Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor
Carlo Crivelli1470
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
"Remember me, O Mother of God. O Queen of Heaven, rejoice." These words, taken from an Easter psalm sung in the Virgin's honor, appear on the golden arch at the top of Carlo Crivelli's Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor. The donor, the Albanian ecclesiastic Prenta di Giorgio, kneels in prayer near the Virgin's crown.
Crivelli's painting originally constituted the central section of a polyptych in the parish church at Porto San Giorgio, near Fermi. The crisp, sculptural forms reflect Crivelli's probable training in the humanist center of Padua. Yet the manner in which Crivelli's figures are modeled in light and shade also expresses a broader Renaissance concern with direct observation of nature.
Crivelli's very personal, almost metallic style must in large part be explained by the events of his life. He was born in Venice where the Gothic tradition lingered well into the fifteenth century. After spending some time in Padua, he settled in the Marches on the Adriatic, and there remained relatively unaffected by new trends.
- Title: Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor
- Creator: Carlo Crivelli
- Date Created: 1470
- Physical Dimensions: painted surface: 125.3 x 50.7 cm (49 5/16 x 19 15/16 in.) overall (including unpainted margins): 129.5 x 54.4 cm (51 x 21 7/16 in.) framed: 185.4 x 91.8 x 7.9 cm (73 x 36 1/8 x 3 1/8 in.)
- Provenance: Church of San Giorgio, Porto San Giorgio (the port of Fermo); recorded in 1771 and probably remained in the church until it was demolished in 1803; temporarily in the church of the Suffragio, then with the Salvadori family, Porto San Giórgio, by 1832; installed 1834 in the rebuilt church of San Giorgio; sold by Luigi Salvadori, then resold 1835 by the prior of the commune of Porto San Giorgio, to Henry Hudson, Portuguese embassy, Rome.[1] William Ward, 1st earl of Dudley [1817-1885, created earl 1860], Witley Court, Worcestershire, by 1851; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7 April 1876, no. 135 [same lot as four other panels from Porto San Giórgio polyptych]); purchased by (Martin Colnaghi, London).[2] Sir Francis Cook, 1st bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey; by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House and Cothay Manor, Somerset; sold 31 October 1944 through (Francis A. Drey, London) to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA. [1] According to Pietro Zampetti, _Carlo Crivelli_, Florence, 1986: 254-255, after a statue of _Saint George_ was installed on the high altar of the rebuilt church, the polyptych was returned to the Salvadori family, who sold it to the collector Hudson. Contesting the Salvadori, the prior of Porto San Giorgio claimed ownership for the commune, and resold the painting to Hudson for a higher price. [2] Algernon Graves, _Art Sales From Early in the Eighteenth Century to Early in the Twentieth Century_, 3 vols., London, 1918-1923: 1:184. [3] According to the July-December 1944 report of the keeper of the Cook collection (transcription in NGA curatorial files, from the Cook Collection Archive in care of John Somerville, England), and the invoice from Drey to the Kress Foundation (copy in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1351.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: tempera on poplar panel
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