Initial "S" with the Presentation in the Temple

Artist Giovanni Birago (Italian, active 1470 - 1513)

Formerly attributed to Francesco del Cossa (Italian, ca. 1435/1426 - ca. 1477)

Dateca. 1470

MediumTempera and gold leaf on vellum

DimensionsOverall: 6 5/8 × 6 1/2 inches (16.84 × 16.51 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number33-1363

On View

Not on view

Collections

European Art

Terms

Exhibition History

The Treasury: The Splendor of Liturgical Objects, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, August 25, 2010-February 24, 2011, no cat., as Initial "S" with the Presentation in the Temple.

Gallery Label

This elaborately decorated initial "S" has been cut from a page of text from one of a series of choir books made for the so-called Old Cathedral in Brescia, a city near Milan. The city's coat of arms, a lion rampant, can be seen on the shield held by the putto, or infant angel, in the lower left. Compared with the initial "M" by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci displayed behind you, Birago demonstrates a typically Renaissance sense of spatial clarity and depth in the grouping of the figures. The forms of the initial itself are also more sculptural and architectural. The artist at one time worked for Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan.

Provenance

With A. S. Drey, Munich, by June 23, 1933;

Purchased from A. S. Drey by Robert Langton Douglas (1864-1951), stock no. 231, June 23-October 16, 1933 [1];

Purchased from Douglas, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.

NOTES:

[1] Robert Langton Douglas Ltd. stockbook, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, European Paintings Department records, p. 163, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial file.

Published References

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 146, (repro.), erroneously as attributed to Francesco del Cossa, as The Presentation in the Temple.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 54, (repro.), as Initial "S" with the Presentation in the Temple.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.