The Adoration of the Magi
Bartolo di Fredi (c.1330 - 1410)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1383 - 1388
Materials
Tempera on panel
Measurements
489 x 330 mm (19 1/4 x 13 in)
Place of origin
Montalcino
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 1246460
Caption
This depiction of the adoration of the magi, painted for the Chapel of the Annunciation in the Church of San Francesco at Montalcino near Siena, owes its irregular shape to its original position within a gothic pinnacle atop a grand, multi-panelled altarpiece. It was just one element in an elaborate polyptych depicting episodes in the life of the Virgin Mary commissioned on 9 May 1383 by the Company of Saint Peter on behalf of the Franciscan Order. The work was completed in 1388. Raised high and set in an elaborate gilt framework, this panel would have been difficult to read clearly from the ground. The artist has nonetheless filled the composition with incident and carefully-rendered detail, recounting the veneration of the Virgin and Child in the bottom half of the composition and, at the top, the journey of the wise men to Bethlehem under the guiding star.
Summary
Tempera painting on panel (shaped top), The Adoration of the Magi by Bartolo di Fredi (fl. Siena 1353 – Siena 1410), 1383-88. The Holy Family before a doorway at the right with the three Magi, or Kings, kneeling before the Christ Child; behind are attendants with horse and camels, and in the background the Magi appear again on their journey following the star. Gold background. In shadow box.
Provenance
The right-hand pinnacle of Bartolo di Fredi's Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece in the Annunciation chapel of San Francesco, Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy, 1383/88; [...]; said to have been in the Lippman sale, Berlin, 1912; Chillingworth sale, Fischer, Lucerne, 5 September 1922, lot 95 (as Italian, c. 1380); with Dowdeswell; with Robert Langton Douglas (1864 - 1951), 1927; with Lucerne Fine Art Co., 1927; with Heinemann, Munich, 1930; date of acquisition by Mrs Greville unrecorded; The bequest of Margaret (Anderson) McEwan, The Hon. Mrs Ronald - later Dame Margaret - Henry Fulke Greville, DBE (1863-1942) from probate records linked with the donation of the property to the National Trust in 1943. This item found on the record for Polesden Lacey pictures, drawings etc., stored in the cellar, page 158.
Credit line
Polesden Lacey, The McEwan Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Bartolo di Fredi (c.1330 - 1410), artist Italian School, artist
References
Freuler 1985 Gaudenz Freuler, 'Bartolo di Fredis Altar fur die Annunziata-Kappelle in San Francesco in Montalcino', Pantheon, vol, 43 (1985), pp. 21-39, esp. p. 24 & figs. 4 and 5 Freuler 1994, Gaudenz Freuler, Bartolo de Fredi Cini, Dissentis, 1994, p. 20