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Category Archives: Object of the Month.2025

Object of the Month: June 2025

St. Anthony of Padua

Oil on Canvas, 1658

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino

Cento, 1591–1666

Long before social media, opinions were influential. And, in art history, opinions have affected perspectives toward artists and their work for entire generations. One example of this is the brilliant philosopher of the Victorian era, John Ruskin, who was an art critic that championed JMW Turner, Britain’s greatest landscape painter. Ruskin preferred and praised the contemporary artists of his day such as Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites, the art prior to Raphael, and the Gothic style.

In contrast, Ruskin’s opinion about the Italian Baroque period can essentially be summed up by his reaction to one painting in the Brera Gallery in Milan by Guercino, “partly despicable, partly disgusting, partly ridiculous” (Ruskin, p.203). He classified many of the great seventeenth-century painters within what he labeled “the School of Errors and Vices” (Ruskin, pp.144-45). Such strong views influenced the collecting habits of collectors and museums in Europe and America for several decades. Consequently, Baroque artists are still recovering from the stigma; their names are not as well-known as the Renaissance masters even though their skill is of equal quality.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino was one of the most important and talented painters of the Italian Baroque period. He hails from the region of Emilia-Romagna, born in the small town of Cento, which is close in proximity to the artistic centers in Ferrara and Bologna. He was largely self-taught (influenced by works of Ludovico Carracci and Caravaggio), although he studied with local artists Paolo Zagnani and Benedetto Gennari.

Guercino’s nickname means squint-eyed or cross-eyed possibly due to an eye condition, yet this disability didn’t seem to affect his work. Ludovico Carracci praised him in Bologna, and his “genius was recognized by the Bolognese canon Padre Antonio Mirandola, who became his earliest protector and obtained the artist’s first Bolognese commission in 1613” which established his career. “He was then patronized by the papal legate to Ferrara, Cardinal Jacopo Serra,” Duke of Mantua Ferdinando Gonzaga, and the Bolognese cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, who later become Pope Gregory XV— summoning Guercino to Rome in 1621 (de Grazia, p.157).

Guercino study of St. Anthony of Padua from Glasgow Museums

Following the pope’s death in 1623, Guercino returned home to Cento to work, painting a wide range of subjects and drawing countless distinctive studies in red chalk and ink. As an artist, he was truly inventive, a real creative. He would put his ideas to paper very quickly and spontaneously—something his biographer Malvasia described as guizzanti, meaning “dart with a flick of a tail, as fishes” (Brooks, p.12).

Among other requests, he was asked to become official painter to the courts of England (1626) and France (1629 and 1639). After the death of his archrival Guido Reni in 1642 he moved his studio to Bologna. By the 1650s, his European patronage had tapered to more local commissions, which is when M&G’s painting was made.

St. Anthony of Padua features the thirteenth-century Doctor of the Church, who was born in Lisbon. He joined the Franciscan Order (represented by the dark brown robe and tonsure haircut) and became a close friend and follower of Francis of Assisi. He had a vast knowledge of scripture and was a gifted preacher, serving in France and Italy including Bologna and Padua, where he died. After his death, he was made the patron saint of Padua.

In art, Anthony is depicted in various scenes describing events from his life. M&G’s subject is the vision of the Virgin and infant Christ—a common theme during the Counter Reformation. The vision came while Anthony was in his room, and he is portrayed with a book (which identifies his learning), lilies (representing his purity), and a crucifix (in the shadows above the lilies).

At the time of acquisition in 1973, M&G’s founder knew that this painting was referenced in the artist’s account books—it was one of two St. Anthony altarpieces recorded. The great Guercino and Baroque specialist, Sir Denis Mahon wrote Dr. Bob, “I have no doubt whatsoever from studying the painting itself that it is an authentic late work by Guercino…. It was the lower half of a picture which had been very much bigger…. It follows that the picture is likely to have originally been a full-size altarpiece” (M&G files).

In the 1990s, Richard Townsend found that of the two St. Anthony altarpieces referenced in Guercino’s account books, one was still in Verona and the other cut in two and sold. This work remained a mystery, until recent years when Italian art historian Enrico Ghetti pieced together the history based on the confusing details in Guercino’s Book of Accounts and Malvasia’s biography. M&G’s painting was once called the Madonna and Child with Saint Anthony of Padua and paid for in 1658 by Pier Luigi Peccana (from Verona) most likely on behalf of the Marquis Gaspare Gherardini. The altarpiece used to hang in the Chapel of Saint Antony at the Capuchin church of Verona.

