Object details
Accession number
P21w17
Primary Creator
Martin Schongauer
(Colmar, about 1430 - 1491, Breisach am Rhein)
Full title
The Virgin and Child of the Rose Bower
Creation Date
mid 16th century
Provenance
In an unknown private collection, Milan by the first half of the 19th century.
Purchased by Josef Schlotthauer (1789-1869), painter and professor at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, in Milan in 1826.
Purchased by Johann Nepomuk Sepp (1816-1909), religious historian, Munich from Josef Schlotthauer, about 1853.
Purchased by the art dealers Colnaghi & Co., London from Johann Nepomuk Sepp, 1899.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Colnaghi & Co., London for £2,000 in October-November 1899, through Bernard Berenson (1865-1959), American art historian. (as Martin Schongauer)
Marks
The frame (commissioned by Isabella Stewart Gardner on about 17 November 1899) is covered in various Latin inscriptions in gold letters.
Dimensions
44.3 x 30.5 cm (17 7/16 x 12 in.)
Display Media
Oil on panel
Dimension Notes
Frame: 59.7 x 45.5 cm (23 1/2 x 17 7/8 in.)
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Dutch Room
Bibliography
Franz Xaver Kraus. Kunst und Alterthum in Elass-Lothringen, beschreibende Statistik (Strasbourg, 1881), pp. 716-17, pl. 16. (as by Martin Schongauer, later than and superior to the related panel in the church of Saint Martin, Colmar)Ludwig Scheibler. "Berichte und Mittheilungen aus Sammlungen und Museen, uber staatliche Kunstpflege und Restaurationen, neue Funde: Die altdeutschen Gemälde auf der schwäbischen Kreisausstellung zu Augsburg 1886." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, vol. 10 (Berlin-Stuttgart, 1887), p. 26. (as an immitation of the Colmar panel)Wilhelm Schmidt. "Varia." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, vol. 11 (Berlin-Stuttgart, 1888), p. 357. (as a copy of the Colmar panel, possibly by a Dutch hand)Daniel Burckhardt. Die Schule Martin Schongauers am Oberrhein. PhD Diss. (Basel, Switzerland: Universität Basel, 1888), p. 65. (as after Schongauer)Hubert Janitschek. Geschichte der deutschen Malerei (Berlin, 1890), p. 250. (as Dutch, end of the 16th century)Franz von Reber et al. Klassischer Bilderschalz, vol. 3 (Munich, 1891), no. 332. (as by Martin Schongauer) Franz von Reber. Geschichte der Malerei vom Anfang des 14. bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1894), p. 130. (as a copy of the Colmar panel by Martin Schongauer)Hans Mackowsky et al. (eds.). Adolph Bayersdorfers Leben und Schriften (Munich, 1902), pp. 426-27. (excerpting a letter of 30 Augsut 1883; as a free copy of the Colmar panel by Martin Schongauer)Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 13. (as by Martin Schongauer)Augsute Marguillier. "L'Exposition des maitres Anciens a Düsseldorf." Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1904), pp. 278-79, n1. (as an ancient copy of the Colmar panel)John Lafarge et al. (eds.). Noteworthy Paintings in American Private Collections, vol. 1 (New York, 1907), pp. 73-74, 236-39. (as by Martin Schongauer with slight doubts; alternatively, a replica/contemporary copy of the Colmar panel)Una McMahan. "Une Exposition Documentaire en Pensylvanie." Gazette des Beaux Arts (1909), p. 182. (as similar to the Colmar panel)André Girodie. Martin Schongauer et L'Art du Haut-Rhin au XVe Siècle (Paris, 1911), p. 202. (as workshop of Martin Schongauer, 2nd half of the 15th century)Max J. Friedlander. Martin Schongauer (Leipzig, 1922), fig. 3. (as a copy of the Colmar panel) Claude Champion. Schongauer (Paris, 1925), pp. 44, 116. (as a "very imperfect" copy of the Comar panel; workshop of Martin Schongauer) Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 179. (as a copy of the Colmar panel)Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), pp. 328-30, ill. (as after Martin Schongauer, by a contemporary at Colmar)Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 181. (as after Martin Schongauer)Charles L. Kuhn. A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections (Cambridge, 1936), p. 48, no. 169. (as a copy of the Colmar panel)Max Geisberg. "Martin Schongauer" in Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker, et al. (eds.). Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart: Unter Mitwirkung von etwa 400 Fachgelehrten, vol. 30 (Leipzig, 1936), p. 251. (as "an older copy" of the Colmar panel) Hans Haug. Martin Schongauer et Hans Burgkmair: étude sur une vierge inconnue (Strasbourg, 1938), pp. 24-26, 85, ill. (as an old copy of the Colmar panel) Ernst Buchner. Martin Schongauer als Maler (Berlin, 1941), p. 82, pl. 48. (as a late copy of the Colmar panel, not before the 16th century) Eduard Flechsig. Martin Schongauer (Strasbourg, 1946), pp. 341-43, ill. (as by Martin Schongauer; as a preparatory work for the Colmar panel)Julius Baum. Martin Schongauer (Vienna, 1948), p. 50, fig. 147. (as a 16th century copy of the Colmar panel) Alfred Stange. German Gothic Painting, vol. 5 (Munich-Berlin, 1955), p. 20. (as a late copy of the Colmar panel) Kurt Martin. "Zur 'Madonna im Rosenhag' im Isabella Steward [sic] Gardner Museum in Boston" in Ingeborg Schroth (ed.). Studien zur Kunst des Oberrheins: Festschrift für Werner Noack (Konstanz, Germany, 1959), pp. 82-91, figs. 2-5. (as about 1540)Kurt Martin. "Die Jahreszahl 1473 auf der Rückseite der Maria im Rosenhag von Martin Schongauer." Annuaire de la Société historique et litteraire de Colmar, vol. 11 (1961), pp. 25-29. (as about 1540)Charles Isley Minott. Martin Schongauer (Northern European Engravers of the Fifteenth Century) (California, 1971), pp. 17, 20, fig. 3. (as anonymous German; copy after the Colmar panel)Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 232-33, ill. (as after Martin Schongauer, 1st half of the 16th century)Ernest Samuels. Bernard Berenson: The Making of a Connoisseur (Cambridge, 1979), p. 335.Christian Heck. Martin Schongauer (Colmar, 1985), pp. 26-28, ill. (as a late copy of the Colmar panel, probably mid 16th century)Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924 (Boston, 1987), pp. 189-90, 193-95, 205-06, 669.Christian Heck. The Virgin of the Rose Bush by Martin Schongauer (Colmar, 1990), pp. 2, 4, 6, ill. (as a very late copy of the Colmar panel, probably mid 16th century)Fritz Koreny. "A Coloured Flower Study by Maritn Schongauer and the Development of the Depiction of Nature from van der Weyden to Dürer." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs (1991), pp. 589-90, fig. 3. (as a copy of the Colmar panel; German, 16th century)Fedja Anzelewsky et al. (eds.). Der hübsche Martin: Kupferstiche und Zeichnungen von Martin Schongauer (ca. 1450-1941). Exh. cat. (Colmar: Unterlinden Museum, 1991), pp. 69-70. (as a copy of the Colmar panel; German, 16th century)Fritz Korney. "Ein unbekanntes Aquarell mit Pfingstrosen von Martin Schongauer: Rogier van der Weyden - Martin Schongauer - Albrecht Dürer und die Entwicklung der neuzeitlichen Naturstudie: zu seinem 500." Le beau Martin: études et mises au point (Colmar, 1994), pp. 1-17, ill. (as a copy of the Colmar panel; German, 16th century)Chrstel Krauss. ...und ohnehin die schonen Blümen: Essays zur frühen christlichen Blumensymbolik (Kornwestheim, Germany, 1994), p. 177, fig. 15. (as a copy of the Colmar panel, mid 16th century)Dietmar Lüdke in Sönke Lorenz et al. (eds.). Spatmittelalter am Oberrhein: Maler und Werkstätten, 1450-1525. Exh. cat. (Karlsruhe, Germany: Staatliche Kunstahlle Karlsruhe, 2001), pp. 163-64, cat. 75. (as by an unknown copyist after Martin Schongauer, mid? 16th century)Ulrike Heinrichs. Martin Schongauer: Maler und Kupferstecher: Kunst und Wissenschaft unter dem Primat des Sehens (Munich, 2006), pl. 12. (as an anonymous copy after the Colmar panel, 16th century)Michael Roth et al. (eds.). Matthias Grünewald: Zeichnungen und Gemälde. Exh. cat. (Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2008), pp. 26-28, fig. 25. (as a copy after the Colmar panel)Ulrike Heinrichs. "Das Motiv der 'vielen Vögel' als Problem von Komposition und Farbe in Martin Schongauers 'Muttergottes im Rosenhag'" in Kulturelles Erbe: Erinnern, Erzählen, Erfinden (Baden: Baden Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag, 2018), p. 268, abb. 5. (as unknown 16th century painter, after Martin Schongauer)
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