Annunciatory Angel
Fra Angelico(Italian, c. 1395/1400-1455)
“Angelico, a Dominican monk, dedicated himself to representing God's glory with stunning simplicity.”
Graham W. J. Beal, Director, President and CEO
- Date
- 1450/1455
- Medium
- Gold leaf and tempera on wood panel
- Dimensions
-
13 x 10 5/8 in. (33.0 x 27.0 cm)
Framed: 19 3/8 x 17 1/4 x 2 in. ( 49.2 x 43.8 x 5.1 cm)
- Department
- European Painting
- Classification
- Paintings
- Credit
- Bequest of Eleanor Clay Ford
- Accession No.
- 77.1.1
- Provenance
- (?) Fiesoli, Convent of San Domenico;
(?) Possibly collection Cardinal Desiderio Scaglia (1621);
Paris, collection Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon;
Paris, auction Baron Vivant Denon, 1 May 1826, lot 41;
Great Britain, Fonthill Abbey, Collection William Beckford;
By inheritance, daughter of Beckford;
Glasgow, Hamilton Palace, collection Duke of Hamilton (entered collection through marriage to Beckford's daughter);
Glasgow, Hamilton Palace, collection Duke of Hamilton;
London, auction, 12th Duke of Hamilton (Christie's) 24 June 1882, lot 356; acquired by Winckworth [collector?, dealer?], 1882;
London, collection John Edward Taylor;
London, auction (Christie's) 5 July 1912, lot 11;
Paris, Galerie Sedelmeyer (until after 1913);
New York, collection Carl W. Hamilton;
Detroit, Grosse Pointe Farms, collection Mr. and Mrs. Edsel Ford (1925); bequeathed by Eleanor Clay Ford to the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1977).
- Keywords
-
metal, paint, panel, gold, gold leaf, religion, tempera, wood, half length
Published References
¦Traduction abrégée de la Storia Pittorica della Italia de l'abbé Lanzi¦, by Francillon (publisher?), 1823.
Denon, Baron D. Vivant , ¦Monuments des Arts du dessin chez les peuples tant anciens que modernes, recueillis par le baron Vivant Denon [...] pour servir à l'histoire des arts, lithographiés par ses soins et sous ses yeux, décrits et expliqués par Amaury Duval¦, Paris, 1829, vol. 2 (Écoles italiques), p. 167, pl. 67 ( Angel lithographed by Dubois de Beauchène).
Blanc, C., ¦Le trésor de la curiosité, tiré des catalogues de vente de tableaux, dessins, estampes, livres, marbres, bronzes, ivoires, terres cuites, vitraux, médailles, armes, precelaines, meubles, émaux, laques et autres objets d'art¦, Paris, 1858, vol. 2, p. 361.
Crowe, J. and Cavalcaselle, G.B., ¦A New History of Painting in Italy¦, London, 1864, ed. 1911, vol. 2, p. 73.
Clément de Ris, L. "Le baron V. Denon," ¦Les Amateurs d'autrefois¦, Paris, 1877, p. 444 (article pp. 407- 451).
London, auction, The 12th Duke of Hamilton (Christie's] Part II, 24 & 26 June 1882, p. 54, lot 356 (published as ¦The Hamilton Palace Collection¦ ("Heads of the Virgin and Announcing Angel--a pair").
Berenson, B., ¦Florentine Painters of the Renaissance¦, New York, 1909, p. 107.
Crowe, J. and Cavalcaselle, G.B., ¦A History of Painting in Italy. Umbria, Florence, and Siena from the second to sixteenth centuries¦, vol. 4, London, 1911, p.76 n.1.
Paris, Galerie Sedelmeyer, "Illustrated Catalogue of the twelfth series of 100 paintings by Old Masters," 1913, cat. 29.
New York, Duveen Brothers, "Loan Exhibition of Important Early Italian Paintings in the Possession of Notable American Collectors," April 17 - May 3, 1924, p. 3, cat. 5.
Offner, R., "A remarkable exhibition of Italian paintings," ¦The Arts¦, vol. 5, May 1924, pp. 241-64, esp. 245.
"Early Italian Paintings," ¦International Studio¦, vol. 79, June 1924, pp. 207-19, esp. p. 208, repr. only.
Valentiner, W. R., "A Catalogue of Early Italian Paintings exhibited at the Duveen Galleries, April-May, 1924", New York, 1926, cat. 3, repr. (furnishes provenance and brief background entry).
Montclair (NJ), Montclair Art Museum, "Loan exhibition of Paintings, Furniture, and Art Objects from the collection of Carl W. Hamilton," Dec. 10-Jan 10, 1925-6, cat. 54, pp 19-22, repr.
Detroit, DIA, "The Third Loan Exhibition of Old Masters Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, French, Spanish and English Fifteenth to Nineteenth Century", March 22-April 4, 1926 (unpaginated), cat. 2 (lent by Carl W. Hamilton, NY).
Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, "Fifth Loan Exhibition of Old and Modern Masters," Oct. 1927, pp. 5, 15, cat. 1 (lent by Mr. & Mrs. Edsel Ford--entry by W. Heil).
Van Marle, R., ¦The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting¦, vol. 10, The Hague, 1928, p. 143 n.3.
