Catalogue entry
Ambrogio Lorenzetti active 1319; died probably 1348
NG 1147
A Group of Four Poor Clares
, 2011
Extracted from:
Dillian Gordon, The Italian Paintings Before 1400 (London: National Gallery Company and Yale University Press, 2011).
© The National Gallery, London
c. 1336–40(?)
Fresco (with areas of secco), 70.4 × 63.4 cm
The four nuns, dressed in the habit of the Poor Clares, were originally part of a larger group: the black habit of an unseen nun partly conceals the face of the outermost figure on the left. The central nun, seen in profile, is folding her arms across her breast.
Technical Notes
Fresco structure and condition
The fresco fragment is set in hard grey plaster on a support of bamboo lashed together with string and set in plaster, which also makes up the missing parts at the corners and edges. Overall size, including wooden containing frame, 70.4 × 63.4 × 7.0 cm; internal dimensions 65.4 × 58.2 cm; painted surface c. 63.0 × 51.0 cm. The impression of a circular shape is false.
The overall condition of the fragment is poor, with numerous cracks. The intonaco is noticeably coarser than that used for NG 3071 and 3072 (see p. 299), which are thought to have come from the same location (see Provenance).
Painting condition and technique
The condition of the flesh paint is reasonable, and in the case of the central figure fairly good, although much of the paint of her right hand across her breast has gone. Some of the black pigment of the nuns’ cloaks has flaked, as has the white of their veils and wimples. The pale black of the head of the top right‐hand nun seems to have been painted on a different giornata (that is, on a different day of work) from the rest of the figure. The brown of the nuns’ habits has been lost almost completely – although some brown remains on the habit of the nun at the extreme right – revealing the red‐brown sinopia of the underdrawing. The same red‐brown has been used to outline the features and the edges of the black cloaks.
Original Context and Location
The fragment is supposed to have come from San Francesco, Siena (see Provenance), and Martin Davies suggested that it might be identifiable with frescoes of an unspecified subject described by Gaetano Milanesi as having been in a room that was originally part of the Chapter House.1 The original context of this group of Clare nuns is not certain. The most likely suggestion is that made by Dieter Blume, namely that the fresco was part of a scene showing Saint Francis handing the Rule to the Franciscans and the Clares, like that in the Chapter House of San Lorenzo, Naples (fig. 1).2
[page 285] [page 286]
Neapolitan painter, Saint Francis handing the Rule to the Franciscans and the Clares, c. 1340. Fresco. Naples, San Lorenzo, Chapter House. NAPLES San Lorenzo, Chapter House
Also in the Chapter House of San Francesco were the Crucifixion (see fig. 1, p. 302), standard for chapter house decoration,3 and a Resurrected Christ (see fig. 2, p. 302), both by Pietro Lorenzetti, and Pope Boniface VIII receiving Saint Louis of Toulouse as a Novice (?) and the Martyrdom of the Franciscans by Ambrogio (see figs 3 and 4, p. 303).4
Blume suggested that missing might be the Stigmatisation, and indeed Maureen Burke has pointed out that Saint Bernardino, in one of his sermons on the stigmatisation of Saint Francis, referred to a painting of the saint located in the Chapter House, presumably that of San Francesco in Siena.5
Attribution and Date
Despite the poor condition, the attribution to Ambrogio Lorenzetti has never been doubted. For comment on the date see under NG 3071 and 3072.
Provenance
The Chapter House frescoes in San Francesco, Siena, were discovered under whitewash shortly before 1855.6 It seems that NG 1147 was then removed by the maestro di casa to his own room, where it remained apparently unrecorded. Purchased from him through Charles Fairfax Murray and Cav. P. Lombardi of Siena, 1878.
Notes
1. Described by Milanesi in the Monitore Toscano, 27 January 1855 (Appendice Artistica), pp. 2–3; reprinted in 1873, pp. 360–1: ‘Qualche altro avanzo di pittura si vede ancora nella parete a sinistra di una seconda stanza, che in antico era parte dello stesso Capitolo.’ See Davies 1951, p. 233; Davies 1961, p. 299; also Sinibaldi 1933, pp. 197–8. (Back to text.)
2. Blume 1989, p. 170, note 66. Less likely is the suggestion that the subject could have been the Body of Saint Francis halted at San Damiano and mourned by Saint Clare and her Companions (Davies 1951, p. 233;Davies 1961, p. 299). (Back to text.)
