The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
Andrea di Bartolo·c. 1400/1405
Historical Context
Andrea di Bartolo's Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple from around 1400-05 depicts the young Mary being presented at the Temple in Jerusalem, a popular subject in late medieval devotional art. Andrea di Bartolo was a Sienese painter who continued the elegant, decorative traditions of the Sienese school established by Duccio and Simone Martini. His work represents the persistence of Gothic refinement in Siena at the dawn of the 15th century.
Technical Analysis
The tempera on poplar panel employs the traditional Sienese technique with gold ground, precise linear drawing, and jewel-like colors. The elegant, elongated figures and decorative architectural setting demonstrate the refined craftsmanship of the late Gothic Sienese school.
Provenance
This panel, along with NGA 1939.1.42 and 1939.1.43, are stated to have come from the collection of a contessa Giustiniani, Genoa;[1] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Rome); sold July 1930 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1939 to NGA. [1] See the bill of sale described in note 2. No documented collection of the conti Giustiniani at Genoa seems to have existed, at least in the early years of the twentieth century. The works that Elisabeth Gardner (_ A Bibliographical Repertory of Italian Private Collections_, ed. Chiara Ceschi and Katharine Baetjer, 4 vols., Vicenza, 1998-2011: 2(2002):183) cites as formerly the property of the contessa Giustiniani almost all seem to have been purchased on the art market shortly before 1930, when Contini Bonacossi sold them to Samuel H. Kress. The contessa is thus more likely to have been a dealer, or agent, than a collector. See also Miklós Boskovits and David Alan Brown, _Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century_, National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, Washington and New York, 2003: 616 n. 3. [2] The painting is included on a bill of sale dated 15 July 1930 that included eight paintings from the Giustiniani collection (copy in NGA curatorial files); see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2274.
