Lippo di Dalmasio, 'The Madonna of Humility', about 1390
About the work
Overview
Lippo di Dalmasio painted several images of the Virgin of Humility, so-called because she is shown sitting on the ground. Here she sits in a grassy meadow holding the Christ Child on her lap. Mother and child are absorbed in each other, and the infant Christ tugs at her veil as any baby might.
The tender scene of maternal love is raised beyond the purely earthly through the inclusion of the planets. The semi-circle of real gold leaf behind the figures represents the sun; Lippo has scored the soft metal to create its rays. The Virgin’s halo is circled with 12 stars and she has at her feet a silver crescent moon. The inclusion of stars and planets recalls the Woman of the Apocalypse, mentioned in the New Testament as, ‘clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars’ (Revelation 12: 1).
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Madonna of Humility
- Artist
- Lippo di Dalmasio
- Artist dates
- about 1353? - 1410
- Date made
- about 1390
- Medium and support
- egg tempera on canvas
- Dimensions
- 110 × 88.2 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1866
- Inventory number
- NG752
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 21st-century Replica Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400’, London 2011; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2011Devotion by Design: Italian Altarpieces before 1500The National Gallery (London)6 July 2011 - 2 October 2011
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2014The Fortunes of the Primitives: Art Treasures from Italian Collections between the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth CenturiesGalleria dell'Accademia (Florence)24 June 2014 - 8 December 2014
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2022Donatello, the RenaissanceVictoria and Albert Museum11 February 2023 - 11 June 2023
Bibliography
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1816P. Bassani, Guida agli amatori delle belle arti, architettura, pittura, e scultura per la città di Bologna, suoi sobborghi e circondario, Bologna 1816
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1841C.C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice: Vite de' pittori bolognesi del conte Carlo Cesare Malvasia, ed. G.P. Zanotti, Bologna 1841
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1906T. Gerevich, 'Sull'origine del Rinascimento Pittorico in Bologna', Rassegna d'arte, 1906, pp. 177-80
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1923R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
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1935N. Foratti, 'Dalmasio Scannabecchi', in U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig 1935, vol. 29
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1947F. Filippini and G. Zucchini, Miniatori e pittori a Bologna: Documenti dei secoli XIII e XIV, Florence 1947
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1950A. Emiliani, 'Preface to Mostra della pittura bolognese del Trecento', Paragone, V, 1950
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1973R. Longhi, Lavori in Valpadana dal Trecento al primo Cinquecento, Florence 1973
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1979R. Gibbs, 'Two Families of Painters at Bologna in the Later Fourteenth Century', The Burlington Magazine, 1979
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1988Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Italian Schools before 1400, revised edn, London 1988
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1995C. Villers, 'Painting on Canvas in Fourteenth-Century Italy', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, LVIII/3, 1995, pp. 338-58
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2011Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400, London 2011
Frame
This is a twenty-first-century reproduction frame, made in England in the Gothic style. Crafted from jelutong wood, it has a narrow architectural water-gilt moulding.
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.