of the detail of the carving is worn. The base of the block on its decorated sides is ch ipped with losses to the legs and feet of the figur es on the shorter side. The sequen ce of scenes unfolds on two adjoining faces of the squatly proportioned block in a somewhat disjointed way. O n th e shorter side (105a), a pair of figures brandishing swords flank an imperturbable personage in a fronta l stance, bearin g a sh ort Tau-headed staff (Mocking of Christ ?). On the la rger side (105b) the Kiss of Judas (left) and Peter cutting the ear of Malchus (right) can be clearly read . The Carrying of the Cross at th e center, which is out of place, is perhaps best explained as the result of the sculptor's unwitting transformation of a Roman soldier's pike or halberd into the instrumen t of the Crucifixion .

The puppet-like proportions and the small-scaled, doughily untectonic handling of the figures is a sketchier version of the kind of sculpture found at Notre-Dame de Saintes and some of the work at A ulnay. The head of the grimacing Malchus h as a close parallel in one of the fantastic creatures decorating one of the lateral portal archivolts of the latter monument (Congres archeologique, Paris, 1913, pl. opp. p . 106). BIBLIOGRAPH Y :

General Catalogue, p . 61. Cahn, p . SO,

No. 3, fig. 3.

104.

Capital or Impost Block: Daniel in the Lions' Den(?) 59n4 W est Fren ch , b eginning of the second quarter of the XII century Limestone, H . 10" , L. 21 1/ 4 ", D . 153/4" (.255 x .54 x .40 m .) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897 The head of the far lion on the left side of the capital is broken off. The stone surface is considerably worn. A figure stands between a pair of addorsed lions, grasping their bodies in a powerful embrace. At the right, a second personage thrusts an object into the jaws of the beast near him. The same composition is repeated on the left side of the block .

103

In h is address to the startled Nebuch adnezzar, D aniel attributes his miraculous salvation to the intervention of the Lord's angel, who "shut the lions' mouth, that they have not hurt me" (6 :22) . This is the event which may be illustrated here.

103a

The right face of the block shows a plant between a pair of rosettes, considerably more summary in execution. The work and that described in the previous entry in all probability have a common origin. BIBLIOGRA PHY:

so, No. 4. 74

I II

General Cata logue, pp. 61-62. Cahn, p .


105. Entry into Jerusalem

57nl

Parthenay, Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre, middle of the XII century Limestone, H . 49", W . 53", D . 8" (approx.) (1.245 x 1 .345 x .205 m.) Purchased from G. Joseph Demotte, Paris, 1916, through Bernard Berenson

106. Two Kings

57n2

Parthenay, Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre, middle of the XII century Limestone, H. 661/2", W. 39", D . 101/2" (approx.) (1.69 x .99 x .265 m.) Purchased from G . Joseph Demotte, Paris, 1916, through Bernard Berenson Much notoriety has surrounded these sculptures since their appearance on the Paris art market shortly before the First World War. The facts are nevertheless reasonably clear. Prior to their removal from Parthenay, four reliefs with torsolength figures of kings, the Entry into Jerusalem and a relief with the Annunciation to the Shepherds could be seen in the garden adjoining the ruins of the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre. Two of the kings and the Entry into Jerusalem were purchased by the Louvre, while the other pieces made their way to Boston. In the meantime, however, the sculptures had been drastically deaned and refinished, and the four royal torsos had acquired lower bodies. In 1926, the Gardner Museum was privately advised that these lower parts were made by the sculptor Boutron, who was persuaded by his client that if " the kings should not be represented barefooted . .. bare feet would be an interesting novelty." Although controversy over the pieces lingered on, a technical examination of the Boston figures by J. Rorimer definitively established that the lower sections were modern. In addition to the widely publicized Louvre and Gardner reliefs, two other fragments in all likelihood from the same Parthenay ensemble have been signalled. A badly weathered and apparently crowned head in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass. (Rorimer, p . 128) may be the rest of a fifth king. Still another figure of the same type is in the Pitcairn collection at Bryn Athyn, Pa. (Art News, March 21, 1931, p . 33, illus.). The Parthenay provenance of the monumental crowned head in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (No. 44.85.1), however, is open to doubt. Although said to come from Notre-

Dame-de-la-Couldre, the nature of the material and stylistic character of the work stand apart from the pieces already enumerated (R. B. Franciscono, " A Problematic T welfth-Century Head in the Metropolitan Museum of Art," unpublished Mas ter's thesis, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1962). Not otherwise known to the writer is a figure described as a saint from the same church (H . .46 m .) in a private collection in Argentina (Exposici6n de escultura Mediaeval y Renacentista, Buenos Aires, 1963, p . 27, No. 8). Only the lower story of the far;:ade of Notre-Damede-la-Couldre still stands. The Gardner and related sculpture now dispersed are presumed to h ave decorated the upper parts of the structure. The Entry into Jerusalem and the Louvre Annunciation were possibly housed in niches, echoing those of the lower tier, which still exhibit the poorly preserved remains of a Samson with the Lion and an even more fragmentary equestrian figure (Constantine?) . The original position of the kings is more problematic. Possibly, each of the figures occupied a blind arcade in a disposition of the type seen at Notre-Dame-la-Grande at Poi tiers and at Ruffec (Vienne), but this is mere speculation. Because of the abrupt and unaccu stomed termination of the figures only a short distance below the waist, it is reasonable to suppose that they were originally carved in full length. There has been some disagreement con cerning the identification of the Gardner riding figure as well as the restored torsos. Porter has rightly observed that the crown worn by the cavalier is an anomaly in the iconography of the Entry into Jerusalem and proposed to see in the relief a representation of one of the Magi Kings, narratively coordinated with the Louvre Annunciation (Porter, p. 334). Yet the presence of the tree at the right- the remains of its branches can be seen near the rider's upraised hand- can best be understood as part of an adventus composition in which the Lord is greeted at the gates of the Holy City with the cutting and throwing of palm branches. As for the troublesome motif of the crown, it may be discovered as well in the Entry of the tympanum of Pompierre (Idem, " Spain or Toulouse? and Other Questions," Art Bulletin, VII, 1924-25, p . 8, fig. 12) . The choice of subject is perhaps to be explained as a pendant of the triumphant Constantine as master of Rome on the lower tier of the far;:ade. The same combination of an Entry into Jerusalem and a representation of Constantine trampling upon Maxentius occurs on a capital of the cloister of Aries. As regards the royal torsos, their identification as Apocalyptic Elders raises far fewer difficulties than the various alternative suggestion s that have XII CENTURY FRENCH

I 75


105



been made. The problematic element has been the puzzling gourd-like attribute of one of the Louvre figures, especially as it appears in the old engraving of Sadoux made before the restoration (Ledain, p. 79, fig. 76) . A photograph of the figure made before its removal from Parthenay (W. S. Stoddard, Th e West Portals of Saint-Denis and Chartres, Cambridge, Mass., 1952, pl. XXXIII, fig. 6) shows a somewhat more rounded form cradled in the bent right arm in the manner of a viol-like instrument. Weathering on the badly exposed outer surface of the object has obliterated all detail, and will no doubt continue to frustrate a more incontrovertible reading. The church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre stood within the precinct of the castle of the lords of Parthenay, whose feudal allegiance was disputed by the Counts of Anjou and Poitou. The latter seized the castle in 1122 (G. T. Beech, A Rural Society in Mediev al France. The Gatine of Poitou in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, Baltimore, 1964, pp. 42 ff.). In 1135, during the Schism of Anaclet II, Count William X met Bernard of Clairvaux at Parthenay and made his peace with orthodoxy. Local tradition since the seventeenth century has it that this meeting took place in front of Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre, but the saint's biography does not specify which of Parthenay's seven churches was the scene of this event (A a.Ss . Aug. IV, p . 288). The stylistic evidence would argue in favor of a rather later date for the Gardner sculpture. BIBLIOGRAPHY : C. Amauld, Monuments religieux, militaires et civ ils du Poitou, Niort, 1843, pp. 95-98. C. Auber, " Notice sur l'eglise de la Couldre a Parthenay," Bulletin du Comite historique des arts et monuments, 1849, pp. 125-28. B. Ledain, La Gatine historique et monumental, Paris, 1876, pp. 75 ff. " Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre," Congres archeologique, Paris, 1903, pp. 46-48. A. Michel, " Les sculptures de l'ancienne fa<;ade de Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre a Parthenay," Monum ents Piot, 1918, pp. 179-95. R. van Marie, " Twelfth-Century Sculpture in America," Art in America, 1921, pp. 3-16. G. Turpin, " L'eglise Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre a Parthenay et ses sculptures," Bulletin de la Societe historique et scientifi que d es D eux-Sevres, 1922, pp. 79-91. A. Kingsley Porter, Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads, Boston, 1923, pp. 334-36. P. Deschamps, La sculpture fran~aise l'epoque romane, Paris, 1930, p. 72. G eneral Catalogue, pp. 49-50. J. Rorimer, " The Twelfth Century Parthenay Sculptures," Technical Studies in the Field of Fine Arts, Jan. 1942, pp. 122-30. R. Crozet, L'art roman en Po itou, Paris, 1948, passim. M . Aubert and M . Bea ulieu, Description raisonn ee des sculptures du Mayen A ge, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes, Paris, 1950, pp. 51-53. Cahn, pp. 47-49, No. 1, figs. la, b . Stout, p . 68, illus. p. 69.

a

78

I II

107. Portal

S7w10

Bordeaux, La Reale (Gironde), late XII century Limestone, H . 143", W. 95" (3.63 x 2.41 m.) Purchased from G . Joseph Demotte, Paris, 1916 The doorway is depicted still in situ on an engraving which appears in the Bordeaux antiquarian L. Drouyn' s La Guienne militaire (1865). It was'the entrance of an important Medieval private hottse in La Reale, a town located on the Garonne some fifty miles upstream from Bordeaux, commonly known as the Maison Seguin, and more rarely, Maison de la Synagogue. The building, now demolished, was presumably the residence of an influential local family, the Seguins, who are documented at La Reale as early as the fourteenth century. In its original location, the portal was situated at the head of a flight of stairs and gave access to the first story of the house. In spite of its unarguable provenance, the work betrays a lack of homogeneity and may have been pieced together with elements fortuitously obtained. The three heads inserted in the lobes at the summit of the arch are an especially jarring feature of the design. The base of the lobed arch itself and the heavy cornice moulding on which it rests impinge on the lintel decorated on its outer face by a meandering ribbon. The lower section of the portal, an architecturally coherent nucleus in the ensemble, is a stepped construction with single colonnettes in its embrasures sustaining capitals in which the block appears to be consumed by lion masks . Such capitals could also be seen in the arcading of the windows of the Seguin house (Drouyn, pl. 57). The portal or at least its component parts find parallels in the sculpture of the region of Bordeaux near the end of the Romanesque era. The three heads are stylistically comparable to those which appear in large, corbel-like fashion, on the capitals in the Langon chapel in The Cloisters, New York. The multi-lobed arch, a more ubiquitous motif in southwestern France, is found in the region in the portal of the Templar church at Villemartin. BIBLIOGRAPHY : M . Lapoujade, " Essai de statistique archeologique. La Reole," Actes de I'Academie Roya le des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Bordeaux, VIII, 1846, pp. 337-38. L. Drouyn, La Guienne militaire, Paris, 1865, I, pp. 161-62, pl. 57. G eneral Catalogu e, p. 51. Cahn, pp. 50-51, No. 5, fig. 5. J. Gardelles, " La sculpture monumentale e~ Bordelais et en Bazadais a la fin du Xlle et au debut du XIIIe siecle " Bulletin monumental, Paris, 1974, I, pp. 29-48, fig:. 29-32. Idem, Sculpture Medievale de Bordeaux et du Bordelais, Musee d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux, 1976, pp. 120-21, No. 120, illus.



108.

Madonna and Child

530n9

Ile-de-France, middle of the XIV century Limestone with polychromy, H. 45" (1.145 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1899

Parts of the crown and the flowering scepter of the Virgin are lost. The polychromy, which is of modern vintage, is itself badly flaked and little remains on the Virgin's face and the lower section of her garment. The crowned Virgin presses the Child high against her left side. He holds an apple while his free hand rests lightly on the Madonna' s breast. The gesture of the extended arm is relatively uncommon in monumental images of the Virgin and Child but appears to constitute a specific iconographic type for which there are occasional witnesses in widely scattered areas of western Europe. It is illustrated in the statue executed by Jean Pepin de Huy in 1329 at Gosnay (Pas-deCalais), in the Virgin of Mozat in Auvergne, Nordheim in Bavaria, and Prague (R. Didier, " Contribution al' etude d'un type de Vierge franr;:aise du XIVe siecle. Apropos d'une replique de la Vierge de Poissy aHerresbach," Revue des archeologues et historiens d' art de Louvain, Ill, 1970, pp. 64 f.), and in ivory carving, within the group of shrines grouped by Koechlin under the heading " Atelier des Tabernacles." The somewhat unfocused quality of the gesture in the Gardner image, however, may well be due to a recutting of the hand. Stylistically, the statue is a characteristic conception in the following of a work like the celebrated Notre-Dame la Blanche in the church of Magnyen-Vexin (ca. 1350) whose gentle sway and impersonal elegance it broadcasts in more summary form. The same broadly proportioned face and spiralling calligraphy of the hair is seen in the Virgin of Saint-Martin-aux-Bois and the better known image of Rampillon, while the more rustic statue of Lesches (Seine-et-Maine), dated 1379 by inscription, exhibits a comparable organization of the drapery and establishes a rough outer limit for chronology (L. Lefranr;:ois-Pillion, "Les statues de la Vierge al'enfant clans la sculpture franr;:aise du XIVe siecle," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1935, pp. 211-13). BIBLIOGRAPHY:

80

I II

General Catalogue, p. 275.


109.

Retable with Scenes of the Passion

59n5

Lorraine, ca. 1425 Limestone, H . 31", L. 108", D . 81/2" (.785 x 2.745 x .215 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1899

The relief is constructed of two sections of stone of unequal length. It has suffered numerous abrasions and breaks, chiefly along the edges, high points of the relief and parts worked free from the background. Some unsightly repairs in stucco and modern polychromy were removed in 1972-73.

The carving is subdivided into nine compartments by a series of arcades, four on each side of the Crucifixion at the center. Two kneeling donors are seen at the extremities, accompanied by their patron saints, John the Baptist (left) and S. Catherine (right) . The remaining sections are occupied by scenes of the Passion: the Arrest of Christ, Flagellation, Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion, Descent from the Cross and the Three Marys at the Tomb. These crowded compositions sometimes spill across the square pillars on high bases on which the arches rest. In the spandrel zone of the arcade, there are windows with prophets wielding scrolls in trompe I' oeil. The altar type and especially the architectural scheme basically follows the retable executed in the late years of the fourteenth century by Claus de Werve at Bessey-les-Gteaux (G . Troescher, Claus Sluter und die burgundische Plastik um die Wende des XlV. Jahrhunderts, Freiburg, 1952, pp. 152 ff .). The Boston retable is very close in design and indeed nearly identical in certain parts to an altar still in place in the chapel of S. Barbara in the church of S. Etienne at Vignory (HauteMarne) . The donors are the same. They can be identified through their coat of arms trois tetes de boeuf poses 2 et 1 sur le champ seen in the foreground of the kneeling male figure as Guillaume Bouvenot and his spouse Gudelette. The Bouvenots, of whom nothing further is known, were buried in the same chapel. Their epitaph names as well as their son, a maistre en lois, who is stated to have died in 1424. The chapel was founded by Thibaut de Foncegrive identified as bailli of Saint-Dizier and Vignory, who died in 1340 (Abbe Humblot, "L'eglise de Vignory," M emoires de la Societe des Lettres ... de Saint-Dizier, XIX, 1926, pp. 34-35). The fact that the Bouvenots were laid to rest in the same place suggests that Guillaume might have been employed in a similar capacity by the castellan of

Vignory, who at the beginning of the fifteenth century was John IV, Lord of Vergy, seneschal and governor of Burgundy (A. Duchesne, Histoire genealogique de la Maison de Vergy, Paris, 1625, pp. 195 ff.). The altar in Vignory and that in Boston were ordered from the same workshop and in all probability carried-out at the same time. Whether the patron intended to endow a second altar at Vignory, or, as seems more likely, commissioned the Gardner retable for another church (Saint-Dizier?) could not be determined . Assuming that these commissions were carried out in Bouvenot's lifetime, the date of the epitaph would be the terminus an te for the enterprise. The Boston retable is one of a lengthening list of monuments which the efforts of P. Volkelt, J. A. Schmoll gen. Eisenwerth and H . D . Hofmann have revealed to be the work of an atelier of sculptors active in Lorraine and Champagne in the later years of the fourteenth through the third decade of the fifteenth century (Hofmann, 1969).

The activity of this workshop at Vignory is attested to not only by the Bouvenot altar but by a large number of fragmentary carvings in the same style. Nevertheless, the more important neighboring town of Joinville has been proposed as the more probable center of its activity. Here was executed the tomb of Duke Ferri I of Lorraine and his spouse Marguerite. Other commissions were carried out for noble families in the region with connections to the Court of J oinville: the Vergy, the Beaufremont (retable in the Los Angeles County Museum) and the Salm (retable of Morhange/ Morchingen) . This sculpture is marked by a penchant for gracefully animated compositions with small-scaled, unsubstantial figures that appear to be wholly untouched by the powerful monumentality of Sluter's art. The roots of this art lie in a more easterly direction and may be traced to Cologne and the Middle Rhine. General Catalogue, p . 61. H. D . Hofmann, " Die Vignory-Werkstatt. Neue Beitrage zum Umfang und zur Bedeutung einer Bildhauerwerkstatt des Weichen Stiles an der oberen Marne mit Austrahlung bis zur Nordlothringen," Beitriige zur Saarliindischen Archiiologie und Kunstgeschichte (10. Bericht der Staatlichen Denkmalpflege im Saarland, 1963), Saarbriicken, 1964, pp. 147-70. L. Pressouyre, Bulletin monumental, 1964, pp. 400-01. H. D . Hofmann, " Eine Nachlese zur lothringischen Skulptur des 15. Jahrhunderts. I. Zur sog. Vignory-Werkstatt," Beitriige z ur Saarliindischen Archiiologie und Kur.stgeschichte, 12, 1965, pp. 159-78. Idem, "L'atelier de sculpture de Joinville-Vignory (1393-1442)," Bulletin monumental, 1969, pp. 209-22. P . Peterson, "Restoration of a Retable from Lorraine," Fenway Court 1973, Boston, 1974, pp. 18-20, illus. and cover. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

xv

CENTURY FRENCH

I 81


109

detail


109

detail


111.

Standing Bishop

S6el

Netherlandish or German, second half of the XV century Polychromed and gilt lindenwood, H. 34" (.865 m.) Purchased from A. Clede, Venice, 1897 One break runs from the top left side of the miter through the face to the neck, another extends from the center of the miter to the top of the nose. An additional break is evident on the figure's right side, from the shoulder to the bottom of the sleeve. The gilding is flaked and there are losses to the polychromy.

110.

Crowned Head

S27w17

Netherlandish or Burgundian, ca. 1400 Polychromed limestone, H. 63/4", L. 81/2", W. 71/z" (.17 x .215 x .19 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897

Most of the tips of the crown are broken-away. The polychromy, of uncertain age, remains only in places. The faintly smiling face is framed by an active mass of spiralling curls. The type, which ultimately derives from Reims sculpture of the second and third quarter of the thirteenth century, is taken up in Netherlandish and Burgundian art around the year 1400, notably in works by Jean de Liege and the two altarpieces by Jacques de Baerze in the Dijon museum (P. Quam~, "Un dossier de chaire de la Chartreuse de Champmol, oeuvre de Jean de Liege," Miscellanea D. Roggen, Antwerp, 1957, pp. 219 ff., with additional examples). The head of the Annunciatory angel in the sandstone relief of the tomb of Friedrich of Saarwerden (before 1414) in Cologne cathedral (T. Muller, Sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain: 1400-1500, Harmondsworth, 1966, p. 26, pl. JOA) and the related figures of the tympanum of the Ratskappelle in the same church (K. Schaefer, "Der Meister des Saarwerdengrabmals," Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, V, 1928, p. 9, fig. 7) are more distant relations. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, pp. 248-49.

The figure of a bishop stands with hands joined in prayer. On the miter is seen a representation of the Annunciation carved in low relief in imitation of embroidery. A miter of this kind is at Sixt in Haute-Savoie (Tresors des eglises de France, Paris, 1965, No. 728) and another in the treasure of the cathedral of Besarn;:on (Ibid, No. 766). Stylistically comparable to the figure is a statue of S. Theodul in the Museum of Valeria at Sion (E. A. Stiickelberg, Die schweizerischen Heiligen des Mittelalters, Zurich, 1903, p. 113). BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 47.


112.

Pieta

S28e16

Rhenish or Netherlandish, ca. 1500 Polychromed oak, H. 163/4 ", W. 193/4" {.425 x .50 m.) Purchased from Julius Bohler, Munich, 1897

The compositional type would seem ultimately to derive from an invention of Roger van der Weyden, as represented by the school piece in The Hague (E. Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, Cambridge, 1953, p . 284, fig. 359) . General Catalo gue, p . 257. Harding, p . 31, No. 29, illus. ; p . 83.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

The relief was restored in 1934. The body of Christ lying on a shroud is attended by the Virgin Mary, the Magdalen and a kneeling mourning woman. Composition and style are very close to a Lamentation relief in the parish church of S. Amandus at Datteln, Westphalia (Marienbild in Rheinland und Westfalen, exhibition catalogue, Essen, 1968, No. 320). This work is thought to be part of a large altarpiece of the type executed by Flemish workshops chiefly based at Antwerp and exported in great numbers to Germany and the Scandinavian countries in the later fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Christ's recumbent pose, the gesture of the Virgin supporting His head while the halfupraised left arm is extended to the Magdalen are recurrent features in these Lamentations. Against the view of a Flemish origin, H. Krohm in a forthcoming study attributes the Gardner and Datteln carvings to a workshop active in Cologne.

113. Three Men on Horseback

S28e32

Flemish, Antwerp(?), ca. 1525 Oak, H. 23", W. 21" {.585 x .535 m .) Purchased from Julius Bohler, Munich, 1897 There are vertical cracks in the face, beard, and chest of the central figure and on the left side of his horse. A split shows below that horse's neck. Part of the bridle of the horse on the left is lost. The rein of the central horse is of leather. The figures are seen in front of a sharply inclined ground. The studied variation of individual stances, incorporating the motif of the rider seen from the rear, reveals the sculptor's familiarity with Quattrocento compositional methods. Costumes are varied in the same artful way and a XVI CENTURY FLEMISH

I 85


The carving is severely damaged by wormholes. Losses are most extensive at the base of the hairline, around the nose, right side and back of the head, which is worn flat. The physiognornic character and frontal gaze suggest that the head is a fragment of a Palmese/. Such images of Christ seated on a donkey were drawn in processions on Sunday before Easter. The surviving monuments stern from the rnidthirteenth to the end of the fifteenth century and are predominantly of South German origin.

113

homely naturalism prevails with the inclusion of a frog in the left foreground and a small dog seated behind the central rider.

The head of Christ in a Palmese/ of 1467 from Ulm Cathedral is a plastically more assertive image but basically similar in conception (K. Gerstenberg, Repertorium fiir Kunstwissenschaft, 1926, p. 53, fig. 4) while a second monument of this type in Berlin in a comparable manner is also attributed to Swabia (T. Dernrnler, Die Bildwerke in Holz, Stein und Ton : Crossplastik, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, 1930, p . 204, No. 8144) . A torso at Duke University whose provenance is not known is another fragment of a Palmese/ with tangible, though more distant connections with the Gardner carving (R. C. Moeller, III, Sculpture and Decorative Art: A Loan Exhibition of Selected Art Works f rom the Brummer Collection of Duke University, North Carolina Musuern of Art, Raleigh, 1967, pp. 52-53, No. 18) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

The relief in all probability formed part of a Crucifixion in which the mounted figures represented Roman soldiery. The upraised hand of the figure at the left pointed to the cross at the center of the altarpiece. The work is a characteristic product of Antwerp workshops of the first decades of the sixteenth century. Other reliefs of the same type are in Berlin (T. Dernrnler, Die Bildwerke in Holz, Stein und Ton; Crossplastik, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, 1930, p. 339, Nos. 496, 497), Karlsruhe (lahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Wiirttemberg, V, 1968, pp. 186-87), and scattered in the Lowlands (J. de Bosschere, La sculpture anversoise au XVe et XV!e siecles, Brussels, 1909, fig. 8 and passim). BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 258. Harding,

p. 83.

114.

Head of Christ

SI9w29

South German, Swabia (?),second half of the XV century Linden wood with traces of polychrorny, H. 11 %" (.30 rn.) Provenance unknown 86

I II

General Catalogue, p. 165.


115. Mounted Saint

530e24

South German, ca. 1470-80 Polychromed wood, H. 40" (1.03 m.) Purchased from Julius Bohler, Munich, 1897 The thumb and two fingers of the left hand are missing. The right hand is modern, and the tip of the nose is restored. Parts of the ears of the horse are broken away. The polychromy is lost in areas but what remains is probably original. The rider wears a red cloak over a brown undertunic. The identification of the rider is uncertain. S. George is ruled out by the absence of military costume and the gesture does not fit the characterization of S. Martin dividing his cloak. There remains the likelihood that the figure represents S. Hubert, as Kuhn has suggested, or S. Eustace.

The upright stance with the torso slightly thrown back seems to record the moment of a vision, while the hand stretched out to the side resembles S. Eustace' s gesture of surprise in Pisanello's wellknown painting of the miracle of the hunt in the National Gallery, London. Kuhn's observation that the hat is specifically that of a hunter, however, cannot be confirmed, since a late fourteenthcentury figure of S. George in Nuremberg shows the same kind of headgear (H. Stafski, Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Elfenbein, Nuremberg, 1965, p.186, No.171). A similar perculiarly broad-necked type of horse is seen in a Franconian or Swabian mounted S. George in the same museum (Ibid, pp. 199-201, No. 180). A wooden image of S. Martin in much the same vein is in the Princeton Art Museum. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p .

264.

Kuhn, pp.

563-65, fig. 3. Harding, p . 83.

xv

CENTURY GERMAN

I 87


116.

