Mary enthroned with the child, Saint Nicolaus of Bari, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and a donor

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Mary Enthroned with the Child, Saint Nicolaus of Bari, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and a Donor (Gentile da Fabriano)
Mary enthroned with the child, Saint Nicolaus of Bari, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and a donor
Gentile da Fabriano , around 1395–1410
Tempera on poplar wood and gold background
133.4 x 115 cm
Picture gallery of the State Museums in Berlin

Mary Enthroned with the Child, Saint Nicolaus of Bari, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and a donor (also Mary Enthroned with the Child, two Saints and a Donor, Italian Madonna col Bambino tra i santi Nicola di Bari, Caterina d'Alessandria e un donatore ) is a painting by the Italian painter Gentile da Fabriano , which was created between 1395 and 1410. Apparently, the 133.4 × 115 cm panel painting is the artist's earliest surviving work. The altarpiece was donated by Friedrich Wilhelm III . handed over to the Gemäldegalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin , where it is still located today. The inventory number of the work is 1130.

Technology and material

The rectangular altarpiece (133.4 × 115 cm) with an upper segmental arch was created in tempera on a poplar wood and gold background and is located in a modern frame with a narrow bronzed profile strip from the first post-war period.

State of preservation

Boskovits (1988) describes the work as not well preserved. The attempt to counteract the curvature of the work initially consisted of a thinning down to 1.8 cm including plaster base and paint layer. In addition, vertical strips were attached to the rear over two vertical board joints, which were interrupted by the horizontal board joints running above. These were held in place by metal clips screwed onto the board. Although the slab was kept flat by the cross push bars, this also led to the formation of numerous vertical cracks. In January 1981 the cross slide bars were loosened and some metal clips were removed. Although attempts have been made to repair and retouch some of the cracks, several of them are still open. In addition, the gold ground is largely damaged by the eruption of later retouched particles and by the plastering. Retouching and restorations can be seen particularly in the area of ​​the right part of the throne, the pillow, the lily, as well as partly in the figures (in the face and in the cope of St. Nicholas, in the robe of the donor, in the faces of the child, the Madonna and the Saint Catherine as well as in her robe). In addition, the silver color of the robe of Saint Catherine, for example, has changed due to oxidation. Even if the faces of St. Nicholas and the founder as well as the child's body have retained their original appearance, the work has changed, at least partially, in its original formal language.

Image description

The composition of the scene of the rectangular altarpiece with the upper segmental arch shows the representation of a Sacra Conversazione . Depicted is the enthroned Mary with the child , placed on a throne bench covered with a red pillow. She is facing the viewer, holding with both hands the standing on her knees Christ child , which to the kneeling left, in profile facing to the right donor looks down, which is shown by medieval tradition on a smaller scale. This is probably a merchant; The golden symbol at his feet, a circle crossed by spokes and surmounted by a cross, is probably also the symbol of the same. Two trees tower behind the throne, the crowns of which are each populated by seven music-making angels . At the side of the throne, facing towards the Madonna, there is a figure of a saint . Identify links is Holy Nicholas of Bari , in a vermilion , star-studded Cope , in his right hand the crook and the three golden balls holding his attribute. He holds his left hand over the donor as if in a blessing . On the right is Saint Catherine of Alexandria , princess and Christian martyr , the martyr's palm in her right hand and a book in her left hand. Her traditional attribute of the cog is very small here and shown almost hidden under her shoe. She is dressed in a precious-looking robe that is decorated with a pattern of flower branches and lined with white fur. Over it she wears a coat that is slung over her shoulder and gathered with her left hand. The hems of the robe and the gathered cloak form a soft, wavy, winding line , similar to the gold-embroidered hem of the Madonna's cloak. Mary rests with her feet on a platform that is decorated with multi-lobed arches. This is placed on a dark green, blooming meadow. Two white lilies in particular can be identified here. The composition of the trees on the one hand frames the Virgin and on the other hand marks the rhythm of the altarpiece between central and side figures, which are reminiscent of the traditional scheme of the polyptych .

iconography

The so-called “Tree Madonna” (Italian: Madonna degli alberetti ) is a type of representation that was widespread in the 15th century, especially in Veneto , Umbria and Marche . This depiction is probably a variant of the “ Madonna of Humility ” (Italian: Madonna dell'Umilità ), which was often depicted sitting on a flowering meadow in Venetian painting of the last quarter of the 14th century and a counterpoint to the depiction the Mother of God as " Enthroned Madonna ".

While the two white lilies in the foreground are to be understood iconographically as a Christian symbol of the purity of Mary, there are, however, ambiguities regarding the symbolism of the angels populating the two trees. In Christian iconography, the pair of trees is a symbol of fertility. In combination with the flowering meadow, the depiction could correspond to a “garden of paradise”, a subject that was very much appreciated by Venetian painters at the beginning of the 15th century.

style

While older research (e.g. Kugler (1847), Colasanti (1909) and Molajoli (1927)) saw in particular a role model for the work in Umbrian and Sienese Trecento painting , over time there were also voices in research that in particular a dominance of Venetian painting (Mayer (1933), Coletti (1953), Pallucchini (1955/56), Zampetti (1963 and 1969)) and the Lombard miniature painting of the late Trecento assumed (Longhi (1940), Grassi (1953), Arslan (1958 and 1964), Mazzariol and Pignatti (1961), Bellosi (1966), Castelfranchi Vegas (1966), Keller (1967), Crispini (1969), Paccagnini (1972), Oertel (in the 1975 and 1978 catalog), Christiansen (1982)).

