Object details
Accession number
S31s3
Creators
Full title
St. Peter Martyr
Creation Date
1497
Provenance
Created as part of an altarpiece for a chapel dedicated to Saint Peter Martyr in the convent of San Giovanni Pedemonte, Como. The work was commissioned from the Italian artists Giovanni Ambrogio de Donati (active 1484) and Giovanni Pietro de Donati (active 1484-1516) by the brothers of the Scuola di San Pietro Martire on 29 May 1497. Four other fragments of the altarpiece survive: Saint Peter Martyr Leaves the Brothers in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin (inventory no. 246), the Martyrdom of Saint Peter Martyr in the John and Mable Ringling Art Museum, Sarasota, Florida (object no. 1227), the Mystic Conversation of Saint Peter Martyr with Saint Agnes, Catherine, and Cecelia and Saint Peter Martyr Hears the Crucifix, both in the Museo della Slesia, Opava.
The altarpiece was seen and described by the Dominican friar Serafino Razzi (1531-1613) who visited the church on 15 September 1572.
The church was demolished in the nineteenth century.
This sculpture was purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner (as a statue of a monk by the Italian artist Caradosso, about 1452-1527) from the collector and dealer Michelangelo Guggenheim (1837-1914), Venice for 900 lire on 27 September 1897.
Marks
Inscribed (hem and the collar of the habit): the remains of a Latin inscription
Dimensions
100 x 39 x 20.5 cm (39 3/8 x 15 3/8 x 8 1/16 in.)
Display Media
Painted and gilded willow wood
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
Art Exhibition: Mrs. John L. Gardner, 152 Beacon St., Boston. Exh. cat. (Boston, 1899), p. 7, no. 14. (as "St. Francis by Caradossa")
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 278. (as St. Peter Martyr; as probably Spanish, 16th century; "it has also been attributed to Ambrogio Foppa Caradosso...and to Bartolommeo Bellano")
Ronald Hilton. Handbook of Hispanic Source Materials and Research Organizations in the United States (Stanford, California, 1956), p. 196. (as Spanish, 16th century)
Rollin van N. Hadley. "Wood Sculpture in Renaissance Lombardy." Fenway Court (1976), pp. 30-35, fig. 1. (as St. Peter Martyr; as Lombard, about 1500)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), p. 140 , no. 172. (as St. Peter Martyr; as Lombard, about 1500)
Antonio Battaglia. "Nuove acquisizioni sulla scultura lignea comasca: due documenti per l'attività dei fratelli De Donati" in Maria Luisa Gatti Perer et al. (eds.). Cesare Cesariano e il classicismo di primo Cinquecento (Milan, 1996), pp. 210-220, 232, fig. 3. (as by Giovanni Ambrogio De Donati)
Raffaele Casciaro et al. "Proposte e aggiunte per Giovan Pietro, Giovanni Ambrogio e Ludovico De Donati." Castello Sforzesco. Rassegna di Studi e Notizie (1996), pp. 68, 73-74, fig. 40. (as by Giovanni Ambrogio and Giovanni Pietro De Donati, 1497)
Francesca Tasso. "Maestri della scultura in legno nel Ducato degli Sforza." Il Legno nell'Arte: Tarsie e intagli d'Italia (2005), p. 39. (on the altarpiece; as by Giovanni Ambrogio and Giovanni Pietro De Donati?)
Francesca Tasso et al. (eds.). Maestri della scultura in legno nel Ducato degli Sforza. Catalogo della mostra. Exh. cat. (Milan: Castello Sforzesco, 2006), pp. 130-32, ill. (as by Giovanni Ambrogio and Giovanni Pietro De Donati, 1497)
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