5. Elizabeth of Hungary

530wll

Upper Rhenish or Swabian, ca. 1490 Lindenwood, H . 47" (1.195 m.) Purchased from Antonio Carrer, Venice, 1893 The attribute of the left hand, which was probably a jug, is missing, as is the tip of the index finger of that hand. The statue is mounted on a wedgeshaped section of wood intended to correct the pronounced slant of the original base. There is some wormhole damage. The striking image is attributed to Franconia by Goldschmidt (Museum archives) and to the Upper Rhine by Kuhn. Both scholars date it around 1490. The saint wears a nun's garment and a voluminous wimple which outlines the head like a halo. The characterization is based on that devised for representations of S. Anne and S. Elizabeth, the mother of the Baptist. Kuhn compares the work with the figure of S. Elizabeth in S. James at Rothenburg ob der Tauber, part of the high altar of the church executed by Friedrich Herlin in 1466 (F. Schmoll, Die heilige Elizabeth in der bildende Kunst, Marburg, 1918, pp. 74 ff., pl. XVI). The ample folds of the Boston carving are accented by strong pleats that leave deep ridges and angular gullies in their wake. This assertive plasticity and rhythmical intensification of forms are features which received a wide variety of inflections in Upper Rhenish sculpture after the 1460's. Particularly close to the Gardner figure is a fine lindenwood Mary Magdalen in The Cloisters, New York (No. 63.31.1), of which, unfortunately, nothing further is known. The matrix of style in which these works are cast is most consistently documented in Upper Swabia. The facial type is close to the production associated with Biberach an der Riss (L. Gobel, Der Bildhauerwerkstatten der Spatgotik in Biberach an der Riss, Tiibinger Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichte, Heft 7, Tiibingen, 1953, pis. 25, 38, 40) and the formal vocabulary analogous to related work from Ravensburg and Blaubeuren (E. Heinzle, " Die Erbarmde-Gruppe in Tosters bei Feldkirch," Oesterreichische Zeitschrift fur Kunst und Denkm alpflege, VII, 1953, pp. 15-25, with older bibliography). BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p. 272. Kuhn, pp. 565-66, fig. 4. Harding, p . 34, fig. 36, p. 83.

88

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chalice, his customary attribute in German art since the fourteenth century, while his right hand is half upraised over the breast. The female figure is crowned by an elegant, tiara-like headdress bordered with pearls. She wears a ruffled blouse under a laced bodice. An ample outer robe which she maintains with the left hand covers her shoulders and falls at her feet. In her half upraised hand, she holds an open book on which a flame is seen. The characterization resembles that of a Virgin Annunciate, though the attribute would seem to point to another figure, not yet identified. The two statues manifestly stem from the same work. Their style points to an Ulm workshop active in the first decade of the sixteenth century. The curiously bean-shaped head of the female saint is close to the type exemplified by the socalled Oertel Madonna and its group (G . Otto, Die Ulmer Plastik der Spi:itgotik, Reutlingen, 1927, pp. 281 ff.), although the garment structure adheres to a somewhat older canon of style. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p.

259.

Harding, p.

48, fig. 69.

117. S. John the Evangelist

528sl

Upper Swabian, Ulm(?), ca. 1500-10 Polychromed and gilt lindenwood, H . 261/2" (.673 m.) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897

118. Female Saint

528s5

Upper Swabian, Ulm(?), ca. 1500-10 Polychromed and gilt linden wood, H. 281/2" (.723 m.) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897 The polychromy is worn and in places, chipped. There is wormhole damage and some splitting around the head and base of S. John. The open hand of S. John and the left hand of the female saint are poorly restored. The garments of the two figures are gilt, with the long outer mantle showing a green lining. S. John wears a high collared garment buttoned over the chest, and over it, a long robe. He holds a XVI CENTURY GERMAN

I 89


119


119. S. George

S4nl

Bavarian or Tyrolean, ca. 1500-10 Polychromed and gilt wood, H. 581/2" (1.49 m.) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897 There are breaks in the hair locks and some losses in the dragon, parts of which are modern. The polychromy and gilt of the armor are flaked in areas and in poor condition generally. The armored saint's left foot treads on the dragon. His lance, held to one side and in a nearly vertical position, restates the same downward motion. Its point rests in the half-open jaws of the beast. The figure can be compared for purposes of localization and dating with several statues of S. George attributable to southern Germany, whose exact origin, however, remains as yet to be more accurately pinpointed. One of these, formerly in the collection of Arthur Hauth, Di.isseldorf, carries a doubtful attribution to Michael Pacher (Art News, March 27, 1937, p . 27) . A second in the Sigmaringen Museum, cited by Kuhn, is said to come from Ulm (H. Sprinz, Die Bildwerke der Furstlich Hohenzollernschen Sammlung Sigmaringen, Stuttgart, 1925, p. 14, No. 41, pl. 22) . The Gardner statue is also quite close to a figure of the saint in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (No. A. 26-1913 . Review of Principal Acquisitions, London, 1913, pl. 4) . The latter work has been tentatively given to Henning von der Heide (C. Habicht, Niedersiichsiche Kunst in England, Hannover, 1930, pp. 104, 106), but the earlier attribution to southern Germany has much greater plausibility. Kuhn further connects the statue with a representation of S. George on a Tyrolean altar wing in a Princeton private collection.

from the predella of the Mi.innerstadt altar in Berlin or the S. Kilian of the Neumi.inster altar at Wi.irzburg. The treatment of the drapery, however, altogether lacks the tautness and vitality ch aracteristic of the Wi.irzburg master's art and renders very tenuous its relationship with the Gardner figure, noted by Kuhn. The more pliant and relaxed effect of the work has some parallels in the sculpture of the Upper Rhine and Neckar regions, like the standing saint (Gallus?) in Sigmaringen (H. Sprinz, Die Bildwerke der FUrstlich Hohenzollernschen Sammlung Sigmaringen, Stuttgart, 1925, p. 18, No. 57, pl. 34) which has been attributed to the circle of the Heilbronn sculptor Hans Syfer. The style in general terms exhibits the sculptor's connection with the production of ateliers centered between Strasbourg and Freiburg in the later decades of the fifteenth century. BIBLIOGRAPHY: General Catalogue, p . 256. Kuhn, pp. 568-69, fig. 7. Harding, p. 42, No. 55, illus.; p. 83.

General Catalogue, p. 41. Kuhn, pp. 565, 568, fig. 5. Harding, p. 83.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

120.

5. Jerome

528e12

Southwest German, Upper Rhine(?) , ca. 1500-10 Linden wood, H. 241/2" (.615 m .) Purchased from Hermann Einstein, Munich, 1897 The statue is incorporated in a traceried tabernacle of recent date (not shown). The attribute in the saint's right hand, no doubt a crosier, is nearly all lost. The wood has split in the border of the hat and at the lower edge of the saint's garment through the base. The question of localization is not yet wholly resolved. The facial traits resemble the physiognomies of Tilman Riemenschneider's S. Mark

XVI CENTURY GERMAN

I 91



121.

Altar of the Trinity with S. Catherine and a 530n21 Bishop Saint North German, Lubeck, ca. 1510-20 Circle of Bernt Notke, active ca. 1490-1520 Oak, H. 60", W. 501/2" (1.525 x 1.285 m .) Purchased from Hermann Einstein, Munich, 1897 The sides and back of the shrine are modern, as are the brackets at the springing of the gable, the crosier of the bishop saint and parts of the crowns of God the Father and S. Catherine. There are some unrepaired losses in the crown of the Lord and in the carved foliage of the gable. Some splitting of the wood has occurred, notably in the figure of S. Catherine and at the bottom edge of the garment and base of God the Father. Both wings are lost. The Gnadenstuhl at the center of the shrine is flanked by the figures of S. Catherine (left) and an unidentified bishop saint, perhaps S. Nicolas (right) . S. Catherine glances at an open book and holds the spoke of a wheel, her customary emblem of martyrdom. At her feet is a diminutive figure of her tormentor Maxentius, represented in half length and holding a scroll. Paatz has convincingly attributed the altar to the Imperialissima Master, a collaborator of the Lubeck master Bernt Notke. The name of this anonymous artist derives from an inscription in the unusual form Imperialissima Virgo Maria which appears below the carved figure of the Madonna in the altarpiece at Hald. As reconstructed by Paatz, his career extended from about 1490 to the early 1520's and has left a mark in a geographical zone ranging from Lubeck to Jutland . This chronological span and the close dependency of the artist on Notke's work have led to his tentative identification with Henry Wylsynck, who figures prominently in the documents concerning the later activity of the Lubeck master. The iconographical schema of the Gardner altar, the Trinity flanked by single standing saints, is found also in the altar at Rapstedt and the dismantled altar from Tjustrup in the Copenhagen Museum, both credited to the Gardner sculptor (Paatz, No. 30; A. Matthei, Werke der Holzplastik in Schleswig-Holstein bis zum ]ahre 1530, Leipzig, 1901, p. 111). A drawing in the British Museum, the only one from Notke and his circle to survive, records a design for another work of the same kind (Paatz, No. 35). The type of the Throne of Grace in this series of monuments also remains the same. That of the Tjustrup altar presents the closest analogies to the Gardner altar. The date proposed by Paatz for the work rests in part on a comparison of the plant forms of the

intricately carved gable with the arcaded canopy in Notke's tomb brass of Hermen Hutterock in S. Martin's church at Lubeck, a design in his most advanced manner datable in the years from 1508 to 1509. It should be noted that the generally accepted view of Notke as first and foremost a sculptor has recently been challenged by E. Moltke (Bernt Notkes altertavle i Aarhus Domkirke og Tallintavlen, Copenhagen, 1970) who considers him in light of the documentary evidence as a painter and entrepreneur exclusively. BIBLIOGRAPHY: General Catalogue, p. 275. Kuhn, pp. 561-63, fig. 2. W. Paatz, Bernt Notke und sein Kreis, Berlin, 1939, I, p. 314, No. 12. G. van der Osten,

"Niederdeutsche Bildwerke in Amerikanischen Besitz," Niederdeutsche Beitriige zur Kunstgeschichte, IV, 1965, p. 10. T . MUiler, Sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain, 1400-1500, Harmondsworth, 1966, p. 165. Harding, p. 37, fig. 43, p. 83.

122.

Altar of the Holy Kinship

530nll

Saxon, ca. 1510-20 Polychromed and gilt lindenwood, Central panel : H . 61", W. 411/2" (1.55x1.055 m .); Wings: H . 61", W. 201/2" (1.55 x .52 m.) Purchased from the Ga vet collection (No. 74), Galerie George Petit, Paris, 1897, through Fernand Robert Left shutter : the sword blade of S. Catherine is partially lost. S. Margaret, below her, has lost two fingers of her right hand, her attribute and parts of her crown. Central panel : three fingers among the men of the Holy Kinship are modern repairs. The tooled gold ground is damaged and has been restored. The painted curtain patterned with thistles behind the seated women appears to be a later addition. Right shutter: the crowns of both saints are damaged and several of their fingers are lost. Outer sides: the right shutter shows extensive loss to the ground and paint layers. There is some restoration throughout. The central section of the altar shrine is devoted to the Holy Kinship. At the center, the infant Christ in a striding stance is supported by S. Anne and the Virgin Mary. From the first, He receives a bunch of grapes; from the second, an apple. Maria Salome and Maria Cleophas are seated below with their children. Behind a parapet above the maternal group, six male parents are shown in animated discourse. Above them, partly hidden by the carved gable, God the Father appears in heaven. The wings show female saints; on the left, Catherine and Margaret, and on the right, Barbara and Dorothea. These figures are XVI CENTURY GERMAN

I 93



122

too narrow for the spaces which they occupy and the leftover voids are filled with paint. These four saints often appear together owing to their collective celebration in the liturgy through a Missa de sanctis quattuor capitalibus virginibus in which they are specifically designated. On the outer faces of the wings, there are painted representations of four male saints : Pope Urban I and Martin on the left, George and Roch on the right. They are depicted standing within arches and in front of a barrier wall draped with a cloth hanging. The voids behind their heads are treated as a view into the open sky. A number of aspects of the work point to a North German origin. The composition as a whole and a variety of details are paralleled in a North Saxon altar inscribed with the date 1511, formerly in the Hermann Schwartz collection, Monchengladbach (G. von der Osten, "Ein Niedersachsichen Altar in Rheinischen Privatbesitz," Niederdeutsche Beitri:ige zur Kunstgeschichte, IV, 1965, pp. 10914) . The motif of the Child centrally placed between the Virgin and S. Anne while simultaneously receiving symbolic gifts of an apple and grapes occurs in an Anna Selbdritt at Hannover either of Westphalian or northern Netherlandish origin (Idem, Katalog der Bildwerke in der

detail reverse side

Niedersi:ichischen Landesgalerie Hannover, Munich, 1957, No. 209, p. 175) . Kuhn has likened the feminine types to a Thuringian or Saxon altar dated between 1510 and 1520 in Berlin (T. Demmler, Die Bildwerke in Holz, Stein und Ton; Grossplastik, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, 1930, pp. 293-94, No. 7711) . The ornament of the carved gable is close in style and design to that employed in a shrine of the Annunciation from Penig in the Dresden Albertusmuseum attributed to Ulrich Dornhart, a sculptor and painter chiefly active at Freiberg in Saxony (W. Hentschel, Si:ichsiche Plastik um 1500, Dresden, 1926, pp. 3940, No. 36) . The style of the paintings on the outer wings, finally, lends itself to comparison with the art of the Gottingen master Hans Raphon or that of his lesser known contemporary Heinrich Heisen (H. von Einem, "Ein Gottinger Altar nach Diirerschen Vorlagen," Niedersi:ichsische Jahrbuch fiir Landesgeschichte, 1933 pp. 85-99; H . G . Gmelin, " Zurn Werk des Gottinger Maler Heinrich Heisen," Niederdeutsche Beitri:ige zur Kun stgeschichte, V , 1966, pp. 161-80) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p.

274.

Kuhn, pp.

571, 573, fig. 9. Stout, p. 200, illus. p. 201. Harding,

p. 44, fig. 60, p . 83. XVI CENTURY GERMAN

I 95


123


123.

Altar of 5. Maurice and the Theban Legion S30e12 Upper Rhenish or Swiss, 1515 Polychromed poplar, H. 511/2", W . .60" (1.31x1.525 m.) Purchased from Charles Rafard, Paris, 1892 The openwork carved gable (as in No. 121) is lost. Its springing is still visible in the upper part of the frame on the right. Also lost are most of the weapons once borne by the group of warriors. The polychromy is apparently original and was consolidated when the altar was cleaned and superficially restored in 1950. The carving shows a group of thirteen warriors in armor of various kinds surrounding a more prominent figure on horseback at the center. The latter holds a red banner inscribed with a white cross. The view into the background is closed off by rocky crests. The date at the center of the border along the bottom and the size of the panel indicate that it must have been the central section of an altarpiece. For such a setting, the subject is most unusual. It likely should be identified as a representation of the Theban Legion. The central figure might be either S. Victor, Maurice or Gereon, to whom the altar must have been dedicated. The warrior saints of the Theban Legion are represented as a group in Lochner's altar of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral, an altar of 1450-60 by a follower of Lochner in Nuremberg (E. Lutze and E. Wiegand, Kataloge des Germanischen Nationalmuseum. Die Gema/de des 13. bis 16. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, 1937, pp. 82-83, No. 14) and the altar by the Master of the Holy Kinship in Berlin (ca. 1500) - all painted wings, however, rather than carved central shrines. In Cologne, where the cult of S. Gereon was principally localized, he is, in depictions of the Theban Legion, given the place of honor. Elsewhere, S. Maurice, who played an important role in the political symbolism of the Holy Roman Empire, is more prominent. He appears as a standing figure in armor in the central shrine of the altar from Weisweil in the Badisches Landesmuseum at Karlsruhe, a work roughly contemporaneous with the Gardner altar (Spiitgotik am Oberrhein, exhibition catalogue, Karlsruhe, 1970, No.157). Group representations of the Theban Legion usually show the warriors standing singly side-byside, possibly under the influence of depictions of the Nine Worthies (Neuf Preux), or sometimes in groups of three. A pictorially more unified con-

ception is realized in the treatment of the theme by Hans Leu the Younger in Zurich (P. Ganz, Malerei der Fri.ihrenaissance in der Schweiz, Zurich, 1924, p . 114, pl. 70) which might be said to constitute a half-way point between the friezelike images and the Gardner composition. J. Rees has observed that the emblem of the cross on the banner of the saint is customary in representations of S. Maurice in Switzerland, while the eagle is generally found in the territories of Middle Germany (J, Rees, " Der heilige Mauritius als Reichspatron," Badische Heimat, 1958, pp. 206-10). BIBLIO GRAPHY :

Gen eral Catalogue, p. 263 . Harding, p.

48, fig. 70, p. 83.

124. to 131.

Eight Saints

S28w2 -

S28w9

Bavarian, ca. 1510-20 Polychromed and gilt lindenwood, H . 23" (average) (.585 m.) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897 Three of the figures - two male, one female have lost their attributes. There are losses in the crowns of the female saints, fingers (Agnes, Barbara and Stephen), and a toe (Peter). Polychromy and gilding are flaked in areas. The eight figures stem from an altar shrine. Five can be identified as Paul, Stephen, Barbara, Agnes and Dorothea. Those now without attributes are possibly Catherine, Peter and Lawrence. The carving is of an artisanal quality, with a limited range of conventions repeated with minor variations within an equally limited number of portrait types. The female saints have smoothly moulded torsos with the robe, partly screened by the active diagonal thrust of the cape, breaking into stately parallel vertical folds below the waist. The two deacon saints embody the identical stereotype, as do Peter and Paul. Attributes are supported on open palms or clenched in similar fashion against the side of the body. These conventions are traceable to stylistic developments in Upper Bavarian sculpture of the first two decades of the sixteenth century. The broad and rather flat facial type employed by the sculptor for the male saints is found in some of the works attributed to the Kaufbeuren Master Jorg Lederer and his circle (T. Muller, Die Bildwerke van der Mitte des 15. bis gegen Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts, Munich, 1959, pp. 247-49, Nos. 252, 254). A parallel range of reductive formulas is found in the more routine productions of Upper

XVI CENTURY GERMAN

I 97




132

132

detail


Swabia, Bavaria and Tyrol (0. Kastner and B. Ulm, Mittelalterliche Bildwerke im Oberosterreichischen Landesmuseum, Linz, 1958, Nos. 78, 130, 137). BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 259 . Harding,

p. 83.

132.

Nativity

528e13

Bavarian, Landshut, ca. 1520 Circle of Hans Leinberger, active 1515-30 Polychromed and gilt linden wood, H. 12", W . 23" (.304 x .584 m.) Purchased from J. Bohler, Munich, 1897 The carving is the center piece of a triptych with painted wings. These show censing angels in an older style, suggesting that they were not made for the present work. In the central section, the wood is split in several places near the middle of the relief. The painted landscape in the background is a later addition. The carving shows the Adoration of the Christ Child by the Virgin and two shepherds. Hands crossed over the breast, Mary kneels at the right side of the composition. The Infant Christ lies on a wickerwork cot covered by a cloth at the

center. A kneeling shepherd carrying a foliage bundle appears at the left, partly hiding a second s tanding figure behind him. The setting is defined by an exedra-like structure of haphazardly classical design crowned by an arched opening. The heads of the two adoring symbolic animals emerge from a large round-headed window of this schematic construction. The work may be compared to a relief of the Nativity in Munich attributed to a follower of Hans Leinberger, a sculptor active in Landshut, which has a very similar design and figure style (T. Miiller, D ie Bildwerke in Holz, Ton und Stein ... , Munich, 1959, No. 216) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

Harding, p . 47' fig. 65.

133.

S. Martin and the Beggar

521n5

Bavarian, ca. 1520 Polychromed linden wood, H . 49" (1.245 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897

The saint's sword is missing as are most of the fingers of his right hand. The fingers of the beggar's left hand are broken off. The polychromy was cleaned and consolidated in 1952.

133 XVI CENTURY GERMAN

i 101


The work was conceived as a relief to be placed against a flat surface. The saint in the act of dividing his cloak turns back to face the viewer in the almost iconic type inaugurated in thirteenth-century Germany with the striking relief at Bassenheim and thereafter tirelessly repeated. The saint wears an elegant South German Renaissance costume consisting of a doublet with slashed collar and sleeves over short breeches. The crippled beggar in tattered garments reaches up to grasp the billowing cloth of the cape. A pouch and dagger-like implement are fastened around his waist. Goldschmidt (Museum archives) and Kuhn concur in the attribution of the work to Bavaria. AS. Martin on horseback in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (No. 52.1754) regarded as Landshut work of about 1520 is a more modest achievement in the same manner. Kuhn cites for comparison with the Gardner rider two additional images of S. Martin and the Beggar : one from Freising in the Bayerische Nationalmuseum in Munich (Cicerone, IV, 1912, pp. 379-80, fig. 4), the other from the altar of the palace chapel of Reichersbeuron near Tolz (R. Hofmann, Bayerische Altarbaukun st, Munich, 1923, pp. 77, 270-71, No. 80). The sculptor's engaging bent for lively and picturesque surfaces is combined with an acute eye for the texture and shape of real objects. The wider stylistic orientation to which the work is tied is further represented in a series of monuments distributed in the valley of the Inn, along the border of Bavaria and Tyrol which P. M. Halm has grouped around the Sterzing Master Jorg Kolderer (Studien zur Suddeutschen Plastik, Augsburg, 1926-27, II, pp. 67 ff.). BIBLIOGRAPHY :

Genera l Ca talog u e, p . 178. Kuhn, pp.

568-70, fig . 8. H a rding, p. 83.

134.

5. Florian

S4n3

South Bavarian or Austrian, ca. 1520-25 Polychromed wood, H. 62" (I.575 m.) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897 The staff held by the saint is modern. The castellated structure at his feet is without the leaping flame which originally must have covered the break in the battlements. The surface has a brownish cast which masks the polychromy. The statue was superficially restored in 1953-54. The statue of the saint (like the S. George, No. 119) is one of a pair of symbolic guardians of a

monumental altarpiece (Schreinwiichter) . The figure is helmeted and in full armor. The saint holds a banner and a bucket which he uses to io2

1

n


pour water on the burning building at his feet his customary attributes after the middle of the fifteenth century. The fluted armor of the Maximilian type is very similar to that worn by the SS. Georges in the Preysing chapel in the Frauenkirche in Munich, a work attributed to the Landshut sculptor Hans Leinberger (active 1515-30), dated around 1525, or to that of S. Ursus in Hans Holbein's panel of 1522 in Soluthurn. The headpiece, however, lacks the expected cheek pieces and seems instead to be a free copy of a Roman centurion's helmet. A helmet of the same historicizing design and steep profile appears in the so-called ThunHohenstein Sketchbook (0. Gamber, "Der Turnierharnisch zur zeit Konig Maximilians I. und das Thunsche Skizzenbuch," Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlung in Wien, LIII, 1957, p . 42, fig. 42).

his circle. The meandering concave troughs separated by angular, crumpled ridges which are the distinctive elements of drapery style in the Gardner saint are seen , for example, in the Al totting Master's pair of female saints in Berlin and in the figures of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in Freising by a sculptor in his following (P. M . Halm, Studien zer siiddeutschen Plastik Altbayern und Schwaben, Tirol und Salzburg, Augsburg, 1926-27, II, pp. 13-14, fig. 16; pp. 39-41, fig. 43). G en era l Catalog ue, p. 256. Harding, p . 48, fig. 68, p. 83.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Gardner statue is comparable in style with two other Bavarian images of S. Florian : one formerly in the possession of the Munich dealer J. Bohler (Miin chner Jahrbuch der Bildende Kunst, II, 1907, p. 79, fig. 15) as noted by Kuhn, the other from the church of Our Lady of Ingolstadt, now in a private collection which Muller dates in the 1520's (T. Muller, Alte bairische Bildhauer vom Erminoldmeister bis H ans Leinberger, Munich, 1950, pp . 28, 45, No. 119). J. Rohmeder (Museum archives) attributes the work to the Master of Rabenden, a sculptor active in the region between Munich and Salzburg in the second and third decade of the sixteenth century (J. Rohmeder, Der Meister des Hochaltares in Rabenden, Munchner Kunsthistorische Abhandlungen, III, Munich, 1971) . BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 41. Kuhn, pp.

572-73, fig. 10. Harding, p. 83.

135.

S.Margaret

528wll

Bavarian or Tyrolean, ca. 1520-30 Polychromed and gilt pine, H . 36 1/ 4 11 (.92 m.) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897 There are losses in the crown and two fingers of the saint's right hand are missing. The polychromy and gilt has been consolidated and restored. The figure, carved in shallow relief, was designed to be mounted on the wings of an altar. The mannered animation of the garments occurs in comparable form in the work assigned to the Master of the Doors of the Collegiate church of Al totting, identified as Matthaus Kreniss, and to

XVI CENTURY GERMAN \ 103


104 1

n


136.

Christ from a Deposition Group

S3le2

Catalonian, second half of the XII century Polychromed wood, H. 48", W . 371/2" (1.22 x .95 m.) Purchased from Joseph Brummer, New York, 1917 Most of the fingertips of the right hand are restored, and one on the left hand is missing. There is extensive loss to the polychromy, particularly in the areas of the neck, left shoulder, chest and leg, and both forearms . A report on a restoration (Rosen) states that the work formerly "had hair, a crown of dried thorns, an artificial beard and a linen dress over the entire body." Loose paint was reattached in 1956. The slim, angular figure was the central element in a Deposition group which can be visualized with the help of the still complete Spanish ensembles of Erill-la-Vall and San Juan de Las Abadesas (Cook and Gudiol-Ricart, pp. 308 ff., 322). The stiff right arm still hangs from the cross while the other limb is bent downward to the sorrowful Joseph of Arimathea. Serene in death, the softly chiselled head bore a crown, which had been lost. The resemblance of the work to the Louvre' s socalled Christ Courajod has been noted by several writers (Aubert and Beaulieu) though the figure in Paris is without doubt of greater mastery and surface refinement. The Louvre figure has traditionally been ascribed to Burgundy, though with insufficient evidence. Francovich has upheld this attribution; but while affirming the relationship of this work with the Gardner corpus, he assigned the latter to southern France. The monuments extant most closely comparable to the Boston carving stem from Catalonia. Among these are the Christ from Salardu (Cook and Gudiol-Ricart, fig. 418) and the remnant of another monumental Deposition in the Barcelona Museo Mares (P. de Pallol, Early Medieval Art in Spain, New York, 1966, p. 485, fig. 164). Romanesque Deposition groups divide along iconographic lines into two main types. In Italy, as in the monuments of Tivoli, Volterra and S. Antonio in Pescia (E. Carli, La scultura lignea italiana, Milan, 1961, pp. 30-32), Christ's arms an symmetrically extended to the Virgin and S. John in a composition of comparative formality . In the Spanish group, on the other hand, the participants are more actively engaged in the task of lowering the body, whose weight falls on Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. The disposition of the figures is thus more informal, less controlled by architectural considerations, more episodic in_ character (for the antecedents of these contrasting

136 detail

types, see most recently 0. Pacht, The Saint Albans Psalter, London, 1960, pp. 70-71). All too little is known, on the other hand, concerning the liturgical function of these monumental Deposition groups and more generally, the basis in religious feeling which underlay their appearance. The answer is likely to reside in the increasingly demonstrative character of the Lenten and Easter liturgy from the eleventh century onward, in which a significant place was given to the enactment of dramatic tableaux vivants illustrating certain moments of the Passion (see on this subject most recently 0. B. Harbison, Jr., Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages, Baltimore, 1965, pp. 80 ff.; and for the sources, G. and J. Taubert, " Mittelalterliche Kruzifixe mit Schwenkbaren Armen," Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins zur Kunstwissenschaft, 1969, pp. 92 ff.) . R. van Marie, " Twelfth Century French Sculpture in America," Art in America, 1922, pp. 3 ff. A Kingsley Porter, Spanish Romanesque Sculpture, Florence, 1928, II, pp. 17-18. D . Rosen, " Restorations and Forgeries," Saturday Evening Post, June 21, 1930, pp. 103-06. General Catalogue, p . 280. G . de Francovich, " II Volto Santo di Lucca,"Bolletino storico Lucchese, 1936, pp. 7 ff. Idem, " A Romanesque School of Wood Carvers in Italy," Art Bulletin, 1937, pp. SO, 53. W. Cook and J. Gudiol-Ricart, Ars Hispaniae, VI, Madrid, 1950, p. 317. M . Aubert and M. Beaulieu, Description raisonee des sculptures du Mayen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes, Paris, 1950, pp. 40-41, No. 28. Cahn, pp. 61-62, No. 17, fig. 17. Stout, p. 212, illus. p. 213.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

XII CENTURY SPANISH

i 105



III Renaissance

137.

