Object details
Accession number
S24e6
Primary Creator
Domenico di Niccolò dei Cori
(about 1375 - 1450)
Full title
Angel of the Annunciation
Creation Date
late 14th century (the face possibly repainted later)
Provenance
Created for an unknown Tuscan church in the late 14th century (possibly a Servite church dedicated to the Annuziata). The Angel was probably installed in the church's transept across from a similar wooden sculpture of the Virgin Annunciate. This companion figure is believed to be the Virgin now in the collection of Musée Jacquemart-André (inventory no. 1870).
The two sculptures were purchased by the connoisseur and art dealer Stefano Bardini (1836-1922), Florence by about 1894.
In 1898, the Virgin Annunciate was purchased by Mrs. Édouard François André (Cornélia Barbe Hyacinthe Jacquemart, 1841-1912), Paris for 8,000 lire.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner (as the work of Nino Pisano) from the art dealer Stefano Bardini, Florence for about 8,500 lire on 29 September 1899.
Dimensions
167.5 x 46.4 cm (65 15/16 x 18 1/4 in.)
Display Media
Polychrome and gilding on poplar
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
Third Floor Stairhall and Stairway
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 197. (as probably one of the Pisani or a follower, the latter part of the 14th century)
Sir Eric Robert Dalrymple Maclagan. Italian Scupture of the Renaissance: the Charles Eliot Norton lectures for the years 1927-1928 (Cambridge, 1935), pp. 59-60. (as school of Nino Pisano, late 14th century)
Cesare Brandi. "La mostra della scultura in legno a Siena." L'Immagine (1949) (as attributed to Domenico di Niccolò dei Cori; as the companion to the Virgin Annunciate in Musée Jacquemart-André)
Enzo Carli. La scultura lignea senese (Milan, 1951), pp. 46-48, pl. 54. (as attributed to Domenico di Niccolò dei Cori, 1383-1385; as the companion to the Virgin Annunciate in the Musée Jacquemart-André)
Carlo L. Ragghianti. "Arte a Lucca Spicilegio." Critica d'Arte (1960), p. 75.
Enzo Carli. La scultura lignea senese (Milan, 1961), pp. 73-80.
Rollin Hadley. “Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 7, no. 6 (6 Oct. 1963), p. 2. (as perhaps from Siena, 2nd half of the 14th century)
Rollin Hadley. “Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 7, no. 22 (26 Jan. 1964), p. 2. (excerpting Sir Eric Maclagan, pp. 59-60)
Manfred Wundram. "Die Sienesische Annunziata in Berlin." Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen VI (Berlin, 1964), p. 42, n34; p. 43, n6. (as attributed to Domenico di Niccolò dei Cori; as the companion to the Virgin Annunciate in Musée Jacquemart-André)
Carlo Del Bravo. Scultura senese del Quattrocento (Florence, 1970), pp. 28-29, 37, 57, pl. 77. (as attributed to Domenico di Niccolò dei Cori, about 1410; as the companion to the Virgin Annunciate in the Musée Jacquemart-André)
F. de la Moureyre-Gavoty. Musée Jacquemart-André. Sculpture Italienne (Paris, 1975), no. 67.
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 68-70, no. 97. (as Sienese, late 14th century; the polychromy in the face partially restored)
Walter Cahn. "Medieval Sculpture" in James Thomas Herbert Baily (ed.). The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors, "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum" (London, 1978), pp. 22-23, no. 5. (as perhaps by Domenico di Niccolò, Sienese, late 14th century)
Rollin van N. Hadley. Museums Discovered: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1981), p. 140-41, ill. (as Sienese, late 14th century)
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