Scenes from Boccaccio's "Il ninfale fiesolano"
Scenes from Boccaccio's "Il ninfale fiesolano"
- Artist
- Fra Angelico
- Artist Dates
- c. 1395-1455
- Artist Nationality
- Italian
- Title
- Scenes from Boccaccio's "Il ninfale fiesolano"
- Date
- c. 1415-1480
- Medium
- tempera on panel
- Dimensions
- 28.9 x 126.5 cm (11-3/8 x 49-3/4 in)
- K Number
- K275
- Repository
- Bowdoin College Museum of Art
- Accession Number
- 1961.100.1
- Notes
Provenance
Louis-Philippe Bern, Paris. (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955] Rome-Florence); sold to Samuel H. Kress [1863-1955] on 30 June 1933 as Florentine Master; gift to the National Gallery of Art in 1939; deeaccessioned in 1952 and returned to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation; gift to Bowdoin College Museum of Art in 1961, no. 1961.100.001
Catalogue Entry
Fra Angelico
Scenes from Boccaccio's "Il ninfale fiesolano"
K275
Brunswick, Me., Walker Art Museum, Bowdoin College, Study Collection (1961.100.1), since 1961.(1) Wood. 11 3/8 X 49 3/4 in. (28.9 X 126.3 cm.). Much abraded, damaged, and restored. Relationship to Arcangelo di Cola and to Rossello di Jacopo has been recognized in this cassone panel.(2) It probably dates about 1430 and it retains what appears to be its original frame. Help in interpreting the lively scenes is offered by versions on other known cassone panels, notably one in the Honolulu Museum, which is very similar to K275 and probably comes from the same studio. The theme is the detection and judgment of breach of chastity among the huntress band of Diana and her following. At the right the offense of Callisto is discovered; in the center Diana is wafted down to the sleeping Endymion; at the left witnesses testify and judgment is pronounced. Provenance: Louis-Philippe Bern, Paris. Contini Bonacossi, Florence. Kress acquisition, 1933 – exhibited: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (248), 1941-52.(3)
References
(1) Catalogue, 1961, p. 8, as Florentine, first half of fifteenth century. (2) In ms. opinions K275 has been classified as Florentine, first half of the fifteenth century, by G. Fiocco (who notes a close relationship to Arcangelo di Cola), R. Longhi (who points to the following of Lorenzo Monaco and Spinello), R. van Marle, F. M. Perkins, W. E. Suida, and A. Venturi. B. Berenson (Italian Pictures ... Florentine School, vol. 1,1963, p. 217) lists K275 as Florentine, close to Rossello di Jacopo. (3) Preliminary Catalogue, 1941, pp. 64 f, as Florentine, fifteenth century.