Provenance

Philip Lehman

1861 - 1947

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Shown against a shiny gold background, a woman wearing a royal-blue mantle that covers her head and body stands with her head tipped sharply to rest in one hand in this vertical painting. Her skin is pale with a noticeably green tint. She tilts her head to our right and looks in that direction with brown eyes. Her right cheek flushes with a bright pink circle, and three horizontal pale yellow strokes indicate wrinkles at the corner of the eye closer to us. Visible strokes in butter yellow define her chin, nose, wrinkles on her furrowed forehead, and neck. A dark violet-purple cloth hangs over the shoulders of her blue mantle. A four-lobed design, perhaps a flower, is painted on her right shoulder, closer to us. The purple cloth is edged with gold, and tiny tassels with clover-shaped ends hang from the bottom hem. The blue mantle drapes over pointed, red shoes. A halo around her head is punched and incised into the gold background. A network of cracks runs across the gold background, and the red layer underneath is visible in some areas.
Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes, The Mourning Madonna, c. 1270/1275, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.13

The Mourning Madonna

Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes · c. 1270/1275 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.13

Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned, bearded man faces us against a shiny gold background on this arched, vertical panel. The wooden panel is rounded at the top and has a wooden frame, which is painted gold along the bottom. The man’s skin has a greenish cast, but his cheeks and forehead are rosy. He has wavy, honey-brown hair and a long, forked beard. With his head tilted slightly to our right, the man looks up and off in that direction with gray eyes. He has a narrow, straight nose, a thin pink mouth, and small ears. He holds a red book in front of his chest with his right hand, to our left. The book has brown hinges, and the edges of the pages are gold. In his other hand, he grasps a wooden staff tied at the top with a small, black, square flag displaying a petal-pink scallop shell. His harvest-yellow cloak drapes over his shoulders, across his body, and over his left arm. Under the cloak, he wears a black tunic with wide gold trim patterned with starburst-like forms within pointed ovals along the neckline and sleeves. A double ringed halo punched with a flower pattern surrounds the man’s head against the glimmering gold background. There is a noticeable network of cracks across the painting's surface, especially on the gold background behind the man. Inscriptions next to his shoulders read “SATVS” on our left and “YACOBVS” on our right.
Simone Martini, Saint James Major, c. 1315/1320, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.25

Saint James Major

Simone Martini · c. 1315/1320 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.25

A woman sitting on a pillow on the floor holds a baby stretched stiffly across her lap, and both are shown against a gold background in this arched, vertical painting. Ranks of four winged angels float to each side and a man hovers overhead, above a dove that flies down toward the baby. All the people have light skin, strawberry-blond hair, and their heads are surrounded by gold halos. The woman at the center wears a royal-blue, hooded cloak over a dusky rose-pink dress. The cloak is edged with gold, and there is a gold starburst on each shoulder. Her dress is covered with gold, scrolling vines and geometric patterns. She sits facing us with her head tipped to her right, our left, and she gazes down at the baby with narrowed, almond-shaped, light brown eyes. She has a long, delicate nose and her small pink lips are closed. The baby has chubby, pink cheeks but his body is more like that of an adult. He lies stiffly across the woman’s lap, wrapped in shimmering gold fabric that leaves his bare feet, chest, and arms exposed. He looks at us as he reaches up and touches the woman’s breast, which emerges from her dress near her right shoulder. He has snail-like curls, medium brown eyes, a rounded nose, and small, pink lips. The pillow the woman sits on has tassels in the corners. The muted pink floor is veined with sage green. A book with a scarlet-red cover and gilded edges sits nearby. On either side of the woman, four winged angels cluster in two rows of two, near the arched top of the panel. The angels all have coral-pink diadems in long blond hair, and they look toward the woman in profile with wrists crossed against their chests or held together in prayer. They wear robes in ivory white, brick red, or royal blue, all decorated throughout with gold patterns. Emerging from a narrow band of clouds to the upper right, a bearded man wearing a blue robe over a pink garment, also both edged with gold, floats above the woman with his right hand extended. He holds a book in his other hand. The white dove below is connected to the man's extended right hand by long lines, like stylized rays of light. Red shows through some cracks and worn areas of the gleaming gold background.
Jacopo di Cione, Madonna and Child with God the Father Blessing and Angels, c. 1370/1375, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.18

