Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Angels
Matteo di Giovanni·c. 1465/1470
Historical Context
Matteo di Giovanni's Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome, Catherine, and Angels from around 1465-70 is a sacra conversazione placing the Virgin and Child in the company of scholar-saint Jerome and the martyred virgin Catherine of Alexandria, both popular intercessors with learned and female religious communities respectively. The composition shows Matteo absorbing the Florentine sacra conversazione format while maintaining his Sienese linear refinement and decorative instinct. Jerome, holding his translation of Scripture, and Catherine, with her wheel of martyrdom, represent complementary forms of devotion — intellectual engagement with sacred text and physical willingness to die for faith — appropriate companions for the Virgin who embodied both wisdom and suffering. The painting was likely made for a private devotional patron in Siena or its territory.
Technical Analysis
Executed in tempera on poplar panel, the work combines the decorative richness of the Sienese tradition with Renaissance spatial awareness, featuring refined gilding and carefully modeled drapery folds.
Provenance
Possibly George Ashburnham, 3rd earl of Ashburnham [1760-1830], Florence and Ashburnham Place, Battle, Sussex; by inheritance to his son, Bertram Ashburnham, 4th earl of Ashburnham [1797-1878], Ashburnham Place;[1] by inheritance to his son, Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham [1840-1913], Ashburnham Place; by inheritance to his daughter, Lady Mary Catherine Charlotte Ashburnham [d. 1953], Ashburnham Place; (Robert Langton Douglas [1864-1951], London);[2] sold August 1919 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York);[3] sold 1922 to Clarence H. Mackay [1874-1938], Roslyn, New York, until c. 1930;[4] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York);[5] sold 1938 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1939 to NGA. [1] The collection was formed by the fourth earl and by his father George, the third earl of Ashburnham. As there is no record of their collecting activities, it is not clear which of the two acquired the individual items. After the death of the fourth earl, however, no paintings were added to the collection. See _The Ashburnham Collections, Part I. Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings..._, Sotheby's, London, 24 June 1953: 3-4. [2] The Duveen Brothers Records list the painting as "Ashburnham Colln." and "ex Langton Douglas"; (copy in NGA curatorial files; X Book, Reel 422, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). It is known that Robert Langton Douglas was in touch with the Ashburnham family in order to acquire paintings from their collection; see Denys Sutton, "Robert Langton Douglas," _Apollo_ 109 (1979): 452. See also letter from Douglas to Fowles dated 1 May 1941, Duveen Brothers Records, Box 244 (reel 299). [3] The Duveen Brothers Records indicate that the painting was paid for on 11 August 1919 (see note 2). [4] Mackay's collection was built up by Duveen Brothers. When he had financial difficulties during the Depression, starting around 1930, the same firm assisted him in selling the pictures in his collection; see Edward Fowles, _Memories of the Duveen Brothers_, London, 1976: 157. [5] At the time of the Detroit exhibition of 1933, the painting was again with Duveen Brothers. [6] Fern Rusk Shapley, _Catalogue of the Italian Paintings_, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:330. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1368.
