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| Artist | Attributed to studio of Lippi, Filippino (Italian painter, ca.1457-1504) Attributed to Lippi, Filippino (Italian painter, ca.1457-1504) and studio Attributed to Raffaellino del Garbo (Italian painter, ca. 1466-1524) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to school of Botticelli, Sandro (Italian painter and draftsman, born 1444 or 1445, died 1510) Previously attributed to Botticelli, Sandro (Italian painter and draftsman, born 1444 or 1445, died 1510) Previously attributed to Lippi, Filippino (Italian painter, ca.1457-1504) |
| Title | Madonna and Child with Saint John and Two Angels |
| Date earliest | about 1490 |
| Date latest | probably about 1525 |
| Material | tempera on panel |
| Measurements | 118.4 x 118.5 cm |
| Description | This splendid, unvarnished tondo (circular painting) in tempera is a painting of high quality from the Florentine or Tuscan Renaissance. The tenderness with which the Virgin is gently holding the Child, who is turning to St John, and the profound, almost melancholy seriousness of the angels makes this a contemplative religious painting typical of its time. The softness of the execution of the faces of the Virgin and the angels, as well as the almost tangible lightness of the veils clearly indicate the hand of a technically highly capable master, while other parts, with their mechanical hatchings, are much weaker. |
| Subject | figure; religion (Virgin and Child, St John) |
| Collection | Culture and Sport Glasgow (Museums): Kelvingrove Museum |
| Current accession number | 1015 |
| Acquisition details | Given by Mrs Mary Ann Walker in memory of her father, James Young, LLD, FRS, 1902. |
| Provenance | Purchased from Digerini Nuti Family, Florence, for James Young, FRS, 1877. |
| Principal exhibitions | Old Masters, Royal Academy, London, 1882, cat. no. 196; |
| Principal publications | Meyer, J., 'Zur Geschichte der florentinischen Malerei des XV. Jahrhunderts: Sandro Botticelli in der zweiten Periode seiner Tätigkeit. Filippino Lippi, Raffaellino del Garbo, Piero di Cosimo', Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstammlungen, 2, 1890, p. 28, as Raffaellino del Garbo; Ulmann, H., 'Raffaellino del Garbo', Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, vol. 17, 1894, p. 103, as Raffaellino; Berenson, B., The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance with an index to their works, New York and London, 1909, p. 136, as Raffaellino del Garbo; Great Pictures by Great Painters: Selected from the Public Galleries of Great Britain and the Continent, with descriptive notes by A. Fish, London, 1915, vol. I, pl. 14 (colour repr.), as Botticelli; Van Marle, R., The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, The Hague, 1923-36, vol. 12, 1931, pp. 339-41, as Filippino Lippi; Scharf, A., 'Die frühen Gemälde des Raffaellino del Garbo', Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, vol. 59, 1933, pp. 158-59, as Raffaellino; Neilson, K. B., Filippino Lippi: A Critical Study, Cambridge, Mass., 1938, p. 195, pl. 95, as possibly by Raffaellino del Garbo; Zeri, F., 'Italian Primitives at Messrs. Wildenstein', Burlington Magazine, May 1965, p. 255, as Raffaellino del Garbo, or Filippino's pupils and assistants in Lucca; Murray, P., 'Trecento and Quattrocento: a Notable Show in London', Apollo, vol. 81, 1965, pp. 286-87, as Filippino Lippi; Mandel, G., L'opera completa del Botticelli, Milan, 1967, no. 84, as attributed to Botticelli; Catalogue of Italian Paintings: Illustrations, Glasgow Art Gallery and Museums, 1970, p. 69 (ill.), as Lippi; 'Glasgow's European Treasures: An Exhibition of European Masterpieces to commemorate Britain's entry into the European Economic Community' in Scottish Art Review: Special Number, vol. 14, 1973, no. 1, p. 28, as Filippino Lippi; Lightbrown, R., Sandro Botticelli: Complete Catalogue, London, 1978, vol. 2, p. 213, no. F12 (repr.) as by an imitator of Botticelli, but probably not Filippino; Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum: The Building and the Collections: with an Introduction by Alasdair A. Auld, London and Glasgow, 1987, p. 103, ill. 5; Nelson, J., The Later Works of Filippino Lippi from his Roman Sojourn until his death (about 1489-1504), unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York, 1992, as Raffaellino; Buschmann, H., Rafaellino del Garbo: Werkmonographie und Katalog, Freiburg, 1995, pp. 181-82, no. A48, as Filippino; Olson, R. J. M., The Florentine Tondo, Oxford, 2000, p. 248, fig. A31, as workshop of Filippino Lippi; Zambrano, P. and J. Katz Nelson, Fillippino Lippi, Milan, 2004, no. R27, pp. 609-10, 388, as an 'opera giovanile' of Rafaellino del Garbo; Faletti, F. and J. Katz Nelson, Filippino Lippi e Pietro Perugino: La Deposizione della Santissima Annunziata e il suo restauro, Città di Castello, 2004, pp. 121-22, attributed to Rafaellino del Garbo. |
| Notes | Although much earlier attributed to Raffaellino del Garbo and Filippino Lippi, this tondo was from 1902 listed in the museum's catalogues as by Botticelli. It was not until 1970 that it was reattributed to F. Lippi and it is now attributed to the Studio of Filippino Lippi. Lack of a more convincing proposal means this attribution has been left unchanged here. Since the picture clearly shows different qualities - for example St John and the faces of the Virgin and the angels are executed in a much softer way than the Child and other parts with their mechanical hatchings - it might be a work in which the master painted only the principal parts, leaving the rest to pupils or studio assistants. A preparatory drawing is in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence. |
| Rights status | Culture and Sport Glasgow (Museums) |
| Author | Dr Heiner Krellig |
