On view
Orientation Gallery
Susan & John Diekman Gallery
Susan & John Diekman Gallery
Virgin and Child
Giovanni di Tano Fei, active Florence, Italy, 1384–1405
formerly attributed to Altichiero, active Italy, ca. 1364–93
formerly attributed to Altichiero, active Italy, ca. 1364–93
y1935-21
Traditionally, Mary is depicted as an enthroned, heavenly queen, but working in Florence in the fourteenth century, Fei adopted a local iconographic convention that presents the Virgin Mary as the Madonna of humility, seated on a cushion on the ground rather than enthroned in heaven. To further humanize the Madonna and Child, the artist depicts Christ—wearing a coral amulet similar to those given to Italian babies to ward off the evil eye—playfully tugging at his mother’s veil. With the divine radiance of a gold background, this sacred figure offered worshipers a focal point for devotion—here facilitated by the painting’s material richness.
Information
Title
Virgin and Child
Maker
Medium
Tempera on wood panel
Dimensions
86 × 52 cm (33 7/8 × 20 1/2 in.)
frame: 114.3 × 64.1 × 11.1 cm (45 × 25 1/4 × 4 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Henry White Cannon Jr., Class of 1910, in memory of his father
Object Number
y1935-21
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Count Portalupi (?-?), Verona; Purchased from him by Jean Paul Richter (1847-1937) in Verona in June 1887; Purchased from him by Henry White Cannon (1850-1934) in Florence on March 10, 1906; by descent to his son, Henry (Harry) W. Cannon, Jr. (1887-1966), Class of 1910; Donated to the Museum in 1935.
formerly attributed to Altichiero, active Italy, ca. 1364–93
- Jean Paul Richter, A descriptive catalogue of old masters of the Italian school, (Florence: Galileiana, 1907-1914)., no. 35D; p. 9
- Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., "Veronese primitives in the Cannon Collection", Art in America 24 (1936)., p. 50-52
- MIlliard Meiss, "The Madonna of Humility", Art bulletin 18, no. 4 (Dec., 1936): p. 435-465., p. 438, note 14
- Jean Paul Richter, The Cannon Collection of italian paintings of the Renaissance: mostly of the Veronese School..., (Princeton, NJ: Princetion University Press, 1936)., no. 4; p. 9-10; fig. 4
- Milliard Meiss, Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1951)., p. 135, no. 12
- Federico Zeri, "Appunti sul Lindenau-Museum di Altenburg", Bollettino d’arte 49 (n.s. 4), no. 3 (Jul.-Sept., 1964): p. 45-53., p. 50
- Federico Zeri, Italian paintings: Florentine school: a catalogue of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971)., p. 52
- B. B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of pre-nineteenth-century Italian paintings in North American collections, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972)., p. 119
- Boskovits, Miklós, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400, (Firenze: Edam, 1975)., p. 303
- Guiseppina Bacarelli, Il ’Paradiso’ in pian di Ripoli: studi e ricerche su un antico monastero, (Firenze: Centro Di, 1985)., p. 96-97
- Eling Skaug, Punch marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico: attribution, chronology, and workshop relationships in Tuscan panel painting: with particular consideration to Florence, c.1330-1430, (Oslo, Norway: IIC, Nordic Group,the Norwegian section, 1994)., p. 262
- Barbara T. Ross, "The Mather years 1922-1946," in "An art museum for Princeton: the early years", special issue, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 55, no. 1/2 (1996): p. 53–76., fig. 12, p. 63
