Virgin and Child Enthroned

Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (Italian (Florentine), active about 1366, died 1415)

1404

Medium/TechniqueTempera on panel

Dimensions146 x 70.5 cm (57 1/2 x 27 3/4 in.)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Walter Scott Fitz

Accession number16.64

On View

On view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Dated July 1404, this panel probably was the central section of a multiple-panel altarpiece, with the flanking panels depicting standing saints. The elegant robes and decorated throne underscore the Virgin's nobility, while her tender gaze at her son and the charming gesture of the infant clutching his mother's finger, arm around her neck, emphasize Jesus's humanity. The monumentality and solidity of the Virgin are typical of Florentine painting.

InscriptionsLower left: D [OMI]NI M / CCCC IIII; Lower right: DEL MES[E] DI LUGLIOProvenance1907, B. M. and Enrichetta Castellani; April 5-20, 1907, Castellani sale, Jandolo and Tavizzi, Rome, lot 312 [see note 1]. 1909, Gioacchino Ferroni (dealer; d. 1909), Rome; April 14-22, 1909, posthumous Ferroni sale, Galleria Sangiorgi, Rome, lot 169 [see note 1]. 1916, Rodolfo Colafranceschi (dealer), Rome; 1916, sold by Colafranceschi, through Philip J. Gentner, Worcester, MA, to Mrs. Walter Scott Fitz (Henrietta Goddard Wigglesworth) (b. 1847 - d. 1927), Boston; 1916, gift of Mrs. Fitz to the MFA [see note 2]. (Accession Date: June 6, 1916)

NOTES:
[1] Attributed in the catalogue to Ambrogio Lorenzetti. [2] Accessioned as a work by Giovanni del Biondo.