The Entombment of Christ

c. 1450

Fra Angelico

Painter, Florentine, c. 1395 - 1455

Nine people are gathered in a landscape around the gaunt body of a young man being carried on a cloth in the lower half of this vertical painting. All the people have pale skin tinged with yellow, and all but one have shiny gold halos. The space is framed to the right by a stone-gray structure with a squared opening and, to the left, with a brown, rocky outcropping. Tall cypress trees and sage-green vegetation grow up and over the structure to our right. The bearded young man, Jesus, is laid out horizontally with his feet to our left, on a flax-yellow cloth carried by two elderly men. He is nude except for a white cloth across his hips, and there are tiny red slashes on the hand and foot we can see, and over his right ribs, farther from us. Just beyond the body, a woman draped in a marine-blue robe bends to gaze at Jesus’s face while being supported by two other women. A young, cleanshaven man in a coral-pink robe over a steel-gray garment stands by them, on our left, with his head lowered and hands clasped. On our side of the body are two women with their backs to us. The woman on the left kneels at Jesus’s corpse with her head bent as she wipes his feet. The woman on the right sits on the ground with her robe drawn over her head, and she covers her face with her hands. On the ground between them, a hammer, the ring of thorns with three arrows extending from it, and a nail puller lie on an white cloth. The only person without a halo is a bearded man standing to our right, closest to the opening in the structure. He wears a red robe and cap draped with a white cowl. The ground beneath the group is carpeted with pine-green grass, and a sprinkling of white dots suggests small flowers. A palm tree stands just outside a tall, narrow wooden gate beyond the group. The gate opens onto a landscape with a river winding to meet a town and hazy mountains in the distance. A tall, steep, laurel-green hill to our left is topped with three wooden crosses, and bodies hang from the crosses to either side. A few bands of clouds float across the sky, which deepens from ivory white at the horizon to azure blue along the top edge.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on poplar panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 88.9 x 54.9 cm (35 x 21 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.260

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly the Medici family, Florence, by 1492.[1] (Stefano Bardini [1836-1922], Florence). (Professor Luigi Grassi [1858-1937], Florence); purchased January 1923 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York).[2] Henry Goldman [1857-1937], New York, by 1924.[3] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold March 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] See Eugene Müntz, Les Collections des Médicis au XVe siècle, Paris, 1888: 64; among the belongings in Lorenzo de' Medici's chamber is "una tavoletta dipintovi Nostro Signore morto chon molti santi che lo portano al sepolcro, di mano di fra Giovanni" ("a little panel with painted on it Our dead Lord with many saints who are carrying him to the sepulchre, from the hand of Fra Giovanni"). Although the description is by no means precise, the relative rarity of the subject strongly suggests identification with NGA 1939.1.260.
[2] The date of passage of the work to Stefano Bardini is not known (see Fiorenza Scalia and Cristina De Benedictis, Il Museo Bardini à Florence, Milan, 1984: 125). The provenance from the Bardini and Grassi collections is indicated by Frida Schottmüller, Fra Angelico da Fiesole. Des Meisters Gemälde, Berlin and Leipzig, 1924: no. 180, 266. Duveen Brothers Records list the painting as "ex Bardini" and itemize a commission paid to "Tolentino" (X Book, Reel 422, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).
[3] The panel was shipped to New York in the spring of 1923, and exhibited there in 1924 as part of the Goldman collection. A letter from Bernard Berenson to Henry Goldman, dated 27 February 1924 (copy in NGA curatorial files), in which the scholar congratulates the collector on the acquisition of "that beautiful Fra Angelico," would indicate the panel was a recent addition. It was likely purchased from Duveen Brothers.
[4] The Duveen Brothers letter confirming the sale of twenty-four paintings, including NGA 1939.1.260, is dated 9 March 1937; provenance is given as "Henry Goldman Collection" (copy in NGA curatorial files; Box 474, Folder 5, Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2163.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1924

  • Loan Exhibition of Important Early Italian Paintings in the Possession of Notable American Collectors, Duveen Brothers, New York, 1924, no. 23, as The Deposition by Fra Angelico (no. 4 in illustrated 1926 version of catalogue).

2018

  • Fra Angelico: Heaven on Earth, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2018.

Bibliography

1923

  • Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 10(1928):143.

1924

  • Offner, Richard. “A Remarkable Exhibition of Italian Paintings.” The Arts 5, no. 5 (May 1924): 245.

  • Schottmüller, Frida. Fra Angelico da Fiesole, 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1924: 180, 266, repro.

1926

  • Lloyd, David. “Changing Tastes in Picture Collecting.” International Studio 83 (1926): 54.

1931

  • Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: pl. 152.

1932

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932: 22.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America, 3 vols. New York, 1933: 2:pl.182.

1936

  • Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del Rinascimento. Milan, 1936: 19.

1941

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 40, repro.

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 6, no. 371.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 247, repro. 56, as by Fra Angelico.

1944

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 29, repro.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 31, repro.

1949

  • Ragghianti, Carlo L. “La Collezione S. H. Kress nella National Gallery of Art.” Critica d’Arte 8, no. 1 (May 1949): 81-82, as by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi.

1951

  • Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 33.

1952

  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Fra Angelico. London, 1952: 204.

1955

  • Collobi Ragghianti, Licia. “Studi angelichiani.” Critica d’arte 7 (January 1955): 47 n. 8, as by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi.

1958

  • Salmi, Mario. Il Beato Angelico. Spoleto, 1958: 88, 122-123, fig. 114a.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 51, repro., as by Fra Angelico.