Madonna and Child

530s20

Florentine, second quarter of the XV century Workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti Polychromed and gilt stucco, H. 31 1/2", W . 261/2", D . 61/2" (.80 x .675 x .165 m.) Purchased from the Gavet collection (No. 233), Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1897, through Fernand Robert, as the work of Jacopo della Quercia There is only minor loss to the stucco. Restoration in 1958 and 1963 replaced earlier repainting in large areas of the Madonna's gilded red dress, blue cloak, the Child's red tunic, and the flesh tones of both. The base is also largely repainted. The upper leg of the left putto is chipped. The coat of arms on the left has two birds(?) divided by a red diagonal ; the arms on the right has a rampant figure, perhaps a griffin. This is one of two interrelated compositions (the other is No. A33-1910 in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) which were reproduced in large numbers during the first half of the fifteenth century in Tuscany. This one, with the Child against

the Madonna' s cheek, left foot on her forearm and back towards the viewer, may be found in the Museum of Fine Arts, Worcester, Mass., Musee Jacquemart-Andre, Paris, the Museo Nazionale, Florence and the Staatliche Museen, West Berlin, as well as the college museums at Amherst and South Hadley, Mass. and Princeton, N.J. Bode, in his careful study (lahrbuch der Koniglich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, XXXV, 1914, pp. 76-77), attributed this composition to Ghiberti (1378-1455), and 0. Wulff agreed ("Ghibertis Entwicklung im Madonnenrelief," Berliner Museen, XLIII, 1922, p. 102) . Schottmiiller (1933, p. 33) ascribed it to an anonymous Florentine sculptor of the middle of the fifteenth century. All the critical opinion since Schottmiiller's catalogue has connected it with Ghiberti's name (R. Krautheimer, "Terra-Cotta Madonnas," Parnassus, VIII, December 1936, pp. 5-7; Pope-Hennessy, 1964, pp. 60-61; MoureyreGavoty, No. 20). The volume of the figures and the heavy drapery, together with the serenity and tenderness which pervade the composition, argue for an attribution to Ghiberti in the first quarter of the century. XV CENTURY CENTRAL ITALIAN \ 107



Moureyre-Gavoty finds it directly dependent on the master's design. Krautheimer dates the original between 1416 and 1424 on the basis of stylistic comparisons with the first Baptistry doors and the similar Madonna and Child on Bartolommeo Buon' s wellhead in the Ca'd'Oro (for wl:iich Buon received payment in 1427). The workshop copies of the original design, according to Krautheimer, reflected certain stylistic advances found in Ghiberti's second Baptistry doors. The design on the base, two winged putti holding a wreath, has its origins in the niche of the Parte Guelfa on the fa"ade of Or San Michele, Florence, completed in 1423. The base may also be found with a reclining woman (Eve) which depends on a figure on Ghiberti' s second Baptistry door erected in 1452 (Schottmi.iller, lac. cit.). From the origins of the base designs and the large number of copies that survive, it can be said that this cast was reproduced for at least a quarter of a century. BIBLIOGRAPHY : W. Gutman, " The Belated Recognition of Della Quercia," International Studio, July 1928, p. 20. General Catalogue, pp. 266-67.

138.

Relief of a Woman

527w77

Ca. 1475-80 Mino da Fiesole (Florentine, 1429-84) Carrara marble, H.131/4", W.11", D. 41/s" (.335 x .28 x .105 m.) From the Palazzo Antinori-Aldobrandini, Florence. Purchased from Volpi, Florence, 1899, through Bernard Berenson Aside from stains in the marble, a crack running to the cheek, chips in the eyelid and along the edge, the relief is in good condition. The raised edge is interrupted at the top by the hair and is overshadowed at the bottom by the protruding shoulder and the undecorated curve of marble beneath it. The profile is undercut. The relief was published by Bode with an illustration as a portrait by Mino "that went from a private collection in Florence to the Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna." In fact it went directly to Boston from Florence not long before Bode published it; references to a profile portrait in a private collection in Florence by Angeli and Lange would seem to be this one. Sciolla quotes Angeli's erroneous reference to it as a copy with slight variations of the female portrait in the Museo Nazionale, Florence. Although certainly not a copy, the Gardner relief

shows marked similarities in the profile, particularly the long straight nose and prominent eye. It is not certain that either is a portrait, although the relief in Florence has contemporary hairstyle and dress, and the inscription ET IO·DA· MINO·OAVVTO·ELLVME (And I by Mino have seen the light). Conversely the Gardner relief relates in hairstyle, costume and in the aloof aspect of the slightly upraised chin to other classicized reliefs by Mino. These include a Roman emperor, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a similar relief inscribed AVRELIVS•CAESAR·AVG• in the Museo Nazionale, Florence (Sciolla, Nos. 3, 70, the latter as manner of A. Rossellino). A third in the Philadelphia Museum of Art inscribed 1s"1/PIO/N E· has always been accepted as by Mino. This bust of Scipio has distinct parallels with the Gardner relief, particularly the typical ribbon-like folds ending in obtuse angles to the left and right which, unlike the others, are confined within the frame. All of the cited reliefs share in common : irregular flat folds of soft material, elongated necks, strong profiles with straight noses, and carefully modelled lips and eyes. The hair in each case is an individual invention calculated to reinforce the personality of the " portrait." The bust of a woman in Berlin (Schottmi.iller, 1933, p. 57, No. 97), which has the above characteristics, may also be compared with the Museum's relief in the treatment of the features and the braided hair. This is a late work of ca. 1480; the Gardner relief, therefore, probably fits into Mino's Roman period of 1475-80 when a large sh op worked with him on various commissions. It was bought by Berenson as a portrait b y Mino of a member of the Antinori family, from whom the Botticelli tondo (catalogued as Studio of Botticelli(?), P. Hendy, European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1974, pp. 41-43) was also purchased. Middeldorf in 1971 pointed out that an exact copy of this relief now hangs in the ground floor of the Antinori house in Florence, presumably placed there when this was sold. From a photograph, Sciolla (p. 111, No. 68) ascribed the copy to Mino's workshop, but it is obviously a nineteenth century commission. Denkmiiler, p. 121, pl. 399c. D. Angeli, Mino da Fiesole, Florence, 1905, p . 69. H . Lange, Mino da Fiesole, Greifswald, 1928, p . 111. General Catalogue, p. 232. Stout, p . 190, illus. p. 191. G. C. Sciolla, La Scultura di Mino da Fiesole, Turin, 1970, p. 76, under No. 19.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

XV CENTURY CENTRAL ITALIAN \ 109


139


decoration, and the hair brown. The base was made in two parts to be fitted together between the figures. There are missing pieces along the front edge and holes for attachment in various places. There is a chip out of the edge of the robe and to the base. A thermoluminescent test conducted in 1977 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston confirms the age of the piece. Traditionally attributed to Civitali and referred to as either the Virgin Teaching the Child to Pray or the Virgin Adoring the Child, this unusual presentation of reciprocal adoration is of great quality for a work in terracotta. The attribution to Civitali was accepted by Bode and with reservation by Schottmiiller and Madagan . All of Civitali's documented works are in marble. A number of other figures in terracotta probably made for scenes of the Nativity have been associated with Civitali's name (R. Berliner, Die W eihnachtskrippe, Munich, 1955, p. 192, n . 351). Middeldorf finds this better than these and ascribes it to the master himself. The Virgin's eyebrows are placed high on a long forehead, her large eyelids partially closed, recalling the Madonna della Tosse in S. Trinita, Lucca, a three-quarter length seated figure dated ca. 1480. The plump, assertive Child follows the type of Child from the tondo over the Noceto tomb in the Lucca cathedral, finished in 1472, Civitali' s first important commission. The style of the Virgin' s garments and the composition indicate a date after 1480. The Madonna in the S. Regolo altar also in the Lucca cathedral, dated 1484-85, is not unlike the present figure in attitude, and gives an indication of Civitali' s style in that decade.

139 detail

139.

Virgin Adoring the Child

S27n4

Ca. 1480 Matteo Civitali (Lucchese, 1436-1501) Polychromed and gilt terracotta, H. 39", L. 40 1/z", D. 15" (.99 x 1.03 x .38 m.) Purchased from Attilio Simonetti, Rome, 1902, through Joseph Lindon Smith Other figures could have appeared with this group in its original setting or it might very well have been alone. There is general flaking of the paint overall, with areas of repair and repaint in the flesh tones on both figures. The cloak is repaired below the Madonna's elbow. The color is blue; the lining, which is stippled, and base are dark blue, the dress red with gilt

BIBLIOGRAPHY : W. von Bode, Die Woche, 1911, p. 2000, No. SO. Madagan, pp. 158- 59, fig. 72. F. Schottmiiller in Thieme-Becker, VII, 1912, p. 26. General Catalogue, p . 233. Stout, p . 192, illus. p. 193. U.

Middeldorf, Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, European Schools XIV-XIX Century,

London, 1976, p.

49.

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140.

Fragment of a Relief of a Madonna and Child 527e34

Florentine, ca. 1480 Workshop of Antonio Rossellino 11 Polychromed stucco, H . 10111 W. 13 1/2", D . 7 (.255 x .345 x .18 m.) In the Baslini sale (No. 965) , Milan, 1888, as the workshop of Donatello. Purchased from M. Guggenheim, Venice, 1892 The backs of the heads are unfinished; presumably, they were attached to a plaque. There are no cracks or losses but a coat of brown paint was removed from the faces in 1968 under which most of the flesh tones were intact. Traces of gilt remain in the veil. An example of this composition in its entirety was formerly in Berlin. Schottmi.iller (1913, p. 62, No. 92) first ascribed it to Rossellino (1427-79) but later modified the attribution (1933, pp. 48-49 ; catalogued as Rosse/lino ?) because she felt that Rossellino' s Madonnas were not so freely modelled. But the style is certainly his, and may be seen in other terracottas associated with his name, for example a bust of the Christ Child in the museum of Bob Jones University, Greenville, S. C. (Inv. No. 119) . In the Berlin relief the Child sits on the Madonna's right arm, her fingers on his elbow and her left hand placed on his right leg. A veil covers the top of her forehead. The Child wears

11.2

i 111

a sleeveless garment and holds an apple in his outstretched left hand. The base has a garland with a shell in the center and a putto's head on either side. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p . 247.

141.

S. Bernardino

530n6

Tuscan, last quarter of the XV century Polychromed terracotta, H. 17111 W . 17111 D. 83/4 11 (.43 x .43 x .22 m.) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1897 A coat of dark paint was removed from the entire surface in 1969 exposing areas of original paint. Flesh tone is missing from parts of the nose, the cheeks around the ears, and most of the neck; patches of blue paint remain in the hair and on the habit, and traces of bright red paint on the base. A piece missing in the back and cracks running down to the base were filled with plaster. There is a chip in the cowl above the right shoulder. The eyeballs are raised with an incised circle for the pupil.

Thermoluminescent tests conducted at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology at Oxford in 1973 and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1975 established a time span consistent with the above attribution. The immense popularity of S. Bernardino (13801444) and his swift elevation to sainthood (1450)


were reflected in the number of representations in both painting and sculpture during the second half of the fifteenth century. Terracotta busts of the saint are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, considered to be in the style of Vecchietta (ca. 1412-80), perhaps from the artist's workshop (Pope-Hennessy, 1964), and in the sacristy of the church of S. Giobbe, Venice, once ascribed to Bartolommeo Bellano (ca. 143496 / 7) in Paoletti (p. 197, fig. 106). The bust in London fits with other Sienese interpretations of the saint in exaggerating his familiar characteristics. These traits appear in less schematic treatment in the bust in S. Giobbe which seems to have been modelled after the death mask in the Museo Diocesano, L' Aquila (I. Origo, The World of San Bernardino, New York, 1962, pl. XXXII). The bust in the Gardner Museum, broadly similar to the S. Giobbe bust, was at one time thought to have been taken from the death mask (Madagan, Museum archives; General Catalogue), preserving as it does all the saint's characteristics - the straight nose, long lobeless ears, sunken cheeks and toothless mouth. It even has the wen on his right cheek. The anonymous sculptor was also influenced by realistic representations arising outside of the Sienese tradition at the end of the century. A bold example of this is the Andrea della Robbia roundel in the Loggia di S. Paolo, Florence (Origo, op. cit., pl. XXVI), where the saint is depicted as a dynamic preacher. To effect a living portrait, the sculptor of the Museum' s bust has smoothed over the traits of old age: the nose, eyebrows, chin and cheekbones are less pronounced, and the hair is trimmed, producing a figure of less extraordinary appearance. This mundane treatment is furthered by the summary modelling of the saint's habit with its strange rounded hood. The base follows an earlier style which may be found on two terracotta busts in the Rijksmuseum (Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1973, p. 345, Nos. 575-76). This bust has been published as by a Sienese contemporary of S. Bernardino in a garbled reference by Misciatelli, and more recently (PopeHennessy, 1974) as the work of the forger Giovanni Bastianini (1830-68) . Instead, it is the work of an unimaginative Tuscan sculptor of the last quarter of the fifteenth century. BIBLIOGRAPHY : P. Misciatelli, "Iconografia bernardino," La Diana, VII, 4, Siena, 1932, pp. 251-52. General Catalogue, pp. 272-73. Pope-Hennessy, 1964, I, p. 265. Pope-Hennessy, "The Forging of Italian Renaissance Sculpture," Apollo, 1974, pp. 257, 261, fig. 57.

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142.

Bust of S. John the Baptist

S2lwl

Florentine, ca. 1480 Workshop of Benedetto da Maiano Polychromed terracotta, H. 173/4 ", W. 173/4 ", D . 9 " (.45 x .45 x .23 m .) Purchased from Julius Bohler, Munich, 1897 The hair and tunic are red, the hair shirt dark brown. Overpaint has distorted the features, particularly the eyebrows. A crack in the left shoulder was repaired. A thermoluminescent test conducted in 1976 at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology at O xford established a date between 1360 and 1500. There are two other versions of this bust, one in terracotta in Washington, D .C. and the other a stucco in West Berlin (C. Seymour, Jr., Masterpieces of Scu lpture from the Na tion al Gallery of Art, Washington, D .C., 1949, p. 175, pls. 72-73; Schottmi.iller, 1933, No. 1793) . Both were at one time ascribed to Donatello (1386-1466) but have recently been attributed to the workshop of 114 J m

Benedetto da Maiano on a comparison with his work in the years around 1480. This includes, first of all, the figure of 5. John the Baptist in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, but also Benedetto's 5. Fina altarpiece, 5. Gimignano and the Madonna dell' Ulivo in the Prato cathedral. All three busts have been changed in appearance by repainting. The bust in Washington appears to have much of the original flesh tone and therefore provides an indication of how they all once looked. The Gardner bust differs from both of the others in the way in which the head is set on the neck and by the exaggerated strands of hair on top of the head. It lacks the ends of material protruding from the knot of the cloak, but in other respects is similar to the Washington bust. The head of the Berlin bust seems to derive from the Washington version, but the cloak, made with stucco and linen, differs significantly. The Gardner bust is an independent modelling but is essentially the same cast as that in Washington.


145.

143, 144.

Angels with Candlesticks

52lel3, 52lel5

Tuscan, after 1480 Workshop of Domenico Rosselli Limestone, H . 261/2", W. at base: 81/4" (.675 x .210 m.) Purchased from Consiglio Ricchetti, Venice, 1897 There are minor losses to S2lel3 on the base and left index finger, with chips in other places. The top of the candlestick is missing. The backs of the wings are left unfinished. The hair has drill holes and there are traces of yellow paint and gilding on the wings and hair. The backs of the head and wings of S21el5 are unfinished and the top of the candlestick has been stained. Middeldorf related these angels to the Madonna in Villa I Tatti, Settignano, which he had ascribed to Rosselli (" Some New Works by Domenico Rosselli," Burlington Magazine, LXII, April 1933, p. 166, pl. I, A). They seem to be later than Rosselli' s altarpiece in the cathedral at Fossombrone, which is signed and dated 1480. S21el5 is carved in lower relief and differs in details of the hair and candlestick, suggesting that it is by a different hand in the same shop . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, pp. 189-90.

Madonna and Child

S27el4

Ca. 1494-97 Benedetto da Maiano (Florentine, 1442-97) Polychromed and gilt terracotta, Diam. with frame : 41" (1.04 m .) Purchased from Stefano Bardini, Florence, 1899 The figures and frame are set into a wooden support. There is an inner ring of gesso decoration and an outer ring of terracotta flowers separated by a strip of gilded wood. A thin coat of white paint covers the figures of the Madonna and Child under which an earlier coat of white paint can be detected. The background is painted blue and the inner ring a lighter blue under the raised gilt decoration. Dark paint was used for the pupils of the eyes and the end of the Madonna's sleeve has a gilt band. There is a lateral break running through the necks, and from the Madonna's right arm running down to the frame. Plaster was used to patch a loss on the other arm below the shoulder and to fill the crescent under the cushion. The Child is missing the end of his right thumb and first two fingers . A thermoluminescent test conducted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1977 indicates that part of the frame and the Madonna's left arm were repaired, the latter perhaps in the seventeenth century. Bode published the Museum's relief (erroneously described as stucco), and dated it earlier than Benedetto's tondo above the Strozzi tomb which he found inferior to this. (The flowered frame appears to be a poor copy of the frame around the Strozzi tondo.) Venturi's attribution to Benedetto was reiterated by Cendali. The Virgin is similar to the Virgin in a marble relief by Benedetto for the S. Bartolo chapel in the church of Sant' Agostino, S. Gimignano. Both derive ultimately from Antonio Rossellino's tondos for tombs in S. Miniato, Florence and Monteoliveto, Naples (the latter commission finished by Benedetto before 1490) . In the S. Bartolo tondo the Virgin's cloak covers the seated Child' s left arm and her left hand is beneath him. Her right hand is placed higher to support his upraised right hand. In the Gardner version a fold of her cloak fills the space below her right hand approximately where, in the other relief, the Child's right leg is extended. The treatment of the Child in the Museum's tondo is unusual for Benedetto, although similar in certain respects to his Madonna and Child in the Oratory of S. Maria della Misericordia,

XV CENTURY CENTRAL ITALIAN

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Florence. The seated Madonna holds the standing Child with her left hand as she does in the tondo, the right hand placed at the knee to steady him. His weight is on the forward left leg, and he looks back over his shoulder at the Madonna. Here as in the tondo, the Child is in the act of turning away from the viewer. A comparison with the S. Bartolo tondo, dated ca. 1494, and the Madonna in S. Maria della Misericordia, in the sculptor' s possession in 1497, confirms Maclagan's assignment of this relief to 116

I III

the last decade of the century (Museum archives). It is probably not earlier than 1494, and indeed may have been among the many casts left in Benedetto's studio at the time of his death. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Denkmiiler, p. 113, No. 354b. A. Venturi, "Capolavori d'arte in una Galleria di Boston," Nazione della Sera, Florertce, 30 March 1925. L. Cendali, Giuliano e Benedetto da Maiano, San Casciano (Florence), n.d., p. 142. Madagan, pp. 150-51, fig. 168. General Catalogue, p. 235.


146.

Madonna and Child

527w9

Florentine, late XV century Workshop of Benedetto d a M aiano Polychromed stucco, Diam. 22 1/2" (.57 m.) Purchased from Mariano Rocchi, Perugia, 1903, through Joseph Lindon Smith The background has suffered more than the faces. Much of the original paint has been lost. Retouching was done in 1924. Areas of the blue cloak, red dress with brown sash and flesh tones were restored in 1969. The background and veil may once h ave been blue but are now overpainted. The Child's beads were restored in red. A long crack runs through the Madonna's neck and an area to her left has missing pieces. There are losses along the edge, and fingers missing on the Child's right hand . The leaf carved gilt frame is modern . The seated Madonna supports the Child with her right hand; his right hand is raised in benediction. They are surrounded by a border of angels' heads.

T his was fir t linked to Benedetto by Ma lagan (Museum arch ives) because of its similarities to a relief in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Pope-Hennessy, 1964, I, pp. 161-62, No. 136; II, p. 118, pl. 158) and the Madonna and hild marble relief, dated a. 1490, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yo rk (No. 41.190.137, Blumenthal colle tion; Denkmi:iler, p . 114, pl. 365b) . There are, in fa t, a number of almost identi al casts of thi s relief ; the closest and in best condition is that in the Museo Nazionale, Floren e (No . 17222) . Another was published in the catalogue of the George Grey Barnard collection, New York, ([1914), p. 23, No. 111, pl. XXXII) and dated a. 1500. Others are in the O spedale di S. Fin a, S. Gimignano, Casa di Raffaelo, Urbino, the hurch of S. Spirito, Prato, and the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va. These are generally accepted as based on Benedetto's des ign possibly from a lost work in marble. The arrangement of the Madonna and Child recalls Verrocchio' s Pistoia altarpie e which may have influenced the original. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Ca talogu e, p. 253.

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147. Tabernacle

S27w68

Florentine, late XV century Workshop of Andrea della Robbia Glazed polychromed terracotta, H. 30'', W . 19" (.76 x .48 m .) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897, through Fernand Robert, as the work of Andrea della Robbia A crack runs from midpoint in the door frame through the neck of the angel on the left. There are minor losses and slight abrasions in the glaze. A crack runs across the legs of the angel on the right. The angels are in three-quarter relief. The ceiling is set with a double row of coffers, white rosettes on a blue ground; faded purple inside the curtain is repeated in the doorways to right and left. Between the metal door and the floor there is a leaf bracket and disk (representing the Host) . The spandrel on the left has a red disk on a green ground suggesting porphyry

on marble; the arrangement is reversed on the right spandrel. Marquand (1912) published this as a work from Andrea's shop. He later (1922) added that "it may have had a Robbia frame resembling those in the Museo Nazionale, Nos. 26 and 33." The central relief in the tabernacle by Andrea's workshop in S. Pietro, Anchiano (1922, p. 89, No. 215, fig . 185) he catalogued as a modified reproduction of this one, and Nos . 26 and 33 as variations of that. These angels lack the long flowing lines and innocent expressions associated with Andrea' s figures, but in other respects reflect his style. The only tabernacle Marquand attributed to Andrea's hand is a simple design in the middle of the Vieri-Canigiani altarpiece, S. Croce, Florence (1922, pp. 37-38, No. 25, fig. 33). The others listed under his workshop are variations on the Museum's composition by different members of his shop. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Marquand, 1912, pp. 90, 99, fig. 40. Marquand, 1922, pp. 91- 92, No. 218, fig. 186. Gen-

eral Catalogue, p. 231.

118

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148.

Lamentation over the Dead Christ

S27w61

After 1514 Giovanni della Robbia (Florentine, 1469-1529) and workshop Glazed polychromed terracotta, H. 973/4", W. 63" (2.50 x 1 .60 m.) Purchased from the collection of Rev. Dr. Nevin, Rome, 1899, through Richard Norton

The altarpiece is in generally good condition with losses and restorations to Christ's torso, fingers, toes and loincloth and to the background at the left along the arch. The panel is composed of several single tablets joined with mortar. There are cracks in some of these which have been repaired. The hands and faces of the Lamentation group are deep and mottled, while those of the angels XVI CENTURY CENTRAL ITALIAN

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are white. The Madonna wears a brown tunic with a white head cloth under a dark blue mantle. The angels wear white robes over green tunics . S. John's mantle is blue, his tunic green. Yellow is used on his collar, for her neck band and wrist bands, for all the halos, for most of the fruit in the border, and for the rope moulding and the clouds. There is light blue sky above the horizon which becomes darker near the top. The inscription is from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, I.12 : •O VOS·OMNES QVI•TRANSITIS•PER VIAM·ATENDTE

of elements, some of which are repeated here {Marquand, 1922, pp. 95-97, No. 65, fig. 68) . Through documents, the Museo Nazionale Lamentation can be dated 1514-15 and a date not long after that can be offered for the present example. P. Schubring, Die italienische Plastik des Quattrocento, Potsdam, 1924, p . 99. Marquand, 1912, p . 119, fig. 48. Idem, Giovanni della Robbia, BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Princeton, 1920, p . 73, fig. 72. Madagan, p. 156. General Catalogue, p . 237. Pope-Hennessy, 1964, I, p. 239.

ET•VIDETE•SI EST·DOLOR·SIMILIS·SICVT DOLOR MEVS

(Oh all ye that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.) As the saints on either side of the inscription can be identified as S. Dominic and S. Anthony Abbot, this altarpiece may have been made for a Dominican church (Marquand, 1920). The Lamentation has been attributed to Giovanni della Robbia by Schubring. Originally, Madagan (Museum archives) referred to it as a workshop piece but in his printed lectures it appeared under Giovanni's name. Marquand {1912) accepted the Gardner Lamentation as Giovanni's work with the help of assistants, later (1920) suggesting workshop participation in the frame and background. He considered this altarpiece a variant of the Lamentation in the Museo Nazionale, Florence (No. 64). Although similar in composition and figure type, the two altarpieces differ in several respects. The larger dimensions of the Museo Nazionale Lamentation (2.9 x 2 .35 m .) permit a more spacious and better proportioned background : the cross and attending angels are smaller, additional figures populate the expanded landscape, and Veronica's handkerchief is omitted, as are all the halos. The attitudes of the figures in the central group als9 show some variation: Christ's head is held up by S. John and the Virgin, the Magdalene holds the urn to her breast and S. John gazes off to his right. Other minor variations are noted by Marquand who found the Gardner Museum's composition " more freel y conceived, the body of the dead Christ being more relaxed and more livid in color." While these changes increase the melodramatic effect, the proportions are less pleasing than in the more graceful earlier version in Florence. The inspiration for these large glazed terracotta altarpieces would seem to be the La Verna Crucifixion by Andrea della Robbia which used this inscription and similarly employed a profusion

120

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149.

Raffaello Riario, Cardinal Sansoni

527w71

Roman, early XVI century Marble, H. 223/s ", W . 18%", D. 8" (.568 x .480 x .203 m.) Formerly in the David Nathan collection. Purchased from Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, London, 1907, through Bernard Berenson, as Raffaello Riario, Cardinal Sansoni by Andrea Verrocchio He wears a dalmatic and his hair is tonsured. Minor chips are missing from the left eyelid and the edge of the left sleeve. There are two small holes in the top of the head. An earlier version in terracotta is in the Staatliche Museen, East Berlin in which he is wearing a rochet over a cassock. The bust is cut straight across above the elbows in the fifteenth century manner. Schottmiiller at first ascribed it to Benedetto da Maiano {Thieme-Becker, III, 1909, p. 312), but changed that to " Florentine, ca. 1480" (Schottmiiller, 1913, p. 84, No. 203). L. Dussler (B enedetto da Maiano, Munich, 1924, p. 79) proposed an attribution to Benedetto's workshop, and Schottmiiller then decided that the bust was modern and omitted it in her later catalogue (Schottmiiller, 1933). The marble copy was also seriously questioned at this time (General Catalogue). Since the inception of the museum in East Berlin, the terracotta has been on exhibition as the work of Benedetto, and a thermoluminescent test conducted at Oxford in 1974 confirmed its age (Museum archives). The identification of the Berlin bust was made in comparison with the profile on a bronze medal by Lysippus dated 1478 and bearing the name Riario and his title as Cardinal of 5. Giorgio. Another medal of him by Adriano Fiorentino has a profile of a more mature man (Schottmiiller, 1913) . Middeldorf published the Gardner Museum's bust as an early sixteenth century portrait for a


Roman tomb. Without venturing an attribution, he considered the bust strongly influenced by Andrea 5ansovino (1460-1529). On that dating, and unaware of the prior version in Berlin, he rejected Riario as the subject of a bust of such a young man. The bust is a portrait of Riario but most probably not intended for his tomb in 55. Apostoli, Rome. The tomb, for which no documents have been published, may be dated after 1535 on stylistic grounds. Raffaello Riario 5ansoni (1461-1521), son of Antonio 5ansoni and Violente Riario - sister of Cardinal Pietro Riario - was made cardinal in 1477 by his uncle Pope 5ixtus IV. He witnessed the Pazzi assassination of Giuliano dei Medici and left Florence with the others who were exiled. He appears in Melozzo da Forli's painting of the Inauguration of the Library of Sixtus IV, dated before 1478 (B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Central Italian and North Italian Schools, III, London, 1968, pl. 995), which hangs in the Vatican. Riario avoided Rome during the papacy of Alexander VI (1492-1503), returning in the years

when his cousin Julius II was pope (1503-1513). It was probably at this time that he or a close relative commissioned the marble copy. Again out of favor durin g the papacy of Leo X (1513-1521), Riario was connected with a plot against the pope in 1517 and eventually died in Naples. His body was later moved to Rome and placed in the tomb bearing his name and the titles Bishop of O stia, and Cardinal Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. Both h istorical and stylistic grounds support the proposal that the bust was probably commissioned in Rome as a copy of the existing terracotta, during the time when Riario was resident there in the beginning of the sixteenth century. The marble copy shows him in a dalmatic presumably as an allusion to h is position as cardinal deacon. It is also possible, however, as suggested by C. Avery (Museum archives) that the terracotta was made in the last decade of the fifteenth century and the marble copy immediately thereafter. BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p. 231. U. Middeldorf, review of A. Grisebach, Romische Portriitbiisten der Gegenreformation, Leipzig, 1936, in Art Bulletin, 1938,pp.115-16,n.16,fig. 4.

XVI CENTURY CENTRAL ITALIAN

i 121


150. Christ as the Man of Sorrows

527e35

Umbrian, XVI century Polychromed terracotta, H . 14" , W . 101/4 ", D. approx. 2" (.255 x .345 x .18 m .) Purchased from Mariano Rocchi(?), Perugia, 1903, through Joseph Lindon Smith T wo large breaks, on the upper right running th rough the cross, and lower right through the tomb, have been mended. Otherwise the piece is in good condition . The plaque becomes gradually th icker at the bottom. Ch rist stands in the tomb, h is hands crossed in fron t of h im. He wears the crown of thorns and a loin cloth ; his h alo has a Greek cross. Behind him a scourge h angs from a nail at either end of the horizontal bar of the cross. At the top of the cross on a plaque are the letters: INRI. The origin of the composition extends back a n umber of centuries and was popular in Italy in the first h alf of the fourteenth century (J. Stubblebine, " Segna d i Buonaventura and the Image of the Man of Sorrows," G esta, VIII, 2, 1969, pp. 3-13) . It only appears sporadically in the fifteenth century, and may be seen on the fra me of the Gardner Annunciation, dated ca. 1480 , wh ich also shares an Umbrian provenance (P. Hendy, European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1974, pp. 6-8) . Con sistent with its dating, the terracotta differs from the painted representation in the harder, more angular treatment of the features. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

122

I III

General Catalo gue, p. 247.

151. Bust of Bindo Altoviti

526e21

Ca. 1550 Benvenuto Cellini (Florentine, 1500-71) Bronze, H. 41 1/z", W. 27", D . 16" (1.055 x .685 x .405 m.) From the Palazzo Altoviti, Rome. Purchased from Colnaghi, London, 1898, through Bernard Berenson The black patina has worn, particularly on the cloak. Repairs have been made in six places in the folds along the front of the bust. Two of these occurred when the mount was changed. It was cleaned and waxed in 1957. The bust is over life-size, the lower edge is an irregular arc defined at the bottom by the folds of the cloak. The deep folds contrast with the smooth undulating coat, open at the center to show the ruffles of a soft shirt. These vertical folds disappear behind the luxurious beard which encircles the neck and face. The prominent lower lip, large nose, and heavy eyelids under thick brows stand out from the soft lines of the cheeks and forehead . Above the band of his woven cap is a semicircular geometric device. The original base has the rampant wolf of the Altoviti coat of arms. In his Autobiography, Cellini wrote : I had made a life-sized bust in bronze of Bindo Altoviti, the son of Antonio, and had sent it to him at Rome. He set it up in his study, which was very richly adorned with antiquities and other works of art; but the room was not designed for statues or for paintings, since the windows were too low, so that the light coming from beneath spoiled the effect they would have produced under more favourable conditions. It happened one day that Bindo was standing at his door, when Michel Agnolo Buonarroti, the sculptor, passed by; so he begged him to come in and see his study. Michel Agnolo followed, and on entering the room and looking round, he exclaimed : " Who is the master who made that good portrait of you in so fine a manner? You must know that that bust pleases me as much, or even more, than those antiques ; and yet there are many fine things to be seen among the latter. If those windows were above instead of beneath, the whole collection would show to greater advantage, and your portrait, placed among so many masterpieces, would hold its own with credit." No sooner had Michel Agnolo left the house of Bindo than he wrote me a very kind letter, which ran as follows: " My dear Benvenuto, I have known you for




many years as the greatest goldsmith of whom we have any information; and henceforward I shall know you for a sculptor of like quality. I must tell you that Messer Bindo Altoviti took me to see his bust in bronze, and informed me that you had made it. I was greatly pleased with the work; but it annoyed me to notice that it was placed in a bad light; for if it were suitably illuminated, it would show itself to be the fine performance that it is." (Cellini, 1949 ed., pp. 369-70) The letter from Michelangelo exists only in the Autobiography but it has been accepted as authentic (G . Milanesi, Le Lettere di Michelangelo Buonorroti, Florence, 1875, p . 532) and is dated 1552 on the evidence in the Autobiography and other documents. Cellini exaggerated the praise according to Bacci (Cellini, 1901 ed., p . 369, n. 1). He not only related the story and quoted the letter, but added " This letter abounded with the most affectionate and complimentary expressions toward myself . .. ."Again in chapter LXXX, he wrote: When I reached Rome, I went to lodge in Bindo Altoviti's house. He told me at once how he had shown his bronze bust to Michel Agnolo, and how the latter had praised it. So we spoke for some length upon this topic. (Cellini, 1949 ed., pp. 370-71) Cellini was in Rome to arrange his finances. Altoviti had lent Cosimo dei Medici, Duke of Florence, some 5000 golden crowns including 1200 placed by Cellini with him to gain interest. For that reason Cellini said he had taken the commission for the bust. He had been paid 50 golden scudi on delivery of the wax model. This sum and the payment for the finished bronze he waived on agreement with Altoviti that he should receive 15 % on his 1200 crowns for life . The fate of this agreement after Altoviti's death is reported by Plon. The bust can be dated ca. 1550, placing it in the middle of his work on the Perseus which was unveiled in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, in 1554. It followed his other surely documented portrait, the bronze bust of Cosimo (1547). Although both busts share a sense of movement, in the turn of the head and the folds of the cloak, Cosimo is presented with a ferocious aspect which is reinforced by the highly decorated and intricately designed armor which covers his broad chest. One appears as a Roman emperor, the other as a philosopher. Bindo Altoviti (1491-1557) was from a noble Florentine family whose members had distinguished themselves in various commercial, civic,

military and ecclesiastical pursuits for two centuries . His father moved to Rome where Bindo was born and where, as a successful banker, he passed his active life. As a known enemy of the Medici, he was the center of a circle of Cosimo's adversaries . Like Cosimo, however, he was long associated with the artists of his time. Besides his portrait by Raphael in the National Gallery, Washington, D .C., ca. 1513, there is a bronze medal of him in late life in the Museo Nazionale, Florence. He is seen in profile wearing a loose coat, and the same woven cap shown on the bust. The medal is inscribed BIND•ALTOV and on the reverse side there is a standing woman with her arms around a column. It has been attributed to Michelangelo and Cellini. Plon (p. 336) mentions that some numismatists attribute it to Leone Leoni (150990). The catalogue for a recent exhibition (F. Rosati, Medaglie e Placchette italiane dal Rinascimento al XVII Secolo, Florence, 1965-66, No. 104) lists it under Cellini, with reservations, commenting that it was inspired by Michelangelo. This bust was seen in the late nineteenth century by E. P. Warren in the Palazzo Altoviti on the Tiber near the Ponte Sant' Angelo, Rome. He recommended its purchase to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. When no action was taken, he told Berenson about it (Museum archives) which presumably led to its purchase by him for Mrs. Gardner in 1898. There is no record of its whereabouts during the years following the destruction of the Palazzo Altoviti in 1889. E. Pion, Benvenuto Cellini, Orfevre, Medailleur, Sculpteur, Paris, 1883, pp. 221-23, pl. XIX. E. Molinier, Benvenuto Cellini, Paris, 1894, pp. 86-88, illus. p . 64. [B. Cellini], Vita d . Benvenuto Cellini, 0 . Bacci, ed., Florence, 1901, p . 369, n . 1. Thieme-Becker, VI, 1912, p. 274. R. Cust, Benvenuto Cellini, Chicago, 1912, pp. 133-34, illus. p. 132. A. Venturi, Storia dell' Arte Italiana, X, II, Milan, 1936, pp. 471-72, fig. 348. Madagan, pp. 238-39, fig. 122. General Catalogue, pp. 217-18. [B. Cellini], The Life of Benvenuto Cellini Written by Himself, J. A . Symonds, trans., J. Pope-Hennessy, ed., London, 1949, pp. 369-71, 489, pl. XXXVIII. E. Camesasca, Tutta !'opera del Cellini, Milan, 1955, pp. 24, 46, pis. 66-67, p. 67. A. Stella, " Bindo Altoviti," Diziona rio Biografico degli Italiani, II, Rome, 1960, pp. 574-75. J. Pope-Hennessy, Italian High R enaissance and Baroque Sculpture, London, 1963, I, p . 95, fig. 122; Ill, p. 69. D. Heikamp, Benvenuto Cellini, I maestri della scultura, 30, Milan, 1966, pl. XVI. Stout, p. 184, illus. p. 185.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

XVI CENTURY CENTRAL ITALIAN \ 125


152.

Capital with Angel

S3lw5

Venetian, XII-XIII and XV century Marble, H . 201/z" , W. 241/4", D. 19" (.52 x .615 x .48 m.)

Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1899 The Corinthian type capital has lost part of the acanthus leaf on the side to the angel's right, and has been cut off in the back eliminating the volutes, a portion of two leaves and, perhaps, one whole leaf. The edges are worn and there are minor losses throughout. The half-length angel is missing its right arm; its left sleeve and hand have been chipped. There is a square hole in the center of the top of the capital. The capital was recorded by Goldschmidt (Museum archives) as Venetian twelfth century, Romanesque in style, with a fifteenth century angel attached. The angel is certainly dated correctly by comparison with examples in Venice as in the figures over the canal door of the Palazzo Agnusdio (E. Arslan, Gothic Architecture in V enice, tr. A. Engel, London, 1972, fig. 156) . BIBLIOG R APHY:

General Catalogue, p . 279.

153.

Virgin Borne to Heaven

S5wl

Venetian, ca. 1400 Stone, H . 401/s", W. 243/s " (1.02 x .62 m.) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1900 There is water stain and erosion in places but no significant loss in the figures . Because of its present location, the photograph used is from the time of purchase. The figure could be S. Elena, who was also borne to heaven, but that is less likely. It is a straightforward unsophisticated work of the kind that may be seen set into the far;:ades of Venetian palaces.

154, 155.

Two Lions Supporting Columns S21n15-s, S21n17-s Venetian, XV century Stone, H. 19", L. 23 1/z", W . of base : 133/s" (average) (.482 x .596 x .339 m.) Provenance unknown The muzzle of the lion on the left has been replaced in plaster, including the entire lower jaw and up to the bridge of the nose. The other has a similar repair to a section of the upper jaw and

126

I III


left nostril. There is a piece missing from the lower jaw and the tongue. The claws and tail have been chipped on both lions. The alert, upright posture of these lions places them in the fifteenth century, but they are derived from an earlier style which may be seen in the lions supporting columns flanking the main altar in San Marco, Venice (E. Arslan, Gothic Architecture in Venice, tr. A. Engel, London, 1972, fig. 92) . BIBLIOGRAPHY:

156. Lion

General Catalogue, p.

175.

Sl2w22

Venetian, XV century Stone, H . 161/2", W. 8" , D . 12" (.42 x .205 x .305 m.) Said to have come from the Palazzo ContariniFasan (Casa Desdemona), Venice. Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1899 The lion is seated, supporting a shield between his forepaws; the hind legs and part of the shield are broken and partly missing. The coat of arms is a fleur-de-lis over a fowl, perhaps a pheasant as an allusion to Contarini-Fasan. Lions of this kind were placed at the corners of balustrades on the balconies of Venetian homes. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p.

79.

XV CENTURY NORTH ITALIAN \ 127


157.

Post with Lion and Shield

55s43

Venetian, XV century lstrian stone, overall H . 61", W. of post: 83/4 " , H. of lion : 161/s" (1.549 x .222 x .409 m .) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1897 The lion is cracked along the base. The upper part of the shield and the outstretched paw are modern. The bottom of the shield and the other paws are broken. The top of the post is finished on two adjacent sides with a leaf-carved astragal; an engaged colonette with a capital is attached to a third side but stops short of the top of the post. A slot in the post above the colonette and a similar slot on the fourth side suggest that the post was used on a corner of a stone rail, with colonettes forming the balusters. The post is crowned by a seated lion that holds a shield with a cross ending at the bottom in an arrow. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Ca talogue, p. 46.

arms showing the stigmata is used by the Franciscan order. From its dependence on similar figures by Bartolommeo Buon (ca. 1374-1476) in the Porta della Carta, Venice (1438-42) and his relief in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (No. 251882), dated ca. 1445-50, the angel can be safely assigned to the middle of the fifteenth century. The <lentil frame and foliate decoration are of the same period but not the coat of arms which appears to be a later addition. 159.

Tabernacle in a Triptych

512n5

Middle of the XV century Bartolomeo Giolfino (Veronese, ca. 1410-86) Limestone, H. 92", W. 63" (2.335 x 1.60 m.) Purchased from Antonio Carrer, Venice, 1897 The tabernacle stood out of doors for a few years on Mrs. Gardner's Brookline estate which contributed to its weathered condition. As the piece was moved and reassembled several times, there are losses along the vertical joints on either side of the central columns. The stone is extremely soft which has caused losses overall. The vine decoration at the base is restored. In 1971 the exposed surface was treated in an effort to consolidate the stone.

158.

Angel with Coat of Arms

55w

Venetian, middle of the XV century Marble, H. 321/s", W. 21%" (.816 x .555 m.) Purchased from Moise dalla Torre, Venice, 1899 The coat of arms has been cleaned but the rest of the relief is darkened by sulfation. The crossed 128

I III

The central panel is of a grayish stone, the side panels buff-colored. Paint is visible on the underside of raised surfaces. The central niche includes a compartment where a door of metal or wood once contained the host. Above this is the figure of Christ as the Man of Sorrows. In the niche to the left is 5. John the Baptist, to


the right a young knight, perhaps S. Felix, S. Fortunatus, or S. George (G. Kaftal, Museum archives). The half-figures of the Annunciation with God the Father in the middle holding the dove rest on foliated pinnacles. This triptych was once thought to be of partially or completely modern workmanship, no doubt because of its altered appearance. The attribution to Bartolomeo Giolfino was published by Middeldorf. The decorative Gothic elements, intricate tracery, crockets and columns, combined with early Renaissance shells in the niches may be found on a large wooden altarpiece in the Accademia, Venice or on a fragment of a tabernacle in stone in the parish church at Colognola. Both have been ascribed to Bartolomeo's hand even though the Giolfini were a

family of sculptors and probably collaborated on large commissions. The fragment at Colognola, dated 1433 (G. Fogolari, Bolletino d' Arte, III, 1909, p. 390, ill.), as Middeldorf noted, " has the same idiosyncratic details . .. , in particular the flamboyant finials above the shells topping the niches." The altarpiece in the Accademia, dated 1470 (Ibid., pp. 167 ff.), is even closer in style to this tabernacle and preserves the same general structure and many details . A date between these two seems reasonable. Gen eral Catalogue, pp. 7 6 -77. U. Middeldorf, "Three Sculptors of the Veneto Represented at Fenway Court," Fenway Court 1973, Boston, 1974, pp. 6-8, figs. 8-9.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

XV CENTURY NORTH ITALIAN

i 129


160

160.

Medal of Filippo Maria Visconti (1391-1447) 51Sw30 Ca. 1440 Pisanello (Antonio Pisani, North Italian, ca. 1395-1455/ 6) Lead, Diam. 43/s" (.101 m .) Purchased at the sale of the Spitzer collection (No. 1387), Paris, 1893, through Gustave Dreyfus, and Ralph W. Curtis The medal shows signs of corrosion in the raised areas of the obverse. The obverse is inscribed : PHILIPPVS•MARIA •ANGL VS•DVX•MEDIOLANI• ECETERA•PAPIE•ANGLERIE•QVE•COMES• AC•GENVE•DOMINVS•

There is a raised border flattened at the top with a hole pierced in it. The edge is rounded. Visconti's profile is to the right; he wears a hat that h as a wide band and a crown with soft folds . His coat is brocade; on his sleeve is a dove encircled by a wreath under a crown. The inscription has his titles, Duke of Milan, Count of Pavia and Angera and Lord of Genoa. Angulus refers to the legendary lineage of the Visconti of which he was the last. The reverse is incribed: OPVS•PISANI•PICTORIS•

The three horsemen are the Duke, with a helmet bearing the Visconti crest, a knight and a groom. The city in the background is probably meant to 130 1

m

be Milan. A figure holding a scepter in the upper right could be an allusion to his ducal rank. The medal is No. 21 in Hill (I, p. 8; II, pl. 4) who did not list this particular cast. BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p . 99. F. den Broeder, " Italian Renaissance Medals," Fenway Court, vol. 1, no. 4 , Boston, 1967, pp. 27-28, 31.

161.

Medal of NiccolO Piccinino (1350-1444) 51Sw32 Ca. 1441 Pisanello (North Italian, ca.1395-1455/ 6) Bronze, Diam. 33/s" (.086 m.) Purchased at the sale of the Spitzer collection (No. 1363), Paris, 1893, through Gustave Dreyfus, and Ralph W. Curtis The observe is inscribed : NICOLAVS• PICININVS• VICECOMES•MARCHIO• CAPITANEVS·MAX·(imus) AC•MAl•A.E·

There is a hole at the top of the borderless edge and traces of a black patina. Niccolo Piccinino is shown in left profile. As the successful commander of the Milanese against the Venetians he was adopted by Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, about the time of the peace treaty of 1439. The medal was struck a year or two after that. He wears a hat with a high crown and what appears to be a coat over armor or perhaps a high necked blouse.


The inscription refers to his adoption and his military power. The reverse is inscribed : BRACCIVS• PISANI• P•OPVS •N • PICININVS

The griffin, symbol of Perugia, is suckling two infants, an allusion to the legend of Romulus and Remus. It also represents Piccinino and his master in the art of war, Braccio da Montone, who were both Perugians. The inscription includes both their names and Pisanello's. The medal is No. 22 in Hill (I, p. 8; II, pl. 4) who did not list this particular cast. G eneral Catalogue, p . 100. F. den Broeder, "Italian Renaissance Medals," Fenway Court, vol. 1, no. 4, Boston, 1967, pp. 25-27.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

162.

Medal of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417-68)

S15w31

Ca.1445 Pisanello (North Italian, ca. 1395-1455/ 6) Bronze, Diam. 3 1/2" (.089 m .) Purchased at the sale of the Spitzer collection (No. 1384), Paris, 1893, through Gustave Dreyfus, and Ralph W . Curtis This is a poor cast, the chasing around the inscription inferior to that of the figure. There are traces of a black patina. The obverse is inscribed : SIGISMVNDVS•PANDVLFVS•DE•MALATESTIS· ARIMINI•FANl•D

162

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, the Duke of Rimini, is shown in right profile wearing chain mail under a sleeveless garment brocaded with the Malatesta rose. Sigismondo was the victorious commander of the Venetian and Florentine troops against those of Filippo Maria Visconti (see No. 160) at the battle of Anghiari in 1440. The inscription refers to him as the Lord of Rimini and Fano. The reverse is inscribed : OPVS•PISANl•PICTORIS

Sigismondo stands in full armor. To his right on a rose bush there is a griffin-like elephant, another heraldic symbol of the Malatesta, encircled by a crown. To Sigismondo's left is his coat of arms. This is No. 33 in Hill (I, p . 10; II, pl. 6) who did not list this particular cast. General Catalo gue, pp. 99-100. F. den Broeder, " Italian Renaissance Medals," Fenway Court, vol. 1, no. 4, Boston, 1967, pp. 29, 31.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

163.

Medal of Isotta degli Atti da Rimini (d. 1470) S15w33 Dated 1446 Matteo de' Pasti (Veronese, d. 1467 / 8) Bronze, Diam. 3 1/4'' (.082 m.) Purchased from Gustave Dreyfus, Paris, 1893, through Ralph W. Curtis A small hole is cut in the top. There are traces of a black patina.

163 XV CENTURY NORTH ITALIAN \ 131


The obverse is inscribed: D•ISOTTAE ARIMINENSI

Isotta, Sigismondo Malatesta's mistress then fourth wife, is shown in right profile. Her forehead is shaved in the fashion of the time and her hair falls from a headdress. The reverse has the Malatesta elephant and the date inscribed : M•CCCC•XLVI· Matteo made a number of different medals of Isotta. Another of approximately the same size shows her in a different dress, a veil covering her hair. I ts reverse shows two rose bushes with the Malatesta elephant, and Matteo's name as well as the date (1446) are inscribed. Matteo no doubt learned the art of medal casting from Pisanello. This is No. 187 in Hill (I, p. 43; II, pl. 35) who did not list this particular cast. BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p. 100. F. den Broeder, "Italian Renaissance Medals," Fenway Court, vol. 1, no. 4, Boston, 1967, pp. 30-32.

date, may be seen on the courtyard staircase of the Ca' d'Oro, Venice, built between 1420 and 1430. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 79.

165.

Madonna and Child

512sl

Venetian, third quarter of the XV century Istrian stone, H. 48", W. 351/2", D. 23/s" (1.22 x .90 x .06 m.) Purchased from Consiglio Ricchetti, Venice, 1897 Areas of blackened sulfation were removed in 1977 : the accompanying photograph was taken during treatment. There are traces of polychromy and gilt still visible. The stone has weathered and the frame has losses. The coat of arms is that of the Venier family from which three members were elected Doge of Venice. No exact parallel to the composition has been found. A connection with Paduan sculpture influenced by Donatello (1386-1466) was suggested by Madagan (Museum archives), with reference to the stucco relief of the Madonna and Child with Angels, formerly in the Benda collection, Vienna (W. von Bode, Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, Berlin, 1902, p . 90, fig. 48).

164.

Head of a Woman

512w19

Venetian, second half of the XV century Istrian stone, H. 18", W. 61/2", D. 31/4" (.455 x .165 x .21 m.) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1899 The nose and lips have been indifferently restored. The head is carved in one piece with the supporting stone block which is in architrave form with an ovolo moulding at the top. On the undersides are slots for dowels. This is probably from the rail of a staircase balustrade. Heads of this kind, but of an earlier

An attribution of "follower of Donatello" (General Catalogue) was unacceptable to PopeHennessy (Museum archives) who thought it Venetian but under Tuscan influence. Middeldorf (Museum archives) finds a similarity between this Madonna and the Virtues on the Foscari tomb in S. Maria del Frari, Venice, which is a work of ca. 1460. The tomb has been thought until recently to be by Antonio Bregno (1421-1506). W. Wolters (La Scultura Veneziana Gatica (1300-1460), Venice, 1976, I, pp. 131-33; II, figs. 863-69) attributes the tomb to an anonymous sculptor influenced by Andrea del Castagno' s work in Venice, notably the designs for the mosaics in the Mascoli chapel, San Marco (1443). He suggests that the sculptor was associated with the Arco Foscari (1462-71) in the Doge's Palace. The feeling of movement, as if in the act of withdrawing, the severe features, and abundant soft folds of heavy material in the Virtues may be seen in the Museum's relief. There are examples of reliefs in which a large coat of arms is surmounted with an angel, but one of such proportions with a Madonna and Child is without precedent and suggests a commission for a private house. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

132

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General Catalogue, pp. 79-80



166.

Head of an Angel

512w15

Venetian, after 1480 M arble, H . 73/4 " (.197 rn.) Perhaps the head purchased from Antonio Carrer, Venice, 1897 The head was broken off below the neck. The hair on top and back of the head is in very low relief, and deeper with drill holes on the sides and forehead . The head presumably was made for a tomb or altarpiece figure. An indication of the style is provided by the two standing pages with shields, formerly on the tomb of Giovanni Erno in the church of S. Maria dei Servi, Venice and now in the Louvre (Paoletti, p. 150, figs . 20-21) . These are by Antonio Rizzo (d. 1499/ 1500) and dated after 1483.

167.

