Girolamo Macchietti, 'The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari', about 1555-60

The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari

Girolamo Macchietti

Not on display

About the work

Overview

Under cover of darkness, Saint Nicholas throws three golden balls through the window of the house of an impoverished nobleman. The saint’s act of charity, providing dowries for the daughters so they could marry, saved them from being sold into prostitution. Saint Nicholas’s feast day is celebrated on 5 December and the story gradually evolved into the Christmas tradition of Santa Claus.

The shape and sturdy structure of the panel suggest that the picture may have been set into a piece of furniture or incorporated into the panelled walls of a bedchamber. Such decorative schemes were often commissioned at the time of a marriage. As well as the scene of sleeping, the moral of this tale was also appropriate to a bedchamber – by the saint’s charity, the noble lineage of the family was protected.

In-depth

Under cover of darkness, Saint Nicholas throws three golden balls through the window of the house of an impoverished nobleman. The nobleman and his three adult daughters are all sleeping, although none of them are in bed. The softly gleaming moonlight contrasts with the artificial lamplight of the interior which highlights the shimmer on the daughters‘ gowns.

The Golden Legend, a thirteenth-century compilation of the lives of saints, tells how the fourth-century Saint Nicholas gave three purses of gold to the family to provide the daughters with dowries so they could get married. It was the custom, as it still is in many communities around the world, for the bride’s family to give money to the groom’s family when the marriage was arranged. Golden balls were often used by artists to represent the purses of the gold mentioned in the saint’s legend.

According to the story, the nobleman had been faced with the prospect of selling his girls into prostitution, as he had no money to look after them himself or to arrange marriages for them. The saint’s act of charity saved them from this fate. The resurrected Christ with a chalice and the crucified Christ are included in the decorations of the room to emphasise that charity is a Christian virtue, as well as the fact that the family are worthy recipients as they are good Christians. Saint Nicholas’s feast day is celebrated on 5 December, and the story gradually evolved into the Christmas tradition of Santa Claus.

The removal of Saint Nicholas’s relics from Myra in Asia Minor to Bari in Italy in the 11th century explains his popularity in Renaissance Italy. This scene depicting his charity was often found in cycles devoted to his life, either frescoed on the walls of chapels or included in the predella scenes of altarpieces. Here the episode is treated as an independent subject on a larger scale, which is perhaps unprecedented. The shape and sturdy structure of the panel suggest that the picture may have been a spalliera, a decorative painting set into a piece of furniture or incorporated into the panelled walls of a camera, a room that functioned as a bedchamber and reception room. Such decorative schemes were often commissioned at the time of a marriage, as for example the decorations for the Borgherini Bedchamber.

The subject matter here is well suited to such a purpose, since the picture both includes a bedchamber (rather better furnished in contemporary Florentine Mannerist taste than the nobleman’s impoverished circumstances might suggest) and evokes the theme of sleep, in an inventive variety of poses. The moral of the tale was also appropriate – by the saint’s charity, the girls were able to marry and the noble lineage of the family was protected. The sewing basket beside them alludes to the girls’ domestic skills and suitability as wives.

Although in the past the painting has been attributed to several Florentine Mannerist painters, the smooth sculptural quality of the figures, gracefully elongated through their draperies, and the cangiante colours of their costumes (of two colours like shot silk), appear closest to Girolamo Macchietti’s youthful works, probably following his return to Florence from Rome in 1563. It is possible that the sophisticated light effects and many of the motifs are influenced by the Roman works of Parmigianino and Raphael, culled mainly from engravings. Macchietti’s picture probably influenced a signed painting by Stradanus of the same subject, dated 1585 (Casa Vasari, Arezzo).

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari
Artist: Girolamo Macchietti
Artist dates: 1535 - 1592
Date made: about 1555-60
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 75 × 112 cm
Acquisition credit: Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the National Gallery, 2007
Inventory number: NG6606
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 20th-century Replica Frame

Provenance

Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino (1775–1840), by 1814; his sale, Buchanan, London, 6 February 1815 ff., lot 194, as Lelio Orsi da Novellera, Miracle of the Golden Apple (unsold); re-offered, Bonaparte sale, Stanley, London, 14–16 May 1816, lot 153; re-offered Bonaparte sale, Paris, 25 December 1823–15 January 1824, lot 7; anon sale, St James’s Gallery, London, 28 May 1834, lot 36; William Graham, MP (1807–1885), Grosvenor Place, London; his posthumous sale, Christie’s, London, 2–3 and 8–10 April 1886, lot 439, as Agnolo Bronzino, Legend of Saint Nicholas (bought in by Agnew, acting on behalf of Agnes, Lady Jekyll, daughter of the preceding); thence by descent.

Additional information

Text extracted from the National Gallery’s Annual Report, ‘The National Gallery: Review of the Year, April 2007 – March 2008’.

Exhibition history

2017

The Cinquecento in Florence. From Michelangelo and Pontormo to Giambologna

Palazzo Strozzi

22 September 2017 - 21 January 2018

Bibliography

1815

Buchanan, Catalogue of the Splendid Collection of Pictures Belonging to Prince Lucien Bonaparte: Which will be Exhibited for Sale by Private Contract on Monday the Sixth Day of February, 1815, and Following Days, at the New Gallery, London, 6 February 1815
1816

Mr Stanley, A Catalogue of the Magnificent Gallery of Paintings, the Property of Lucien Bonaparte Prince of Canino: Which will be Sold by Auction, by Mr. Stanley… on the 14th of May, 1816, and the Following Days, London, 14 May 1816
1822

Collection de gravures choisies d'après les peintures et sculptures de la galerie de Lucien Bonaparte, Prince de Canino, Rome 1822
1824

W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England Since the French Revolution, London 1824
1886

Christie's, Catalogue of the Important Collection of Pictures in Oil, and Drawings in Water Colours, Formed by that Well-Known Amateur William Graham, Esq. … on Friday, April 2, 1886, and Following Days, London, 2 April 1886
1967

W. Sumowski, Handzeichnungen alter Meister aus schweizer Privatbesitz (exh. cat. Kunsthalle Bremen, 16 April - 21 May 1967; Kunsthaus, 21 October - 16 December 1967), Bremen 1967
1973

F.R. Shapley, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, vol. 3, Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century, London 1973
1995

M. Natoli, Luciano Bonaparte: Le sue collezioni d'arte, le sue residenze a Roma, nel Lazio, in Italia (1804-1840), Rome 1995
1997

B. Edelein-Badie, La collection de tableaux de Lucien Bonaparte, prince de Canino, Paris 1997
2000

O. Garnett, 'The Letters and Collection of William Graham: Pre-Raphaelite Patron and Pre-Raphael Collector', The Walpole Society, LXII, 2000, pp. 145-343
2006

'Carlo Portelli: The Charity of Saint Nicholas of Bari', in Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, Acceptance in Lieu: Report, London 2006, pp. 21-2
2007

National Gallery, 'Acquisitions', National Gallery. Review of the year: April 2007-March 2008, 2008, pp. 10-1
2008

National Gallery, The National Gallery: Review of the Year, April 2007 - March 2008, London 2008

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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