Boskovits (1988) explains that although the work bears certain similarities to the illustrations of the Tacuina sanitatis in Vienna or Paris (in particular the unusual compositional solution and the robe of Saint Catherine), the corporeality of the figures in Mary Enthroned with the Child is reminiscent , Saint Nicolaus of Bari, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and a donor far more to the figures of Lombard pictures from the Visconti period.

He also states: “The representation of clothes according to the latest fashion was an iconographic requirement that every painter of the time respected when he had to paint a holy princess. Incidentally, the better we know the works of Umbrian and Brandenburg masters of the late Trecento, such as those of Piero di Puccio , Cola Petruccioli , Carlo da Camerino or others, the more likely it appears that Gentile's reception of the late Gothic artificial language, his naturalistic worldview that is calm and relaxed and at the same time poetically sensitive, owes much to the model of these painters. A decisive element of his art turns out to be of Venetian origin: as we shall see, the iconography of the "Madonna degli alberetti" can be described as Venetian or Veneto-Brandenburg, the motif of the flowering meadow at the feet of the is Venetian Figures as well as the outline of the table with the unusually pressed arch, and it seems that the stupendous portrait of the donor is inspired by an example from Altichiero . "

Original site

According to Ricci, the work was created in 1834 for the church of San Nicolò in Fabriano and probably remained there until 1630 when the church was rebuilt or rebuilt. De Marchi (1992), on the other hand, suspected the monastery church of Santa Caterina in Fabriano as the place of origin of the work.

Provenance

In any case, it is documented that the work was in the possession of the noble Leopardi family in Osimo in 1660 , later in the possession of Count Ottoni Tiranetti in Meschia near Fabriano and from 1766 in the Cagnucci collection. At the beginning of the 19th century it belonged to a collector in Matelica who sold it in 1828. In 1829 Ricci was able to document the work with a Mr. Massaci in Rome , where the Prussian envoy Bunsen acquired it. This in turn gave it to the Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm III.

The work has been on loan from the Berlin Gemäldegalerie since 1837 ; Since 1840 it has been given to the Gemäldegalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin as a gift from the king .

literature

  • Andrea G. De Marchi: Gentile da Fabriano. Un Viaggo nella pittura italiana alla fine del gotico. Motta, Milan 1992.
  • Miklós Bosvokits, Erich Schleier : Early Italian painting. Catalog of the paintings. Mann, Berlin 1988. (Therein Mary Enthroned with the Child, Saint Nicolaus of Bari, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and a donor, especially pp. 52–56).
  • Amico Ricci: Elogio del pittore Gentile da Fabriano . Mancini, Macerata 1829.
  • Amico Ricci: Memorie storiche delle arti e degli artisti della marca di Ancona , vol. 1. Mancini, Macerata 1834.

Web links

Commons : Madonna col Bambino tra i santi Nicola di Bari, Caterina d'Alessandria e un donatore (Gentile da Fabriano)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The exact dating of the work still poses problems. Boskovits (1987) offers an overview of the different voices in research. See: Miklós Boskovits, Erich Schleier: Early Italian Painting . Mann, Berlin 1988, p. 53 .
  2. ↑ Miklós Boskovits, Erich Schleier: Early Italian Painting . Mann, Berlin 1988, p. 52-53 .
  3. ↑ a b Erich Schleier: Information on the painting "Enthroned Mary with the Child, Saint Nicolaus of Bari, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and a donor". Online database of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin SMB Digital, accessed on June 22, 2020 .
  4. ↑ https://de.qwe.wiki/wiki/Madonna_of_humility
  5. ↑ Miklós Boskovits, Erich Schleier: Early Italian Painting . Mann, Berlin 1988, p. 54-55 .
  6. ↑ Boskovits (1987) provides an overview of the research and a detailed bibliography of the works mentioned. See: Miklós Boskovits, Erich Schleier: Early Italian Painting . Mann, Berlin 1988, p. 55-56 .
  7. ↑ Miklós Boskovits, Erich Schleier: Early Italian Painting . Mann, Berlin 1988, p. 54 .
  8. ↑ Amico Ricci: Memorie storiche delle arti e degli artisti della marca di Ancona . tape 1 . Mancini, Macerata 1834, p. 155 .
  9. ^ Andrea G. De Marchi: Gentile da Fabriano. Un Viaggo nella pittura italiana alla fine del gotico . Motta, Milan 1992.
  10. ↑ Amico Ricci: Memorie storiche delle arti e degli artisti della marca di Ancona . tape 1 . Mancini, Macerata 1834, p. 155 .
  11. ^ Amico Ricci: Elogio del pittore Gentile da Fabriano . Mancini, Macerata 1829, pp. 37 .
  12. ↑ Boskovits (1987) provides an overview of the sources. See: Miklós Boskovits, Erich Schleier: Early Italian Painting . Mann, Berlin 1988, p. 53 .