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Roundel with the Bust of a Saint

Former TitlePortrait of a Saint
Artist Andrea della Robbia (Italian, 1435 - 1525)
Dateca. 1485-1490
MediumGlazed terracotta
DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 × 36 inches (16.51 × 91.44 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number33-1579
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 108
Collections
Exhibition History

Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, August 9-December 4, 2016; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., January 29-June 4, 2017, no. 52, as Roundel with Bust of a Saint.

Gallery Label
The vivid, life size characterization of this saint is typical of Andrea della Robbia's sculpture. The saint lacks an attribute, making an identification impossible, but the bust would seem to be contemporary with documented works such as an altarpiece of The Trinity with Saints made in 1485-1486 for the cathedral at Arezzo and The Four Evangelists of 1491, roundels which Andrea executed for the pendentives of the dome of Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato.
Provenance

Cesare Guglielmelti, by July 26, 1916;

 

Purchased from Guglielmelti by French and Company, New York, stock no. 3651, as attributed to Giovanni della Robbia, July 26, 1916-January 23, 1920 [1];

 

Purchased from French and Company by Edward Townsend Stotesbury (1849-1938), Whitemarsh Hall, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1920-December 14, 1920;

 

Returned by Stotesbury to French and Company, December 14, 1920-December 15, 1933;

 

Purchased from French and Company by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.

 

NOTES:

 

[1] Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, French and Company Stock Sheets, box 2, folder 4.


Published References

“A Saint from the Hand of Andrea della Robbia Bought for Kansas City,” Kansas City Times (March 19, 1934), as clipping, scrapbook, NAMA Archives, vol. 4, p. 28.

Marietta Cambareri, Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence, exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2016), 81-82, 164, (repro.), as Roundel with Bust of a Saint.

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.


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