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Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Drawing

late 15th century - 1517 (made)
Artist/Maker
Bartolommeo (artist)
Place of origin
Italy (drawn)

Design for an altar-piece; The Virgin and Child, with Saints. Two of the saints are embracing in the foreground; the Virgin above, four other saints on each side, standing; Black chalk on brown paper.

Object details

Categories
Drawings
Designs
Object type
Drawing
Materials and techniques
Black chalk on brown paper
Black Chalk
Brown Paper
Drawing
Brief description
Bartolommeo; Design for an altar-piece; The Virgin and Child, with Saints. Two of the saints are embracing in the foreground; the Virgin above, four other saints on each side, standing; Study for the picture in the Gallery of the Grand Duke of Tuscany; Black chalk on brown paper; Italian; Late 15th century - 1517.
Physical description
Design for an altar-piece; The Virgin and Child, with Saints. Two of the saints are embracing in the foreground; the Virgin above, four other saints on each side, standing; Black chalk on brown paper.
Dimensions
  • Height: 8in
  • Width: 6.4in
Original measurement of object converted from fractional inches into decimal inches (rounded to one decimal place). Dimensions taken from: DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London : South Kensington Museum, 1874.
Style
Florentine School
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce
Object history
This composition has been engraved by Giovanni Antonio Lorenzini.
This is a study for the picture in the Gallery of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in which no saints are introduced in the foreground, but two angels are seated on the steps side by side, and the figure of St. Anne is represented standing behind the Virgin. Another study for this composition of the Virgin enthroned and surrounded by saints, is in the Cracherode Collection in the British Museum, and a third is on the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, which has only one saint on each side of the Virgin, and instead of the monks embracing in the foreground, a boy is seated, who is playing on the violin.
Subjects depicted
Woman
Child
Men
Virgin Mary
Jesus Christ
Saints
Bibliographic references
  • DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce. London : South Kensington Museum, 1874.
  • Ward-Jackson, Peter, Italian Drawings. Volume I. 14th-16th century, London, 1979, p. 36 The following is the full text of the entry: BARTOLOMMEO, FRA known as Baccio della Porta (1472-1517) 39 The Virgin and Child on a dais, within an apse, surrounded by saints, with St Francis and St Dominic embracing in the foreground Black chalk 8 x 6 1/8 (203 x 155) Dyce 150 PROVENANCE Dyce Bequest 1869 LITERATURE Dyce Catalogue no. 150 (as by Fra Bartolommeo); Reitlinger, p. 8, no. 10 (same attribution) There are three other versions of this design: (a) in the British Museum (Cracherode Collection, no. F.f.1-3; Photo. Gernsheim, no. 252; BB. 1938, no. 1817, where it is ascribed to Fra Paolino). (b) in the Uffizi (no. 408. Photo. Gernsheim, no. 2370; BB. 1938, no. 355, 'an early stage, perhaps, for the Louvre Marriage of St Catherine'). (c) in the Musée Wicar at Lille (Pluchart, Musée Wicar, no. 43; Photo. Gernsheim, no. 16673; BB. 1938, no. 398, 'sketch for the Louvre Marriage of St Catherine'). The connection between those four drawings and the Louvre Marriage of St Catherine is hardly close enough to justify Berenson's suggestion that two of them are sketches for the painting. The painting is illustrated in F. Knapp, Fra Bartolommeo della Porta, Halle, 1903, p. 103, pl. 49, and in H. von der Gabelentz, Fra Bartolommeo, Leipzig, 1922, 1, pl. 10. The Dyce Catalogue associates our drawing with the painting in the Uffizi showing the Virgin and Child with St Anne behind and above them (Knapp, op. cit., p. 114, pl. 52). But here again there is no significant connection.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
DYCE.150

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Record createdOctober 6, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1137874/drawing-bartolommeo/
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