Entombment of Christ

531w3

Ca. 1483-87 Giovanni Minelli (Paduan, ca. 1460-1527) Polychrorned terracotta, Entombment group : H . 36" , W. 45" , D. 5" (.915 x 1.145 x .125 rn.) ; single figure : H. 41", W . 18" , D. 71/2" (1.04 x .46 x .19 rn.) Formerly in the church of S. Agostino, Padua, until its demolition in 1829; in the private chapel of Count Schio, Costozza, 1840; acquired by Emilio Costantini, Florence, 1897, who sold it to Mrs. Gardner within the year, through Bernard Berenson, as the work of Bartolornrneo Bellano The figures are in three-quarter relief; the back of the half-length Entombment group is flat, that 134

1

m


of the full-length single figure hollowed out. The group was made in three pieces, vertical joints separating the three figures. The polychromy of uncertain age has flaked throughout. Areas of restoration include the tips of the noses, the hem of the Virgin's garment, and the right wrist of the girl. The Virgin wears a white veil, blue cloak and red tunic. S. John has on a green mantle with red lining over a red tunic with green cuffs. Christ wears a gray-white loin cloth. The kneeling girl holds a prayer book. She wears a red mantle, open in front revealing a green gown with brocaded sleeves. A double string of beads with a cross pendant is worn at the neck, while on her head is a laurel wreath. Her hair, as well as that of Christ and S. John, is painted gold.

The girl is Carlotta, an illegitimate daughter of James II, the last king of Cyprus from the house of Lusignan. With his death in 1473, his wife Caterina Cornaro became the ruler of Cyprus. In order to thwart an attempt to seize the throne the Venetians removed the young girl to Padua where she died in 1480 at the age of twelve. The Entombment group with its praying figure was cited in early documents of the Dominican church of S. Agostino, Padua (lnscriptiones F. Desyderii Lignaminei Patavini . .. / 1561; Ms. in the Biblio del Museo Civico di Padova, as noted in Fabriczy, p. 69, n . 1). The records indicate that these four figures decorated the altar of S. Salvatore, also known as the altar of the Crucifix, which was erected in the left transept in S. Agostino in 1483 and consecrated in 1487. XV CENTURY NORTH ITALIAN \

135


The mother of James II donated the altar in memory of Carlotta, whose grave was placed at the bottom of the altar steps. By 1761 the crumbling altar had been replaced and the figures were set into the wall near a new altar. Fabriczy' s article on Minelli covers the significant sources an d provides the attribution for the Entombment. It is among the sculptor's earliest works, and clearly demonstrates h is debt to Bartolommeo Bellano (ca. 1434-1496/ 7) with whose name the Gardner Entombmen t was originally associated (Bode, 1891; Berenson , M useum arch ives.) Fabriczy's attribution to Minelli was accepted by Venturi, Bode (1911), Planiscig and Madagan. The Museum's relief h as marked sim ilarities to an Entombment group of Christ, the Virgin an d S. John attributed to Andrea Riccio (d. 1532) in the abbey of Carrara near Padua (L. Planiscig, Andrea Riccio, Vienna, 1927, p . 39) . BIBLIOGRAPHY : W. von Bode, " Lo scultore Bartolomeo Bellano da Padova," Archiv io S torico dell' Arte, IV, 1891, p. 409 . C. von Fabriczy, "Giovanni Minello. Ein Paduaner Bildner vom Ausgang des Quattrocento," Jahrbuch der Koniglich Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen, XXVIII, 1 907, p. 65, fig. 2, pp. 68-71. A. Venturi, Storia dell' Arte italiana, VI, Milan, 1908, p. 493, n. 2. W. von Bode, "Alte Kunst in den Vereinigten Staaten," D ie Woche, SO, 1911, p. 2100. Planiscig, p. 158. Madagan, pp. 1 78 , 1 80, fig. 86. General Catalogue, p. 279. Stout, p. 208, illus.

168.

Doorway with Relief of S. George and the Dragon 50n4 Genoese, XV century Marble, Relief : H. 26", W . 82" (.66 x 2.082 m.) Doorframe overall : H. 1593,4 " , W . 94" (4.057 x 2 .387 m.) Purchased from Emilio Costantini, Florence, 1897 The lintel and right base are cracked. The relief has been stained by the copper roofing above it. A s the crest is blank, the relief may have been on a public building. A doorway with this grapevine decoration in Savona is illustrated in H . Kruft, Portali Genovesi del Rinascimento, Florence, 1971, fig. 7, along with a number of similar marble doorways with reliefs of S. George above. Two reliefs of S. George and the Dragon from Genoese doorways. are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, catalogued as style of Giovanni Gaggini who was active in Genoa after 1449 (Pope-Hennessy, 1964, I, pp. 389-90, Nos. 412, 413 ; III, pp. 250-51, figs. 410-11). These are slate and more elaborately finished by a better hand than the Gardner relief. The style of all three, however, shows a common origin.

p . 209.

168

detail



169.

Petrus Bon

527w76

Venetian, late XV century Marble, H. 183/4 ", W. 145/s", D. 2 3/4" (.475 x .37 x .07 m .) Said to h ave been fo und in a villa near the Lateran . Purchased in Rome, 1901, th rough Richard Norton The plaque was broken in several places. There is a chip out of the upper eyelid. The incised inscription reads:

ing and Sculptur~, Copenhagen, 1969, pl. CXVIIb). This last, also ascribed to Pietro Lombardo as a portrait of a member of the Pesaro family from the first decades of the sixteenth century, is the closest in style to the relief in this Museum. All of these should be dated before 1500.

Because similar reliefs may be found in other parts of northern Italy, often with local characteristics, the connection with Pietro Lombardo should b e regarded as an indication of a general rather than a specific style.

PETRVS•BON• TREMOLVS

This is one of a number of relief portraits on square p laques which , for the most part, are associated with Pietro Lombardo (ca. 1435-1515) . Three in Ven ice are illustrated in P. Paoletti (pp. 239-40), one in the Museo Correr, and two in the Seminario ; others are in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, Ams terdam, 1973, p . 363, No. 610, attributed to Pietro Lombardo) and the Royal Museum, Copenhagen (H. Olsen , Italian Paint138

I III

The inscription has not provided certain identification of the sitter. Pietro Bon as a man's name was n ot uncommon and often appeared in conjunction with a third name (two are listed in A . Superbi, Apparato de gli huomini illustri della citta di Ferrara, Ferrara, 1620, pp. 70 , 88). As a place name, T remolus could refer to the valley of Tremolo in the Saint Gotthard Pass or to a village in northern Italy or abroad. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p.

232.


170, 171.

Angel Gabriel and Virgin

527e45-s,

527e47-s Ca.1500 Giovanni Antonio Pilacorte (Venetian, d. 1531) Limestone, Angel: H . 21 1/z" (.546 m.), Virgin : H. 221/z" (.571 m.), Both : W . 101/2", D. 63/4" (.267 x .171 m .) Purchased from Consiglio Ricchetti, Venice, 1890 Two sides of each capital are unfinished and the bottoms of each are cut, undoubtedly from the time of their removal. The angel's nose and the Virgin's chin and nose have been repaired. These half-figures, each carved in the comer block of an entablature, represent the Annunciation. The inscriptions incised on the frieze are Gabriel's greeting AVE and Mary' s reply FIAT. Middeldorf identified these figures as corning from a choir rail, influenced by Tullio Lombardo's balustrade for the main altar in S. Maria dei Miracoli, Venice (before 1489) . On the basis of Giuseppe Bergamini's book Giovanni Antonio

Pilacorte Lapicida (Udine, 1970), Middeldorf published the above attribution in which comparison is made with Pilacorte's choir rails in Spilimbergo and Seguals (Ibid ., pp. 17, 37, pls. XLII-XLIX; pp. 19, 37, pls. LXXIII-LXXV). As these are signed and dated 1498 and 1504 respectively, they establish a date of around 1500 for the Gardner pair. Like the choir rail in Venice and those in Friuli, the figures were once placed at the end or the comer of an elaborate communion rail. The balustrade in Spilimbergo has carved leaves on the frieze comparable with the fragment of decorative motif under the figure of the Virgin in the Gardner Museum. In these examples of Pilacorte's work, he simplified Tullio's style, restricting the movement of the arms which remain part of the original block. G eneral Catalogue, p. 252. U. Middeldorf, "Three Sculptors of the Veneto Represented at Fenway Court," Fenway Court 1973, Boston, 1974, pp. 2-3, figs. 1-2.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

XVI CENTURY NORTH ITALIAN \

139


172.

S. Peter Martyr

S31s3

Lombard, ca. 1500 Polychromed and gilt willow, H . 405/s", W.153/s", D . 6 1/4" (1.03 x .155 x .158 m.) Purchased from M. Guggenheim, Venice, 1897, as a praying monk by Ambrogio Foppa Caradosso (North Italian, 1446-1530) Paint loss is minor but the tips of the middle fingers, a piece of the collar, and a diagonal strip on the front of the garment are missing and the bottom edge of the cloak has broken off at the front. A wedge cut at the shoulder may have held a relic. The sca r across the top of the head is the sword wound that identifies the figure of 5. Peter Martyr. The black h abit of the Dominican's has stipplelike gold decoration and a gold border of flowers and vase-like o rnaments, with what appears to be a n inscription along the hem and neckline. The sa int' s bea rd is gold on brown paint and his fa ce a nd hands a re fl esh tones. The head has been fini shed in three-quarter relief, the rest in half relief. No corresponding figure is known, but from the same anonymous hand are two scenes in relief on wood panel. One is the Martyrdom of 5. Peter M a rtyr in the Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida (No. 1227, .96 x .58 m .) and the other is the Meeting of 55. Dominic and Francis in the Staatliche Museen, West Berlin (Schottmi.iller, 1933, pp. 129-30, No . 246, .86 x .SO m . - probably reduced in size) . In the latter, the same figure of 5. Peter in the two examples above appears as 5. Dominic, and the figure to his right in the Martyrdom may now be seen behind him. The two 55. Peters and 5. Dominic have almost identical modelling of the faces, hands and angular folds of the black habit. The gilt decoration is identical. Malaguzzi-Va leri (G iovann i Antonio A madeo, Bergamo, 1904, p . 330) attributed the Berlin panel, the C rucifixion in the same museum, and the Betrayal of Christ in Castiglione d'Olona to an anonymous pupil of Amadeo. Schottmi.iller catalogued both Berlin panels (Nos. 245-46) as school of Amadeo and listed three other panels as from the sam e altarpiece as the Meeting of 55. D ominic and Fran cis. Certainly the two Berlin panels are no t by the sam e h and and are only associated with the others illustra ted by Malag uzzi-Valeri b ecau se they are late fifteenth cen tury Lombard in style. That style reflects the influence not only of Amadeo, but also of the o ther leading fi gures of the Lombard Renaissance whose monumental work in centers s uch as

Bergamo, Milan and Pavia was imitated in an eclectic manner by a number of anonymous wood carvers. The 5. Peter Martyr in this museum and the two panels connected with it are among the better examples of this production. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Gen eral Catalogue, p. 278. R. Hadley, "Wood Sculpture in Renaissance Lombardy," Fenw ay Court 1976, Boston, 1977, pp. 30-35, fig. 1.


1 74.

173.

S. John the Baptist

Deacon Saint

S5e23

S5e26

North Italian, early XVI century Limestone, H. 35 %", W. 15" (.911 x .381 m.J Purchased from A. Clerle, Venice, 1897

North Italian, early XVI century Limestone, H . 36", W . 15 1/z" (.914 x .393 m .) Purchased from A . Clerle, Venice, 1897

There is damage to the right hand and the toes, and the niche has been cut from a larger composition with resulting losses on every side. There are traces of polychrom y.

His right foo t is m issing and there are losses along the edge of the n ich e. T races of polych rom y are visible.

The saint is carved in high relief out of the n iche. He holds a scroll and a book in his left hand. The thin angular legs under the short hair shirt, and the summary treatment of the h air and cloak suggest the influence of Lombardy rather than the Veneto. The niche could have been done at anytime after 1450, but the figures follow the late fifteenth century style and probably were made for a tomb or altarpiece in a rural church at the beginning of the sixteenth century. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p.

43.

A companion to the saint above, this may be S. Stephen. He holds a book in h is left hand and a censor in his right. His hair is tonsured, and on his maniple there is a Greek cross. A small pouch on his right hand may h ave h eld the palm of m artyrdom . BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p .

43.

175.

S. Christopher

SlOsl

North Italian, early XVI century Istrian ston e, H . 43" (1.09 m.) Purch ased from A . Clerle, Venice, 1897 The left arm, wh ich may h ave been in a more horizontal position, and the left foot with a portion of the b ase are restored. Th ere is a hole XVI CEN TURY NORTH ITA LIAN

I 141


The saint was probably made for the fa<;ade of a church. An example of a 5 . Christopher, not too distant s tylistically from this, is found over the main entrance of the Church of the Madonna dell'Orto, Venice. It is ascribed to Bartolommeo Buon and dated after 1460, and it too was discolored until its cleaning in 1969 (A. Clarke and P. Rylands, ed., Restoring Venice, Th e Church of the Madonna dell' Orto, London, 1977) . The use and meaning of such figures on North Italian churches is discussed by H . Janson (" The Meaning of the Giganti," in II Duomo di Milano, Milan, 1969, pp. 61-76) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, pp. 62-63.

176.

Madonna della Ruota della Carita

512s4

Dated 1522 Giovanni Maria Mosca (Paduan, active 1515-73) Istrian stone, H. overall: 65"; Main panel, H. 383/s", W . 40", D . 3 1/2" (1.65 x .975 x 1.015 x 0 .9 m .)

Purchased from A . Clerle, Venice, 1897 The Madonna, seated on a throne, holds the wheel of charity (a Greek cross within concentric circles adopted by the 5cuola della Carita) . In front of her is the coat of arms of the donor Paolo da Monte : three mountains beneath a laurel tree. M • o ¡ xxn is cut into the base with a tiny three leaf spray on either side. A piece was chipped off the right of the base, the frieze, and the cornice above, and a lead plug was set into the top of the frame in the center. The stone had been painted gray but traces of original gilding were found in the design behind the Madonna's head during the cleaning of the relief in 1977.

below the fo lds at his waist . The right leg is cracked above the ankle. The right hand formerly grasp ed the end of a long staff, now missing. The b ack of the s tatue is unfinished. The blackening of the stone indicates that it was once out of doors. The saint is represented bearded and standing erect in his traditional pose, with the Christ Child on his left shoulder. His right leg is advanced, his left against the folds of his cloak which fa ll behind and form an additional support for the statue. The Child holds the sphere in his left hand, symbol of dominion over the universe, while his right a rm rests on 5. Christopher's head. 142

I III

The documents pertaining to this Madonna were published by Paoletti (p. 201, n. 1) who found them in the 5cuola Grande della Carita, Venice. These were cited by Planiscig (p. 274) and noted in Thieme-Becker (XXV, 1931, p. 175) . Paoletti had erroneously stated that the Gardner relief had been sold abroad when it was presumably still in Venice. In 1973 Middeldorf identified the Madonna in the Gardner Museum as that described by Paoletti, and it was published for the first time. The documents state that a manufacturer of objects in rock crystal, Paolo da Monte, left money to the 5cuola della Carita for a relief three feet square (" de pie 3 per guadro grossa") of a Madonna holding the sign of the Carita. The specifications include a cornice with a bracket below the relief, a cornice above, and the



donor's coat of arms, above which a space was cut to receive a piece of serpentine or porphyry. The relief was destined for the fa<;ade of a house owned by the Scuola near the Ponte dei Ferali (perhaps the house directly in front of the bridge ; a smaller relief now occupies the space above the double windows on the fa<;ade). The sculptor who received the commission was Giovanni Maria Mosca of Padua, known in Venice as Zuan Maria Padovano, the name used in these documents. He was a resident in Venice and had already received a commission for the church of S. Antonio, Padua. The relief for the church was completed in 1524, and differs in style from this Madonna which must have been among his earliest work. According to the documents the relief was to have been painted and gilded and mention is made of payments to the painter and gilder and other assistants. The painter Benedetto Diana (ca. 1460-1525) also received a large payment which Middeldorf believes may have been for the design as the relief bears marked resemblance to Diana's Madonnas. Mrs. Gardner told the first director of the Museum that she had seen workmen cutting this relief from a wall in the Abbazia della Misericordia, an abandoned church from which various pieces of sculpture had been sold. If true, the relief would have been removed from its original location and set into the wall of this church. General Catalogue, p. 82. U. Middeldorf, " Three Sculptors of the Veneto Represented at Fenway Court," Fenway Court, 1973, Boston, 1974, pp. 5-6, fig. 6.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

177.

Allegorical Figure of Justice

SSel

Venetian, first half of the XVI century Stone, approx . H . 38", W . 19" (.965 x .483 m .) Provenance unknown The relief is badly eroded overall and there are numerous losses. The left shoulder, arm and torso are the best preserved. The half-seated figure is flanked by two lions. She holds aloft a sword, a traditional attribute of Justice, and probably held scales in her left h and . Like the Bartolommeo Buon (ca. 13741467?) figure on the Porta della Carta, Venice (Pope-Hennessy, 1955, fig. 106), this was designed to be seen from below.

1 44

I III

Both the figure and the drapery suggest the influence of Antonio Lombardo (ca. 1458-1516), allowing for a date in the first half of the sixteenth century. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 43.


178.

Retable

S3le6

Provern;:al, dated 1507 Limestone, H. 31", L. 108", D . 81/2" (.800 x 1.690 x .255 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897, through Fernand Robert Three scenes, the Baptism, the Annunciation and the Beheading of John the Baptist, are set within pilasters. The first two scenes are united by the arched background, the last two by the tile floor. Only the front of the retable has been finished. In the Annunciation, the head is missing from the figure of God in the arch. Other losses, perhaps angels, are evident on the same wall and the shell is damaged. Gabriel is missing part of a wing and the right index finger, and the Virgin is missing her left thumb. Two table legs have been lost. In the Beheading of John the Baptist, the soldier's head is missing as is the figure at the bottom of the stair; part of the stair rail is damaged. For installation, holes were cut in various places and iron hooks put on the outside. In the Baptism, S. John wears pink, the angel white with a blue sash, and both stand on a dark green landscape on either side of the green water. Three angels' heads are above the shell with two more in the spandrels. The Virgin of the Annunciation wears a white cloak with a blue lining showing. Gabriel's cape and sleeve lining are blue. The background is blue and white. There are angels in the spandrels and may h ave been oth ers in the arch. In the last scene Salome wears a red blouse and white apron, and the soldier has a red blouse and black decoration on his brown pants. The feast of Herod is depicted on the bal-

cony. To the left the tower where the Baptist was imprisoned has a figure of the Venus pudica on the top. An inscription in Gothic letters along the base reads: LASI•EST E•PFARTTE•ET•MISE•LE•CINQUIESNE• JOUR •DAOUST•LAN•MIL•CINQ•CENS •ET•SEPT• NOBLIES•PAS·LES•TRESPASSES•

The first three words and some individual letters are unclear but the probable translation is: " This is completed and placed on the fifth day of August the year 1507. Do not forget the dead." The coat of arms located beneath each of the four pilasters of the frame has three silver stars on a field of blue over a tree on a gold ground. It has been identified as the arms of Amal de Serres of Languedoc, captain of a frigate at Toulon (J . B. Rietstap, Armorial General, Gouda, 1884 and Etat Present de la Noblesse Fran(:aise, Paris, 1868, p. 161) . The device is repeated in the latticed window in the back of the central panel. The supposition is that the retable was a family memorial set into the wall of a church somewhere in the Languedoc. The retable was published by Miller who considered this the work of Ligurian artists influenced by a variety of styles: French, Flemish and German. She further noted that the incongruity in style is compounded b y an incongruity in ch oice of scen es within one altarpiece. The richly adorned Renaissan ce frame, w ith its candelabra and grotesques, supports the supposition of the artists' North Italian b ackground. BIBLIOGRAPHY: General Catalogue, p. 280. N . Miller, " A French Limes tone Retable of the Early Sixteenth Century," Fenway Court 1973, Boston, 1974, pp. 9-17, fig. 1 and detail.

XVI CENTURY FRENCH

i 145


179.

180.

Tomb Figure of a Knight

Retable of the Life of the Virgin

S6e14

Spanish, ca. 1500 Alabaster, H. 17", L. 761/2", W . 25" (.43 x 1.945 x .635 m.) Purchased from Emile Pares, Madrid, 1906 The figure was carved with a rectangular slab beneath it, parts of which remain below the torso and the right leg. Both legs were broken off. The ends were smoothed off and put back in place under the broken edge of chain mail. There are losses to the left toes and heel, the collar, chin and fingers below the middle joints of the left hand. Only part of the sword hilt and blade survive. The right leg has been broken and repaired in several places and the nose is restored. H is chain mail is visible at the neck, on the upper arms and below the armor. His cap is creased from ear to ear and front to back. The armor is carefully rendered sh owing leather straps and decorative rosettes. His lon g wavy h air falls on a cushion with a pomegranate pattern and tassels. This was identified by the dealer as a member of the Maldonado family, several of whom were buried in the church of S. Benito, Salamanca. A provenance around Salamanca is acceptable to J. Sobre (Museum archi ves) who also compares it with the tomb of Ruberte de Santisteban in the church of S. Martin, Salamanca, dated ca. 1500. Presumably the museum' s figure would have appeared with an escutcheon on the tomb beneath him and in a niche decorated with Gothic tracery. Without the escutcheon an exact indentification of the figure is difficult. Examples of similar cap and h air styles are dated between 1497 and 1510 (Hispanic Society Costume archives). This is supported b y the decorati-;_,e elements and the stiff, unnatural attitude of the figure ; tomb figures after this period appear to be at rest or asleep . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Cata logue, p . 48.

S31w7

Spanish or French, early XVI century Polychromed chestnut, H. 861/2", W. 71" (2.20 x 1.81 m.) Purchased from the van den Bogaerde collection (No. 93), Chateau de Heeswijk, Bois le Due, Netherlands, through Fernand Robert, Paris, 1901 The figures have suffered hardly at all but there are numerous losses in the frame and canopies which have been partially reconstructed. The figures are dressed in gold, blue and white garments. The background is always blue. There is a painted border along the bottom. Each of the two panels is made from three boards joined vertically. Eighteen scenes from the Life of the Virgin fill the three bottom rows, and angels with musical instruments occupy the Gothic arches along the top. Chronologically, the scenes begin at the bottom and read left to right : 1) Meeting at the Golden Gate 2) Birth of the Virgin 3) Angel Appearing to S. Anne 4) Slaughter of the Innocents 5) Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple 6) Marriage of the Virgin (Second Row) 7) Annunciation 8) Visitation 9) Nativity 10) Adoration of the Magi 11) Circumcision 12) Flight into Egypt (Top Row) 13) Christ among the D octors 14) Marriage at Cana 15) Christ Appearing to his Mother 16) Resurrection 17) Pentecost 18) Dormition of the Virgin. Two of the scenes were carved in the wrong place: the Angel Appearing to S. Anne would normally precede the Meeting at the Golden Gate, and the Slaughter of the Innocents, the Flight into Egypt. The scenes are complete in themselves but probably were wings to a large central scene or flanked a Madonna and Child. The narrative is supported by the simple color scheme. Mary appears in the same gilt cloak throughout and the dress beneath has an " embroidered" panel.



The arms are separate pieces attached to the body. The strand of hair on the right shoulder is missing; several fingers and toes have been broken off. There are traces of overpaint on the original ivory flesh tones ; some polychromy and gilt remain on the loin cloth. Nail heads indicate the nipples ; nails attach the halo, h ands and feet. The cross is modem but the inscription is contemporary with the figure. B. Proske (Museum archives) suggests that it may be Spanish in the tran sitional style between Gothic and Renaissance. An indication of this is the contrast between the sharper modelling of the features and the treatment of the legs and loin cloth. A s wooden crucifixes were made in large numbers over a long period of time and often within a n accepted formula, attributions are necessarily broad. This one may be compared with a crucifix from Spain or southern France, dated fifteenth or sixteenth century, in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (No. 27.544) . BIBLIOG RAPHY:

180

detail

Large p arti tion ed altarpieces were p opular in the fif teenth and sixteenth century. A number of these remain in p lace today, for example in the cathedrals of Seville and Burgos. The accompanying architectural decoration of the panels was often more complicated than the scen es . The Museum's example is com paratively res trained and the background de tail of the scenes, sp arse. The crowded fig ures in their tilted p ersp ective as well as th e canopies are Gothic in flavor but the emphasis on the figu res and stron g sen se of simple narrative - calculated to carry th e story to the congregation - reflect the influen ce of the Renaissan ce. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 279.

181.

Crucifix

53I s2

Spanish or French, XVI cen tury Polychromed and gilt wood, H . of Christ : 35" (.893 m .) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection , Paris, 1899, through Femand Rob ert 148

I III

G eneral Catalogue, p . 278.


C. von Nostitz (Museum archives) connects it with the von Carben Master's workshop in Cologne (which he believes is identical with that of Johan Spee's shop) . It may therefore be compared with the figure of Joseph of Arimathea in the Holy Graves in Essen Minster and Bad Honnef, particularly the latter (dated 1514), which shares the same type of turban with extended shoulder flap. Parallels in the style of drapery can be found in the Crucifixion groups in the parish churches of Sinzig and Cologne-Bocklemund (Die Kunstdenkmiiler der Stadt Kain . Die Kunstdenkmiiler der Rheinprovinz, VII, pt. 3, P. Clemen, ed., Dusseldorf, 1934, p . 187, fig. 129), or the church of Klein-Jerusalem in Neersen. On the basis of these comparisons a date at the end of the second decade of the sixteenth century is proposed by von Nostitz. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p.

264.

183.

Resurrection

S2lel9

South German or Austrian, late XVI century Polychromed and gilt walnut, H. 19" (.48 m .) Purchased from A. Clerle, Venice, 1897 There are wormholes throughout, and a crack that runs from top to bottom through Christ's left arm. It is held together with handmade nails. The surface has suffered hardly at all although the paint and gilding are slightly abraded in places. Gold is used over black paint for the helmets, the details of the armor, the shoes and pikes and Christ's loincloth. Stippling covers the entire background and simulates the grain of the coffin.

182.

Magus

530e20

Lower Rhenish, early XVI century Polychromed wood, H. 67" (1.70 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897

The right forearm and tip of the index finger, most of the ring and little finger on the left hand are missing. There are areas of paint loss throughout. He wears a dark green cloak with a gold lining over a red coat. His turban is white and neck cloth and chain are gold. The figure may be identified as one of the Magi because of his oriental costume and probably comes from a large .r etable. XVI CENTURY GERMAN OR AUSTRIAN \

149


From the shape of the relief, the uneven thickness, and the peculiar way the figures are placed it would appear that this was cut down, as was its companion below. The relief fo llows an established type, perhaps derived from a print. Later version s can be seen in the Vienna cathedral in a relief da ted 1659 and in Munich on South German plagues from the eighteenth century (R . Berliner, D ie Bildwerke des Bayerisches Nationalmuseums, IV, Augsburg, 1926, p.110, Inv. Nos. 533). In each case Christ carries a banner in the left h a nd and raises the right in a benediction. A piece of materal falls from his shoulder and encircles his body. Four soldiers in Roman armor are dispersed around the open tomb ; o ne is shown sleeping, others shield their eyes from the spectacle of the Resurrection much in the manner shown h ere. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p . 189.