1963

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School, 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:16.

1964

  • Orlandi, Stefano. Beato Angelico. Florence, 1964: 124-125.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 8.

1966

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 97-98, fig. 257.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 2, repro.

1970

  • Baldini, Umberto. L’opera completa dell’Angelico. Milan, 1970: 109, 117, cat. 112, repro.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: xxi, 9, 221, 645, as by Fra Angelico or an Anonymous 15th-century Florentine.

1973

  • Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 79.

1974

  • Fahy, Everett. “Review. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools XII-XV Century by Fern Rusk Shapley; Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools XV-XVI Century by Fern Rusk Shapley; Early Italian Paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery by Charles Seymour; Italian Primitives: The Case History of a Collection and its Conservation by Charles Seymour.” Art Bulletin, vol. 56, no. 2 (1974): 285, as by Jacopo del Sellaio.

  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Fra Angelico. 2nd ed. London and New York, 1974: 233-234, fig. 109, as by Jacopo del Sellaio.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 14, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:425-427; 2:pl. 305, as Attributed to Jacopo del Sellaio.

1980

  • Ragghianti, Carlo L. “Galleria di Washington.” Critica d’Arte 45, nos. 154-156 (1980): 217, as by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi.

1983

  • Rowlands, Eliot W. “Filippo Lippi’s Stay in Padua and Its Impact on His Art.” Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1983: 151 n. 96.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 86, no. 42, color repro.

  • Scalia, Fiorenza and Cristina De Benedictis, eds. Il Museo Bardini a Firenze, 2 vols. Milan, 1984-1986: 1(1984): 125, fig. lxxxiv, as by Fra Angelico and collaborators.

  • Alce, Venturino. “Cataloghi e indici delle opere del Beato Angelico.” In Beato Angelico. Miscellanea di Studi. Rome, 1984: 358, as by Fra Angelico.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 20, repro.

1986

  • Simpson, Colin. Artful Partners: Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen. New York, 1986: 239.

  • Baldini, Umberto. Beato Angelico. Florence, 1986: 273, as Close to Jacopo del Sellaio.

1992

  • Pons, Nicoletta. “Una bottega fiorentina di pittura nella seconda metà del XV secolo: Jacopo del Sellaio e compagni.” Ph.D. diss. Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza,” 1992: 38-39, 338-339, cat. 91, fig. 10 as begun by Fra Angelico then transferred to Filippo Lippi's workshop where completed by Jacopo del Sellaio.

1993

  • Alce, Venturino. Angelicus pictor. Vita, opere e teologia del Beato Angelico. Bologna, 1993: 381, as by Fra Angelico.

1998

  • Strehlke, Carl Brandon. Angelico. Milan, 1998: 68 n. 11, as by Jacopo del Sellaio.

2000

  • Fahy, Everett. Dipinti, disegni, miniature, stampe: L'Archivio storico fotografico di Stefano Bardini. Florence, 2000: 42, cat. 326, as by Jacopo del Sellaio.

  • Nagel, Alexander. Michelangelo and the Reform of Art. New York, 2000: 71-72, fig. 39, as School of Fra Angelico.

2002

  • Boskovits, Miklós. “La bottega del Beato Angelico tra Firenze e Roma, e la formazione di Benozzo Gozzoli.” In Bruno Toscano and Giovanna Capitelli, eds. Benozzo Gozzoli allievo a Roma, maestro in Umbria. Exh. cat. Chiesa-Museo di San Francesco, Montefalco, 2002: 140.

2003

  • Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 31-35, color repro.

2005

  • Kanter, Laurence, and Pia Palladino. Fra Angelico. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005: 146 n. 6.

2006

  • Fahy, Everett. "Early Italian paintings in Washington and Philadelphia." The Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1241 (August 2006): 538 n. 5.

2009

  • De Simone, Gerardo. “Velut alter Apelles. Il decennio romano del Beato Angelico.” In Alessandro Zuccari, Giovanni Morelli and Gerardo de Simone, eds. Beato Angelico. L’alba del Rinascimento. Exh. cat. Musei Capitolini, Rome. 2009: 133-134.

2014

  • Flanigan, Theresa. "Art, Memory and the Cultivation of Virtue: The Ethical Function of Images in Antonius's Opera a ben vivere." Gesta 53, no. 2 (Fall 2014): 191-192, fig. 6.

  • Hoff, Michael. _ Andacht und Identität: Zur Darstellung Christi in der Malerei der Florentiner Frührenaissance_. Marburg, 2014: 162 n. 347, as by Jacopo del Sellaio (?).

2015

  • Verdon, Timothy. Beato Angelico. Milan, 2015: 295, fig. 195, as by Fra Angelico.

2017

  • De Simone, Gerardo. Il Beato Angelico a Roma 1445-1455. Rinascita delle arti e Umanesimo cristiano nell'Urbe di Niccolo V e Leon Battista Alberti. Florence, 2017: 127-128, 134-135, fig. 76, as by Fra Angelico and Jacopo del Sellaio.

2018

  • Kanter, Laurence. "Review. Fra Angelico: Boston." The Burlington Magazine 160, no. 1382 (May 2018): 410, as Probably by Jacopo del Sellaio.

2020

  • Civettini, Davide. "La 'primavera' di Jacopo del Sellaio." M.A. thesis, Università degli Studi di Firenze, 2020: 58, fig. 33, as Circle of Fra Angelico.

Wikidata ID

Q20173695

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