Doorway thumbnail 1
Doorway thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Raphael, Room 48a, The Raphael Cartoons

Doorway

1503 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This doorway originated from the Palazzo Pallavicino in Piazza di Fossatello, Genoa, and remained there until shortly before its purchase by the Museum in 1879. Its date and authorship are established by a contract of 28 June 1503, between Cipriano Pallavicino and the brothers Michele and Antonio Carlone. The Virgin and the Child with the two putti holding a crown replace a coat-of-arms for which provision was made in the contract. This modification seems to have occurred during the execution of the doorway.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Doorway
  • Statuette
  • Statuette
Materials and techniques
Carved marble
Brief description
Doorway, Putti and shield, marble, by Michele and Antonio Carlone, Italy (Genoa), 1503
Physical description
Doorway, marble. Above the architrave is a shell-shaped lunette, in front of which stands the Virgin with the Child on her right arm. Two winged putti, kneeling on the rim of the lunette, hold a crown over her head. At the sides are two statuettes of putti with shields (charge effaced). The frieze is carved with grotesques amongst which stand three eagles, and the jambs are formed by fluted half-columns, carved at the base with a band of eagles and garlands, and above with three putti and baskets of flowers and fruit. The bases are carved with partially illegible reliefs which appear to represent (right) Hercules and the Serpents, and (left) Hercules and Cacus.

On the left column the lower part of the left arm of the central putto and the knuckles and fingers of the right hand of the putto on the right are missing. On the right column the right arm of the central putto and the right legs of other putti have also been broken off. The faces of all the putti on the columns are abraded. Local abrasion elsewhere.
Dimensions
  • Height: 553.7cm
  • Width: 320cm
Object history
Purchased in Florence (through W.C. Spence), in 1879.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This doorway originated from the Palazzo Pallavicino in Piazza di Fossatello, Genoa, and remained there until shortly before its purchase by the Museum in 1879. Its date and authorship are established by a contract of 28 June 1503, between Cipriano Pallavicino and the brothers Michele and Antonio Carlone. The Virgin and the Child with the two putti holding a crown replace a coat-of-arms for which provision was made in the contract. This modification seems to have occurred during the execution of the doorway.
Bibliographic references
  • List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired in the Year 1879. London, 1880, p. 8
  • Walterkruft, Hanno. 'Un certile rinacimentale italiano nella Sierra Nevada: La Calahorra' in Antichita Viva VIII, 1969, no2. pp. 35-51
  • MacLagan, E, and Longhurst, Margaret, H. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture London: V&A, 1932, p. 121
  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1964, p. 392
  • Alizeri. 'Notizie dei professor del disegno in Liguria dale origini al secolo XVI' in Scultura. V, Genoa, 1877, p. 376
  • Alieri. Guida illustrative del cittandno e del forasitero per la citta di Genova e sue adiacenze. Genoa, 1875, pp. 360-2 and pp. 519-20
  • Berlendis. Raccolta delle miglior fabbriche ed ornamenti della citta di Genova. Milan: 1828, tav. Xiib
  • Cervetto. I Gaggini da Bissone, Milan 1903, p. 21
  • Lightbown. 'Three Genoese Doorways' in The Burlington Magazine ciii, 1961, pp. 412-15
  • Mozzati, Tommaso and Zurla, Michela, 'Alcune Novità Sulle Sculture Della Cattedrale Di Genoa: Benedetto Da Rovezzano, Donato Benti e La Famiglia Fieschi', in Nuovi Studi, 20, 2014 anno XIX, p. 49-50 and note 112, p. 67
Collection
Accession number
81:1 to 3-1879

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Record createdFebruary 20, 2004
Record URL
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