184.

Nativity

S21ell

South German o r A ustrian, late XVI century Polych romed and gilt walnut, H . 19" (.48 m.) Purchased from A. Clerle, Venice, 1897 Aside from wormhole damage and som e surface abrasion, the relief, although cut down, is intact. The haloes, angels' wings, Christ's basket and parts of the garments are gilt. The fi gure of a shepherd is partly visible behind M a ry. This is a companio n to the above. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 189.

185.

S28ell

S. Michael

Bavarian, Munich, ca. 1600 Circle o f H ans Degler Polychromed wood, H . 263/4" (.68 m.) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897 The saint has the first two fingers missing from the left h and, and a finger on the right. One wing h as been broken and mended, the other has been replaced. The devil has lost a toe. There is minor paint loss . S. Michael's coat and boots are reddish brown with gold trim, and his belt is g reen . His name is inscribed on the wooden stand. The devil is red with a blue tail and black hair. Harding published it as from the circle of Hans Degler (d. 1637) and da ted it ca. 1600. The attribution is supported by comparison with Degler' s large wooden Virgin in the Museum of Fine Arts, Bos ton (Inv. No. 69.1283). The influence of Degler may be seen in the way the saint grasps the spear, the interesting details of his costume, and the cascade of curly hair. BIBLIOG RAPHY:

General Cata logue, p. 256. Harding,

p. 5 7, fig. 93, p . 83.

i

5o

Im


IV Seventeenth to Twentieth Centuries

186. Patrician Family at Prayer

58nl

South German, early XVII century Limestone, H . 111/z", L. 24" (.285 x .61 m.) Purchased from A. Pickert, Nuremberg, 1897 The raised frame of the relief is broken along the right side and a chip is missing to the left of the altar. A couple and their eight children are at prayer in a chapel. Between four Gothic windows is an altar with a figure of Christ as the Man of Sorrows

in the frame above the table. Crosses placed over the heads of the father and three sons indicate that they were dead when the relief was cut. Although the perspective is worked out on the tile floor and in the diminishing figures, the sculptor does not show the forms within the bulky garments nor place them on the floor convincingly. The elaborate ruff around the neck would not have been worn after the first quarter of the seventeenth century. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p. 55 . Harding,

p . 57,fig.94,p.83.

XVII CENTURY GERMAN

i 151


188.

5. Sebastian

S16s34

North Italian, late XVI or early XVII century Alabaster, H. 17 1/2" (.445 m .) Provenance unknown There are three repairs in the right leg. The raised left arm has been repaired at the elbow and wrist as has the tree limb behind the saint's head. The limbs cut short, the oval face, and the treatment of the saint's hair hanging down his back suggests a North Italian provenance, but the unskillful modelling of the figure makes any attribution difficult. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

187.

Madonna and Child with a King and Bishop S28e3 Franconian, middle of the XVII century Polychromed wood, H. 54 11 1 W. 281/2 11 (1.371 x .723 m .) Purchased before 1898 The figures of the king and bishop were carved separately in the round . The fingers are missing from the Child's outstretched right hand, which may have held an object. The bishop holds a book and the end of what may h ave been a scepter. Behind his head a section of cornice is missing. The background is blue. The clothing is gold and white except that the lining of the king's cloak is red and the bishop's cope, green. This was first published by Harding who provided the attribution . It is possible that the king and bishop were meant as portraits. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Genera l Catalogue, p. 255. Harding,

p . 5~fig.101,p.83.

152

I IV

General Catalogue, p . 107.


190.

Cupid Blowing a Horn

S26e6

Italian, XVII century Follower of Franc;ois Duquesnoy (called II Fiammingo) Bronze, H . 183/s" (.465 m .) Purchased before 1904, provenance unknown There is a loss in the right wing, a dent in the right hip and a repair in the right leg. The hollow cast figure finished in the round stands on a hollow sphere cut across the bottom to allow the sculpture to stand. The belt across Cupid's shoulder ends in a loop at his side. The patina appears to be original. This figure has been attributed to Duquesnoy (1594-1643) by Bode and Bange under entries for

an identical figure formerly in Berlin (lost since 1945) . The same Cupid may also be found

holding a bow instead of a horn (Catalogue of the Palais Galliera, Paris, 1976, No. 23), at-

189.

Dominican Nun

S30s3

Italian, XVII century Painted terracotta, H . 22 1/ 4 ", W. 18", D. 113/4" (.565 x .46 x .30 m.) Purchased from Emilio Costantini, Florence, 1897, through Joseph Lindon Smith A hole in the top of the head suggests that originally the bust may have had a halo. Except for the paint, of which little of the original remains, there is only repair to the veil and index finger of the left hand. Minor cracks have been filled. A thermoluminescent test conducted in 1973 at the Research Laboratory at Oxford established a date between 1615 and 1715. This may portray a saint, in which case it would have had a label with her name attached to the base on which the bust was placed. Alternatively, it could have been a likeness of a revered member of a Dominican convent. The handling of the bust is in the fifteenth century manner, although most Quattrocento busts were cut off below the shoulders. The facial features betray the later dating. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p.

265.

XVII CENTURY ITALIAN

I 153


tributed to Duquesnoy or his shop. The manner in which the equilibrium was resolved was due to the influence of Giovanni Bologna, according to M . Fransolet ( Fran~ois du Quensnoy, sculpteur d'Urbain V III , 1597-1 643, Brussels, 1942, p . 94, pl. XV c). She attributed the Berlin bronze to Duquesnoy. Much of Duquesnoy's fame derived from his work in figures of this kind. These were at times sold as antiquities and became so popular that sculptors produced versions of his designs for more than a century after his death . Because only a few can be traced to his known designs, A. Radcliffe (Museum archives) prefers an attribution for this to an anonymous seventeenth century sculptor. This attribution is accepted b y Middeldorf (Museum archives) who believes that this m ight be a Florentine sculptor. Duquesnoy's influence is readily apparent in the delicate balance and proportions of the figure, indicating the work of a hand not far removed from the master's designs. W. von Bode, Die italienischen Bronzen, Kon igliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, 1904, p. 24, No. 413, pl. XXVIII. E. F. Bange, Die Bildwerke in Bronze, Die Bildwerke des Deutschen Museums, Berlin, 1923, p. 37, Inv. No. 35. General Catalogue, p. 221.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

191, 192.

Pair of Angels

S26e4-s, S26e16-s

Roman, first quarter of the XVII century Bronze, H. 293/4" (.755 m.) Purchased from Consiglio Ricch etti, Venice, 1890 There are traces of gilt on the wings beneath a red-brown patina which covers the entire bronze. These two a ngels, cast as mirror images, were made into candlesticks. Each angel stands on a putto's head. The extended hand is fashioned as though it may h ave held a scepter or other object and the o ther hand is placed on the back of the h ead. The figure was cast in two pieces which fit together beneath the fold of material at the hips. The top of the angel's head was cut square to receive the candlestick base which is composed of a small round piece decorated with three masks joined with swags, surmounted by a large saucer with swags and angels. A swag, now attached to the modern base, was originally cast with the decoration above it. The entire assembly is held together with a threaded bolt, the top of which is the pointed candle h older. There are casts of similar a ngels in which the arms and bases are treated differently. The Rijks154 \ rv

museum catalogue citing the Museum's angels illustrates a different pair which bears the same attribution. With the latter, one hand is held against the chest, the extended hand holds a standing candlestick, with a tapered and twisted shaft. The feet are placed on turned bases. A finer pair of angels without candleticks is in Budapest, attributed to the circle of Pietro Bernini, 1562-1629 (J . Balogh, Katalog der Auslandischen Bildwerke des Museums der Bildenden Kunste in Budapest, IV.-XVIII. Jahrhundert, Budapest, 1975, I, pp.181-82, Nos. 245-46; II, pp. 26567, pls. 295-97). One hand is extended, the other held to the chest. They stand on an irregular block. The drapery, with its surface stippled, is thinner, revealing more of the form below. Traces of gilt remain in the light brown patina. Of the three versions, the Museum' s pair is the least successful. The arms are poorly joined to the body, and the cast was left in the rough state in which it emerged from the mold, with little attention to the numerous flaws. General Catalogue, p. 222. Beeldhouwkunstin het Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1973, pp. 40203, No. 698.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:


193 detail

193.

Rim of a Fountain

5Ss29

Venetian, XVII century Sandstone, tritons: H. 18", W. 18" (.455 x .455 m.); horizontal panels: H. 13", W . 48" (.33 x 1.22 m.) (average) Purchased from A Clerle, Venice, 1897 The rim of the fountain is made up of fragments of five horizontal and six vertical panels. In the present arrangement the vertical panels with tritons blowing conches alternate with horizon-

tal panels of dolphins, cornucopias, sea monsters, shells and masks. The horizontal panels appear to come from the same source. Decorative carving with these motifs originated in the late Renaissance. There are examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London of three Paduan stone panels from the first half of the sixteenth century which are carved with a mask, dolphins and fantastic creatures (Pope-Hennessy, 1964, II, pp. 515-17, Nos . 541-43 ; III, p . 326, figs. 538-40). BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p .

45 .

194.

Neptune with Sea Horses

S20w6

Venetian, XVIII or XIX century After Alessandro Vittoria Bronze, H. 181/4 " (.465 m.) Purchased at the sale of the Maggi Collection (No. 11), Leonard & Co., Boston, 1880 The door knocker has a black patina worn in places. The 1880 sales catalogue gives the provenance as : From the great Doria family of Genoa. Was once on the palace gates of this renowned naval commander of Charles V of Spain. He had chosen the god of the seas as the emblematic guardian of his home. There is no evidence to support this. The original design was ascribed to Alessandro Vittoria (1525-1608) by Planiscig (pp. 475, 47778, fig. 502). Examples on the door to the Palazzo Pisani and in the Museo Correr, Venice (G. Mariacher, Bronzetti del rinascimento al Museo Correr, Venice, 1966, p . 14, No. 4, and cover) are considered to be from the original casting. Another excellent cast is at the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge (Fogg Art Museum Annual Report 19521953, p . 14, No. 19~3.41), dated " perhaps mid 1570's." XVIII OR XIX CENTURY ITALIAN

i 155


All of the above examples follow the same general design but, as in the present example and a close companion in the D etroit Institute of A rts (B u lletin, XXXII, 1, 1952-53, p . 6) , the design has suffered over the centuries. Neptune is coarsely modelled and lacking contrappos to indicating more recent manufacture. An exten sive list of existing casts may be fo und in J. Balogh , Katalog der Auslandischen Bildwerke des Museums der Bildenden Kunste in Budapest, IV.-XVIII . ]ahrhimdert, Budapest, 1975, I, pp. 164-65, No. 213; II, p . 234, fig. 260. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Ca talogue, p. 173.

195.

Venetian Senator

526n20

Venetian, XVIII century Marble, H . 33 1/2", W . 24" , D . 12" (.85 x .61 x .305 m.) Purchased from Consiglio Ricchetti, Venice, 1897 Except for a chip in the lower lip, and abrasion on the nose, the bust is in good condition. There are indications of a small moustache. The senator wears a silk stole decorated with a brocade crown over his cloak denoting a member of the Senate. The Museo Correr in Venice has similar costumes on display as well as portraits of senators from this period, and a marble bust (Inv. No. 76) of the same period and style, also b y an anonymous hand. As in the Gardner bust, the eyes are left blank and the wig is parted in the middle, falling below the shoulders. BIBLIOGRA PHY:

G eneral Catalogue, p. 225.

196.

Marble Base with Two Cupids from a Chimneypiece 532n Italian, XVIII Marble, H . 12%", W. 305/s", D . 103/s" (.327 x .778 x .264 m .) Purch ased from Gaetano Pepe, N aples, 1897 The left Cupid's right intlex finger is missing. The shield is fragmented with areas of loss.

195

The central rectangle is a box open at the back a nd blackened on the inside. On either side there is the base of a column. The head and torso of a Cupid with the tail of a fi sh is in front of each column. They each hold a cornucopia and wear leaves around their heads. The center of the box has a monogram set off with red marble.


198.

Angel Gabriel

530e25

Italian, XIX century Brass(?), H. 443/4" (1.14 m .) Purchased from Antonio Carrer, Venice, 1892 The angel is composed of about twenty hammered pieces which have been screwed or soldered together. He wears a diadem. His open mouth indicates that he is about to deliver the Annunciation message. The lily is made of iron and has traces of green paint. The stem may once have been in a different position. According to the dealer, the hole in the chest was caused by a shell during the Risorgimento. While less distinguished than the angel Gabriel on the bell tower in Venice (dated 1822), this angel no doubt occupied a similar position on top of a church or public building. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p . 264.

197.

Neptune

SGell

English, XVIII century Lead, H. (to fingertip) 58" (1.473 m.) Purchased in England in 1894 The figure was in the center of a pool on Mrs. Gardner's estate in Brookline until 1938 when it was moved to the Museum in its present condition. Corrosion is still evident. At the time of the purchase, Neptune stood (H. 78") on a rectangular base, his right foot on the head of a dolphin. The dolphin's tail rose behind the figure. Neptune's left hand crossed the right thigh, the right held a trident as though he were about to plunge it into the water. A similar figure was on the London art market in 1973 (Connoisseur, vol. 182, no. 734, April 1973, p . 1). The composition, although exaggerated, derives from Giovanni Bologna's figure of Oceanus (erected 1576), now in the Museo Nazionale, Florence, or perhaps through later variations. XIX CENTURY ITALIAN

I 157


The Gardner example is one of many small scale reproductions of Canova's work produced in Europe and America until the end of the century. It is a faithful but banal transcription of the original. The tendrils of hair that frame the face are solidified into hard waves, the features flattened, the transparent drapery rendered heavy and mechanical, and the dancer's pose struck without grace. 200.

Diana

SGeS

Middle of the XIX century, copy of a Roman work Marble, H . 391/s", W . 241/2", D . 175/s" (1.013 x .623 x .448 m .) Given to the Museum by the estate of Belle Hunt in 1936

199.

Dancer with Her Hands on Her Hips

SGe2

Middle of the XIX century After Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757-1822) Marble, H. 443/s", W.173/4", D . 151/s" (1.127 x .451 x .384 m .) Given to the Museum by the estate of Belle Hunt in 1936 The left arm is repaired below the sh oulder and at the wrist; the right leg is cracked above the ankle and the left heel chipped. The marble is severely weathered. The young woman wears a classical chiton, h er head crowned by a garland of flowers. She stands poised on her toes, left foot behind the right, arms akimbo. Her skirt is looped up and caught at the hip in the right hand . A stump of a tree is at the back of the oval base. The first version of this subject, n ow in the Hermitage, Leningrad, was executed in life size for the Empress Josephine. It was completed in 1812 and achieved great success at the Paris Salon of that year. Sir Simon Clarke commissioned a second full scale version in 1818. This was sent to London in 1822, the year of Canova's death, and is currently part of the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (No. 15443) .

Three fingers of Diana's right hand and the front legs and left ear of the stag are broken off. The antlers and top of the bow are missing; the piece, copying the state of the original, may have been carved without them. Breaks in Diana's left arm and at the animal's neck have been repaired. There are copper stains on her left arm and on the front of the stag's body. The weathered surface of the marble and the black areas of her garment are due to prolonged outdoor exposure.

a

This is a copy of a Roman work, the Diane la Biche or Diane de Versailles, now in the Louvre (No. 589), which once decorated the Grande Galerie at Versailles.


201.

Flight of Night

533w2

After 1879 William Morris Hunt (American, 1824-79) Plaster, H.191/4", W. 277/s", D. 111/4" (.489 x .734 x .286 m.) Provenance unknown The front legs of the right horse, as well as the forearm of the figure and attribute have been broken and are now repaired. There is a crack in the right foreleg of the center horse and minor losses to the bottom edge of the relief. The number 37 was inscribed into the plaster above the figure's left arm. There are two metal labels pressed into the bottom. Inscribed on the rectangular label in the center is : COPYRIGHT MAR. 4 1880./ BY ESTE W M. M. HUNT/ L.D. HUNT. ADM(oc?) Inscribed on the oval label to the left is: P. GARIBOLOI / BOSTON Three horses gallop toward the viewer, one of them restrained by a youth holding an inverted torch. The figures are in three-quarter relief. In 1846 Hunt's brother, Leavitt, sent him a translation of the Persian poem Anahita. Anahita was the Persian goddess of fertility and regeneration, equivalent to the Greek Aphrodite. The poem describes her in a " car of light" drawn by " well-

trained coursers (that) wedge the blindest depths with fearful plunge ... " (H. M . Knowlton, Art-Life of William Morris Hunt, Boston, 1899, p. 79). This image so fascinated Hunt that he attempted to give it form for virtually the rest of his career. His general conception of the subject was fixed from the start: Anahita on a cloud, driving a team of three horses; one of the horses held back by a male attendant carrying an inverted torch ; in the left foreground, a sleeping mother and child on a small cloud. Hunt made numerous sketches of the whole composition and modelled the goddess' team of horses in relief. The subject was finally realized in large scale when in 1878 Hunt was awarded the commission to decorate the Assembly Chamber of the new Capitol building at Albany. He painted two murals, one representing Columbus crossing the ocean accompanied by Faith, Science, Hope and Fortune, the other depicting Anahita but entitled Th e Flight of Night. Most of Hunt's studies of Anahita were lost when his Summer Street studio was destroyed in the Boston fire of 1872. The original clay model of the horses, however, survived . A mold was made from which plaster replicas were produced. After Hunt's death a Boston plaster firm sold these replicas as late as 1929. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Ten Eyck Gardner, American Sculpture. A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Mus eum of Art, New York, 1965, pp. 21-23.

XIX CENTURY AMERICAN \ 159


202.

Medal of John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) S27w14 Dated 1880 Augustus Saint-Gauden s (American, 1848-1907) Bronze, Diam. 23/s" (.061 m .) Gift of the artist, 1887 Sargent's h ead is shown in right profile. The medal is inscribed : MY•FRIEND•JOHN / SARGENT•PARI S / IVLY • M · D·C·C·C·LXXX / FECE / A ST·G

(in monogram) /

BRUTTO / RITRATO

The last two words are translated as" crude p ortrait." Day suggests that this commentary may refer to the uncharacteristically casual treatment of lettering and modelling. Mrs. Gardner was eager to acquire a medal by Saint-Gaudens and attempted to commission a portrait of Paderewski. This project was n ever undertaken because both artist and musician proved reluctant. Knowing of Mrs . Gardner's friendship with Sargent, Sain t-Gaudens must have hoped that this medal would be an adequate substitute. Saint-Gaudens met Sargent in the late 1870's when the two artists were working in Paris. A close friendship developed and they exchanged works. Saint-Gaudens' portrait of Sargent is on e of the last medals he completed before leaving Paris in 1880. This example is a late cast, slightly smaller and of lesser quality than that owned by Sargent, now in the collection of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York. Other casts are in the Metropolitan Museum of Ar t, New York, Addison Gallery, Andover, Mass., and SargentMurray-Gilman-Hough House, Gloucester, Mass . BIBLIOGRAPHY: Genera l Catalogue, p. 249. 5. W . Day, " Two Medallions by Saint-Gaudens," Fenway Court, vol. 2, no. 2, Boston, 1968, pp. 10-16. J. Dryfout, Augustu s Saint-Gaudens. The Portrait R eliefs, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D .C., 1969, No.19.

203.

Medal of Mildred Howells (1872-1966) S27w15 Dated 1897 Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, 1848-1907) Gilt bronze, Diam. 2 % " (.072 m.) Provenance unknown Miss Howells is shown in right profile. The medal is inscribed : •MILDRED HOWELLS· MDCCCXCVI!•A•ST•G

On May 2, 1897 Saint-Gaudens wrote to the n ovelist William Dean Howells suggesting that h e and his daughter Mildred sit for a portrait. Two days later Howells replied favorably and work began shortly thereafter, in Saint-Gaudens' New York studio (Correspondence in the Dartmouth College Library.) Three separate reliefs resulted from these sittings : a double portrait and two medallions of Mildred. The double portrait (the original is lost, a reduction is in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.) shows the father and daughter in three-quarter length profile, seated in front of a table. Mr. Howells holds papers that he has been reading ; Mildred faces him, her left arm on the table and her chin resting in her hand. A large medallion (21") in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (No. 57.588) depicts Mildred alone ; h er p ose is identical to that of the double portrait. Both reliefs are dated 1898. In the considerably smaller Gardner medal only Miss H owells' head and left shoulder are shown. It h as been listed as a reduction (Dryfhout) . It is dated earlier than the la rger reliefs, however, and although her h igh necked blouse and loosely pulled back h air are described in the same manner, her chin is n ot supported by her h and. Even in this reduced format Saint-Gaudens' sensitive modelling perfectly conveys Mildred's fine features.

1.60

I IV


Another medal of the same subject in this size is in a private collection, Cambridge, Mass. BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p. 249. 5. Day, "Two Medallions by Saint-Gaudens," Fenway Court, vol. 2, no. 2, Boston, 1968, pp. 14-15. J. Dryfhout, Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The Portrait Reliefs, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1969, No. 47.

The full title of the work is Young Sophocles Leading the Chorus of Victory after the Battle of Salamis. His lips are parted in song and he accompanies himself on the lyre. He stands on his right leg, the left barely touching the rectangular base. The raised foot along with the raised arms gives a sense of exhilaration to the composition. The plaster original was cast in Rome in 1885 and exhibited at the World' s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. It was presented to the Chicago Art Institute in 1894 and a bronze was cast from the plaster (H. including base, 83 1/2" , Handbook of Architecture and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, 1920, No. 971) . Another plaster cast was given to the Metropolitan Museum, New York in 1917 and a bronze was cast from it as well (No. 27.65) . In this version the right leg rests against" a victory trophy" in the shape of a goddess with wings and twin lionesses.

205.

Medal: Youth Plighting His Troth

527w13

Dated 1895 Louis Oscar Roty (French, 1846-1911) Silver, D . 15/s" (.04 m .) Provenance unknown The obverse has a youth about to put a ring on his fiancee' s finger. They are seated opposite each other in a landscape with the sunrise in the background. SEMPER is inscribed on a flat arc at the bottom, and o. ROTY 1895, on the stone to the left. The reverse has a cupid on a pedestal from which water flows into a pond, and an oak tree entwined with ivy. There is a raised edge on both sides. Examples of Roty's medals and plaquettes may be seen in most public collections in Europe, and particularly the Kunsthalle, Hamburg. He usually signed himself 0. Roty. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, p . 249.

204.

Young Sophocles

533w3

1885 John Talbott Donoghue (American, 1853-1903) Bronze, H. 45u (1.155 m.) Purchased from the artist, London, date unknown Inscribed on opposite sides of the base in Greek letters are Sophocles and Salamis, on the top rear of the base J DONOGHUE sc, and on the back F. BARBEDIENNE, FONDEUR PARIS; behind the raised foot 276. 路 XIX CENTURY FRENCH \ 161


206.

Casts of Medallions and Cartouches in the Boston Public Library 1903-16 John Singer Sargent (American , 1856-1925) Plaster, all but S3wl-s and S3n7-s have a resinous coating Gift of the artist These casts are models for Sargent's decoration of the third floor landing of the Boston Public Library. Perhaps the most important project of the artist's career, it was commissioned in 1889. Sargent was originally asked to conceive a decoration for the north and south walls. He settled upon the theme of what he called " the triumph of religion - a mural decoration illustrating certain stages of Jewish and Christian history" (H. Small, Handbook of the New Public Library in Boston, Boston, 1859, p. 52). The north section, installed in 1895, was so well received that enough money was raised by public subscription to enable Sargent to enlarge the decoration, including the east and wes t walls and the ceiling. The south section was installed in 1903. The lunettes on the east and west walls, the main ceiling and the two murals on the east wall were finished by 1916. Sargent's work included not only paintings on canvas which were then attached to the walls, but sculptural elements that were integrated into the painted composition or served to decorate and articulate section s of the walls and ceiling. The artist himself worked for many months at a time on a scaffolding helping to model and gild the sculpture. This combination of mural and plastic elements proved to be one of the most striking features of the decoration. The Museum has nine of the twelve casts that were models for the sculpture on the ceiling above the lunettes on the east and west walls . There are three lunettes on each wall, each lunette has a medallion over it with a cartouche in the architectural frieze above. They all represent Christian or Hebraic symbols . The plaster casts used in the library are larger than the models. It is clear from Sargent's correspondence with Mrs. Gardner that she was keenly interested in his work on this project and that he often solicited her suggestions. When Sargent was in Boston installing the ceiling decoration Mrs. Gardner visited his studio and asked for some casts to decorate a firep lace being built in her Brookline estate (Museum archives). Presumably these are among the models he gave her; only one (S3lwl-s) was actually incorporated into the fireplace which remains in Brookline.

162 \

1v

206g

206h


The nine subjects and their position in the Boston Public Library follow: a.

S3wl-s. The Scapegoat (northeast corner). Diam. 181/z" (.470 m .). The roundel is in good condition with only hairline cracks at the border.

b.

S3n7-s. Peacocks of Immortality (southwest corner). Diam. 121/s" (.308 m .). The birds are painted gold on a blue background. There is restoration to the right and bottom edges and a small hole just above the lip of the basin.

c.

Slls7-s. The Crown and Palms of Martyrdom (center above west wall). H. 12 1/2", W . 223/s" (.318 x .568 m.). There is a break in the upper left corner which has been mended.

d.

Sllw2-s. The Seven Branched Candlestick (southeast corner). Diam. 133/4" (.349 m.) . The roundel was broken and repaired in the center. There are minor losses to the edge and traces of paint, probably restoration, which are now flaking .

e.

Sllwll-s. The Ark of the Covenant (center above the east wall). Diam. 143/4" (.375 m.) . There are restorations along the edges and a few hairline cracks.

f.

g.

S11n9-s. The Seven Branched Candlestick (northeast corner over S3wl-s). H. l l'l's", W.17" (.282 x .432 m.) . There are two cracks in the upper right corner with minor losses throughout. SllnlO-s. The Instruments of Music (southeast corner over Sll w2-s). H. 113/4 ", W. 151/s" (.298 x .384 m.) .

h.

Slln31-s. Tabernacle of the Eucharist with the Wafer (southwest corner over S3n7-s) . H . 11", W. 18% " (.279 x .479 m.).

i.

S11n32-s. The Head of the Burnt Offering (center above the east wall over Sll wll-s). H.101/s", W.19%" (.257 x .302 m.) . There are only minor losses.

BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, pp. 27, 76.

207.

