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Virgin and the Dead Christ with the Ascension and Saints
Bartolomeo Vivarini (Italian (Venetian), active about 1440, died after 1500)
1485
Medium/Technique
Carved and painted wood; tempera and oil on panel
Dimensions
236.09 x 198 cm (92 15/16 x 77 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Quincy Adams Shaw
Accession Number01.4.1-10
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
This monumental altarpiece is distinctive both because it weaves together painting and sculpture and because it is nearly intact, including the ornate gothic frame. In the lower tier, the presence of saints Benedict (far left) and Scholastica (far right), founders of the Benedictine Order, indicate that the altarpiece was created for a Benedictine monastery. In the center is a carved Pietà, an image of the Virgin holding her dead son in her lap. Vivarini painted the altarpiece in Venice and shipped it to Dalmatia, on the coast of Croatia. The Gothic taste, seen in the wiry saints, the lavish carving and gilding, and the pointed arches of the frame, lingered longer in Venice and its colonies than in more progressive cities such as Florence.
DescriptionFrom upper left, the depicted saints are: Jerome, Gregory, Mary Magdalen, Christopher, Benedict, Andrew, George, and Scholastica.
InscriptionsSigned and dated below central Pietá on the base of the sculpture: FACTVM VENETIIS PER BARTOLOMEVM VIVARINVM DE MVRIANO PINXIT 1485.
Provenance1485, painted for the church of St. Andrew, Rab, Croatia; 1876, removed from the church and sold in Venice [see note 1], probably to Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston [see note 2]; 1901, gift of Quincy Adams Shaw to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 9, 1901)
NOTES: [1] The altarpiece was described as in situ by Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg, "Die mittelalterlichen Kunstdenkmale Dalmatiens," Jahrbuch der Kaiserl. Konigl. Central-zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale 4-5 (1860): 156-57. It was removed in 1876 and sold in Venice, according to Ivo Baric, Kulturni Kapital Rapske Bastine (Rab, 2001), pp. 52-53. Vladislav Brusic, Otok Rab (n.p., 1920), pp. 157-58, states that the altarpiece remained at the church until 1876, and erroneously gives its current location as the Accademia, Venice. When it was removed, the altarpiece was replaced by a copy. [2] Shaw first lent the altarpiece to the MFA in 1876.
NOTES: [1] The altarpiece was described as in situ by Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg, "Die mittelalterlichen Kunstdenkmale Dalmatiens," Jahrbuch der Kaiserl. Konigl. Central-zur Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale 4-5 (1860): 156-57. It was removed in 1876 and sold in Venice, according to Ivo Baric, Kulturni Kapital Rapske Bastine (Rab, 2001), pp. 52-53. Vladislav Brusic, Otok Rab (n.p., 1920), pp. 157-58, states that the altarpiece remained at the church until 1876, and erroneously gives its current location as the Accademia, Venice. When it was removed, the altarpiece was replaced by a copy. [2] Shaw first lent the altarpiece to the MFA in 1876.