Virgin and Child Enthroned between Saints Leonard and Peter and Scenes from the Life of Saint Peter

Artist: Master of the Yale Dossal (Florence, active second half 13th century)

ca. 1265–70

European Art

On view, 2nd floor, European Art

This is a rare surviving example of a complete thirteenth-century altarpiece. The scenes at the sides, drawn from the legend of Saint Peter, read from left to right across the panel, starting from the top: Christ Calling Peter, Christ’s Charge to Peter, the Fall of Simon Magus, Peter Healing a Crippled Man, the Liberation of Peter, and the Martyrdoms of Peter and Paul. The presence of Saint Leonard to the right of the Virgin suggests that the painting may have come from the church of San Leonardo in Arcetri, just outside the walls of Florence.

Medium

Tempera and gold on panel

Dimensions

overall: 41 3/4 × 63 in. (106 × 160 cm)
picture surface: 38 11/16 × 60 1/16 in. (98.3 × 152.5 cm)

Credit Line

University Purchase from James Jackson Jarves

Accession Number

1871.3

Geography

Made in Florence, Italy

Culture

Italian, Florence

Period

13th century

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
James Jackson Jarves (1818–1888), Florence, by 1859; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Sonia Chiodo and Serena Padovani, eds., Italian Paintings from the 14th to 16th Century, 3 (Florence: Mandragora, 2014), 179, 182
  • Laurence Kanter, "Some Early Sienese Paintings: Cleaned, Uncleaned, Restored, Unrestored. What Have We Learned?," in "Time Will Tell: Ethics and Choices in Conservation," special issue, Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2010), 46–65, fig. 9
  • Daniela Parenti, L’arte a Firenze nell’età di Dante (1250–1300), eds. Mario Scalini and Angelo Tartuferi, exh. cat. (Florence: Giunti, 2004), 100
  • Elizabeth B. Smith, "An American in Medieval Paris: The Imapact of Europe on Early American Collectors of Medieval Art," Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 18, no. 4 (2004), 333, fig. 5
  • Margaret Finch, "St. Peter and the Brancacci Chapel," Apollo 160 (September 2004), 69–70, 71, p. 71, note 72, fig. 5
  • Carl Strehlke and Andrea Rothe, Early Italian Paintings: Approaches to Conservation, ed. Patricia Sherwin Garland (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2003)
  • Luciano Bellosi, Cimabue (Milan: Federico Motta, 1998), 41
  • Jerome Mazzaro, "Dante and the Image of the ‘Madonna Allattante'," Dante Studies 114 (1996), 96, 111, pl. 2
  • Elise K. Kenney, ed., Handbook of the Collections: Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 131
  • Gaudenz Freuler, 'Manifestatori delle cose miracolose': Arte italiana del ’300 e ’400 da collezioni in Svizzera e nel Lichtenstein, exh. cat. (Lugano-Castagnola, Switzerland: Foundation Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1991), 26
  • Angelo Tartuferi, La pittura a Firenze nel Duecento (Florence: A. Bruschi, 1990), 43, 92, fig. 142
  • Richard Offner and Miklos Boskovits, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century, 2, section 3 (Florence: Giunti, 1987), 284n2, (as Magdalen Master)
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  • Angelo Tartuferi, La pittura in Italia: Il Duecento e il Trecento (Milan: Electa, 1986), 276
  • Ruth Wilkins Sullivan, "The Annointing in Bethany and Other Affirmations of Christ's Divinity on Duccio's Back Predella," Art Bulletin 67, no. 1 (March 1985), 39–42
  • Andrew Carnduff Ritchie and Katherine Neilson, Selected Paintings and Sculpture from the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1972), no. 1, ill.
  • Charles Seymour Jr. et al., Italian Primitives: The Case History of a Collection and Its Conservation (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1972), 9–10, no. 1, fig. 1a
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  • Charles Seymour Jr., Early Italian Paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1970), 9–11, no. 1
  • George Kaftal, Iconography of the Saints in Tuscan Painting (Florence: Sansoni, 1952), no. 186, col. 627, fig. 723
  • Francis Steegmuller, The Two Lives of James Jackson Jarves (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1951), 293
  • Edward B. Garrison, Italian Romanesque Panel Painting: An Illustrated Index (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1949), 142, no. 366
  • Gertrude Coor-Achenbach, "A Neglected Work by the Magdalen Master," Burlington Magazine 89, no. 530 (1947), 120n12, 126n38
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  • Georg Swarzenski, "Arts of the Middle Ages," Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 38 (Feb. 1940), 2, 7, ill.
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  • Evelyn Sandberg-Vavalà, L’iconografia della Madonna col Bambino nella pittura italiana del dugento (Siena: San Bernardino, 1934), 55, no. 162, pl. 25B
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  • Richard Offner, Italian Primitives at Yale University: Comments and Revisions (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1927), 2, 11–13, fig. 4, 4e
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  • Osvald Sirén, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Pictures in the Jarves Collection Belonging to Yale University (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916), 11–13, no. 3, ill.
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Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

altarpieces, religious art

Subject

Madonna and Child

Inscriptions

SCS LEONARDUS (halo); MR OV (halo); SCS PETRVS; (over scenes at sides: at l.): PETRUM ET ANDREAM (over calling of Peter and Andrew); MIRACULUM BEATI PETRI (over Peter and Simon Magus); SICUT ANGELUS LIBERAVIT PETRUM (over Freeing of Peter from Prison); at r.,.(illegible) (over Peter meeting with Christ); (5) MIRACULUM PETRI.(over Peter Cures the Paralytic); PASSIO BEATI PETRI ET PAULI (over Martyrdoms of Peter and Paul).

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