Saint John the Baptist
Saint John the Baptist
- Artist
- Alvise Vivarini
- Artist Dates
- 1442/1453-1503/1505
- Artist Nationality
- Italian
- Title
- Saint John the Baptist
- Date
- about 1480
- Medium
- oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 117.2 x 38.7 cm (46-1/8 x 15-1/4 in)
- K Number
- K1018
- Repository
- Denver Art Museum
- Accession Number
- 1961.161
- Notes
-
One of two panels in a dismembered altarpiece: K1017 and K1018.
Provenance
Countess Eleonora Reppi, Rome; bought by (Paolo Paolini) on 26 March 1926. (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955] Rome-Florence); sold to Samuel H. Kress [1863-1955] on 1 June 1936 ; gift to the National Gallery of Art in 1939; deaccessioned in 1952 and returned to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation; gift 1961 to Denver Art Museum, no. 1961.161.
Catalogue Entry
Alvise Vivarini
Saint John the Baptist
K1018
Denver, Colo., Denver Art Museum (E-IT-18-XV-932 and E-IT-18-XV-933), since 1954.(1) Wood. K1017, 46 X 15 in. (116.8 X 38.1 cm.); K1018, 46 3/8 X 15 in. (117.8 X 38.1 cm.). K1017, fair condition; some restoration in gold background; cleaned 1954. K1018, slight damages throughout, especially in flesh tones and gold background; cleaned 1954. The St. John finds its closest parallel in Alvise's Montefiorentino altarpiece, dated 1476. K1017 and K1018 must also have once been parts of an altarpiece, dating probably about 1480.(2) The landscape background in the St. John panel recalls that of K538 (Fig. 110). Provenance: Contessa Eleonora Reppi, Rome. Contini Bonacossi, Florence. Kress acquisition, 1936 – exhibited: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (438, 439), 1941-51.(3)
References
(1) Catalogue by W. E. Suida, 1954, p. 24, as Alvise Vivarini. (2) G. Fiocco, R. van Marle, F. M. Perkins, A. Venturi (in ms. opinions), R. Longhi (Viatico per cinque secoli di pittura veneziana, 1946, p. 59), B. Berenson (Italian Pictures ... Venetian School, vol. I, 1957, p. 196), and R. Pallucchini (I Vivarini, n.d. [1962], pp. 58, 133) attribute K1017 and K1018 to Alvise. (3) Preliminary Catalogue, 1941, p. 214, as Alvise.