Object details
Object number
S30n6
Creator(s)
Italian, Siena
Title
Saint Bernardino
Date
late 15th century
Medium
Polychromed terracotta
Dimensions
43 x 43 x 22 cm (16 15/16 x 16 15/16 x 8 11/16 in.)
Provenance
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the art dealer Stefano Bardini, Florence for 2,408 lire on 6 October 1897.
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.
Bibliography
Art Exhibition: Mrs. John L. Gardner, 152 Beacon St., Boston. Exh. cat. (Boston, 1899), p. 8, no. 19. (unattributed)
E. Piero Misciattelli. "Iconografia bernardino." La Diana (1931), pp. 251-2. (as Sienese school, contemporary with the saint (1380-1444); "reminds one of Vecchiatta"; mistakenly says this sculpture is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), pp. 273-74. (as probably Siena, 15th century; "formerly attributed to Donatello, Vecchietta, and others")
John Pope-Hennessy. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum vol. 1 (London, 1964), p. 265. (unattributed; related to a bust in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, museum no. 217-1894, style of Vecchietta; and a bust in the sacristy of San Giobbe, Venice, attributed to Bellano)
John Pope-Hennessy. "The Forging of Italian Renaissance Sculpture." Apollo (1974), pp. 259, 261, fig. 57. (as a 19th century forgery by Bastianini)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 112-13, no. 141. (as Tuscan, last quarter of the 15th century)
Hilliard Goldfarb. Imaging the Self in Renaissance Italy. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum III. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1992), pp. 43-44, 46. (as Tuscan, late 15th century)
Anita F. Moskowitz. "The Case of Giovanni Bastianini: A Fair and Balanced View." Artibus et Historiae (2004), p. 181, n11. (notes that this sculpture was omitted from the reprint of Pope-Hennessy's article "Forging of Italian Sculpture" cited above)
Gallery
Gothic Room
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