The Baptism of Christ

Artist After Alessandro Algardi (Italian, 1598 - 1654)

Datelate 17th century

MediumBronze on marble base

DimensionsOverall: 18 × 16 × 10 3/4 inches (45.72 × 40.64 × 27.31 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number47-34

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

Exhibition History

N/A

Gallery Label

Algardi was a native of Bologna who worked chiefly in Rome, his greatest rival was Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Algardi's style is less demonstrative, and as the present example shows, is infused with a graceful and calm religious feeling. Like boxwood-used in the version of Bernini's Apollo and Daphne-bronze was considered a suitable material for small-scale sculptures as it enabled the artist to achieve density and nobility along with the effective rendering of details.

Provenance

Possibly Borghese collection [1];

With Ettore Sestieri, Rome, as by Melchior Caffà, by 1947;

Purchased from Sestieri, through Gabriel Sonnino and Harold Woodbury Parsons, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1947.

NOTES:

[1] According to Harold Woodbury Parsons, in a letter to Laurence Sickman, Director, January 5, 1956, NAMA Archives, Laurence Sickman Papers, MS 001, box 1c, Parsons thought the sculpture may have come from the Borghese collection. Provenance research on this sculpture has not confirmed this.

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).

Nicholas Penny and Eike D. Schmidt, Collecting Sculpture in Early Modern Europe (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2008), 283, (repro.), as The Baptism of Christ.

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).

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.