Object details
Accession number
S30w12
Primary Creator
Italian, Venice
Full title
Medallion: Bird Attacking Another Bird
Creation Date
12th century-13th century
Provenance
Beginning in September of 1897, Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased many pieces of Venetian relief sculpture and architectural elements in anticipation of the creation of her museum. These purchases included many marble medallions or 'paterae.' These medallions were all purchased in Venice, the majority coming from the dealers Francesco Dorigo and Moisé dalla Torre and several more from art dealers Antonio Marcato and Dino Barozzi. Gardner installed at least one of her medallions in the Conservatory at Green Hill, her home in Brookline, by about 1900, and 38 were installed in the Courtyard of Fenway Court by 1902. Four additional medallions were installed in the west wall of her Gothic Room on the third floor of the museum. These were possibly purchased with the facade that houses them from Moisé dalla Torre, Venice for 1,800 lire on 26 September 1899.
Dimensions
30.5 cm (12 in.)
Display Media
Stone
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
Gothic Room
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 42. (on the similar medallions in the courtyard, as 12th-13th century, Venetian)
Walter Cahn. "Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections. IV. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston." Gesta (1969), pp. 56-59, no. 14. (on the similar medallions the courtayrd)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 64-66, no. 93. (on the courtyard medallions)
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 29. (on the courtyard medallions)
Rights and reproductions
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