3. See note 45 on p. 51 of this catalogue. (Back to text.)
4. Collaboration between the two Lorenzetti brothers on a fresco cycle is documented in the now lost façade frescoes of Santa Maria della Scala, Siena, in 1335. See pp. 388–9. (Back to text.)
5. Burke 2002, pp. 462–4, although Burke uses this to give credence to the identification of the fragment as coming from the Body of Saint Francis halted at San Damiano and mourned by Saint Clare and her Companions (see note 2 above). (Back to text.)
6. See note 1 above. (Back to text.)
List of references cited
- Blume 1989
- Blume, Dieter, ‘Ordenskonkurrenz und Bildpolitik: franziskanische Programme nach dem theoretischen Armutsstreit’, in Malerei und Stadtkultur in der Dantezeit. Die Argumentation der Bilder, eds H. Belting and D. Blume, Munich 1989
- Burke 2002
- Burke, S. Maureen, ‘The Martyrdom of the Franciscans by Ambrogio Lorenzetti’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 2002, 65, 460–92
- Davies 1951
- Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
- Davies 1961
- Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd revised edn, London 1961 (1st edn, London 1951)
- Milanesi 1855
- Milanesi, Gaetano, in Monitore Toscano, 27 January 1855, Appendice Artistica, 2–3
- Milanesi 1873
- Milanesi, Gaetano, Sulla Storia dell’Arte Toscana, Scritti Varij, Siena 1873
- Padfield et al. 2002
- Padfield, J., D. Saunders, J. Cupitt and R. Atkinson, ‘Improvements in the Acquisition and Processing of X‐ray Images of Paintings’, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 2002, 23, 62–75
- Saunders et al. 2006
- Saunders, David, Rachel Billinge, John Cupitt, Nick Atkinson and Haida Liang, ‘A New Camera for High‐Resolution Infrared Imaging of Works of Art’, Studies in Conservation, 2006, 51, 277–90
- Sinibaldi 1933
- Sinibaldi, Giulia, I Lorenzetti, Siena 1933
- Skaug 1994
- Skaug, Erling, Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico, Oslo 1994, 1 and 2
List of exhibitions cited
- London 1989–90
- London, National Gallery, Art in the Making. Italian Painting before 1400, 29 November 1989–28 February 1990
The Organisation and Method of the Catalogue
Sequence
The artists are listed in alphabetical order. Paintings are catalogued in chronological order under the artist’s name. Some artists are identified only as the master of a particular work, such as the Master of the Borgo Crucifix; others are known only through their association with a particular area, such as Pisa, Venice or Umbria.
Attribution
A painting is discussed under the artist’s name where the authorship is not considered to be in doubt. ‘Attributed to’ implies a certain measure of doubt.
Dimensions
Dimensions are given in centimetres; height is preceded by width.
Technical information and method
The paintings listed here, except Segna di Buonaventura’s Crucifix (NG 567), Spinello Aretino’s fresco (NG 1216.1) and Jacopo di Cione’s Crucifixion (NG 1468), have been re‐examined for this catalogue in the conservation studios. The paintings have been remeasured and examined with X‐radiography and infrared reflectography wherever possible.
The X‐radiographs were made using conventional X‐ray sensitive film sheets (30 × 40 cm, Kodak Industrex AA400), which have been scanned to produce 16‐bit mono TIFF digital images and finally assembled using software to produce a mosaic.1 A complete survey of the paintings in infrared was made using a Hamamatsu C2400 vidicon system, equipped with a N2606‐06 vidicon tube, which is sensitive between 500 and 2200 nm (radiation shorter than 900 nm was excluded using a Kodak 87A filter). Where features of interest were identified these were then recorded subsequently, when it became available, with SIRIS or OSIRIS, the Gallery’s digital infrared imaging systems, equipped with InGaAs detectors sensitive between 900 and 1700 nm.2 The paintings were examined with a Wild M650 stereo‐binocular operating microscope at magnifications between 6× and 40×. Photomicrographs were taken using a Zeiss Axiocam HrC mounted on the Wild microscope.
Occasionally references are made to X‐radiographs and infrared images which are not illustrated; this is because once these images are reduced to page size the information they contain is often no longer decipherable.
Technique and condition are discussed together since the condition of a painting is often, among other factors, the result of the techniques employed in its making.
Support
Descriptions of construction and carpentry are based on direct physical examination, infrared images and X‐radiographs. The support is assumed to be poplar unless otherwise stated. Where the wood has been identified positively, this is noted.
Medium
The medium of the paint is assumed to be egg tempera unless otherwise stated. For some of the works, analysis of the binding medium in paint samples has been carried out using Fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), usually during earlier examinations or in conjunction with conservation treatment. The results are described in the individual catalogue entries and, where published, the reference is given. Some further analysis of samples from a few of the paintings has been carried out specifically for this catalogue.
