Madonna and Child

between 1350 and 1360

Nino Pisano Italian, 1315-1368

On View

European: Medieval and Renaissance, Level 2, West Wing

Madonna and Child: 1 of Collection Gallery

Madonna and Child: 2 of Collection Gallery

Madonna and Child: 3 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

The son of the great fourteenth-century sculptor Andrea Pisano (ca. 1290–1348), Nino became an accomplished artist in his own right. Nino was receptive to new influences, particularly from France, as seen in the lyrical drapery patterns and sweet expressions of this Virgin and Child. The Virgin is depicted here as an elegant and courtly lady, a more human interpretation of the Madonna consistent with developments in spirituality in the fourteenth century.

Title Madonna and Child

Artwork Date between 1350 and 1360

Artist Nino Pisano

Life Dates 1315-1368

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium White marble, pigment, gold leaf

Dimensions Overall (with pedestal): 46 1/2 × 29 × 25 inches (118.1 × 73.7 × 63.5 cm) Overall (without pedestal): 30 × 11 × 6 1/4 inches (76.2 × 27.9 × 15.9 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edsel B. Ford

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 27.150

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Mme. Rambourg

Mme. Guyot (Paris, France)

(Georges-Joseph Demotte) (Paris, France and New York, New York, USA). by 1927, Eleanor Clay Ford [1896–1976] (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

1927-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Valentiner, W. R. "Nino Pisano." Art in America 15, 5 (August 1927): pp. 194-216.

Heil, W. "A Madonna and Child by Nino Pisano." Bulletin of the DIA 8, 6 (1927): pp. 62-63.

Heil, W. "Italian Sculpture in Detroit." Parnassus 2, 5 (May 1930): p.16.

Valentiner, W.R. Italian Gothic and Early Renaissance Sculpture. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, 1938, no. 16 (ill.) [unpaginated].

McCall, George Henry. Catalogue of European Painting and Sculpture from 1300–1800. Exh. cat., New York World's Fair. New York, 1939, p. 210, no. 423.

Valentiner, W.R. Art Quarterly 10, 3 (1947): pp. 163-184.

Toesca, I. Andrea e Nino Pisani. Florence, 1950, p. 56 (figs. 153-154).

Greenleaf, William. From These Beginnings: The Early Philanthropies of Henry and Edsel Ford, 1911–1936. Detroit, 1964, p. 163.

DIA Handbook. 1971, p. 71.

Wixom, W.D. Cleveland Bulletin 54, 10 (1972): pp. 163-183 (ill.).

Masterpieces of World Art from American Museums. National Museum of Western Art. Tokyo, September 11-December 5, 1976, no. 13 (ill.).

Burresi, Mariagiulia. Andrea, Nini e Tommaso: Scultori Pisani. Milan, 1983, pp. 33, 113, 183 (pl. 24).

Kreyenberg, G. Andrea Pisano und die Toskanische Skulptur des 14. Jahrhunderts. Munich, 1984, pp. 125-126 (figs. 189-190).

Moskowitz, A.F. "A Madonna and Child Statuette in Detroit: Reversing a Reattribution." Medieval Art in North American Collections III (May 1984): abstracts, pp. 34-47.

Moskowitz, Anita Fiderer. "A Madonna and Child Statue: Reversing a Reattribution." Bulletin of the DIA 61, 4 (1984): pp. 34-47 (figs. 1-3).

100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 134-135 (ill.).

Pope-Hennessy, J. "Review of Andrea Pisano and His Tuscan Contemporaries by G. Kreytenberg." Apollo (August 1985): p. 161.

Moskowitz, A. The Sculpture of Andrea and Nino Pisano. Cambridge, 1986.

Gillerman, D., ed. Gothic Sculpture in America, Vol I: The New England Museums. New York, 1989, cat. no. 272, p. 374.

Stott, D. "Review of ‘The Sculpture of Andrea and Nino Pisano’ by Anita F. Moskowitz.” Speculum, 64, 2 (April 1989): p. 470.

Pope-Hennessy, J. 1996, p. 251.

Kreytenberg, G. "Nino Pisano." Grove Dictionary of Art. New York, 1996.

Poeschke, J. Die Skulptur des Mittelalters in Italien, Vol. 2, Gothic. Munich, 2000, p. 173.

Moskowitz, A. Italian Gothic Sculpture c.1250-1400. Cambridge, 2001, pp. 159, 316.

Darr, A.P., P. Barnet, A. Boström, with contributions by C. Avery... [et. al.]. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts. London, 2002, 2 vols., I, cat. 34.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Nino Pisano, Madonna and Child, between 1350 and 1360, white marble, pigment, gold leaf. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edsel B. Ford, 27.150.