The Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome

Details

Attributed to Giovanni Bellini (?1431/6-1516 Venice)
The Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome
oil on panel, shaped top
9½ x 8 in. (24.5 x 20.3 cm.)

Provenance

Professor Paolini, London, 1923.
with Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, 1924.
Julius H. Haass, Director of the Detroit Art Institute, Detroit, Michigan.
with Newhouse Galleries, New York.
Charles M. Williams, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Anon. Sale [From a Private Collection], Christie's, New York, 11 January 1989, lot 73, as 'Giovanni Bellini'.

Literature

G. Granau, Giovanni Bellini, Klassiker der Kunst, London, 1930, pp. 199 and 220, pl. 1.
R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, XVII, The Hague, 1935, p. 209.
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice, 1962, I, p. 28, no. 110; II, pl. 1.
R. Ghiotto and T. Pignatti, L'Opera Completa di Giovanni Bellini, 1969, p. 86, no. 7, illustrated.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

When Georg Gronau published this picture in 1930 he compared it with the very early Johnson Madonna. Heinemann, judging from a photograph, confirmed the attribution and proposed that this might be the earliest example of the composition by the artist. The picture does indeed compare with the Johnson Madonna: for example in the elegant elongated fingers of the Virgin's hands and the head of the Christ Child. However, Anchise Tempestini does not include the picture in his recent monograph on the artist, published in 1997. Furthermore, he points out that the attribution of other works traditionally considered to be from the early years of the artist's career, amongst which may be counted the Johnson Madonna, have been disputed subsequent to the publication of Heinemann's book.

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