Lot Essay
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
J. Balogh, Katalog der Ausländischen Bildwerke des Museums der Bildenden Künste in Budapest, Budapest, 1975, pp. 74-5, no. 72, plate 98
U. Middeldorf, Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, European Schools XIV - XIX Century, London, 1976, pp. 31-2, fig. 60
The original marble carving from which this stucco cast was taken is now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. [K.1976]. A former attribution to Antonio Rossellino (as given on the label attached to the frame of the present piece) was replaced years ago with one to (the young) Benedetto da Maiano (1442-97), that has been endorsed by Middeldorf and Balogh. The former wrote in 1976: "the greater weight of the figures, their plumper forms and bulging surfaces, their greater intimacy and the mellowness of the design are characteristic of Benedetto's art. The closest parallel, though slightly maturer, is his Madonna over the altar of the Chapel of Santa Fina in San Gimignano (1475). A great many replicas exist, in various techniques, even in maiolica." For a listing of similar replicas see Balogh, cataloguing a stucco in Budapest (1975).
J. Balogh, Katalog der Ausländischen Bildwerke des Museums der Bildenden Künste in Budapest, Budapest, 1975, pp. 74-5, no. 72, plate 98
U. Middeldorf, Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, European Schools XIV - XIX Century, London, 1976, pp. 31-2, fig. 60
The original marble carving from which this stucco cast was taken is now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. [K.1976]. A former attribution to Antonio Rossellino (as given on the label attached to the frame of the present piece) was replaced years ago with one to (the young) Benedetto da Maiano (1442-97), that has been endorsed by Middeldorf and Balogh. The former wrote in 1976: "the greater weight of the figures, their plumper forms and bulging surfaces, their greater intimacy and the mellowness of the design are characteristic of Benedetto's art. The closest parallel, though slightly maturer, is his Madonna over the altar of the Chapel of Santa Fina in San Gimignano (1475). A great many replicas exist, in various techniques, even in maiolica." For a listing of similar replicas see Balogh, cataloguing a stucco in Budapest (1975).