Madonna and Christ Child with a Bishop Saint, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Michael and an Unidentified Saint
Madonna and Christ Child with a Bishop Saint, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Michael and an Unidentified Saint
- Artist
- Goodhart Ducciesque Master
- Also Known As
- Master Of The Goodhart Madonna
- Artist Dates
- active 1300-1325
- Artist Nationality
- Italian
- Title
- Madonna and Christ Child with a Bishop Saint, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Michael and an Unidentified Saint
- Date
- about 1310 / 1320
- Medium
- tempera on panel
- Dimensions
- Bishop: 23 5/8 × 13 3/8 in. (60 × 34 cm); St. John the Baptist: 24 1/4 × 13 1/4 in. (61.6 × 33.7 cm); Madonna and Child: 29 3/8 × 19 1/8 in. (74.6 × 48.6 cm); St. Michael: 23 5/8 × 13 1/4 in. (60 × 33.7 cm); Saint: 23 5/8 × 13 1/4 in. (60 × 33.7 cm); framed: 34 5/8 × 80 × 4 5/8 in. (87.9 × 203.2 × 11.7 cm)
- K Number
- K592
- Repository
- Birmingham Museum of Art
- Accession Number
- 1961.104
- Notes
Provenance
Private Collection, Tuscany. [1] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955], Rome-Florence); sold to Samuel H. Kress [1863-1955] on 13 March 1941 as Contemporary of Duccio; gift to the Birmingham Museum of Art in 1961, 1961.104. [1] According to a manuscript opinion of M.S. Perkins published in the catalogue published by the Birmingham Museum of Art, The Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1959, p. 11.
Catalogue Entry
Goodhart Ducciesque Master
Madonna and Christ Child with a Bishop Saint, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Michael and an Unidentified Saint
K592
Birmingham, Ala., Birmingham Museum of Art (61.104), since 1952.(1) Wood. Middle panel, 30 X 19 1/2 in. (76.2 X 49.5 cm.); side panels, each, 24 1/8 X 13 5/8 in. (61.3 X 34.6 cm.). Inscribed on the scroll held by John the Baptist: ECCE ANGNUS DEI ECCE QUI TOLLIS PECATA MU[n]DI (from John 1:29). Fair condition. This altarpiece has been cited as the most accomplished example of the master's work.(2) It must date from his maturity, probably in the 1320's. Originally terminated, probably, by five triangular panels, it follows a typical Ducciesque form. The panels preserved represent a bishop saint, John the Baptist, the Madonna with the Child holding a goldfmch, the archangel Michael, and possibly(3) Dionysius the Areopagite. Provenance: An unidentified Tuscan Villa.(4) Contini Bonacossi, Florence. Kress acquisition, 1941.
References
(1) Catalogue by W. E. Suida, 1952, p. 15, as follower of Duccio; 1959, pp. 11f, as Goodhart Ducciesque Master. (2) So cited by Coor. D. C. Shorr, The Christ Child in Devotional Images, 1954, pp. 154, 156 (as type 23, Siena 8, whereabouts unknown), seems to have been the first to include the Birmingham painting in the Goodhart Master's oeuvre. (3) The Madonna and Child formerly owned by Mrs. Goodhart is now in the Robert Lehman Collection, New York. R. Offner coined the name, attributing a Madonna in the Metropolitan Museum (see Metropolitan Museum Catalogue of ltalian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings, 1940, pp. 71f) to the master. G. Coor (in Art Bulletin, vol. XXXVII, 1955, pp. 163 f.) gives a list of most of the paintings now attributed to the Goodhart Master and of the publications in which reproductions are to be found. Among the group she cites the Birmingham polyptych as 'a product of the 1320's' and the 'most accomplished' example. (4) According to F. M. Perkins (in ms. opinion), who finds the painting of exceptionally high quality among Ducciesque examples.
Catalogue Volume
Italian Paintings XIII – XV Century