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Kress Collection

The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist

The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist IIIF Get a closer view of this artwork
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (about 1478-79)
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist IIIF Get a closer view of this artwork
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (about 1478-79)
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist IIIF Get a closer view of this artwork
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (about 1478-79)
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist IIIF Get a closer view of this artwork
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (about 1478-79)
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (about 1478-79)
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (about 1478-79)
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (about 1478-79)
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist (about 1478-79)
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The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist
Kress Collection

The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist

Artist
Domenico Ghirlandaio and Workshop
Artist Dates
1449-1494
Artist Nationality
Italian
Title
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist
Date
about 1478-79
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
107.9 x 152.6 cm (42-7/8 x 60-1/2 in)
K Number
K1726
Repository
Denver Art Museum
Accession Number
1961.163
Notes
National Gallery of Art Archival Resources

Provenance

(Francis and Crookendon sale, Christie's, London, 10 December, 1937, no. 96, as Fiorenzo di Lorenzo); Bernard. (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955] Rome-Florence); sold to Samuel H. Kress [1863-1955] on 17 July 1950; gift 1961 to the Denver Art Museum, no. 1961.163 (on loan from the Kress Foundation, 1954–61).

Catalogue Entry

Domenico Ghirlandaio and Workshop
The Coronation of the Virgin with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist
K1726

Denver, Colo., Denver Art Museum (E-IT-18-XV-934), since 1954.(1) Wood. 42 7/8 x 60 1/2 in. (108.9 x 153.7 cm.). Fragment; bottom part missing; fair condition except for many losses of paint throughout; slightly cleaned 1951. Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Mainardi, and Domenico Ghirlandaio have each been credited with this painting,(2) and the sugges­tion has been made that it may be the Coronation which, according to documents, Ghirlandaio painted in 1478/79 for the large hall of the Opera del Duomo, Pisa.(3) The draw­ing and modeling of the figures in K1726 are more suggestive of his studio, around 1490, than of Ghirlandaio himself. The closest parallel, perhaps, is offered by the painting of the Madonna in Glory with Six Saints in the Museum at San Gimignano, which is attributed to Mainardi.(4) K1726 may have lost a few inches at the bottom: the two saints, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, were probably originally full-length and the broad view over the valley may have extended to the foreground. On three sheets in the British Museum, London, are drawings which correspond to the figures of the Virgin, Christ, and the two musical angels at the left in K1726. Whether the drawings are based on the painting or the painting is based on them is uncertain. They were probably drawn by someone in the circle of Ghir­landaio.(5) The musical instruments played by the angels in the upper zone of K1726 have been identified as, from left to right: an Early Renaissance lute with eight strings, a frame drum, a pair of cymbals, and a lira da braccio.(6) Provenance: In an anonymous sale at Christie's, London, Dec. 10, 1937, no. 96, as Fiorenzo di Lorenzo (bought by Bernard). Contini Bonacossi, Florence. Kress acquisition, 1950 –exhibited: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.(7)

References

(1) Catalogue by W. E. Suida, 1954, p. 26, as Domenico Ghirlandaio. (2) For the attribution to Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, see Provenance, above. K1726 has been attributed to Mainardi by B. Berenson (Italian Pictures ... Florentine School, vol. I, 1963, p. 126) and to Domenico Ghirlandaio by R. Longhi (in ms. opinion). Reasons for abandoning attributions to Mainardi are discussed by M. Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, 1961, p. 326. (3) Suida, loc. cit. in note 1, above. (4) Cf. also the Ghirlandaio studio Madonna in Glory with Four Saints in the Berlin Museum. Here the two principal saints are, again, the Baptist and John the Evangelist. (5) B. Berenson (Drawings of the Florentine Painters, vol. I, 1938, p. 71) attributes the drawings to Francesco Botticini, c. 1465; A. E. Popham and P. Pouncey (Italian Drawings ... British Museum, 1950, nos. 28-30) attribute them to Raffaello Botticini; and W. E. Suida (loc. cit. in note 1, above), relates them to Filippino Lippi or Raffaellino del Garbo. (6) The instruments were identified by E. Winternitz, of the Metropolitan Museum, New York (in letters of May 26 and 27, 1953). (7) Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection, 1951, p. 58 (catalogue by W. E. Suida), as Domenico Ghirlandaio.

Catalogue Volume

Italian Paintings XIII – XV Century