Madonna and Child with God the Father Blessing and Angels

Jacopo di Cione · c. 1370/1375 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.18

A man with light skin with a greenish cast, wearing a slate-blue robe draped over a burgundy-red, ankle-length tunic, stands under an arched opening against a glimmering gold background in this vertical painting. The man’s body faces us but he turns his head to our right and looks off in that direction with dark eyes under curving, dark brows. Like his skin, his white hair and beard has a greenish cast, but is painted with long, curving white lines to indicate the flow of hair. He has a high forehead, a long, thin nose, and his small pink lips are closed. His left arm, on our right, is wrapped in or hidden by his robe, and he holds a parchment-colored scroll in front of his chest with his other hand. His clothing is painted with lines to indicate folds. He wears sandals with thin, mahogany-brown straps on his feet and stands on a pine-green floor. His head is surrounded by a halo created by incising and punching the gold background behind the man. The shoulder-wide halo is decorated with S-shaped spirals and a ring of simple, delicate flowers around the perimeter. The arch above the man is supported by maroon-red columns topped by cobalt-blue, leafy capitals. The corners above the arch are maroon red, and rough, disk-shaped areas in each corner could indicate losses. A web of cracks stretches across the gold areas. Writing along the arch reads, “SANCTVS I HANES SSUM.”
Master of Saint Francis, Saint John the Evangelist, c. 1272, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.16

Saint John the Evangelist

Master of Saint Francis · c. 1272 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.16

A mostly nude, thin man, Jesus, hangs by his outstretched hands from a wooden cross and is flanked by two people, one on each side of the cross in this round painting. Against a shiny gold background, the cross and two people stand on a gray stone platform that forms a base at the bottom. The two people below have peachy skin, and Jesus’s skin has a gray cast. All of their heads are encircled with flat, gold, disk-like halos. Eyes closed, Jesus’s face tips down to our left, and his body faces us. He has a copper-brown, forked beard, a prominent nose, and his lips are parted. Blood trickles from a ring of thorns around his head, over long hair. Blood drips from the nails holding his hands and feet, which overlap on the cross, and from a gash over his right ribs. A plaque at the top of the cross, over Jesus’s head, has the letters “INRI” painted in red. Standing at the foot of the cross to our left, an older woman wears an off-white wimple around her face and covering her neck, and an ocean-blue dress under an eggplant-purple cloak. Her head tips forward, her eyes closed and lips pressed into a frown. Her crossed hands grip her cloak at her waist. To our right, a man stands at the foot of the cross, his body angled to our left. His head tips slightly up to look at Jesus with narrowed eyes, his mouth turned down. He has long, sable-brown hair and a clean-shaven face. He wears a black tunic tied with a rope and a garnet-red cloak bunched at his waist and over his left shoulder. His left hand holds up his cloak. The surface of the painting is covered with a network of fine cracks and some of the brick-red layer under the gold shows through. Blood pours from Jesus’s feet onto a skull at the base of the skull. The platform on which they stand has an arched opening at the bottom center with some bones protruding from the dark, cavernous space.
Francesco del Cossa, The Crucifixion, c. 1473/1474, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.5

The Crucifixion

Francesco del Cossa · c. 1473/1474 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.5

Shown against a shiny gold background, a cleanshaven young man with carrot-orange hair stands with his head tipped sharply to rest in one hand in this vertical painting. His skin is pale with a noticeably green tint. He tips his head to our left and looks at us with brown eyes. His left cheek flushes with a bright pink circle, and four vertical white strokes indicate creases in the flesh above the cheekbone. Visible strokes in butter yellow pick out his chin, nose, wrinkles on his furrowed forehead, and the fingertip of his pinky finger, along his cheek. His long-sleeved, lapis-blue garment falls in stylized folds to his bare feet. The lighter, slate-blue mantle wraps around his torso to his knees. The long fingers of his left hand, on our right, rests against his thigh. White highlights create swirling, angular patterns in the folds of the garments. A halo around his head is punched and incised into the gold background. A network of cracks runs across the gold background, and the red layer underneath is visible in some areas.
Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes, The Mourning Saint John the Evangelist, c. 1270/1275, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.14

The Mourning Saint John the Evangelist

Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes · c. 1270/1275 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.14

