Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and Paul

Artist Giuseppe Cesari, called Il Cavaliere d'Arpino (Italian, 1568 - 1640)

Date1608/1609

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 68 9/16 x 47 1/4 inches (174.15 x 120.02 cm)
Framed: 82 1/4 x 60 15/16 x 2 1/2 inches (208.92 x 154.78 x 6.35 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through exchange of the bequests of Mrs. Jacob L. Loose, Mr. Paul Gardner, and Mr. Herbert V. Jones Jr.; the gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Mont, Mrs. Carol L. Brewster, Mrs. Fred Wolferman, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wiesenberger, Mr. and Mrs. Louis S. Rothschild, Mrs. Virginia Jones Mullin, Charles S. Dewey, Edward M. Pflueger, Mrs. William H. Chapman, Mrs.Inez Grant Parker, Mrs. Justin L. Moody, and the Westport Garden Club; and other Trust properties

Object number91-14

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionIn the upper center portion of composition, a young woman (the Madonna) is seated on a throne placed on a stone parapet with a stone backdrop, which has greenish-gold draperies splayed over its upper corners. She wears a rose-colored tunic, over which is draped an ultramarine robe, and holds a standing, naked child (Christ) between her outstretched hands. With his left hand extended over his chest to touch the Madonna's neck, and right hand wrapped around her neck, he faces forward while resting his weight on his left leg, which in turn rests on the Madonna's left knee. Two standing male figures (Peter and Paul) flank the Madonna's throne.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Old Master Paintings: An Exhibition of European Paintings from the 16^th Century to the 19^th Century, Newhouse Galleries, New York, April 4- May 3, 1991; Verner Amell Gallery, London, June 5–July 19, 1991, no. 1.

The Genius of Rome, 1592–1623, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 20 January–April 16, 2001; Palazzo Venezia, Rome, May–August 2001, no. 8.

Gallery Label

The Cavaliere d'Arpino was a gifted artist who represented the more conservative tradition in Italian, and specifically Roman, painting at the dawn of the Baroque age. Unlike the shadowy and intense realism of Caravaggio's Saint John the Baptist, painted in Rome at around the same time, this altarpiece by d'Arpino is cool, detached and evenly lit. The figures are idealized, and the attributes of Saints Peter and Paul, keys and sword, are clearly presented to conform to the Catholic Counter Reformation's demand for a composition and narrative that could be easily understood. The young Caravaggio was briefly d'Arpino's pupil and, somewhat surprisingly, continued to respect him as an artist, despite the latter's much more conservative style.

Provenance

Probably Pope Paul V Borghese (1552-1621), Palazzo Vaticano, Rome, by 1621 [1];

Vatican collection, Anticamera de’ Cavalieri detti di Spada e Cappa, Palazzo di Sisto V, Palazzo Vaticano, Rome, 1621-at least 1766;

Possibly seized from the Vatican by French troops, March-June 1798 [2];

Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Wicar (1762-1834), Rome and Naples, by 1834 [3];

Private educational institution, Philadelphia;

With Charles A. Sterling (1946-2008), Philadelphia, by October 11, 1990 [4];

Purchased at his sale, Old Master Paintings, Sotheby’s, New York, October 11, 1990, lot 136, by P. and D. Colnaghi, New York, on joint account with Newhouse Galleries, New York, 1990-1991 [5];

Purchased from Colnaghi and Newhouse by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1991.

NOTES:

[1] According to Dr. Herwarth Röttgen, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Stuttgart, in a letter to Nicholas Hall, Colnaghi, February 1, 1991, NAMA curatorial files.

[2] The Vatican collections were sacked by French troops March 9-June 2, 1798. Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Wicar, the French arts commissioner in Rome, participated in the looting, although it is unclear if he acquired the painting at this time.

[3] Wicar bequeathed this painting to Pope Gregory XVI. “Spiegazione di Fiducia emessa Dal Sig. Giuseppe Carattoli per l’Eredità del fù Cav.^r Gio: Batta Wicar…,” 1834, Istromenti di Filippo Bacchetti, fol. 331v, 30 Notari Capitolini, Ufficio I, vol. 658, Archivio di Stato, Rome. However, according to Röttgen, February 1, 1991, NAMA curatorial files, the painting must have either disappeared from the Vatican soon after the bequest or never came into Gregory XVI’s possession.

[4] According to Eliot Rowlands, Assistant Curator, in a letter to Joseph Rishel, Curator of Paintings, Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 21, 1991, NAMA curatorial files.

[5] Colnaghi Archive, Waddesdon Archive at Windmill Hill, Stock files series.

Published References

Giovanni Pietro Chattard, Nuova descrizione del Vaticano, vol. 2 (Rome: 1766), 163.

Giulio Romano Ansaldi, Atti della Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei: Memorie della classe per scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, vol. 5 (Rome: R. Academia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1936), 470, 483.

Fernand Beaucamp, Le peintre lillois Jean-Baptiste Wicar (1762–1834): Son oeuvre et son temps, vol. 2 (Lille: Emile Raoust, 1939), 575, 578-79.

Hervé Oursel, Le Chevalier Wicar: Pientre, dessinateur et collectionneur lillois, exh. cat. (Lille: Musée des Beaux Arts, 1984), 81.

Old Master Paintings: Property of Various Owners (New York: Sotheby’s, October 11, 1990), unpaginated, (repro).

Old Master Paintings: An Exhibition of European Paintings from the 16^th Century to the 19^th Century, exh. cat. (New York: Newhouse Galleries, 1991), unpaginated, (repro.).

Letter from H. Röttgen to Colnaghi Gallery, February 1, 1991, NAMA curatorial files.

Elliot W. Rowlands, “Seventeenth-Century Masterwork Acquired,” Newsletter (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) (December 1991): 1, 2, (repro.)

Alice Thorson, “The Beginnings of Baroque: Nelson Gallery acquires ‘Virgin and Child,’ an intriguing fusion of 17^th-century artistic styles,” Kansas City Star (December 15, 1991): JI, J7, (repro.).

Burlington Magazine 133, no. 1065 (1991): 24, (repro.).

Paul Jeromack, “Prices for Old Masters at All Levels,” Journal of Art 4, no. 1 (1991): 53, (repro.).

“Open-handed in Kansas,” The Art Newspaper 2, no. 8 (1991): 5.

Nicholas H. J. Hall, ed., Colnaghi in America: A Survey to Commemorate the First Decade of Colnaghi (New York: Colnaghi, 1992), 129.

Michael Churchman and Scott Erbes, High Ideals and Aspirations: The Nelson–Atkins Museum of Art, 1933–1993 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 109.

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), 161 (repro.).

Eliot W. Rowlands, The Collections of the Nelson–Atkins Museum of Art: Italian Paintings 1300- 1800 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson–Atkins Museum of Art, 1996), 229-236, (repro.).

Beverly Louis Brown, ed., The Genius of Rome, 1592–1623, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2001), 34, 35, (repro.).

Herwarth Rӧttgen, Ill Cavalier Giuseppe Cesari D’Arpino: Un grande pittore nello splendore della fama e nell’ incostanza della fortuna (Rome: Ugo Bozzi, 2002), 139–141, (repro.).

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.