Die Heilige Familie

Relief

After Donatello? The Holy Family Painted stucco 76.5 x 75 cm Ancient frame, not original Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Skulpturensammlung, Inv. SKS 2387. Formerly in the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum; lost since May 1945. Provenance Stefano Bardini, Florence (1897); Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Altes Museum (1897-1904); Berlin, Skulpturensammlung/Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (1904-1939); Berlin, storage (1939-1945); whereabouts unknown (1945-present). Acquisition Bought through Stefano Bardini in Florence in 1897. Acquisition file n°2265/98 in the Zentralarchiv der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin. Other Versions • Florence, Museo Bardini, Inv. 1140. Painted stucco, 80 x 77 cm. • Florence, Museo Bardini, Inv. 1200. Painted stucco, 75 x 76 cm. • Florence, Villa La Pietra, New York University. Provenance: Acton collection, Florence. • Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts. Painted stucco, 76.5 x 76 x 9.5 cm. • Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Inv. 1850. Painted stucco, 70 x 83 cm. • Paris, Musée du Louvre, Inv. RF 1191. Painted stucco, 77 x 75.5 x 10.5 cm. • Prato, Convento di San Niccolò. • Formerly New York, Raoul Tolentino Sale, 1920, lot 784. Comment This relief represents the Adoration of Christ just after his Nativity. The Christ Child lies on the right foreground, propped up to a near-sitting position, dressed in a pseudo-antique costume; he holds an apple with his left hand, grasping his mother’s veil with the other. The Virgin has joined her hands in adoration before the newborn; they are looking at each other. Between them, the ox and the ass also pay homage to the Son of God (one part of Mary’s veil covers the top of the ox’s head, involving the animal in the scene; the garland on the animal’s forehead is of antique inspiration). Isolated on the left, Joseph looks at Christ with attention, but also distance – he appears to be standing on much lower ground than the Virgin or the animals. This composition exists in many similar versions – sometimes also with marked variations, such as the version, also preserved in Berlin (Inv. SKS 60), where the image is specular and Joseph is seen as much more melancholic. The pose of the praying Virgin recalls the art of Donatello, who used this motif repeatedly: see for instance Inv. SKS 67; or Inv. SKS M 88. The composition has also been found lacking in invention to be directly related to the hand of Donatello: this is why the names of his pupils, such as Urbano da Cortona (Pope-Hennessy 1959) or Bartolomeo Bellano (Sarchi 2006) have been proposed. The composition had a wide following, not only through numerous stucco versions: it was also copied in the 17th century in a drawing by Guercino (Cento, private collection). For further discussion, see Inv. SKS 60. Literature Schubring 1907 Paul Schubring, Donatello. Des Meisters Werke in 277 Abbildungen, Stuttgart and Leipzig, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1907, pp. 168, 201: possibly Giovanni da Pisa. Schottmüller 1913 Frida Schottmüller, Die italienischen und spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barocks in Marmor, Ton, Holz und Stuck, Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1913, p. 23 cat. 47: follower of Donatello, probably the same artist who made the Holy Family also in Berlin (Inv. SKS 60) and the Piot Madonna in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (Inv. RF 3967). Schottmüller 1933 Frida Schottmüller, Die italienischen und spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barock. Erster Band. Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Wachs, Zweite Auflage, Berlin and Leipzig, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1933, p. 12: workshop of Donatello. “Verzeichnis…” 1953 “Verzeichnis der im Flakturm Friedrichshain verlorengangenen Bildwerke der Skulpturen-Abteilung”, Berliner Museen, new series, III, n°1-2, 1953, p. 12: burnt between 5 and 10 May 1945. Schätze der Weltkultur… 1958 Schätze der Weltkultur von der Sowjetunion gerettet, exh. cat. (East Berlin, National-Galerie and Pergamonmuseum, 1958), East Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1958, cat. D 50: workshop of Donatello. Indicated as exhibited, but as the work is lost since 1945, this is a probable confusion with Inv. SKS 60. Pope-Hennessy 1959 John Pope-Hennessy, “Some Donatello Problems”, in Studies in the History of Art Dedicated to William E. Suida on His Eightieth Birthday, London, Phaidon Press, 1959, pp. 61-62: after Urbano da Cortona. Pope-Hennessy 1964 John Pope-Hennessy, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1964, I, p. 260: after Urbano da Cortona. Herzner 1985 Volker Herzner in Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the Time of Donatello, exh. cat. (Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 23 October 1985-5 January 1986 and Fort Worth, Kimbell Museum of Art, 22 February-5 April 1986), Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1985, p. 172: circle of Donatello. Herzner 1986 Volker Herzner in Alan Phipps Darr and Giorgio Bonsanti (eds.), Donatello e i suoi, exh. cat. (Florence, Forte del Belvedere, 15 June-7 September 1986), Detroit and Florence, The Detroit Institute of Arts, La Casa Usher and Arnaldo Mondadori Editore, 1986, p. 158: circle of Donatello. Neri Lusanna 1986 Enrica Neri Lusanna in eadem and Lucia Faedo (eds.), Il museo Bardini a Firenze. Volume secondo: le sculture, Milan, Electa, 1986, p. 255: circle of Donatello. Avery 1991 Charles Avery, Donatello. Catalogo completo delle opere, Florence, Cantini, 1991, p. 92: the version in the Museo Bardini, Florence, is the original by Donatello. Gentilini 1993 Giancarlo Gentilini in Luciano Bellosi (ed.), Francesco di Giorgio e il Rinascimento a Siena 1450-1500, exh. cat. (Siena, Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, 25 April-31 July 1993), Milan, Electa, 1993, p. 185: cites the version in the Museo Bardini, Florence, as possibly by Francesco del Valente, who collaborated with Donatello on the High Altar of the Santo in Padua. Sarchi 2005 Alessandra Sarchi in Rosalia Fornaro and Giuliano Gaggioli (eds.), Sculptores. Opere scelte della collezione Fornaro Gaggioli. Secoli XIV-XVII, exh. cat. (Bologna, Antichità all’Oratorio, 26 November-24 December 2005), Bologna, Antichità all’Oratorio, 2005, p. 29 note 3: Bartolomeo Bellano, after the original version in the Museo Bardini, Florence. Lambacher 2006 Lothar Lambacher (ed.), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Dokumentation der Verluste. Skulpturensammlung. Band VII. Skulpturen. Möbel, Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz, 2006, p. 137: last documented in the Leitturm Friedrichshain on 7 April 1945, crate n°147 KFM. Sarchi 2006 Alessandra Sarchi in Vittorio Sgarbi (ed.), La scultura al tempo di Andrea Mantegna tra classicismo e naturalismo, exh. cat. (Mantua, Castello di San Giorgio, 19 September 2006-14 January 2007), Milan, Electa, 2006, p. 78: Bellano, possibly after Donatello. Gentilini 2007 Giancarlo Gentilini, “La ‘Madonna del Presepe’ ed altre immagini mariane tra Donatello e compagni”, in Giuseppe Adani, Giancarlo Gentilini and Cristina Grimaldi Fava (eds.), La Madonna del Presepe da Donatello a Guercino. Una devozione antica e nuova nella terra di Cento, exh. cat. (Cento, Pinacoteca Civica, 2 December 2007-13 April 2008), Bologna, Minerva Edizioni, 2007, pp. 109-110, 124, 132-133 note 11, p. 140: collaborator of Donatello. Neville Rowley (20 May 2016)

Object Details

• Location: Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
• Inventory number: 2387
• Measurements: Höhe x Breite: 76,5 x 75 cm
• Material/Technique: Stuck;

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Relief (Sachgruppe) ; SKS Verlust (Sachgruppe) ; Skulptur (Sachgruppe)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Herstellung
• (where): Florenz

Further information

• Rights: Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
• Last update: 09.04.2025, 10:14 AM CEST