Singleton, E., ¦Old World Masters in New World Collections¦, New York, 1929, pp. 34-39, esp. pp. 32-34, repr. (quotes Berenson, who dates panels to ca. 1425).
Venturi, L., ¦Pitture italiane in America¦, Milan, 1931, no. 147, repr.
Berenson, B., ¦Italian Pictures of the Renaissance¦, Oxford, 1932, p. 20.
Venturi, L., ¦Italian Paintings in America¦, vol. 2, New York, 1933, no. 176, repr.
Detroit, DIA, "Loan Exhibition of Italian Paintings from the XIV to XVI Century", March 8-30, 1933 (unpaginated), cat. 15, repr. (lent privately=Edsel Ford).
Valentiner, W., "Die Leihausstellung fruhitalienischer Malerei in Detroit," ¦Pantheon¦, vol. 12, Aug. 1933, pp. 236-43, esp. p. 238.
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago. "Catalogue of a Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture," June 1-Nov 1, 1934, p. 5, no. 23, pl. III.
Berenson, B., ¦Pitture italiane del rinascimento¦, Milan, 1936, p. 17.
New York, New York World's Fair, "Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, Masterpieces of Art", May-Oct 1939, pl. 13 (organized with foreward by W. Valentiner; intro. by A. Frankfurter; picture loaned by Mr. & Mrs. Edsel Ford).
Pope-Hennessy, J., ¦Fra Angelico¦, London, 1952, p. 197 (suggested panels functioned as pinnacles).
Orlandi, S., ¦La Beata Villana, terziaria domenicana fiorentina del sec.XIV¦, Florence, 1955, p. 60. OR (?) Santa Maria Novella, ¦Necrologio di S. Maria Novella : testo integrale dall'inizio (MCCXXXV) al MDIV corredato di note biografiche tratte da documenti coevi¦ (ed. S. Orlandi), Firenze, 1955.
Salmi, M., ¦Il Beato Angelico¦, Spoleto, 1958, pp. 33, 110 (supports P-H's pinnacle hypothesis; suggests figures originally full-length).
Berenson, B., ¦The Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: The Florentine School¦, vol. 1, London, 1963, p.11.
Orlandi, S., ¦Beato Angelico¦, Florence, 1964, pp. 59-60, p. 196 (includes document whereby monastery of S. Domenico di Fiesole offered two panel with images by Fra Angelico of the Angel and Virgin Annunciate to Cardinal Scaglia in 1621).
Baldini, U., ¦L'opera completa dell'Angelico¦, Milan, 1970, p. 94, nos. 33i-j.
Pope-Hennessy, J., ¦Fra Angelico¦, New York, 1974, pp. 223. fig. 75.
Haskell, F., ¦Rediscoveries in Art¦, London, 1976, p. 43, note 91.
"Annual Report 1976/1977", ¦DIA Bulletin,¦ vol. 56, no. 1, 1977, pp. 9, 23, 27.
Mosby, D., "The Annunciatory Angel and Virgin Annunciate," ¦University Liggett Antiques Show¦, Detroit, 1977, pp. 84-88.
Pope-Hennessy, J., "The Ford Italian Paintings," ¦Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts¦, vol. 57, no. 1, 1979, pp. 15-23, esp. pp. 15-18, and note 10 ff.; repr.
Sterne, M., ¦The Passionate Eye, the Life of William R. Valentiner¦, Detroit, 1980, pp. 161-2, 263, 264 note.
Joannides, P. "Fra Angelico: Two Annunciations," ¦Arte Cristiana¦, vol. 77, 1989, pp. 303-8, esp. pp. 305-6, 308-9 (notes 8-12)
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence 1300-1450" 1994-1995, pp. 345-348, cat. 51, color repr. (with companion painting 77.1.2; entry by C.B. Strehlke, who dates picture to early 1430s).
Spike, J.T., ¦Fra Angelico¦, New York, 1996, p. 198, no. 10A (dated c. 1436-40).
Henshaw, J., ed., ¦A Visitor's Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts¦, Detroit, 1996, p. 176, color repr.
Paris, Musée du Louvre, "Dominique-Vivant Denon: l'oeil de Napoléon," 20 Oct. 1999-17 Jan. 2000, pp. 439, 511; cat. 521, repr. color pl. (entry by M.-A. Dupuy).
Lasnier, J.-F., "Paris: The man who made the Louvre," ¦The Art Newspaper¦, no. 98, Dec. 1999, p. 20 (cited).
Kirschten, R., ¦Nighthawks and Irises: Poems about Paintings¦, New York, 2000, pp. 54-55 (poem).
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Fra Angelico," exh. cat. by L. Kanter and P. Palladino, New York & New Haven/London, 2005, cat. no. 25F, pp. 71 n. 2, 121-32, color repros. p. 128, 132 (entry by L. Kanter; he dates them as c. 1429-30 and as part of an altarpiece with the Pontassieve Madonna now in the Uffizi, whose patrons were the Da Filicaia family, and suggests that this altarpiece may have been located in the crypt at Santa Croce). (per A. Derstine -- the figures in the DIA panels seem too large to have been part of the altarpiece as reconstructed on p. 132)
Hood, W., "Fra Angelico, New York," Burlington Magazine , review of MMA exhibit, vol. 148, Feb. 2006, p. 147, 148 (article pp. 146-149).
