Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels
Bernardo Daddic. 1345
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
The Virgin and Child are seated in majesty on a gabled throne, whose shape echoes a tabernacle used to hold the reserved portion of the sacrament, the divine mystery of the bread and wine that is at the very heart of the Eucharist. Yet this Virgin and Child are also in joyous and very human interaction with the angels and saints surrounding them. These holy figures exhibit a gentle playfulness that is characteristic of Bernardo Daddi (active by 1320, died probably 1348) narrative sensibility and a natural fit for a painting that was once part of a portable triptych meant for the intimacy of private devotion.
Mary looks down with tenderness toward Jesus, who is twisting in her arms to reach for the small bird perched on the finger of an angel. His eyes widen with delight and his lips open in a smile. Standing to one side, another golden-haired angel plucks at a psaltery, a zither-like instrument. Opposite, a third angel, cheeks puffed, fingers the flared shaft of a shawn, a forerunner of the oboe. Kneeling before the throne, two more angels add to the musical harmony with a fiddle and an organ. Hovering above are angels of a higher order: red-winged seraphim and blue-winged cherubim.
Eight saints complete this heavenly hierarchy. Not all of them can be securely identified, but we can recognize most by the attributes they hold. In the row below the standing angels, Apollonia, at the far left, raises one of the teeth yanked from her mouth as she was tortured. The crowned saint holding the book at the far right might be Catherine of Alexandria, patron of scholars. Below them, on the left, Lucy—a name derived from _lux_, Latin for light—supports a brass lamp. John the Baptist wears his camel's hair tunic, and Andrew lifts the cross on which he was martyred. On the right, Paul holds the sword of his own beheading and a book representing the Epistles. The bright yellow robe of Peter, leader of the apostles, symbolizes the church’s revelation of the faith. And, finally, Agnes cradles a lamb to recall the purity she maintained throughout her torture and martyrdom.
- Title: Madonna and Child with Saints and Angels
- Creator: Bernardo Daddi
- Date Created: c. 1345
- Physical Dimensions: painted surface: 50.2 x 24.2 cm (19 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.) overall (including engaged frame): 57.1 × 30.5 × 2.6 cm (22 1/2 × 12 × 1 in.)
- Provenance: According to a tradition reported by a previous owner, Virgoe Buckland, the panel comes from the Vallombrosa abbey near Florence and in 1872 it was given by the abbot to the painter and restorer J. Stark;[1] purchased from Stark by Sir Henry Doulton [1820-1897];[2] his heirs;[3] by inheritance to Commander Virgoe Buckland [d. 1949], Hove, Sussex;[4] (sale, Sotheby’s, London, 2 November 1949, no. 76, as by Bernardo Daddi); (Mannenti), probably the agent for (Count Alessandro Contini Bonaccossi, Florence); sold July 1950 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[5] gift 1952 to NGA. [1] Richard Offner (_A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. Sec. III, vol. VIII_. New York, 1958: 16) provides the early provenance, which had been communicated to him by Buckland. After a first suppression in 1808, the expelled monks were able to return to Vallombrosa, which was already deprived of its archive, library, and works of art. In 1866, however, the abbey was suppressed for good and some years later its church transformed into the parish church. See Nicola R. Vasaturo, Guido Morozzi, Guiseppe Marchini, and Umberto Baldini, _Vallombrosa nel IX centenario della morte del fondatore Giovanni Gualberto. 12 luglio 1703_, Florence, 1973: 141-143. The abbot in those years, from 1867 to 1877, was Germano Gai, who, indeed, may have owned the painting, and taken it with him when he was obliged to leave the abbey. On Gai see Francesco Tarani, _L’ordine vallombrosano. Note storico – cronologiche_, Florence, 1920: 28, 151-152. The identity of "J. Stark" is uncertain. Possibly he may have been Arthur James Stark (1831–1902), a landscape painter; see _Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart._, ed. Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker, and Hans Vollmer, 37 vols., Leipzig, 1907-1950 (reprinted 1970-1971): 31(1937):478. [2] Sir Henry Doulton was instrumental in developing the firm of Royal Doulton Pottery and served as vice president of the Society of Art in London; see _The Dictionary of National Biography_, London, 1906: 358. [3] Offner 1958, 16 (and repeated by later authors), says Doulton bequeathed the painting to “his daughter, Mrs. Buckland.” However, Doulton's daughters were Sarah Lilian, who married John Kinnersley Hooper, and Katherine Duneau, who was unmarried. "Mrs. Buckland" would have been one of Doulton's two younger sisters, either Jane (1824-1892), who married Thomas Buckland, or Marianne (1829-by 1895), who married Virgoe Buckland (1825-1883). Virgoe Buckland and Henry Doulton were the executors of the will of Henry's father, John Doulton (1793-1873), and in that document Virgoe Buckland is described as an "auctioneer and surveyor" (will made 22 February 1873; John Doulton died 21 May 1873; will proved 29 October 1873; copy in NGA curatorial files). In his will Henry Doulton bequeaths "all my furniture books pictures prints musical instruments works of art...unto my Trustees Upon trust to divide the same in equal shares as nearly as they can having regard to the money value thereof between such of them my said son and two daughters as shall survive me." (See the copy of the will [proved 7 January 1898] and information about the Doulton and Buckland families, in NGA curatorial files.) [4] The relationship of Commander Virgoe Buckland to Henry Doulton's daughters and sisters has not yet been determined. Commander Buckland died 8 May 1949, and his estate consigned the painting to the sale in November of that year. His will (proved 12 August 1949; copy in NGA curatorial files) leaves money to various "cousins," including several with the surname Buckland and Doulton. Other than his wearing apparel, no specific possessions are itemized. [5] “Mannenti” is the name recorded as the buyer at the 1949 sale. The Kress Foundation made an offer to Contini Bonacossi on 17 June 1950, for a group of 125 paintings and one sculpture, including NGA 1952.5.61. The offer was accepted on July 1, and the works of art were released to the foundation on July 6 after the first payment was received. See copies of correspondence in NGA curatorial files as well as The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1374.
- Medium: tempera on panel
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