Maria de Acosta Sargent (1880-1970) SllelS 1915 Anna Coleman Ladd (American, 1878-1939) Bronze, H. 21", W. 17 1/4" (.534 x .438 m.) Purchased from the artist, Boston, 1915 The original patina is green-black. Maria Sargent' s head is turned slightly to the left; the pupils of her eyes are carved out, producing deep shadows. Her hair, modelled in broad strands, is pulled back and fastened in a flat knot. Her neck, shoulders and arms are bare, but a cloth is held loosely under her crossed arms. The bust is cut off horizontally under the arms. A.c. (in monogram) LADD sc is inscribed below the left arm and the foundry mark, GORHAM c 0 FOUNDERS, appears in the back of the cloth, below the right shoulder blade. Anna Ladd and Mrs. Gardner enjoyed a warm friendship . One of the few exhibitions held at Fenway Court was of Ladd's bronze sculpture. This is the only cast of the portrait bust; a marble version remained in the artist' s possession. The finely detailed features, long neck and exaggerated length and slimness of the fingers are characteristic of Ladd' s elegant, if slightly mannered style. BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Work of Anna Coleman Ladd, Boston, 1920. General Catalogue, p. 74.

xx CENTURY AMERICAN I I63


209.

Rape of Europa

Dated 1917 Paul Manship (American, 1885-1966) Bronze, D. 5 1/2" (.140 m.) Made for and presented to Mrs. Gardner by the artist, Christmas, 1917 The black patina is worn and has been inpainted in some areas. P . MANSHIP © 1917 is incised just above the rim of the plague.

208a

The figures are tightly packed into the concave part of a dish-like relief. Europa rides facing backwards, balancing on her left knee and holding onto the horns with her left hand. Her right arm is arched above her head ; in her hand she holds a long scarf which billows above her, encircles her hip and trails behind parallel to her extended leg . The massive bull, Jupiter in disguise, gallops over the sea, dolphins at his feet . The flat rim of the relief is decorated with a raised wave motif.

208b

On Christmas day, 1917 (his 32nd birthday) Manship wrote to Mrs. Gardner:

208.

Medal of Joan of Arc

S27w16

Dated 1915 Paul Manship (American, 1885-1966) Bronze, Diam. 23/4 " (.070 m .) Gift of the artist, 1917 Only some traces of black patina remain. The obverse depicts the saint as tride a horse ; she is dressed in armor and carries a b anner decorated with fleurs-de-lis. An angel b earing a sword flies above her. There are t wo in scriptions on the obverse : PAUL MANSHIP 1915 (under the horse) and JEA NNE·D·ARC· (around the perimeter). The reverse is inscribed : • • LA•V!ERGE•HEROIQUE•ET •MARTYRE•MCCCCXXX I • •

S. Joan is sh own bound to a stake, surrounded by flames. Her hands are clasped in prayer. From the clouds a hand descends to place a laurel wreath upon her head. Manship was sen sitive to all aspects of the medallist's art, treating the inscriptions with as much care as the rest of the composition. H a ncock rightly associates this medal with Renaissance prototypes. This was one of several commemorative medals struck by the artist during World War I. Genera l Catalogue, p. 249. Hancock, "Paul Manship," Fenway Court, vol. 1, no. 1, Boston, 1966, pp. 5-6. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

526e14

Mrs Manship joins me in wishing you the very best of Merry Christmases. And are sending you this little tray as a trifling remembrance of your many kindnesses to u s ... . Mr Titian has proved that Europa + the Bull is a great subject. This relief is to try out the subject for composition. How do you think it will work out in the round, I want to try it. (Museum archives)


210.

Manship produced two versions of this subject in the round, one executed in 1924, the other a year later. The first one is of stone. In this rendition a subdued bull lies behind the seated Europa ; the beast's head rests in the crook of h er right arm, while her left arm is arched over her head. The stylization of the bull and Europa's gesture are reminiscent of the earlier relief. In the second, bronze version a slimmer Europa sits placidly erect, one leg crossed over the other, upon a less stylized and m ore robust bull. In this example, as in the plaque, the bull is running . The figures are supported by two dolphins that play b eneath the bull. A new character is introduced into this version : a putto that balances on the bull's neck, whispering in Europa's ear. The Gardner relief is the m ost successful treatment of the theme. The sense of movement implicit in its swelling and billowing curves best conveys the excitement of Europa's abduction . General Catalogue, p. 221. W. Hancock, " Paul Manship," Fenway Co urt, vol. 1, no. 1, Boston,

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

1966, pp. 4-5.

.

Diana

Sllw7

Dated 1 921 Paul Manship (American, 1 885-1966) Bronze, H . (from base to top of bow) 37%" W . 241/2" , D. 105/s" (.688 x .623 x .262 m .) Purchased from the artist through Scott and Fowles, N ew York, 1921 The bronze has an olive p atina wh ich is worn in some a reas. It is the fourth of twelve casts. It is inscribed on the bottom petal to th e left : NO. 4, and signed and d ated on the bottom petal to the right : P AUL MANS HIP 1 921 Š. The b ottom step of the base is inscribed: ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N - Y. The goddess is depicted in fli ght, susp ended in a leap above the ground. Sh e is n ude excep t for a stole, the ends of which trail behind h er. Diana look s back, releasing an arrow from the bow she holds in her o utstretched left h and. A dog accompanies h er, his h ead also turned and his legs extended in a fl ying gallop. Both figures a re supported by a plant with curling leaves which rests on a rectang ula r, stepped base. XX CE NTURY AM ERICAN

I 165


Mansh ip con ceived the Dian a as a pendant to ano ther figure, tha t of Actaeon . Together they depict the my th in wh ich the ch aste goddess transforms the hun ter into a stag because h e h ad seen her bathing. In the companion Actaeon is sh own already ch anging into a stag, sh ot by Diana and attack ed by h is own two hounds. His posture is virtually opposite that of the goddess : h is extended left leg and arm form a diagon al from the lower left to the upper right. M an ship began sketching both Diana and Actaeon as early as 1917. The m odel from which the Gardner example was made was executed in 1920. Both fig ures were subsequently rep roduced in two larger sizes. Cas ts in wh a t M an ship termed " h eroic" scale (84" , excluding b ase and bow) were produced in 1924; examples of both figures in this size m ay be fo und at Brookgreen Gardens, S.C. In 1925 fi ve casts of the Dian a and Actaeon were executed in a n intermediary size (48", excluding base a nd b ow). The A ddison G allery, A ndover, M ass. owns b oth fig ures in this scale. The D ia na is typical of M ansh ip's work in the way in which tradition al elements are given a modern appearan ce. The stylization of the features and, mo re generally, the balance struck b etween linear definit ion and silho uette reflect Manshi p's study of G reek vase pai nting, while the emphasis on s treamlined mo vement a nd smooth, polished surfaces place the wo rk within the prevailing Art D eco style. Genera l Catalogue, pp. 68-69. W . H a n cock, " Pa ul M a n ship," Fenway Court, vo l. 1, no. 1, Bos to n , 1966, pp. 2-3. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

211.

Reaching Jaguar

S33w4

Before 1 918 Anna H ya tt H untington (American, 1876-197 3) Bronze, H . 9", W . 6 " (.229 x .152 m .) Purchased from the ar tist, probably before 1 918 Incised on th e rear o f the stump : A N N A v . HY ATT; in sm aller capitals on the side of the base : GO R H AM co. FOUNDERS Q477. T here is a g reen-brown patina. T he jagua r's head is lowered, his left front leg extended along the stu mp and hind legs dra wn up under h is bod y . The line of the tail completes the smooth li ne of the back. The stump was given a slightly roughe r finish in contrast to the jagua r' s sleek coat. A li fe-size model of th is p iece was made in Fran ce in 1 907, according to B. Pros ke (Brookgreen Gardens Srnlpt11re, Brookgreen, S. C. , 1943, p . 180) . This wa s based on an ea rlier idea which was in166

I IV

spired by a particularly fine animal then in the New York Zoological Society. A plaster cast was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1908 and won the Women' s Art Club Exhibition in New York in 1910. The final form was attained in 1926, after which it was produced in bronze, stone and marble. The smaller version in the Museum was produced sometime before that. The original composition from which all these were derived was modelled in 1906 according to A. T. Gardner (American Sculpture. A Catalogue of the Collection of th e M etropolitan Mu seum of Art, New York, 1965, p . 124) . A companion to this, entitled Jaguar, was modelled at the same time and it has the animal crouching o n a rock . A third model from this period, but not con sidered a companion to the above, is entitled Jag ua r Eating. All three may be seen in bronze in Brookgreen Gardens (Proske, op. cit. , p. 181) and the first two in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Nos. 26 .85.1 - 2) .


v Doubtful Authenticity

212.

Seated Woman

516s7

Polychromed terracotta, H. 53/s" (.136 m.) Purchased in Athens, 1886, by William Amory Gardner; given to Mrs. Gardner in 1903 The right arm is repaired just above the elbow. There are traces of blue on the rock and pink on the draperies. A young woman wearing a chi ton sits on a rock; a himation with fruit lies across her lap. In her right hand she holds a small object which she examines, her head bent down and to the right. The figure is placed on a rectangular plinth. This is a modern copy of the Tanagra figures produced in Myrina in Asia Minor from the late third century into the first century B. C. (F. Winter, Typen derfigurlichen Terrakotten, Stuttgart, 1903, II, p. 111, No. 3) . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p. 111. DOUBTFUL AUTHENTICITY

I 167


The statue of the Madonna nursing the Child is said to come from Valloires, a Cistercian monastery in the diocese of Amiens, and, according to another report (International Studio), was formerly in the collection of M . Piqueret, vicar of the church of Vernouillet near Paris. However, testimony given in a suit against the dealer Demotte in 1923 cast doubt on its authenticity. Although a skillful and not unattractive work in the manner of Ile-de-France Madonnas of the fourteenth century, it gives the appearance of being either a modern pastiche or an older carving with surfaces much reworked. General Catalogue, pp. 54-55. International Studio, LXV, July 1918, pp. xxii and 9. Art World and Arts and Decoration, July 1918, p. 1 73. C. Post, A History of European and American Sculpture, Cambridge, Mass., 1921, I, pp. 69-70.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

213.

Seated Woman

516s8

Polychromed terracotta, H. 8%" (.225 m .) Purchased in Athens, 1866, through William Amory Gardner A long break runs from behind the figure, across her lap and to the base. Her right forearm as well as the bird's head and tail were broken away and repaired. A woman clothed in a chi ton with a himation about the lower part of her body sits on a rock, half-reclining. A dove clings to her left arm and she holds a pomegranate in her right hand. The figure is mounted on a rectangular plinth. This is another imitation of a Myrina statuette; the fussy elaboration of the drapery is the result of modern manufacture. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Cata logue, p . 111.

214.

Madonna and Child

58n3

Limestone with polychromy, H . 501/2", W. 181/2", D . 12" (1.285 x .47 x .305 m .)

Purchased from Demotte, Paris, 1919, through

J. Vigoroux There are minor losses to the fee t of the Madonna and to the base. Traces of polychromy remain in the hair and garments of the figures. 168

Iv


216.

Bust of a Young Girl

527e15

Ca. 1860 Giovanni Bastianini (?) (Florentine, 1830-68) White glazed terracotta, H . 221/2" (.57 m .) Purchased from Duveen Brothers, 1910, through Bernard Berenson, as a portrait of Marietta Strozzi (born 1448) The bust rests on a glazed terracotta base with concave sides which is on top of a similar larger base visible below the edge of the dress. There are cracks in the forehead and restorations to the left eyebrow, nose and right cheek. The glaze has numerous pinholes.

215.

Madonna and Child

527e7

Italian, XIX century Imitator of Antonio Rossellino Marble, H. 37 1/z", W. 241/4", D . approx. 10" (.95 x .615 x .255 m .) Purchased from George Donaldson, London, 1888, as the work of Antonio Rossellino The sides of the relief are unfinished except below the Madonna's right elbow. There are chips in the corners and one in the Madonna's hair. The Child is missing the first two fingers and thumb on his right hand. The Madonna's veil falls in folds on her shoulder. Her cloak, fastened at the neck, is draped over her right elbow and continues beneath the Child. He is supported by her left hand under his shoulder and her right hand on his right leg. He wears a loose dress. Her cloak frames the composition at the bottom. The halos have Greek crosses. There are angels' heads with wings in low relief in the upper corners.

It was bought as by Desiderio da Settignano (ca. 1430-64) and Luca della Robbia (1399 / 140082); the attribution to Luca was refuted by Marquand and the bust was pronounced a forgery by Madagan (Museum archives). It was recently published by Pope-Hennessy as the work of Bastianini. A terracotta version in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (No. A.9-1916), ascribed to Bastianini on acquisition, may be the model for a bust in the Louvre (No. 622, polychromed gesso on wood) , once ascribed to Desiderio but now thought to be by Bastianini. The Gardner bust seems to derive from the one in London. A marble bust in the Staatliche Museen, West Berlin (No. 77), attributed to Antonio Rossellino but until recently given to Desiderio, is perhaps the inspiration for all of these. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Marquand, 1912, p. 25. General Catalogue, p. 236. J. Pope-Hennessy, " The Forging of Italian Renaissance Sculpture," Apollo, 1974, pp. 260,

263' fig. 63.

By 1927 the relief was recognized as a forgery and was published as such (General Catalogue) where it was cited as a copy after Rossellino's tondo in S. Miniato, Florence. The angels heads and folds of material have been added to Rossellino's composition and the cross on the Madonna's halo is an iconographical error. Two other reliefs of the Madonna and Child by the same anonymous hand were published with this by Pope-Hennessy; one is in the Chester cathedral and the other in Port Sunlight, England. BIBLIOGRAPHY : General Catalogue, p. 234. ]. PopeHennessy, "The Forging of Italian Renaissance Sculpture," Apollo, 1974, pp. 253, 255, fig. 41.

DOUBTFUL AUTHENTICITY

J

169


218.

217.

Bust of a Woman

S30s38

Bust of a Roman

S24e4

XIX century(?) Painted and gilt stucco, H . 19" (.48 m .) Purchased from the Gavet collection (No. 99), Paris, 1897, through Fernand Robert, as Italian, late XV century

Italian, XIX century Bronze, H . 13 1/4 " (.335 m.) Purchased from E. Gimpel & Wildenstein, New York, 1910, through Bernard Berenson, as a XV century portrait

There are some losses to the polychromy. A crack fo llows the line of her left sh oulder. The bust is secured to a gilded octagonal wood base.

The bust is mounted to the base with a modern bolt attached inside the head.

Her red and gold brocade dress has a square neckline trimmed with small ston es. A gold chain with a jewel pendant hangs on h er pleated blouse. Over the dress is a green coat with a gold decorated border and a white fur collar. Her bouffant hairstyle consists of double strands that frame her face and a ringlet falling over each shoulder. The arrangement of the hair and the details of the costume seem to be an interpretation of French Renaissance style, but the excessive decoration and pristine surface of the bust suggests modern workmanship . BIBLIOGRAPHY :

170 \

v

General Catalogue, p. 269.

This was made to imitate busts of Roman emperors produced in the Renaissance ; several examples of these may be found in the Musee Jacquemart-Andre (Moureyre-Gavoty, Nos. 18792). The treatment of the ears and the hair in the bronze is con sistent with nineteenth century work and the termination of the bust above the shoulders would be unusual in the Renaissance. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p . 196 . .


220.

Cupid with Cornucopia

S14c6-s

Italian, XIX century Stone, H . 221/2" (.571 m.) Purchased from Moise dalla Torre, Venice, 1897 The left arm is restored and there is a small loss to the nose. Marks of the sculptor's tool are visible overall. This is a companion to the Cupid with a shield (above), except that the features and hair are different. The cornucopia in his left hand extends above his shoulder. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

General Catalogue, pp.

86-87.

221.

Lion of 5. Mark with Closed Book

SS ell

Venetian, XIX century Stone, H . 181/z", W . 211/s" (.470 x .537 m.) Purchased in Venice, 1897 The left wing is broken at the end and a corner of the plague is missing. The lion has a halo in very low relief and holds the left paw on a closed bible; according to tradition the closed book meant that Venice was at war.

219.

Cupid with Shield

S14c4-s

Italian, XIX century Stone, H . 21 1/2" (.545 m .) Purchased from Moise dalla Torre, Venice, 1897 There are chips out of the nose and chin. The figure is carved with its base and not finished off behind the legs.

This lion may have been copied after a similar, larger relief in the Museo Correr, Venice, in which the body seems to dissolve into a decorative tail. The sharply incised wings and grinning mask betray the Gardner relief's nineteenth century origins. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, p . 43.

It was suggested that the arms, a double eagle above and bear(?) below were for a branch of the Guagnini of Verona but the differences are too great to allow it (Museum archives). This appears to be a weak copy of a Cupid in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (PopeHennessy, 1964, I, p. 351, No. 377; III, fig. 374) which has a veil over the right shoulder held in his left hand and hair cut short at the neck. That figure holds a shield which has the arms of the Giustiniani on the breast of a double eagle. The pose is identical but the modelling of the Gardner figure is coarse by comparison. BIBLIOGRAPHY :

General Catalogue, pp.

86-87.

DOUBTFUL AUTHENTICITY

i 171



Checklist

222.

Two Animal Bases

59sl-s, 59s2-s

Italian, XII century (?) Marble, S9sl-s: H. 145/s" , L. 25 3/4" (.371 x .654 m .) S9s2-s : H.151/2 " , L. 23 1/s" (.394 x .587 m .) Purchased from Antonio & Alessandro J andolo, Rome, 1906 223.

Fragment of a Relief of Jonah and the Whale 5Gs7 Italian, XIII century Stone, approx. H. 91/2", W . 18" (.241 x .457 m .) Provenance unknown 224.

Two Animal Bases

57e2, 57w6

South Italian, XIII century(?) Marble, S7e2 : H. 181/2", L. 341/2" (.47 x .876 m.) ; S7w6: H. 181/2", L. 353/s" (.47 x .898 m .) Purchased from Antonio & Alessandro Jandolo, Rome, 1906 225.

Gargoyle

510n7

French, XIII century Stone, H. 10 1/2", L., 281/2" (.267 x .724 m .) Purchased from Bacri Freres, Paris, 1906 CHECKLIST

I 173


226.

Couchant Lion

Sl2w6

Venetian, XIV century Marble, H. 12 1/2", L. 21" (.317 x .533 m.) Provenance unknown

227.

Three Fragments of an Archivolt with S3lsl Apocalyptic Elders North Italian, XIV century Limestone, H . left: 241/2", center: 27", right: 23%" (.622, .685, .603 m .) Purchased from A . Clerle, Venice, 1897or1899 226

228.

Six Grotesques (Corbels)

S19e51-s, S19e54-s, S19e56-s, S19wl-s, S19w6-s, S19w9-s English, XIV century Scots pine, average H. 143/s", L. 26" (.365 x .660 m .) Purchased from Bacri Freres, Paris, 1906

229.

Standing Bishop in an Arch

S27e33

North Spanish, first quarter of the XV century Alabaster, H. 181/2" , W. 91/2" (.47 x .24 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897

230.

Relief of S. Lawrence

S27e36

Italian, XV century Stone, H . 11", W . 81/2" (.279 x .216 m.) Provenance unknown

231.

Angel 229

174

S28wl*

Italian, XV century Polychromed and gilt wood, H. 181/2" (.470 m .) Provenance unknown


232.

Two Angels with Candlesticks

S30s10-s,

530s12-s Italian, XV century Polychromed and gilt wood, H . without base : 24" (.610 m .) Provenance unkown 233.

Fragments of Mouldings (now a Window Frame) Sle8 North Italian, XV century Stone, overall H . 65 3/s", W . 48 %" (1.66 x 1.24 m .) Provenance unknown 234.

Relief with Two Rampant Lions

Ss n21 Italian, XV century Stone, H . 23 %" (.606 m.) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1897 235.

Relief with Lion and Shields

SGs6

Italian, XV century Stone, approx. H . 193/s", W . 603/s" (.492 x 1.534 m.) Purchased from Moise dalla Torre, Venice, 1906 234

236.

Two Lion Finials

S3s7-s, S3s10-s

North Italian, XV century Wood, H . 9 1/2" (.241 m .) Provenance unknown 237.

Small Sarcophagus

SBw7

Roman, XV century Stone, H. 123/t ", W . 31 % ", D . 183,4" (.324 x .806 x .476 m.) Provenance unknown 238.

Kneeling Virgin 238

S28e31

Franconian, ca. 1440-50 Wood, overall H . 20" (.508 m .) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897 CHECKLIST

j 175


239.

S. James

528e28

Franconian,ca. 1480 Oak, H . 203/4 " (.527 m.) Provenance unknown

240.

Virgin

528e29

Swabian, ca. 1480 Lindenwood, H. 20" (.508 m .) Provenance unknown

241.

S. John

2 39

528e30

Swabian, ca. 1480 Lindenwood, H. 20" (.508 m.) Provenance unknown

242.

Capital

53ls4

Venetian, late XV century Polychromed stone, H . 21", W . 17", D . 17" (.535 x .432 x .432 m .) Purchased from A . Clerle, Venice, 1897

243.

S. Barbara

513s2

Flemish, ca. 1500 Polychromed wood, H . 131/s " (.333 m.) Provenance unknown

244.

Male Head

59ell*

Italian, XVI century Stone, H. 71/s" (.181 m .) Provenance unknown

245.

Foot

516s31

Italian, XVI century Marble, H . 4", L. 7" (.102 x .178 m.) Provenance unknown


246.

249.

Madonna della Misericordia (Candelabrum) S19w44

Parts of a Door Jamb with the Story of Joachim and Anne F30sl6-s, F30s22-s

Dated 1582 Italian, XVI century Polychromed and gilt wood, H . 26%" (.681 m .) Purchased from G. Brauer, Florence, 1906

French, XVI century Wood, 431/s" (1.095 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897

247.

250.

Antler Chandelier

Kneeling Virgin

530c20

528e19

Bavarian, XVI century Polychromed and gilt wood, horn and iron, H. 21", L. 36" (.533 x .914 m.) Purchased from Theodor Einstein, Munich, 1897

Probably French, late XVI century Polychromed wood, H. 141/2" (.368 m.) Provenance unknown

248.

Frieze of Children's Heads from a Fountain S9s6

251.

S. Nicholas (?)

S28w13

Bavarian, XVI century Polychromed and gilt wood, H. 15%" (.403 m.) Purchased from Koopman, Boston, 1894

Italian, XVII century Limestone, H . 13", W. 511/4 " (.33 x 1.30 m .) Purchased from Attilio Simonetti, Rome, 1906 CHECKLIST

I 177


252.

Cluster of Cherubs' Heads

S9s9

Italian, XVII century Stone, H. 6 %" (.175 m.) Purchased from Attilio Simonetti, Rome, 1906

253.

Four Angels with Candlesticks

530s27-s,

530s28-s, S30s33-s, S30s34-s Italian, XVII century Polychromed wood, H . 271/2", W. (of base) 8" D. 5% " (.698 x .203 x .149 m .) Purchased from Galleria Sangiorgi, Rome, 1895

254.

Two Dolphins from a Fountain

S5s30-s,

S5s37-s Venetian, XVII century Istrian stone, L. 37", W . 131/2", D . 221/2" (.94 x .345 x .57 m.) Purchased from A. Clerle, Venice, 1897

255.

Grotesque Head

S8w4*

Venetian, XVII century Istrian stone, H . 7" (.178 m.) Provenance unknown

256.

Lion of S. Mark

S14el

Venetian, XVII century or later Istrian stone, H. 241/2", L. 24" (.622 x .61 m .) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1899

257.

Two Nuns

S5w2-s*, S5w3-s*

North Italian, XVII century or later Inscribed : MDCXX Stone, H. 18" , W. 11" (.457 x .279 m.) Purchased from Moise dalla Torre, Venice, 1897

258.

Two Ecclesiastical Figures (?) S19e45-s, S19w16-s English, XVII century(?) Walnut, H . 541/2" (1.384 m .) Purchased from Karl Freund, New York, 1912


259.

Cleric

S27w2*

German, XVII century Boxwood, H . 11" (.279 m .) Provenance unknown

260.

Virgin and S. Anne

S27w7*

German, XVII century Boxwood, H. 53/4 ", W . 21/s" {.146 x .054 m .) Provenance unknown

261.

Man Watching Lion with Dog

S27w5* 259

German, XVII century Boxwood, Man : H . 7" (.178 m .) ; Lion : H . 31/2", W . 4% " {.089 x .124 m.) Purchased at the Maggi sale (No. 39) from Leonard & Co., Boston, 1880

262.

Adoring Angel

S28e14*

North Italian or Austrian, XVIII century Polychromed wood, H. 30" {.762 m .) Purchased from Dino Barozzi, Venice, 1899

263.

Capital with Four Heads

S5s20

French, XIX century Stone, H . 91/4" (.235 m .) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897

264.

Three Female Saints

S28e7, S28e8, S28e9

French, XIX century Wood, H . S27e7 : 23%" {.606 m .) ; S27e8 : 245/s" {.625 m.); S27e9: 231/s" (.587 m.) Purchased from the Emile Peyre collection, Paris, 1897

265.

Two Lions

S5sl 9-s, S5s4 2-s

Italian, XIX century Stone, S5s19-s : H . 131/s " {.333 m .) ; S5s42-s: H. {.327 m.) Provenance unknown CHECKLIST /

179


268.

266.

50w6-s, 50w7-s

Two Seated Lions with Shields SSslS,

Two Lions

5Ss16

Italian, XIX century Stone, H . 173/4", L. 27" (.451 x .685 m.) Provenance unknown

Venetian, XIX century Stone, H. 14" , Base : 51/4" square (.356 x .133 m.) Purchased from Moise dalla Torre, Venice, 1897

269.

Drake

267.

