Advanced Search 
Eight Scenes from the Life of Christ
Italian (Roman or Umbrian)
1280s
Medium/Technique
Tempera and gold on panel
Dimensions
55.3 × 79 cm (21 3/4 × 31 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Charles Potter Kling Fund
Accession Number2021.331
ClassificationsPaintings
Set against a gold background with rocky outcrops and spindly architecture, figures in bold poses push the narrative forward from left to right. Identifying inscriptions in red accompany the scenes, beginning with the Annunciation in the upper left, when the Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will bear a son. Important chapters from the life of Jesus, however, are missing. In fact, this panel is a fragment of a dossal—a painting displayed behind an altar—that would have included eight more compartments on the right and likely a large Virgin and Child in the middle. The MFA’s collection of Italian painting is one of the strongest in North America. With the acquisition of this panel in 2021, we finally have the chronological starting point for five centuries of artistic achievement. This picture dates to the late 13th century and represents the generation before the Proto-Renaissance masters Giotto and Duccio. Works from this period are rarely on the market.
Inscriptionsabove the Angel of the Annunciation and the Virgin: 'AVE [M]ARIA GRI. / PLENE ONE / TE CUM'
upper center, to the left of the seated Joseph figure: 'NATIVI / TAS TONI MR' and 'JOSEP'
upper left, above the leftmost figure in the scene: 'ONI NP' and 'JOSEP'
upper center: 'BATINUN [...] IUM IOI OAN'
upper center: 'CENA [...] MAI'
on the rock between Christ and his disciples: 'NO POTESTIS / UNA ORA VIGILARE / ME CU'
upper center, to the left of the seated Joseph figure: 'NATIVI / TAS TONI MR' and 'JOSEP'
upper left, above the leftmost figure in the scene: 'ONI NP' and 'JOSEP'
upper center: 'BATINUN [...] IUM IOI OAN'
upper center: 'CENA [...] MAI'
on the rock between Christ and his disciples: 'NO POTESTIS / UNA ORA VIGILARE / ME CU'
ProvenanceSaid to come from a private collection, Siena [see note 1]. About 1880s, possibly acquired in Italy by Charles Fairfax Murray (b. 1848 – d. 1919), Florence and London; about 1885/1886, possibly sold by Murray to Charles Butler (b. 1815 – d. 1911), Warren Wood and London [see note 2]; by inheritance from Butler to his son; 1922, sold by Butler’s son to Robert Langton Douglas (dealer; b. 1864 – d. 1951), London [see note 3]; 1923, sold by Douglas to Adolphe Stoclet (b. 1871 – d. 1949), Brussels; by inheritance to his daughter, Raymonde Feron-Stoclet (b. 1897 – d. 1963), Brussels [see note 4]; until at least 1998, her son, Denis Lucien Emile Feron (b. 1928 – d. 2015), Beerse, Belgium. July 2002, sold by Artemide S.A., Lugano, Switzerland, to Álvaro Saieh and Ana Guzmán (“The Alana Collection”), Newark, DE; April 22, 2021, sale (consigned by the Alana Collection), Christie’s, New York, lot 8, to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 16, 2021)
NOTES: [1] Edward B. Garrison, Italian Romanesque Panel Painting (Florence, 1949), p. 146, cat. no. 382. [2] That Charles Fairfax Murray owned the painting is according to Garrison 1949 (as above, note 1). Fairfax Murray was a dealer and agent who acquired paintings in Italy for his English clients, including Charles Butler. He sold a number of paintings to Butler in 1885 and 1886, and it is possible that this painting was sold at around that time as well. [3] According to information provided verbally by Robert Langton Douglas to the Frick Art Reference Library in 1923. [4] Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Collection Adolphe Stoclet (Brussels, 1956), pp. 15-21. On the date of acquisition, see Garrison 1949 (as above, note 1).
NOTES: [1] Edward B. Garrison, Italian Romanesque Panel Painting (Florence, 1949), p. 146, cat. no. 382. [2] That Charles Fairfax Murray owned the painting is according to Garrison 1949 (as above, note 1). Fairfax Murray was a dealer and agent who acquired paintings in Italy for his English clients, including Charles Butler. He sold a number of paintings to Butler in 1885 and 1886, and it is possible that this painting was sold at around that time as well. [3] According to information provided verbally by Robert Langton Douglas to the Frick Art Reference Library in 1923. [4] Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Collection Adolphe Stoclet (Brussels, 1956), pp. 15-21. On the date of acquisition, see Garrison 1949 (as above, note 1).