Ghetti Reconstruction

Ghetti suggested the painting, Madonna with Child, which was formerly in the Sgarbi collection in Italy is most likely the upper portion of our work; he has proposed a reconstruction of the dismembered altarpiece as seen here.

M&G’s painting reveals some of the standard matters art historians encounter regularly: the influence of art critics like John Ruskin, the connoisseurship of art specialists like Sir Denis Mahon, dismembered altarpieces, and confusing primary records for art scholars like Enrico Ghetti to ferret out. More importantly, this interesting work represents one of the most notable and innovative Italian painters of the seventeenth century.

 

 

 

Erin R. Jones, Executive Director

 

Bibliography

Brooks, Julian. “Characterizing Guercino’s Draftsmanship.” Guercino: Mind to Paper. Getty Publications: Los Angeles, 2006.

De Grazia, Diane. “Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Called Il Guercino.” Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington: New York, 1996.

Ghetti, Enrico. 2020. “La ricostruzione di una pala del Guercino: la Madonna col Bambino e sant’Antonio d Padova per i Cappuccini di Verona,” Storia dell’ Arte 153, Nuova Serie 1.

Ruskin, John. Modern Painters (vol. ii), ed. Edward T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. George Allen: London, 1903.

Ruskin, John. Ruskin in Italy: Letters to His Parents, 1845, ed Harold I. Shapiro. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1972.

 

Published 2025

Object of the Month: May 2025

Macbeth Encounters the Three Witches from Macbeth

Oil on Canvas, signed lower left

Edward Train

English, 1801-1866

During the Victorian era landscape painting became a major branch of English art, and a burgeoning preference for the genre can be seen in the Royal Academy’s mid-century exhibitions. This popularity was due in part to the wide-ranging approach of English artists to the genre. In J.M.W. Turner’s romantic imagery, John Constable’s naturalistic scenes, and William Holman Hunt’s meticulously rendered flora and fauna, Victorians perceived anew the beauty, grandeur, and stunning diversity of the natural world. Through these artists, viewers also discerned that a landscape may be far more than an appealing backdrop.

In this work inspired by Act 1, scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the landscape carries the storytelling power of the scene. The chiaroscuro, colors, swirling lines, and frenetic brushwork all “speak.” In a very real sense, Train’s landscape functions as a personified antagonist in his visual narrative.

Macbeth and Banquo, two victorious warriors, arrive upon a wind-swept heath “at set of sun.” There, three witches give them seemingly encouraging news: Macbeth is informed that he will not only become Thane of Cawdor but also “king hereafter.” Likewise, Banquo is told that his progeny will one day rule. Both men are initially suspicious of the hags’ prophecies—until an entourage arrives to confirm that King Duncan has indeed named Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. With this news Macbeth begins to toy with not only embracing but also hastening the witches’ prophecies.

Banquo warns his friend:
. . .Oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ’s
In deepest consequence.
Act 1, scene 3, ll. 124-128

However, the “fair tidings” have already set alight Macbeth’s ambition, kindling the “horrible imaginings” that foreshadow his descent into psychological and spiritual darkness. Before days end, Macbeth (goaded by his equally ambitious wife) will murder the rightful king.

Notice how Train uses atmospheric perspective to create a foreboding sky. His loose brushwork and subtle color blending create an illusion that the lowering storm clouds hovering over the witches are fast moving toward the blood red sun. Soon, what remains of the light will be “put out,” leaving the characters in darkness. The jagged terrain further accentuates Macbeth’s and Banquo’s precarious position. The implied diagonal line connecting these warriors to the witches further heightens the suspense. Notice that the witches on the left look down on Macbeth and Banquo who are “center stage.” This slightly elevated positioning insinuates their psychic dominance. In addition, the shadowy entourage approaching in the distance foreshadows that the witches’ first prophecy will soon be fulfilled, setting in motion the “horrible imaginings” spawned by Macbeth’s musings.

Although scholars continue to debate whether Shakespeare was a Christian, most agree that the “worlds” he creates reflect a clear understanding of the moral law and the human condition. In Shakespeare’s dramas a disregard for the divine order results not only in human suffering (turbulence among men) but also in upheaval in the natural world (tempestuousness in nature). It is not by chance, therefore, that Macbeth’s temptation takes place upon a storm-tossed heath. Nor is it surprising that following the murder of King Duncan raging storms spread across the land, daylight is entombed in darkness, and Duncan’s “beauteous and swift horses have turned wild, broken their stalls, and devoured one another.”

Shakespearean scholar David Bevington says that “Macbeth is in some ways Shakespeare’s most unsettling tragedy, because it invites the intense examination of the heart of a man who is well-intentioned in most ways but who discovers that he cannot resist the temptation to achieve power at any cost.”

One final intriguing detail is the existence of a similar work by Train titled Landscape with Three Mythological Women Stopping the Roman’s Army’s Advance. This work is dated in 1865 a year before the artist’s death. Although the painting has the same setting as M&G’s Macbeth, it is from a different vantage point. Perhaps Train was exploring how vantage point might alter mood. In any case, the 1865 landscape is less poignant and evocative in its narrative power.

 

Donnalynn Hess, Director of Education and Bella Vita Sanders, Research Intern

 

Bibliography

The Complete Works of Shakespeare, David Bevington

Victorian Painting, Christopher Wood

 

 

Published in 2025

Object of the Month: April 2025

Descent from the Cross

Polychrome and giltwood, c. 1570

Unknown Spanish, 16th century

Renaissance artists employed various media and techniques to communicate their subject matter with power and beauty. This mid- to late-16th-century giltwood and polychrome relief by an unnamed artist (likely Spanish) demonstrates both artistic mastery and devotional power. It was once part of a larger altarpiece yet communicates clearly on its own.

A relief sculpture is normally attached to a background of the same material, and the degree of projection from that surface determines the terms used. Low relief, or bas-relief, project only a little. High relief denotes significant freedom from the background and can look like the figures are about to burst free from their surrounds. Finally, in sunken relief (or intaglio), subjects are carved below the level of their surroundings.

Gilding, the decorative technique of applying a thin layer of gold on a solid surface, dates back to Egypt. Herodotus mentions the Egyptians’ skill in gilding wood and metal, and many examples of their work remain to this day. The Sumerians (with objects dating back to 2600-2400 B.C.), Ancient Chinese, Old Testament Israelites, Ancient Greeks and Romans also utilized very thin sheets of hammered gold to overlay important objects of wood, stone and metal.

To produce fine furniture or sculpture, artists first carved plain woods like pine, beech or limewood. They then

added numerous layers of gesso (a type of plaster made by mixing fine chalk or gypsum with animal glue and water). Initial applications of the gesso filled imperfections in the wood, and subsequent layers built up a smooth surface that could be carved with greater detail than wood and rendered a top layer that could be gilt, painted, or otherwise decorated. The depth and crispness of this final surface indicates the craftsman’s skill.

The quality of M&G’s relief sculpture shows gilding expertise, but its polychromy adds to its power.  Polychrome (literally, “many colored”)—pigmented wood, stone or terracotta—also dates to Egypt and the process refined over time. Over the millennia artists employed a wide range of pigments, painting media, and surface applications to embellish their work, and specialization occurred.

In Spain, the production of religious sculptures was governed by designated guilds. The Guild of Carpenters carved the wood and gesso, and the Guild of Painters was responsible for all decoration. Specific terminology came to describe specific skills. After the pieces were carved, painters used flesh tones for hands, faces, and feet (a process called Encarnacion). Estofado, which means “quilted silk,” was the skill of simulating rich fabrics through the layering of gold or silver leaf.

M&G’s sculpture demonstrates mastery of all these skills in an emotionally intense representation of Jesus’ followers lowering Him from the cross. Christ is the central figure—emphasized both by His placement on a diagonal in the center and by the fact that He is the only figure painted entirely in flesh tones. Around Him gather His mother, Mary (on the right), Mary Magdalene (immediate left, her hair cascading over her shoulder), Mary’s sister, and Mary the wife of Clopas. Behind Jesus, the Apostle John (at Christ’s right shoulder) and Nicodemus (left shoulder) bear the weight of His body. To the far right, two men pry open a sarcophagus.  On the far left, stands Joseph of Arimathea, who had asked Pilate for Jesus’ body and donated both his new grave and linen to wrap Christ’s body. His headwear denotes Joseph’s status as a member of the Sanhedrin, and the striped pattern etched on its gilding matches that on the long swath of linen he is showing to the two women beside him. Taut carving of the trees, leaves, and clothing bring the scene to life and gilt patterns play across the various fabrics, the tomb, and the background plants and clouds. All of these techniques coalesce to convey the grief and dedication of Christ’s followers.