Gilding and tooling
Information on gilding is presented before that on painting, in keeping with the order of execution. Mordant gilding and silvering are included in the discussion on gilding, despite being applied in the later stages, so that all the techniques of metal leaf decoration could be discussed together. The individual punches are described, but the reader is also referred to Erling Skaug’s catalogue published in 1994. The particular gilding technique used by the artists has generally been identified from examination of the surface of the painting with a stereomicroscope. In some cases samples were available from previous examinations and were re‐examined, or occasionally a new sample was taken, particularly where analysis of the metal leaf or investigation of the composition of a mordant was of interest. Where metal leaf has been identified, this has been confirmed with energy dispersive X‐ray analysis in the scanning electron microscope (SEM‐EDX).
Punch mark illustrations
Unfortunately, when printed, some photomicrographs that show depressions in a paint surface appear to the reader reversed. This is particularly disturbing with some images of punch marks in gilding which may seem to show raised pastiglia. This phenomenon is a result of the way the human brain interprets visual signals; expecting a pattern of shadows and highlights to have been caused by raised areas (which would be more usual in normal life), this is the message sent to the reader by the brain.
[page xxiii]Pigments
Descriptions of the pigments for many of the paintings were available from earlier research carried out during the preparation for the 1989 exhibition Art in the Making: Italian Painting before 1400. Information also existed from studies of new acquisitions or from analysis carried out in support of conservation treatment. The paint samples that existed from earlier examinations were re‐examined with optical microscopy, SEM‐EDX and occasionally Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopy. A limited number of new samples were taken to address specific questions that arose during the research for the catalogue. The surface of the paintings was examined under a stereomicroscope wherever possible at magnifications of up to 40×. At this magnification many pigments can be identified with a reasonable degree of reliability, and these examinations greatly extended the information on pigments and pigment mixtures in areas of the paintings that were not sampled, and enabled the observations from samples to be correlated with the appearance of the painting itself.
Comments
As full an account as possible is given with regard to authorship, companion panels – particularly relevant for altar pieces – subject matter, iconography, original location, date, patronage and so on. The compiler has tried to make this information accessible to the lay reader as well as to the art historian. Inevitably there is a certain amount of speculation, but it is made clear where an argument is hypothetical. For ease of reference the comments are given subheadings, but their sequence varies according to the requirements of the argument.
Notes and references
1. X‐radiography and the associated scanning of the plates and processing were carried
out by the photographic departments of the National Gallery. For a full description
of the process see J. Padfield, D. Saunders, J. Cupitt and R. Atkinson, ‘Improvements in the
Acquisition and Processing
acquisition and processing
of X‐ray images of paintings’, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 23, 2002, pp. 62–75. (Back to text.)
2. For more details on SIRIS see D. Saunders, R. Billinge, J. Cupitt, N. Atkinson and H. Liang, ‘A new camera for high‐resolution infrared imaging of works of art’, Studies in Conservation, 51, 2006, pp. 277–90. (Back to text.)
About this version
Version 3, generated from files DG_2011__16.xml dated 06/03/2025 and database__16.xml dated 09/03/2025 using stylesheet 16_teiToHtml_externalDb.xsl dated 03/01/2025. Entries for NG564, NG566, NG579.6-NG579.8, NG752, NG1139-NG1140 & NG1330, NG1147, NG1468, NG2927, NG3897, NG5360, NG6572-NG6573 and NG6599 marked for publication; citations for NG6583 altered to include update date.
Cite this entry
- Permalink (this version)
- https://data.ng.ac.uk/0E96-000B-0000-0000
- Permalink (latest version)
- https://data.ng.ac.uk/0E6M-000B-0000-0000
- Chicago style
- Gordon, Dillian. “NG 1147, A Group of Four Poor Clares”. 2011, online version 3, March 9, 2025. https://data.ng.ac.uk/0E96-000B-0000-0000.
- Harvard style
- Gordon, Dillian (2011) NG 1147, A Group of Four Poor Clares. Online version 3, London: National Gallery, 2025. Available at: https://data.ng.ac.uk/0E96-000B-0000-0000 (Accessed: 29 March 2025).
- MHRA style
- Gordon, Dillian, NG 1147, A Group of Four Poor Clares (National Gallery, 2011; online version 3, 2025) <https://data.ng.ac.uk/0E96-000B-0000-0000> [accessed: 29 March 2025]