Saint Augustine Giving the Habit of His Order to Three Catechumens
Saint Augustine Giving the Habit of His Order to Three Catechumens
- Artist
- Girolamo Genga
- Artist Dates
- c. 1476-1551
- Artist Nationality
- Italian
- Title
- Saint Augustine Giving the Habit of His Order to Three Catechumens
- Date
- c. 1516-18
- Medium
- tempera on panel
- Dimensions
- 47.3 x 86.7 cm (18-5/8 x 34-1/8 in)
- K Number
- K113
- Repository
- Columbia Museum of Art
- Accession Number
- CMA 1954.32
- Notes
Catalogue Entry
Girolamo Genga
Saint Augustine Giving the Habit of His Order to Three Catechumens
K113
Columbia, S.C., Columbia Museum of Art (54-402/13), since 1954.(1) Wood. 18 5/8 X 34 1/8 in. (47.3 X 86.7 cm.). Fair condition; some restoration at bottom and in background. The attribution of K113 to Genga is accepted,(2) as is the identification of its original location, along with a panel of St. Augustine Baptizing the Catechumens, in the predella of an altarpiece which Genga painted for Sant'Agostino, Cesena, receiving part payment in 1516 and final payment in 1518. The very large main panel of the altarpiece, the Madonna with Saints and Angels and God the Father, is now in the Brera, Milan, and the other known predella panel is in the Carrara Gallery, Bergamo. The influence of Signorelli is evident in the emphasis on the anatomical modeling and vigorous movement of the nude figures, but some of the other figures are more suggestive of Raphael. Provenance: Sant'Agostino, Cesena. Private Collection, Milan.(3) Contini Bonacossi, Rome. Kress acquisition, 1930 – exhibited: 'Italian Pictures Lent by Mr. Samuel H. Kress,' Oct. 1932, Atlanta, Ga., through June 1935, Charlotte N.C., p. 30 of catalogue, as Genga; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (167), 1941-52.(4)
References
(1) Catalogue by W. E. Suida, 1954, p. 35, and by A. Contini Bonacossi, 1962, pp. 63 f., as Genga. (2) K113 is attributed to Genga by G. Fiocco, R. Longhi, R. van Marle, F. M. Perkins, A. Venturi (in ms. opinions), M. Salmi (in Rassegna Marchigiana per le Arti Figurative ... , vol. VI, 1928, p. 235), and B. Berenson (Pitture italiane del rinascimento, 1936, p. 190. (3) According to Salmi, loc. cit. in note 2, above. (4) Preliminary Catalogue, 1941, p. 74, as Genga.