oil on canvas, transferred from panel, in a period carved tabernacle-style wood frame
Literature
W. von Bode, in Die Woche, vol. 13, no. 50, December 1911, p. 2100; E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintures, Sculpteurs, Dessins et Graveurs, Paris 1962, vol. 7, p. 517 (citing 1944 sale); F.H. Taylor, Pierpont Morgan as Collector and Patron, 1837-1913, New York (Pierpont Morgan Library) 1970, p. 20, reproduced on facing page as hanging in the West Room (Study) of the Pierpont Morgan Library in circa 1910; D.A. Brown, in Raphael and America, exhibition catalogue, Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, January 9 - May 8, 1983, pp. 69-70, and p. 105, footnotes 239-232, reproduced p. 69, fig. 34, and on p. 33, fig. 14 as hanging in the West Room (as location unknown); R. van N. Hadley, ed., The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1887-1924, with Correspondence by Mary Berenson, Boston 1987, p. 450 (citing a letter from Berenson to Gardner that Morgan had shown him the painting and Berenson had recognised it as being by Pinturicchio); F. Todini, La Pittura Umbra, Milan 1989, vol. I, p. 292 (erroneously listed as lot 347 in the Morgan sale of 1944; as partially repainted and probably a late work by Pinturicchio, basing his judgement on an old photograph); R. Ferrazza, Palazzo Davanzati e le collezioni di Elia Volpi, Florence 1993, pp. 105, 138, footnotes 87-89, reproduced figs. 96 (before restoration), 97 (after restoration), and 143 (as hanging in the West Room at The Pierpont Morgan Library) (as "Scuola di Raffaello(?)"); F. Ivan Nuccirelli, Studi sul Pinturicchio dalle prime prove alla Cappella Sistina, Spoleto 1998, p. 291 (as by Pinturicchio).
Provenance
PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATES OF ARTHUR AND W. SÉVÉRINE FRANKEL
With P. & D. Colnaghi Ltd., London; With Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd., London (by whom shown on July 9, 1909, to Berenson, who believed the work to be by Pinturicchio; an opinion he later revised, writing on a photograph conserved at I Tatti that it was actually a 'fake'); John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), by whom purchased from Elia Volpi in 1909 (as Raphael); Thence by descent to his son John Pierpont Morgan, Jr. (known as Jack) (1867-1943), by whom removed from the West Room (Study) to his bedroom in the adjoining building at 231 Madison Avenue, New York; His deceased sale ("Property of the Estate of the Late J.P. Morgan Removed from His Residences at 231 Madison Avenue, New York, and Matinicock Point, Glen Cove, Long Island, Sold by Order of the Executors"), New York, Parke-Bernet, March 24, 1944, lot 437 (as School of Raphael), for $2,500 to Fred Liod; Avis Silberman, New York; Anonymous sale, Washington, D.C., Weschler's, May 21, 1972, lot 770, reproduced on frontispiece of catalogue and plate 68 (as "By Raphael and his assistant Pian di Meleto, c.1505"); Leslie Hindman, Chicago, by whom sold, Chicago, November 1, 1993, lot 932 (as Italian School 16th Century), There acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Frankel.
Notes
We are grateful to Mr. Everett Fahy who, based on first-hand inspection, confirms the present painting to be by Pinturicchio.
This appears to be a late work by the artist, datable to Pinturicchio's period of activity in Siena from 1504 until his death in 1513. The figure types and landscape are heavily indebted to Raphael and the painting was once considered to be by an artist from Raphael's school (it was described as such in the 1944 sale catalogue and the label on the frame also indicates this). The Raphaelesque elements may be further explained by Pinturicchio's contact with the artist whilst working on the library of Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (later Pope Pius III) in Siena in 1502-3. The young Raphael is also thought to have worked on the project as some drawings have survived which show him sketching out ideas for the older Pinturicchio (these are now in the Uffizi in Florence, the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, and the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire's collection at Chatsworth). The Madonna in this painting shows parallels with Raphael's Madonna in his Madonna and Child with Sts. Jerome and Francis in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (J. Meyer zur Capellen, Raphael. A Critical Catalogue of His Paintings. The Beginnings in Umbria and Florence ca. 1500-1508, vol. I, Landshut 2001, cat. no. 5, reproduced in colour on p. 68). Prof. Filippo Todini considers the painting to be a late work by Pinturicchio, though repainted in the figure of the Madonna, datable to his final years of activity in Siena; an opinion first cited with some reservations in his book (see Literature) but more recently, with the aid of better photographs, attributed in full in a letter dated September 4, 1994.
The painting takes its nickname - "The Morgan Madonna" - from the illustrious collector who owned it during the first half of the 20th Century. The financier John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Junius Morgan (a merchant banker) and Juliet Pierpont (the daughter of a Unitarian minister). He was educated in Hartford and Boston, went on to study in Switzerland and Germany, and then trained as an accountant in the New York firm of Duncan, Sherman & Co.. A few years later he started his own bank, which was to be reorganised in 1895 as J.P. Morgan & Co., one of the most important banking houses in the world (even today). During the 1870s, '80s and '90s, John and his father financed numerous railroad ventures in the United States, making them into one of the richest families on the East Coast. In 1861 John married Amelia "Mimi" Sturges, who tragically died of tuberculosis five months later. He married again four years later (to Frances Louisa Tracy) and had four children: three daughters and a son, John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (1867-1943), who was to inherit much of his father's fortune - including this painting - after his father's death on March 31, 1913. The museum in New York which takes his name began as John's private library of illuminated manuscripts, early printed books, prints and drawings. Much of the collection, and the building that housed it, were left to the state by his son and the house became a public institution in 1924.
J. Pierpont Morgan is known to have acquired the painting, which at the time was attributed to Raphael, from the Florentine dealer Elia Volpi. A letter from Volpi dating from April 1909 states that he is delivering the painting, along with some bronzes and other items, to Pierpont Morgan's suite at the Hotel Bristol in Paris (letter held in the Pierpont Morgan Library Archives). The letter further confirms that Pierpont Morgan had acquired these items from Volpi in Aix-les-Bains, France, on April 22, 1909, and had paid a remarkably high price for it (around $200,000).