Two Lions

Sons, 50n6 (illus. with

No. 168) Italian, XIX century Stone, Sons : H . 30", L. 491/4 " ( .762 x 1.251 m .); SOn6: H. 31", L. 483/4" (.787 x 1.238 m .) Purchased from Francesco Dorigo, Venice, 1897

180

M3el4

Before 1912 Jane Poupelet (French, d. 1932) Bronze, H. with base : 41/4" (.108 m.) Purchased at an exhibition (No. 121) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1912


List of Agents, Dealers and Former Owners

Jandolo, Antonio and Alessandro (Rome), 63, 115, 222, 224 Koopman, Joel (Boston), 248

Numbers refer to catalogue entries. Leonard and Co. (Boston), 194, 261

Alberici (Rome), 20 Altoviti (Rome), 151 Antinori- Aldobrandini (Florence), 138 Bacri Freres (Paris), 225, 228 Bardini, Stefano (Florence), 47, 48, 56, 75-76, 79-80, 83, 84, 89-90, 94, 97, 100, 141, 145 Barone, Vincenzo (Naples), 5, 7, 8, 29, 41, 58, 96, 98 Barozzi, Dino (Venice), 93, 99, 262 Barsanti, Alfredo (Rome), 20, 73 Baslini sale (Milan), 140 Berenson, Bernard (Florence), 105-06, 138, 149, 151 167,218 Bogaerde, van den, coll. (Bois le Due, Netherlands), 180 Bohler, Julius (Munich), 112, 113, 115, 132, 142 Brauer, Godfroy (Florence), 246 Brummer, Joseph (New York), 136 Carimino or Carimini (Rome), 53, 54 Carrer, Antonio (Venice), 116, 159, 166, 198 Clerle, A . (Venice), 111, 173-76, 183, 184, 227, 242, 254 Colnaghi (London), 151 Costantini, Emilio (Florence), 167, 168, 189, 193 Curtis, Ralph W ., 160-63 Demotte, G . Joseph (Paris), 105-06, 107, 214 Donaldson, George (London), 215 'de Dorides' coll. (Rome), 50 Dorigo, Francesco (Venice), 81, 82, 85, 86, 91, 93, 152, 153, 156, 157, 164, 234, 256, 267 Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell (London), 149 Dreyfus, Gustave (Paris), 160-63 Duveen Brothers, 216 Einstein, Hermann (Munich), 120, 121 Einstein, Theodor (Munich), 117-18, 119, 124-31, 134, 135, 185,238, 247 Farnese (Rome) , 61 Freund, Karl (New York), 258 Gardner, William Amory (Boston), 9, 212, 213 Ga vet, Emile, coll. (Paris), 122, 137, 217 Gimpel, E., and Wildenstein (New York), 218 Guggenheim, M. (Venice), 140, 172 Hunt, Belle (Boston), 199-200 Institute of the Sisters of S. Giuseppe (Rome), 10

Maggi sale (Boston), 194, 261 Marinangelli, Pio (Rome), 92 Moise dalla Torre (Venice), 93, 158, 219-20, 235, 257, 266 Nathan, David, coll. (London), 149 Nevin, Rev. Dr. (Rome) , 148 Norton, Richard (Rome), 10, 12, 14, 16, 31, 34, 44, 46, 55, 61, 78, 148, 169 Orsini, Giovanni Battista (Rome), 50 Pares, Emile (Madrid), 179 Pepe, Gaetano (Naples), 196 Petit, George (Paris), 122, 137 Peyre, Emile, coll. (Paris), 95, 102-04, 108-10, 113, 178, 181, 182,229,249,263,264 Pickert, A. (Nuremberg), 186 Rafard, Charles (Paris), 123 Ricchetti, Consiglio (Venice), 143-44, 165, 170-71, 19192, 195 Robert, Fernand (Paris) , 122, 137, 178, 180, 181, 217 Rocchi, Mariano (Perugia), 146, 150 Sangiorgi (Rome), 2, 42, 49, 253 Sartorio, Dr. Henry C. (Rome), 57 Schio, Count (Costozza), 167 Sciarra coll. (Rome), 61 Scott and Fowles (New York), 210 Simonetti, Attilio (Rome) , 60, 139, 251, 252 Smith, Joseph Lindon (Boston), 1, 20, 73, 139, 146, 189 Spithoever, Giuseppe (Rome), 14 Spitzer coll. (Paris), 160-62 Vigoroux, J. (Paris), 214 Volpi (Florence), 138


Index of Artists Numbers refer to catalogue entries; those in boldface indicate a Gardner Museum attrib ution.

Adriano Fiorentino, 149 Alemanno, Pietro, 101 Al tatting Master, 135 A madeo, Giovanni Antonio, 172 Antelami, Benedetto, 83 Antwerp workshop, 112, 113 Aphrodisias, 29 " Atelier des Tabernacles," 108 Baerze, Jacques de, 110 Bastianini, Giovanni, 141, 216 Bellano, Bartolommeo, 141, 167 Benedetto da Maia no, 145, 149; workshop, 142; afte r, 146 Bernini, Pietro, 191-92 Bologna , Giovanni, 190, 197 Boutron, 105-06 Bregno, Antonio, 165 Buon, Bartolommeo, 137, 158, 175, 177 Campione, Giovanni da , 83 Canova, Antonio, after, 199 Caradosso, Ambrogio Foppa, 172 von Carben Master, 182 Castagna, Andrea del, 165 Cellini, Benvenuto, 15 1 Civitale, Matteo, 139 Cologne workshop, 112 Degler, Hans, circle, 185 Desiderio da Settignano, 216 Diana, Benedetto, 176 Domenico da Tolmezzo, 101 Domenico di Nicolo dei Cori, 97 Donatello, 140, 142, 165 Donoghue, John Talbott, 204 Dornhart, Ulrich, 122 Dossena, Alceo, 34 Duquesnoy, Fran<;:ois, follower, 190 Gaggini, Giovanni, 168 Ghiberti, Lorenzo, workshop, 137 Giolfino, Bartolomeo, 159 H e ide, H enning von der, 119 H e isen, H einrich, 122 Herlin, Friedrich, 116 Holbe in, Hans, 134 Hunt, William Morris, 20 1 Huntington, Anna Hyatt, 211 Huy, Jean Pepin de, 108

lmperialissim a Ma ster, 121 Join ville, wo rkshop, 109 Ke phisodo tos, 11, 26 Ko lde re r, Jo rg, 133 Kren iss, Ma tthaus, see Al totting Mas ter La dd, A n n a Coleman, 207 Led er er, Jo rg, and circle, 124-31 Leinberger, H a n s, 134 ; circle, 132 Leoni, Leone, 151 Le u, H a ns, the Younger, 123 Liege, Jean de, 110 Lomba rdo, Antonio, 177 Lomba rdo, Pietro, 169 Lomba rdo, Tullio, 170-71 Lysippos, 19, 37 Lysippus, 149 Ma nship, Pa u l, 208-10 Masegn e, Jacobello and Pie rpa olo dalle, 99 Mas ter of the Mascoli Alta r, 100 Mas ter of Ra benden , 134 Melozzo da Forli, 149 Mich ela n gelo, 151 Mi n e ll i, Giovanni, 167 Mi n o da Fiesole, 138 Mosca, Giova nni M a ria, 176 Niccolo, 83 No tke, Bernt, circle, 12 1 Pa dovano, Zua n Ma ria, see Mosca Pasi te les, 13, 24 Ph eidias, 41 P ilacorte, G iova nni Antonio, 170-71 Pisanello (Antonio Pisa ni) , 160-62 Pisan o, N icola, 98 Polykle itos, 22, 25, 29, 31 Po u pelet, Ja n e, 269 P raxiteles, 11, 12, 26, 27, 31, 33,路37 Quercia, Jacopo d e lla, 97, 137 Raphael, 151 Raph on, H a n s, 122 Ri ccio, And rea, 167 Reim en schneide r, Tilma n, 120 Riss, Bibe rach a n d er, 116 Rizzo, A nton io, 166 Rosselli, D om enico, worksh op, 143-44 Ro bbia, An drea dell a, 141 ; workshop, 147 Ro bbia, Giovanni della, a nd workshop, 148 Robbia, Luca della, 216 Roger van d er Weyd en , 112 Rossellin o, Antonio, afte r, 140; imitator, 215 Ro ty, Lo uis O scar, 205


Sadoux, 105-06 Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 202-03 Sansovino, Andrea, 149 Sargent, John Singer, 206 Skopas, 26, 34, 37 Spee, Johann, see von Carben Master Stephanos, 24 Syfer, Hans, circle, 120 Tino da Camaino, 98 Ulm, workshop, 117-18 Vecchietta, 141 Verrocchio, Andrea, 149 Vittoria, Alessandro, after, 194 Werve, Claus de, 109 Wylsynk, Henry, see Imperialissima Master

Index of Locations Numbers refer to catalogue entries .

Albany, N.Y., Capitol, 201 Altotting, Collegiate church, 135 Amherst, Mass., Mead Art Building, 137 Ampurias, 64 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 141 , 169, 191-92 Anchiano, S. Pietro, 147 Andover, Mass., Addison Gallery of Art, 202, 210 Angouleme, 102 Argentina, priv. coll., 105-06 Argos, Museum, 33 Aries, 105-06 Ascoli Piceno, 101 Athens, 12, 20, 26 ; Akropolis Museum, 78; National Museum, 14, 22 Aulnay, 103 Auvergne, 108 Bad Honnef, 182 Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 9, 181 Barcelona, Museo Mares, 136 Barga, Collegiata, 84 Bassae, 31 Bassenheim, 133 Bergamo, S. Maria Maggiore, 83 Berlin, 6, 22, 54, 66, 91 , 93, 9 7, 113, 123, 138 ; formerly Kaiser-Friedrich Museen, 140, 190; Staatliche Museen (East Berlin), 78, 149 ; Staatliche Museen (West Berlin) , 122, 137, 142, 172, 216 Besarn;on, 11 Bessey-les-Clteaux, 109 Bithynia, 36 Bobbio, S. Colomba no, 81 Boston : Athenaeum, 74 ; Museum of Fine Arts, 3, 9, 30, 34, 36, 74, 133, 138, 185, 203 ; Public Library, 206 Brescia, 93 Brookgreen Gardens, S.C., 211 Brookline, Green Hill (Mrs. Gardner' s estate), 159, 197, 206

Bryn Athyn, Pa ., Pitcairn coll., 105-06 Budapest, 191-92 Burgos, cathedral, 180 Cagliari : Convento dei Cappuccini, 6 0 ; museum, 58, 64 ; S. Lucifero, 6 0 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 2 7, 41, 42, 45, 55 Cambridge, M ass., Fogg Art Museum, 3, 105-06, 194 ; priv. coll., 203 Ca nosa, 5 Castiglione d'Olona, 1 72 Chatsworth House (Derbyshire), Devonshire coll., 33 Cherchel (Algeria) , 30 Chester, cathedra l, 215


Chicago: Art Institute, 204; World's Columbian Exposition, 204 Ci vita Castellana, S. Maria, 92 Cologne, cathedral, llO Cologne-Bocklemund, 182 Colognola, parish church, 159 Como, S. Abbondio, 81 Copenh agen: National M u seum, 5, 121; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 17, 22, 28, 38, 58; Odescalchi coll., 25; Royal Museum, 169 Datteln, S. Amandus, ll2 Deepdene (Surrey) , Hope coll., ll, 24 D etroit, Institute of Arts, 93, 194 Dijon, museum , 110 Dresden, Albertusmuseum, 122 Durham, N .C., Duke Univ. Art Museum, ll4 Diisseldorf, ex. A. Hauth coll., ll9 Edfu, temple of Horus, 3 Ephesos, 36 Erill-la - Vall, 136 Essen Minster, 182 Ferrara, ca thed ral, 83 Florence, 18 ; b ap ti s try, 137; Galleria degli Uffizi, 69; loggia dei Lanzi, 151 ; loggia di S. Paolo, 141; Museo Archeologico, 13, 34; Museo Nazionale, 137, 138, 146, 148, 151, 197; Or San Michele, 137; Palazzo Antinori-Aldobrandini, 138; Palazzo Vecchio, 142 ; S. Maria d e Ila Misericordia, 145 ; S. M inia to , 145, 215 ; Villa I Tatti, 143-44 Fossombrone, ca thedral, 143-44 Fra nkfurt-a m-Main, liebieghaus, 95 Freising, 103 Gae ta: ca thedra l, 92 ; S. Lucia, 92 Glouces ter, Mass., Sa rgent-Murray-Gilma n-Hough H ou se, 202 Gos nay (Pas-de-Calai s), 108 Greenville, S.C., Museum of Bob Jones Univ. , 140 Grosolbming, 100 Gubbio, 82 H annover, Nied ersachisch en landesgalerie, 95 Hague, The, ll2 Hald, 121 Hamburg, Kuns tha lle, 205 Herculaneum, 10, 45 Illegio, 101 Ingolstadt, 134 Izmit (Nicomedia) , 36 Karl sruhe, ll3 ; Badisches l a ndesmuseum, 123 l ' Aquila, Museo Diocesano, 141 la Verna, 148 Lawrence, Kans ., Univ. of Kansas Museum of Art, 93

Leningrad, Hermitage, 199 Lesches (Seine-et-Marne), 108 London : British Museum, 22, 61, 121; Sion House, 19; Sir John Soane' s Museum, 75-76; Victoria and Albert Museum, 85, ll9, 137, 141, 146, 158, 168, 194,216,219 Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, 32 Lubeck, S. Martin, 121 Lucca : cathedral, 139; S. Michele, 89-90; S. Trinita, 139 Madrid, Museo de! Prado, 24, 26, 42 Magny-en-Vexin, 108 Marseille, Musee Borely, 82 Milan : Cas tello Sforzesco, 87 ; Sant' Ambrogio, 87 Monchengladbach, ex. H . Schwartz coll., 122 Montalcino, Museo d 'Arte Sacro, 97 Munich, 23, 31, 132; Bayerische Nationalmuseum, 133, 183; ex. J. Bohler, dealer, 134; Frauenkirche, 134; Glyptothek, 40 Myrina, 4 Naples, 13, 45 ; cathedral, 98 ; Monteoliveto, 145; Museo Nazionale, 8, 22; Santa Chiara, 98 ; S. Maria di Capua (near Naples), 31 Neersen, church of Klein-Jerusalem, 182 New York: American Academy o[ Arts and Letters, 202 ; Walter Baker coll., 12; ex. George Gray Barnard coll., 146; Hispanic Society, 179; The Cloisters, 83, 107, ll6 ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 23, 105-06, 146, 202, 204, 2ll; Seligmann coll., 97; Women's Art Club Exhibition, 2ll; Zoological Society, 2ll Nordheim, 108 Norfolk, Va., Chrysler Museum, 146 Nuremberg, 100, ll5 Oly mpia, temple of Zeus, 30 O s tia, Museo Ostiense, 38 Otra nto, 93 Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 199 O xford: Ince Blundell Hall, 17, 32, 45, 63, 75-76 Padua, Carrara Abbey (near Pa dua); Sant' Agostino, 167 Paris: louvre, 13, 105-06, 136, 166, 200, 216; Musee Jacq uemart-Andre, 97, 137, 218 ; Palais Galliera, 190 Parthenay: cas tle, 105-06; Notre-Dame-de-la-Couidre, 105-06 Pescia, 84, 136 Petworth House (Sussex), l econfield coll., 17 Philadelphia, Museum of Art, 138 Pisa, Museo Civico, 89-90, 92 Pis toia, 146; S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas, 84 Poi tiers, Notre-Dame-la-Grande, 105-06 Pompierre, 105-06 Pompeii, 8, 13, 28, 34, 41 Port Sunli ght, England, 215 Prague,108 Prato: ca thedral, 142; S. Spirito, 146 Primaporta, 36


Princeton, N.J., Princeton Univ. Art Museum, 27, 115, 137; priv. coll., 119 Providence, R.I., Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, 27 Rampillon, 108 Rapstedt, 121 Ravenna: cathedral, 92; Museo Nazionale, 93 ; S. Vitale, 65 La Reole, Maison Seguin, 107 Rome : American Academy of Rome, 10; Esquiline, 75-76; Farnesina, 61 ; Gardens of Sallust, 10, 14, 75-76; Lateran Museum, 16; Mattei coll., 64, 72; Museo Capitolino, 3, 11, 29, (Albani coll.) 38, 43, 53, 54, 61, 62; Museo Nuovo (formerly Museo Mussolini), 53, 75, 76; Museo Nazionale delle Terme, 15, 22, 51; Museo Torlonia, 37, 62; Palazzo Altoviti, J.51; Palazzo dei Conservatori, 16, 20, 30, 33, 34, 40, 56, 57 ; Palazzo Farnese, 61; S. Cesareo, 92; Gregorio Magno, 78; S. Maria di Monte Gordano, SO; SS. Apostoli, 149; Vatican, Museo Chiaramonte, 23; Villa Ludovisi, 67; Villa Medici, 60, 69; Villa Torlonia-Albania, 24 Ronsenac, 102 Rothenburg ob der Tauber, S. James, 116 Ruffec (Vienne), 105-06 Saintes, Notre-Dame, 109 Saint-Martin-aux-Bois, 108 Salamanca: S. Benito, 179; S. Martin, 179 Salardu, 136 Salm, 109 S. Gimignano : Collegiata, 142; Ospedale di S. Fina, 146; Sant' Agostino, 145 San Juan de Las Abadesas, 136 Sanseverino Rota, 98 Sarasota, Florida, Ringling Museum, 172 Savona, 168 Sequals, 170-71 Seville, cathedral, 180 Siena : cathedral, 97; S. Pietro a Ovile, 97 Sigmaringen, Museum, 120 Sixt, 111 Sinzig, 149 Sion, Museum of Valeria, 84 Soluthurn, 134 South Hadley, Mass., Mt. Holyoke College, 137 Sparta, 27 Spilimbergo, 170-71 Spoleto, cathedral, 95 Syracuse, 16, 20 Tarragona, 20 Telesina, 78 Terracina, 40 Tivoli, Hadria n 's villa, 3, 20, 29, 75-76, 136 Trani, cathedral, 83 Turin, Museo Civico, 101 Tusculum, 11

Ulm, ca thedral, 114 Urbino, Casa di Raffaelo, 146 Valloires, 214 Venice: Abbazia della Misericordia, 176; Accademia, 159; Ca' d'Oro, 93, 164; campanile, 198; Campo S. Maria Mater Domini (near), 93; Campo San Zaccaria, 100; Casa Erizzo, 93; Casa Folier, 91; church of the Madonna dell'Orto, 175; Doge's Palace, 165 ; Fondaco dei Turchi, 93; Museo Correr, 169, 194, 195, 221; Palazzo Agnusdio, 152; Palazzo Contarini-Fasan, 156 ; Palazzo Pisani, 194; Porta della Carta, 158, 177; S. Giobbe, 141; San Marco, 86, 93, 155-56, 165; S. Maria dei Carmini, 93 ; S. Maria dei Frari, 165; S. Maria dei Miracoli, 170-71; S. Maria dei Servi, 166; SS. Apostoli (near), 93; Scuola della Carita, 99, 176; Scuola Grande della Carita, 176; Seminario, 99, 169 Vergy, 109 Vernouillet, 214 Vienna, 7, 93, 134; ex. Benda coll., 165; cathedral, 183 ; Liechtenstein coll., 138 Vignory, S. Etienne, 109; workshop, 109 Villemartin, Templar church, 107 Volterra, 136 Washington, D.C. : National Gallery of Art, 142; National Portrait Gallery, 203 Windsor Castle, 59, 61, 68 Worcester, Mass., Museum of Fine Arts, 137 Wiirzburg, 120 Zuglio, 101 Zurich, 123


Index of Subjects Numbers ref er to catalogue entries.

Actaeon, 210 altarpiece, 121-23, 148 ; retable, 109, 178, 180; tabernacle, 147, 159 ; triptych, 132 Altovi ti, Bindo, 151 Amazon, 11 a mbo, 92 amorino, 58 Ampelus, 59 Amset, 1 Anahita, 201 angel, 158, 166, 231 , 262 ; with candles tick, 143-44, 191-92, 232, 253; wi th capital, 152 anim al base, 222, 224 ; see also lion b ase Annius Verus, 17 Annunciation, 111, 159, 170-71, 178 ; a n gel, 97 antefix, 89-90 Antinori, 138 Aphrodite, 37 ; and Ariadn e, 43 Apis bull, 9 Apocalyp tic Elders, 105-06, 227 Apollo, 20, 24, 25, 30, 31 archivolt, fragments , 227 Ariadne, 55, 79 ; and Aphrodite or Dionysos, 43 Artemis, 11 , 13, 34, 72 Artemis Bendis, 6 Atalanta, 72 a tla s (a tla nte) , 28, 83 Augusta n or Flavia n naval victory, 77 Bacchus, 59 bas ilisk, 92 basin or bowl, 8, 73, 74, 87 bishop, 111, 229 Bon, Pe tru s, 169 Bouveno t, Guilla ume and Gude le tte, 109 Braccia da Montone, 161 Canopic jar, 1 Canosan vase, 5 capital, 79-80, 88, 102-04, 152, 242, 263 ; see also impos t block C a rlotta (daughter of James II of Lusignan), 167 carto uches, 206 centa urs, 81-82 ch a ndeli e r, 247 ch erub s' h eads, 252 children 's h ea d s, 251 C hri s t, 114 ; Ba ptis m , 1 78 ; from D e pos ition, 136 ; En tombment, 167 ; Entry into Jerusa lem, 105 ; Lamentation, 148 ; life, 1 78 ; a s Man of Sorrows, 101, 150, 159, 186; Nativity, 132, 184; Passion scenes, 103, 109; Pieta 112; Re surrection, 183

1. 86

Christ Child, and S. Christopher, 99 ; see also Madonna and Child, Virgin and Child cinerary urn, 7, 46-56, 74 coat of arms, 101, 109, 137; Altoviti, 151; Bouvenot, 109; Contarini-Fasan, 156; Franciscan, 158; Giustiniani, 219 ; Malatesta, 162; Paolo da Monte, 176; Amal de Serres, 178; Venier, 165 ; Visconti, 160 corbels, 107, 228 column: pos t, 157 ; shaft, 75-76 Cosma ti work, 92 cross, 123; Greek, 81, 82, 215 ; Maltese, 57 crucifix, 181 Crucifixion scene, 112 Cupid, 190, 196, 219, 220 dancer, 199 Daniel in the Lions' Den, 104 deer,92 devi l, 185 Diana, 200, 210 Diane a la Biche or Dia ne de Versailles, 200 Dionysos,6,24,25,27, 33,40,41,63,79-80; and Ariadne, 43; and Eros, 42 Dionysiac scene, 56, 59, 61, 66, 79-80 divinity: geographical, 70; goddess, 13, 34; marine or mountain , 69; nature, 39 ; see also individual names dolphin, 16,51,254 Dominican nun, 189 door jamb, fragments, 249 doorway, 107, 168 dragon, and S. George, 119, 168 drake,269 eccles iastical figure, 111, 189, 229, 257-59 Echetlos, 7 Electra , 11 Epicurus, 44 Eros, 54, 62, 64, 71; Apoxyomenos, 19; and Dionysos, 42; and dolphin, 16 Europa, 209 Evangelist symbol: S. Luke, 86, 92; S. Mark, 92, 221, 256 Faith, 98 Flight of Night, 201 foot, 245 fo untain parts, 193, 251, 254 Gabriel, 97, 170, 198 Gaia, 62 Gardne r-Fa rnese sarcophagus, 61 Gardner " Peplophorus," 10 gargoyle, 225 gadand sarcoph agu s, 63 grave al tar, see cin erary urn griffi n hea ds, 7 4 grotesq ue, 255 ; see also corbels Harpocrates, see Horus


Hathor cow, 9 hawk, see Horus Herakles, 23, 35, 67 herm bust: Dionysos, 40, 41; - and Eros, 42; - or Aphrodite and Ariadne, 43; Greek man of affairs or intellect, 44; Macedonian ruler, 45 Hermes, 26, 32 Hippolytus-Virbius, 42 Holy Kinship, 122 Hora, 15; see also maenad hornblower, 102 horses of Diomedes, 67 Horus, 1, 3; child (Harpocrates), 2 Howells, Mildred, 203

imago clypeata, 58, 62 impost block, 103, 104; see also capital Isotta da Rimini, 163 jaguar, 211 Joachim and Anna, 249 Joan of Arc, 208 Jonah a nd the whale, 223 Justice, 177 ketoi, 62 knight, tomb figure, 179 knocker, see Neptune with sea horses lamb, 95, 96 lion, 87, 226, 234, 235, 255, 261; antefix, 89-90; base, 83-84, 154-55, 265, 267, 268; balustrade, 15657, 266; finial, 236; handle, 73; of S. Mark, 218, 250 Madonna and Child, 100, 101, 108, 137, 140, 145, 146, 165, 214, 215; with king and bishop, 187; see also Holy Kinship Madonna della Misericordia, 246 Madonna della Ruota della Carita, 176 maenad, 15,56,59,61, 79-80 Magus, 182 Malatesta, Sigismondo Pandolfo, 162 Maldonado, see knight Marathon battle, 7 Maxentius, 121 medal : Mildred Howells, 203; Isotta da Rimini, 163; Joan of Arc, 208 ; Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, 162; Niccolo Piccinino, 161; John Singer Sargent, 202; Filippo Maria Visconti, 160; youth plighting his troth, 205 medallions, 206; see also roundels Medusa,6,63,77 Metrodorus, 44 Militiades, 44 moulding, fragments, 233 Muse, 18 Mypropnous, C. Volcacius, 38 Neptune, 197; with sea horses, 194

Nike (Nikai), 5, 63 Niobid, 26 nuns, 257; see also Dominican nun Oceanus, 62 Odysseus, 14 Omphale, 36 Palmese!, fragment, 114 Pan,56 panther, handle, 73 patrician family at prayer, 186 peacocks,65,91 pedes tal, 77 Persephone, 10, 12 Philip V of Macedon, 45 Piccinino, Niccolo, 161 pitcher, 6 portrait bust: Bindo Altoviti, 151; Anni us Verus, 17 ; Raffaello Riario, 149; Roman man, 35, 218; Roman woman, 36; Maria de Acosta Sargent, 207; S. Bernadino, 141; Marietta Strozzi, 216; unidentified woman, 217; Venetian senator, 195 portrait relief, 138; Petrus Bon, 169 Pyrrhus of Epirus, 45 Psyche, 55 Publius Gessius, 35 Riario, Raffaello, Cardinal Sansoni, 149 roundels, 93 Saint: Agnes, 94-96, 124; Anne, and Joachim, 249; - and Virgin, 260 ; Anthony, 148; Barbara, 122, 129, 243; Bernardino, 141; Catherine, 109, 122, 127; - and bishop saint, 121; Christopher, 99, 175; deacon saint, 174 ; Dominic, 148; Dorothea, 122, 131 ; Elena, 126; Elizabeth of Hungary, 116; Eustace, 115; Felix, 159; Fortunatus, 159 ; Florian, 134; George, 115, 119, 122, 159, 168; Gereon, 123; Hubert, 115 ; James, 239; Jerome, 120; John, 241; John the Baptis t, 109, 142, 159, 173, 178 ; John the Evangelist, 117; Lawrence, 130, 230 ; Margaret, 122, 135 ; Martin, 115, 122, 133; Maurice, 123 ; Michael, 185 ; mounted 路s aint, 115 ; Nicholas, 121, 248; Paul, 125 ; Peter, 128; Peter Martyr, 172; Roch, 122; Sebastian, 188; Stephen, 126, 174; unidentified , 264; Urban, 122; Victor, 123 sarcophagus, 57, 59-63, 65, 237; fragment, 58, 66-72; lid, 64 Sargent, John Singer, 202 Sargent, Maria de Acosta, 207 satyr, 28, 59, 61, 66; see also Silenus sea monster, 53, 62, 71 Season, 29 Silenus, 20, 21, 79-80 Silvanus, 29 slab, 85 ; chancel, 81-82 Sophocles, 204 strigilar sarcophagus, 57-60, 68 Strozzi, Marietta, 216


Tellus, 62 Terpsichore, 12 Theban Legion, 123 throne, 78 Trinity with 5 . Catherine and bishop saint, 121 tritons, 52, 193 two kings, see Apocalyptic Elders " vase of life" sarcoph agus, 65 Virgin, 238, 240, 250; adoring the Child, 139; Annunciate, 171 ; borne to heaven, 153; and Child, 100, 101, 108, 137; life, 180; and 5. Anne, 260; see also Annunciation Visconti, Filippo Maria, 160 wheel of charity, 176 winged figure, 78 Zeus, 22,23,41

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