At the devotional center, as in history, is Jesus Christ—His redemptive work done, His burial imminent, and His victory over death yet to come.

 

Dr. Stephen B. Jones, M&G Volunteer

 

Bibliography

Metmuseum.org

Nationalgallery.org.uk

Hall’s Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, James Hall

Understanding Paintings: Themes in Art Explored and Explained, Alexander Sturgis and Hollis Clayson

 

 

Published 2025

Object of the Month: March 2025

Hebrew Scroll of the Book of Esther

Gazelle skin and wood

Hebrew Scroll of the Book of Ruth

Parchment on olive wood with ivory crown

The Jewish Bible, known as the Tanakh, is divided into three parts: the Law (Torah), the Prophets, and the Writings. The Writings are also in three divisions: poetry, history, and the Megillot. Synagogue worship during the five annual Jewish holidays often include reading of one of the five, short Megillot scrolls. M&G’s collection of antiquities includes two Megillot scrolls: Esther and Ruth. They are the only biblical books named for females, and both tell dramatic narratives of their heroines.

Esther

Esther, a young Jewish woman, becomes the queen of Persia when King Xerxes (or Ahasuerus) chooses her as his bride. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin and guardian, has offended the king’s chief advisor, Haman, by not bowing to him. This public insult provokes Haman to plot the annihilation of the Jewish people in Persia. When Mordecai learns of Haman’s plan, he urges Esther to use her position to save her people.

Initially Esther is reluctant. By decree, anyone entering the king’s presence without being summoned is to be put to death. Her approaching Xerxes could be fatal. Eventually she is persuaded as Mordecai says: “Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

After three days of prayer and fasting, Esther approaches the King. He extends his golden scepter to her, sparing her life, and tells her that her petition will be granted. She invites the King and Haman to a series of banquets. At the second banquet the king repeats his offer to grant Esther’s petition. She reveals that she is a Jew and tells of Haman’s plan to kill all the Jews in Persia. The enraged king orders Haman’s execution, and it is carried out on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The King then promotes Mordecai to Haman’s position.

The Book of Esther teaches that Divine intervention often occurs in unexpected ways. The story highlights the themes of courage, faith, justice, the reversal of evil, and the importance of standing up for one’s faith in God, even in times of peril.

After Mordecai’s promotion he writes to all the Persian Jews that they should annually “make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:22). Today the Jewish festival of Purim celebrates this deliverance of the Jews by chanting or reading aloud the Book of Esther as part of synagogue worship. M&G’s Esther scroll is just over 11 ft long, and depending on one’s pace, can take 60–90 minutes to read. During the reading many congregations participate by reciting certain verses and by using wooden noise makers (gragers) to blot out Haman’s name. Purim’s traditional celebratory meal, exchanging gifts of food, and contributions to the poor are based on Mordecai’s instructions.

Ruth

Famine causes Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons to leave Israel and live among idol-worshipers in the land of Moab. While there, the sons marry Moabite women. Eventually Elimelech and his sons die. Naomi, a grieving and bitter widow, decides to return to Bethlehem and instructs her daughters-in-law to return to their families. One does. Ruth, however, says “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16).

In Bethlehem, Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz, a wealthy relative of Naomi’s late husband. Impressed by Ruth’s kindness to Naomi, Boaz insures she is protected while gathering barley in his fields. Seeing an opportunity, Naomi encourages Ruth to ask Boaz to redeem her, a legal condition that would wed her to Boaz and restore Naomi’s family property. Moved by Ruth’s character, Boaz is inclined to accept but recognizes that a closer relative has the right of redemption. When that kinsman declines to redeem her, Boaz marries Ruth.

The theme of redemption and the virtues of loyalty and faithfulness permeate the Book of Ruth. The universality of God’s providence is also demonstrated. Ruth and Boaz’s son, Obed, is the grandfather of the Jewish King David, which places Ruth, a converted Moabite, in the lineage of the Messiah.

