Madonna of Humility

Provenance

(M.F. Steinmeyer, Lucerne), by 1929.[1] Edward Hutton [1874-1969], London. (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence);[2] sold October 1936 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1939 to NGA. [1] According to Raimond van Marle, "Quadri senesi sconosciuti," _La Diana_ 4 (1929): 309-310. The painting is also listed as belonging to the same owner by Bernard Berenson, _The Italian Painters of the Renaissance_, Oxford,1932 reprint: 512, and Italian ed. reprint, trans. Emilio Cecchi, Milan, 1936: 440. In a letter of 28 February 1951 to John Walker (in NGA curatorial files), Edward Forbes writes that he thought the NGA painting was the same as one he saw "for sale in Steinmeyer's Gallery in Lucerne in 1933 or 1935." [2] Hutton's and Contini-Bonacossi's ownership is stated by John Pope-Hennessy, _Sassetta_, London, 1939: 91 n. 31. [3] The bill of sale for eleven paintings, including NGA 1939.1.246, is dated 17 October 1936 (copy in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1383.

Madonna of Humility

Sassetta

c. 1435/1440

Accession Number

1939.1.246

Medium

tempera on poplar panel

Dimensions

overall: 48.4 x 21.2 cm (19 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.) | framed: 62.9 x 25.4 cm (24 3/4 x 10 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection