Artwork
Scenes from a Legend
Scenes from a Legend is an oil painting by the Northern Renaissance artist Giovanni Larciani (Master of the Kress Landscapes). It dates from 1518 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
9 centimeters, and is classified as a painting from the early 16th century, likely dating to around 1515–1520.
The work is an oil painting executed on canvas, measuring 27.9 by 41.9 centimeters, and is classified as a painting from the early 16th century, likely dating to around 1515–1520. Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani, known as the Master of the Kress Landscapes, employed oil paint to create layered, atmospheric effects characteristic of the High Renaissance emphasis on spatial depth and naturalistic detail. The composition draws on narrative scenes drawn from a legendary subject, rendered with delicate modeling and a restrained palette that highlights the artist’s skill in handling light and spatial recession.
The surface remains well-preserved, showing no significant cracks or losses, and the canvas support is taut and stable within the National Gallery of Art’s collection.
History & Provenance
Scenes from a Legend is an oil on canvas attributed to Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani, probably created around 1515 to 1520. The earliest recorded owner is the Niccolini family in Florence. The work subsequently passed to Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, who held it in Florence and Rome.
In 1936, Contini Bonacossi sold the painting to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York. Three years later, in 1939, the Kress Foundation gave it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection.
The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it entered as part of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation gift in 1939 and is accessioned as 1939.1.344.b.[1]
Its exhibition history prior to 1939 is not documented in the recorded provenance. The earliest documented public display occurs in 2017 as part of the exhibition Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani: Master of the Kress Landscapes at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Overview
Scenes from a Legend, executed in oil on canvas around 1518, is attributed to the Italian painter Giovanni Larciani. The work presents a gently sloping hillside traversed by a narrow path, populated by several small groups of figures moving through a pastoral landscape.
Subject & Meaning
At the foreground a man and a woman, dressed in contrasting red and darker garments, stand beside a tree and gesture toward a point beyond the immediate view. Their posture suggests a moment of direction or storytelling, while the procession of travelers further along the road implies a narrative journey through the countryside.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Giovanni Larciani (Master of the Kress Landscapes)
Giovanni Larciani (1515–1520) was an artist.
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