Today many Jewish communities read the Book of Ruth during Shavuot, the two-day holiday that commemorates God giving Moses the Ten Commandments. Shavuot is celebrated during the time of harvest, which parallels the time of Ruth’s gathering barley. Ruth’s acceptance of the Jewish faith parallels the Jewish people accepting the Law delivered to them on Mount Sinai.

M&G’s Megillot Scrolls

To be read in synagogue worship, a scroll must be sefer (ritually clean), meeting a lengthy list of conditions. It must be handwritten by a qualified sofer, using a quill of a kosher bird (or other permitted instrument) with kosher ink, on parchment made of a kosher animal hide. M&G’s Esther scroll, for example, is written on gazelle skin.

Sefer scrolls may not have calligraphic flourishes, illuminations or illustrations. Such additions could distract the reader from thinking about the message of the text. Some Jewish groups, however, permit Megillot scrolls to be embellished. Sefer Esther scrolls have been illuminated with decorative borders and portraits of its characters for centuries. In some Jewish communities a modern scroll of Esther may have colorful, printed scenes of the story between handwritten panels of the Hebrew text. Both M&G’s Esther and Ruth scrolls lack calligraphic or other embellishments. They were probably commissioned for use in strict Jewish congregations.

While groups may differ regarding embellishments of the scroll, its protective coverings (a cloth mantle or a cylindrical box) and the wood dowel on which the scroll is rolled can be ornate. Costly embellishment of the non-textual parts of a scroll reflects a desire to recognize the scroll’s significance and the means of the individual or group commissioning the scroll. M&G’s Ruth scroll is mounted on an olive wood shaft with a carved ivory crown. The scroll is 8.5 ft long and could be read or chanted in about 30 minutes.

 

William Pinkston, Retired Educator and M&G Volunteer

 

Published 2025

Object of the Month: February 2025

Head of Christ

Oil on panel, signed and dated lower right: A Scheffer 1849

Ary Scheffer

Dutch, active in France, 1795-1858

Ary Scheffer first studied art with his parents, later studying at the Amsterdam Drawing Academy. When his father died, Scheffer moved with his family to study in Paris with the neoclassical painter Pierre Guerin which set Scheffer on the road to Romanticism. A year later, he debuted at the Royal Academy’s Salon Exhibition. Five years after the move, he won his first medal which garnered him patronage by a supporter of the royal family.

The French would call this work an étude—a study made of a model to reference and work out details for a later painting. As such, collectors consider them valuable works. A glance at his oeuvre (body of work) reveals that Scheffer uses this model repeatedly for the Christ figure in several of his works largely during his religious period at the end of his career. Dated 1849, M&G’s study likely influenced later works, such as The Temptation of Christ (1854) in the National Gallery of Victoria and perhaps Christ Weeping over Jerusalem (1849) in the Victoria & Albert Museum (which he repeated in an 1851 version at the Walters Art Museum).

Scheffer’s popularity did extend to England but with a marked division in how the British received his works. The members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, just at the start of their own movement (1848), varied in their reactions: William Holman Hunt did not approve, unlike Thomas Woolner. In fact, Hunt convinced D.G. Rossetti that Scheffer’s works were “worthless” (Morris 180).

The Royal Academy in London criticized nearly all the technical aspects of his work, especially his coloring, possibly feeling vulnerable from the acclaim that he was receiving in the industrial North. The growth in the middle class through textile factories in cities such as Manchester and Liverpool made art collecting a mark of affluence and social status. These “barons” were already comfortable with Europe due to product exportation; the importation of ideas from there was a natural consequence. Scheffer was championed by the author Elizabeth Gaskell and collected by the “intensely pious John Heugh” (Morris 186). John Ruskin called him “one of the heads of the mud sentiment school,” but admitted that Scheffer “does draw and feel very beautifully and deeply” (Morris 180).

So if technical excellence was not the draw, what was? Edward Morris states that “it was above all spiritual and emotional exaltation particularly in expression that Scheffer’s English friends admired in his art” (176).  This Head of Christ evidences the coloring that drew criticism: the palette is limited to creams and browns with little distinction between Christ’s clothing and His skin. But Christ’s face is what draws attention. Kindness, introspection, firmness of purpose, along with a far-seeing gaze, create the impression that the God-man is on an eternal mission. “Emotional idealism” can easily cross the line into sentimentality, especially in religious works. However, the appeal to sentiment often leads to contemplation, a result that all artists desire. And anything more than a passing glance at Scheffer’s Head of Christ compels the viewer to ponder the Savior of the world.

