A BELOVED ALTARPIECE
by Joan K. Yanni
MAG’s 14th-century Florentine altarpiece, Madonna and Child with Saints Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Peter and Dominic (57.4) is the jewel of the Renaissance room. It is remarkable for both its beauty and its history.
The painting first came to Rochester in 1957, in an exhibit called Signed in Paint. It was one of the most significant—and certainly the most popular—work in the exhibit, and the Gallery consequently acquired it through the Marion Stratton Gould Fund. The altarpiece combined the monumental style of Giotto’s figures with a deeply religious theme, the result of the black plague that decimated Europe in 1348.
Scholars at first attributed the panel to Nardo di Cione (active 1345-1366). Nardo was one of two artist brothers of Andrea Orcagna, Florence’s outstanding painter, sculptor and architect in the second half of the 14th century. (Jacopo was the other.) Nardo is known to have provided the setting for Orcagna’s powerful altarpiece in the Strozzi chapel in Santa Maria Novella in Florence. But later experts argued that MAG’s panel, though it employs figures similar to Nardo’s, does not have the brush work, modeling or color sense of that painter. Thus the altarpiece is now labeled School of Nardo.
The five-paneled altarpiece still boasts its hand-carved, gold-tooled frame with arches framing each figure. It is painted in tempera—powdered layers of pigment mixed with egg yolk as a binder—on a wood panel whose surface has been built up with layers of finely mixed gesso. Since egg tempera dries quickly and firmly (remember the remains of eggs left on a breakfast plate?), the altarpiece reveals the short, unblended brushstrokes usual in this medium. Painted in warm tones of red, yellow, gray and green with accents of black and white, it glows with warmth against a rich, patterned gold background.
The undercoat of green paint, called terra verde, which was used for shadows and modeling of features and which often can be seen through the warm flesh colors of a painting, here remains behind the figures’ faces and cannot be seen. The background of the panel is made of gold leaf, still in good condition after than 600 years. Traces of red clay, or bole, used as an adhesive base for the gold leaf, can be seen if one looks carefully. (See article on del Biondo’s Crucifixion, for a description of this technique.)
The half-length figures in the polyptych (diptych: two paneled; triptych: three paneled; polyptych: many paneled) completely fill the space that they occupy. In the center panel, the Madonna (not to be confused with a rock star of the present era), holds the child Jesus, who in turn holds a scroll inscribed “Ego Sum,” the beginning of the Latin inscription “I am the Light of the world.” On our left, John the Baptist, the first of the New Testament prophets, with his long hair and animal skin garment, holds a cross made of sticks, and a banner reading “Ecce Agnus Dei,” again Latin, “Behold the Lamb of God. ” John points toward his scroll and at the same time to the Christ Child in the center panel. On our right, St. Peter, with his short white beard, prominently displays the key to the kingdom of heaven, given him when he was named the Church’s first leader. Peter’s left hand, which is respectfully covered, holds the Bible.
The last two panels on either side of the Madonna show St. Francis of Assisi, wearing a knotted rope around the waist of his gray robe (often the robe is brown), showing his stigmata, or wounds of Christ. These five wounds, in the hands, feet and side, were suffered by Jesus during the Crucifixion and are said to appear miraculously on the body of one who leads an exceptionally holy life. (Today we see figures of Francis in his other role as protector of the environment, feeding the birds and animals, often in a garden setting.) The last panel on our right shows St. Dominic, dressed in black and white, the garb of the Dominicans, and holding the lily of Purity. The Franciscans and Dominicans were the most important mendicant (begging) orders of the time, and lived on the alms donated by their followers. The Dominicans were known for their preaching, the Franciscans for their work among the poor. It is unusual for both saints to be found on the same altarpiece; usually only one or the other is there.
The provenance of the altarpiece is a fascinating story. It was formerly in the famous collection of Marcel von Nemes in Munich. In 1931 Dr. Paul Drey purchased it from a von Nemes sale, but soon after its purchase it was confiscated by the Nazis. Miraculously found in Germany after World War II, the panel was returned through restitution proceedings to the Drey Gallery. Gertrude Herdle Moore, MAG Gallery director at the time, purchased it from the Drey Gallery in New York. In a letter to Mrs. Moore dated March 8, 1957, Dr. Drey says “I do not know what happened to the painting after the Nazis took over, but anyhow when the war was over, the Nardo was found at one of the Collecting Points in Germany. Through restitution proceedings it was given back to the rightful owners.” Despite what must have been haphazard and perilous handling during the war years, the panel is in good physical shape today.
It is interesting for students on tours to find the figures in the altarpiece in other places in the galleries. A wonderfully carved wood figure of St. Peter holding his key is in the Northern Renaissance room, and Peter can also be seen in the Doubting Thomas Console in the Fountain Court. John the Baptist is depicted in the painting Madonna and Child Enthroned between Six Saints and Angels. The Madonna and Child are in many paintings, but how different the squirming child in the El Greco picture is from the loving mother and child in the Del Garbo—or the stiff, aloof posture of the two figures in the altarpiece. Examples can be found.
Sources: Curatorial files; Gallery Notes, April-May 1957; Susan Dodge Peters, ed., Memorial Art Gallery: An Introduction to the Collection.
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