Mariotto Albertinelli

Palazzo Niccolini, Florence, by 1677 and until at least 1759;

Bingham family, England;

Chester Dale, New York;

By whom given to Louise Marock, New York, 1974;

Thence by descent to Mr. and Mrs. George Buchanan, New York;

From whom acquired, 1991.

Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Fra' Bartolomeo e la Scuola di San Marco, 25 April - 28 July 1996, no. 37 (lent by Stanley Moss);

New York, Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., Visions and Vistas: Old Master Paintings and Drawings, 25 January - 4 March 2000;

Winter Park, Florida, The George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Cosimo Rosselli, Painter of the Sistine Chapel, 9 February - 22 April 2001, no. 27 (lent by Stanley Moss).

F. Bocchi and G. Cinelli, Le bellezze della città di Firenze, Florence 1677, p. 406 (as Fra Bartolomeo);

G. Richa, Notizie istoriche delle chiese fiorentine, vol. VIII: Del quartiere di S. Giovanni, vol. 8, Florence 1759, p. 48 (as Fra Bartolomeo);

J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy From the Second to the Sixteenth Century, vol. III, London 1866, p. 478 (as a lost Fra Bartolomeo);

F. Knapp, Fra' Bartolomeo und die Schule von San Marco, Halle 1903, p. 268 (as a lost Fra Bartolomeo);

H. von der Gabelentz, Fra Bartolomeo und die florentiner Renaissance, vol. I, Leipzig 1922, p. 198 (as Fra Bartolomeo);

S. Padovani, in L'età di Savonarola: Fra' Bartolomeo e la Scuola di San Marco, exhibition catalogue, Florence 1996, pp. 140-143, cat. no. 37, reproduced (as Mariotto Albertinelli);

R.B. Simon, Visions and Vistas: Old Master Paintings and Drawings, exhibition catalogue, New York 2000, pp. 12-13, reproduced (as Mariotto Albertinelli);

E. Fahy, in Cosimo Rosselli, Painter of the Sistine Chapel, exhibition catalogue, A.R. Blumenthal (ed.), Winter Park 2001, pp. 204-207, cat. no. 27, reproduced (as Mariotto Albertinelli);

S. Padovani, "Fra' Bartolomeo e Mariotto Albertinelli: Il problema della bottega," in Fra' Bartolomeo, Sacra famiglia a modello, exhibition catalogue, Brescia/Genoa 2014, pp. 15-16, reproduced fig. 1 (as Mariotto Albertinelli);

C. Fischer, "Fra' Bartolomeo, Adorazione del bambino (Sacra famiglia "mond")," in Fra' Bartolomeo, Sacra famiglia a modello, exhibition catalogue, Brescia/Genoa 2014, p. 38 (as Mariotto Albertinelli);

O. D'Albo, "Bottega di San Marco, Sacra Famiglia con San Giovannino," and "Bottega di San Marco, Adorazione del Babino (sacra famiglia)," in Fra' Bartolomeo, Sacra famiglia a modello, exhibition catalogue, Brescia/Genoa 2014, pp. 52, 53, 60, reproduced fig. 2 (as Mariotto Albertinelli).

Executed circa 1510, this painting appears to be the prime version of Albertinelli's Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist. Two other examples of the composition exist: the first, dated 1511, is in the Borghese Gallery, Rome, (inv. no. 310), and the other, considered to be a workshop replica, is in the Palazzo Corsini, Florence (inv. no. 160). This panel differs slightly from the Borghese and Corsini compositions, most notably in the background, the poses of Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Joseph (here they both look at the infant Christ, whereas they look out toward the viewer in the Borghese and Corsini versions), the still life elements, and the atmosphere of the present panel, which is softer and more golden than in the other versions. Perhaps the most striking difference is the nocturnal setting of the manger, intertwined with foliage that appears in the present panel. These differences make this version seem the most lively and immediate of the three. Indeed, the present panel has in the past been considered by scholars to be the primary version: in a private correspondence of 5 October 1988, Ludovico Borgo noted that this is "an earlier and better version of the replica in the Borghese Gallery." 

The partnership between Albertinelli and Fra Bartolomeo from 1509 to 1513 has led to some confusion of authorship of paintings ascribed to the two artists. In the seventeenth century, the present painting was considered to be by Fra Bartolomeo: it was listed among the works of the Niccolini family (whose wax seal is exceptionally well preserved on the front of the panel) in 1677 by Bocchi and Cinelli as "Vergine con S. Giuseppe, S. Gio Batista, e Giesù di mano di Fra Bartolomeo." Subsequent scholars have listed this picture as a lost Fra Bartolomeo, based upon Bocchi and Cinelli's description. In the twentieth century, Dr. Laurence Kanter supported that attribution based on a drawing by Fra Bartolomeo in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (inv. no. N174),¹ in which the head of the Madonna is closely related to that in the present painting. On the other hand, Dr. Serena Padovani supports an attribution to Albertinelli based on stylistic similarities between this painting and The Annunciation, in the Accademia, Florence, which is signed and dated "1510 Mariotti Florenti opus." In support of Padovani, Professor Sydney J. Freedberg and Dr. Everett Fahy also agreed with the attribution to Albertinelli. (The Borghese panel was also made during the years of the partnership between the two artists. Dated 1511, it is signed with the cross and double ring monogram of their joint workshop, but has, for the most part, been given to Albertinelli.)

¹ See C. Fischer, Fra Bartolomeo: Master Draughtsman of the High Renaissance, Rotterdam 1990, pp. 216-217, reproduced.