 

Dr. Karen Rowe Jones, M&G board member

 

Work Cited:

Morris, Edward. French Art in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Yale UP, New Haven. 2005

 

Object of the Month: January 2025

Madonna and Child with Angels

Tempera and oil on panel

Master of the Greenville Tondo

Umbrian, active late 15th century

This mystery painting was once attributed to the young Umbrian, Raphael as possibly one of his early works (Giuseppe Fiocco, 1937), which could “aid in the studies of the formation of Raphael’s personality” (Mario Salmi). Then, it was suggested as characteristic of Raphael’s teacher in Umbria, Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino (William Suida, 1941 and Wilhelm von Bode, 1921). But it was the great historian Federico Zeri in 1959 and later followed by Everett Fahy, former Metropolitan Museum of Art curator and Director of the Frick, who suggested a different old master entirely.

This tondo (Italian for “round”) is puzzling, but understanding the cultural context of patronage, traditional artistic training, and the workshop setting can help explain some of the mystery.

In the Middle Ages through the early Renaissance, workshop practice was the only common form of artistic instruction in Italy beginning with the religious orders, monasteries, and convents. The Trades (sculptor, mason, architect) were taught from father to son or from an older family member to a younger. Formal apprenticeships emerged in the 13th century in the context of the craft guild system when workshop or bound apprenticeship became a fully regulated system for lay artists. Then, during the 15th century, the dislike for the guild system’s restrictions and process led to an adapted concept of artistic training, called the Academy. The specific training process for artists is further developed in the article about M&G’s painting, A Sibyl by female Old Master, Ginevra Cantofoli.

Throughout all of these training methods to become a master of one’s own workshop, imitation was the most important component of artistic training. Master painters employed a workshop of assistants to copy or paint in his style and to help meet the incoming demand of commissions by patrons. These points are critical to understanding why it is difficult to attribute a specific artistic personality to today’s enduring Old Master paintings. Besides, most painters well into the late 1400s and early 1500s did not autograph their finished works, and finding the original documents commissioning paintings can be challenging.

However, when the artist is unknown, yet there is an entire group of works that look to be by the same master’s hand, the experts (as in this case) will suggest a pseudonym—create a name for the artist after the place or location where his best or most representative work resides. Zeri and Fahy chose M&G’s painting as the namesake for the painter, “The Master of the Greenville Tondo,” meaning this tondo in Greenville, SC.

According to historian Carrie Baker, this painter, subject, and style reflect the “prevailing visual tastes of the period.” Workshop practice utilized multiple assistants and collaborative work to fill commissions that looked like the master’s hand. The assistants were all skilled artisans but working for the key master. Not knowing the assistants’ names isn’t an issue as this was their occupation: to reproduce works at the request of clients in the consistent style of the master to meet customer expectations. Today, we can photograph and print our favorite originals, but then artists could only copy and repeat. Works like M&G’s Madonna and Child with Angels reflect a popular subject and shape of the period, and providing paintings like M&G’s at a client’s request was the master’s way of “positioning . . . his workshop at an economic advantage.”

Many of the masters and their assistants were truly “Renaissance” men—able to tackle the design of many things, not just paintings but manuscripts, reliquary, sculpture, fabrics, architectural features, etc. The anonymous artist as Baker notes, “was probably an active participant of a working-class system of many trades.” The artist is unknown, but by comparing similar characteristics, experts have connected at least 32 works as having come from this same artist’s hand found in places including Pancole, Italy, the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg in Florida, Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and the Estensi Gallery in Modena, Italy.

Regardless of this painting and many others not being attributed to a specific, known personality—such as a respected influencer like Perugino or a major name of the Renaissance like Raphael, this master’s work was just as valuable in shaping Umbria’s artistic identity. And, more than that, our painting is shaping the estimation of our own community through the designation “Master of the Greenville Tondo”—bringing honor and recognition to the city of Greenville throughout the world where other works by this unknown master are displayed.

 

Erin R. Jones, Executive Director

 

Published 2025

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M&G at BOB JONES UNIVERSITY; 1700 Wade Hampton Blvd - Greenville, SC 29614