A bearded, light-skinned man is shown striding to our left and looking in that direction between two columns supporting an arch in this vertical painting. The area around the man, within the arch, is bright gold. The man has a high forehead with short, brown hair, dark eyes under dark brows, a long, straight nose, a forked beard, and his pink lips are closed. He wears a marine-blue, ankle-length cloak over a long, rose-pink robe. Folds are painted with lines of darker blue and pink. He clenches a parchment-colored scroll in his left hand, on our right, down by his hip and grasps the edge of his cloak with his other hand. His head is surrounded by a halo created by incising and punching the gold background. The shoulder-wide halo is decorated with S-shaped spirals and a ring of simple, delicate flowers around the perimeter. He stands on a dark gray floor that meets the gold background just below knee level. The columns to either side are cut off by the edges of the panel, and are brick-red with light blue, leafy capitals. The brown arch supported by the columns is inscribed, “SANCTUS JACOB LEPHI Q COGNOMINAT E IU.” The corners above are maroon red, and rough, disk-shaped areas in each corner could indicate losses.
Master of Saint Francis, Saint James Minor, c. 1272, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.15

Saint James Minor

Master of Saint Francis · c. 1272 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.15

Simone Martini, Saint Judas Thaddeus, c. 1315/1320, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.26

Saint Judas Thaddeus

Simone Martini · c. 1315/1320 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.26

Shown from the knees up, a pale-skinned woman in front of a gold background wears a rose-pink cloak over a sky-blue dress and holds up a tooth in a pair of pincers in this vertical painting. Her body faces us but she looks slightly off to our left with pale brown eyes under faint, arched brows. She has a long nose and her thin, coral-pink lips are closed. Her wavy, auburn-brown hair falls closely around her neck. Her light blue dress has narrow, V-shaped neckline and the high waistline is gathered under a white belt or sash to create the impression of vertical pleats. Her deep pink cloak is fastened with a cord at the neck. It falls over her shoulders and arms, and she holds up the opposite hem with her left hand, on our right. In her right hand, on our left, she holds up a pair of iron-colored pincers holding a small, white object, a tooth. The surface of the painting is noticeably cracked, especially in the shiny gold background behind the person.
Piero della Francesca, Saint Apollonia, c. 1455/1460, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.19

Saint Apollonia

Piero della Francesca · c. 1455/1460 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.19

A woman wearing a long black robe sits on a wide, bench-like seat and holds a child on her lap in this vertical painting. Both have pale skin, rosy cheeks, and gold halos. The panel is shaped so that it is round around the woman’s head and halo; it then widens into a tall rectangle at her shoulders. That woman, Mary, sits with her body facing us and looks off to our right with brown, almond-shaped eyes. She has an oval face with arched brows, a long, straight nose, and her narrow pink lips are closed. Her black garment has a pattern of brick-red diamond shapes with tiny white swirls at the corners. The area between her hood and her face is red, suggesting a veil or the underside of the robe. The pointed tips of red shoes extend out from under the hem, which reaches the floor. A gold crown over her hood comes to a point above her forehead, and rows of circles dangle down each side like a stylized chain. Dark blue and red circles suggest gemstones and touches of white suggest pearls. She supports the baby’s torso with one long-fingered hand and touches a tiny foot with the other. The child, Jesus, has adult-like proportions with a small head, sloping nose, and blond hair. The hand to our left is raised with the first two fingers extended and he holds a scroll in the other hand. He wears a pale gold garment wrapped tightly around his body. Distinct, rose-pink lines suggest folds. The two people’s features and clothing are outlined in black or darker shades. The bench on which they sit is nearly as wide as the panel and seems to curve up a bit to each side. It is scarlet red with designs in black to make scrolls, nested triangles, or stylized leaves. Four people, half the height of Jesus, float against the faded gold background, two to each side. All four have pale, peachy skin and wear long robes in cream white, pale pink, blue, or brown. The bottom two, near Mary’s elbows, wear gold crowns and hold jugs. The man at the top left, near Mary’s shoulder, is bareheaded and gestures toward the center. In the upper right, a bearded man with his gray hair cut into ring around his head holds a red book in one elbow and holds up his other hand, palm facing us. The background seems a little scuffed and some of the gold has worn away. An inscription along the bottom reads, “MARGARIT RITIO ME FECIT.”
Margaritone d'Arezzo, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Four Saints, c. 1240/1245, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.12

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Four Saints

Margaritone d'Arezzo · c. 1240/1245 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.12