The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
Paolo di Giovanni Fei1398-1399
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
This engaging narrative scene was the center panel of an altarpiece commissioned in 1398 for the Chapel of Saint Peter, near the high altar of the cathedral in Siena. It would have been flanked, in all probability, by standing saints—one of them Peter—and surmounted by other saints shown half-length. Originally, the structure would have been gabled at the top, with elaborate gold moldings framing each section.
According to legend, the Virgin entered the temple in Jerusalem at age three and remained until she was 14. In this depiction, she stands at the top of the long stair with a last sidelong look at her parents, yet she remains fearless and strong. Like those of the high priest who receives her, Mary’s robes are splendid gold brocade. These were created with a technique called _sgraffito_, in which paint is scraped away in patterns to reveal gilding below that is then textured with tiny punches. Equally lavish is the interior of Solomon’s temple, which is treated as a Gothic church. The complex space is easily read, airy with lots of light and a brilliant palette—cool blues, salmony pinks, and glassy greens. A gallery at the right is filled with the girls who will be Mary’s companions. One, at the back, seems to be on tiptoe, trying hard to see this girl who would be fed each day by an angel. On the other side, near Mary’s parents, Anna and Joachim, another onlooker cranes for a glimpse and a woman kneels, her face half hidden by a pillar. Such rich details enliven and humanize a sacred event, making it more accessible to a contemporary viewer.
Details
- Title: The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
- Creator: Paolo di Giovanni Fei
- Date Created: 1398-1399
- Physical Dimensions: painted surface: 146.1 × 140.3 cm (57 1/2 × 55 1/4 in.) overall: 147.2 × 140.3 cm (57 15/16 × 55 1/4 in.)
- Provenance: Commissioned in 1398[1] for the chapel of San Pietro in Siena Cathedral,[2] where it remained at least until 1482.[3] It is probable, however, that the altarpiece was removed only between 1580 (when a new, richly decorated marble altar was commissioned for the chapel) and 1582 (when the decoration of the new altar was completed). At this time it was then either consigned to the cathedral’s storerooms or sold.[4] H.M. Clark, London, by 1928.[5] Edward Hutton [1874-1969], London.[6] (Wildenstein & Co., New York), by 1950;[7] sold February 1954 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[8] gift 1961 to NGA. [1] Gaetano Milanesi, _Documenti per la storia dell'arte senese_, 3 vols., Siena, 1854: 2:37; Scipione Borghesi and Luciano Banchi, _Nuovi documenti per la storia dell'arte senese_ 1, Siena, 1898: 62; Monica Butzek, "Chronologie," In _Die Kirchen von Siena_, multi-vol., ed. Waltee Haas and Dethard von Winterfeld, vol. 3, part 1.1.2, Munich, 2006: 102. Payments to Paolo di Giovanni Fei “per la tavola di sancto Piero et sancto Pavolo, per sua fatiga e colori” were made, specifies Monica Butzek (2006), between 1398 and April 1399. [2] Pietro Lorenzetti’s altarpiece of the _Birth of the Virgin_, also painted for the Cathedral of Siena in 1342 (see Carlo Volpe, _Pietro Lorenzetti_, ed. Marco Lucco, Milan, 1989: 152-154), is surmounted, like _The Presentation of the Virgin_ discussed here, by three arches included in a heavy frame. The present appearance of these paintings is misleading, however. Fourteenth-century altarpieces were generally realized on rectangular panels, not silhouetted like these, and integrated above by triangular or trapezoidal gables partially overlapped by the integral frame. See Monika Cämmerer George, _Die Rahmung der toskanischen Altarbilder in Trecento_, Strasbourg,1966: 144-165; Christoph Merzenich, _Vom Schreinerwerk zum Gemälde. Florentiner Altarwerke der ersten Hälfe des Quattrocento_, Berlin, 2001: 43-56. [3] Enzo Carli, _Il Duomo di Siena_, Genoa, 1979: 85-86. [4] On 9 September 1579, the Congrega di San Pietro, patron since 1513 of the chapel dedicated to this saint (the second altar from the entrance in the north aisle), commissioned the stonecutters Girolamo del Turco and Pietro di Benedetto da Prato to realize a new marble structure around the altar. This sculptural decoration was completed in April 1582. It is presumed that between the two dates Paolo’s panel, considered antiquated, was removed. See Butzek 2006, 197. [5] _Daily Telegraph Exhibition_ 1928, 162. Concerning the unknown whereabouts of the painting between 1582 and 1928, a handwritten note on a photograph of the painting, formerly owned by Bernard Berenson (now in the Biblioteca Berenson at Villa I Tatti, Florence), suggests a provenance from the collection at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, which the British diplomat Sir Paul Methuen (1672–1757) had formed in the eighteenth century, and which, by the mid-nineteenth century, had been enriched with paintings from the collection of the Rev. John Sanford (1777-1855) through the 1844 marriage of Sanford’s daughter and sole heir, Anna Horatia Caroline Sanford (1824–1899), to Frederick H.P. Methuen, 2nd baron Methuen (1818-1891). See Benedict Nicolson, "The Sanford Collection," _The Burlington Magazine_ 98 (1955): 207–214. However, this suggestion appears to be in error. James Methuen-Campbell, who inherited Corsham Court in 1994 and has extensively researched the family collections, kindly reviewed the manuscript material for both the Sanford and Methuen collections, and found no reference to the painting (see his e-mail to Anne Halpern, of 15 February 2012, in NGA curatorial files). The painting also does not appear among those disposed of by Sanford on the occasion of two London sales: a sale by private contract under the auspices of George Yates (24 April 1838, and days following), and a sale at Christie & Manson (9 March 1839). [6] Information given in _Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection_, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1956. [7] According to the handwritten note on the photograph referenced above (see note 5), the painting was with Wildenstein by October 1950. [8] The bill of sale (copy in NGA curatorial files) is dated 10 February 1954, and was for fourteen paintings, including _Presentation of the Virgin_ by Bartolo di Fredi; payments by the foundation continued to March 1957. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2275.
- Medium: tempera on wood transferred to hardboard
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