Artwork
Madonna of Humility
Madonna of Humility is a tempera painting by the Early Renaissance artist Sassetta. It dates from 1438 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
As a tempera painting on panel, the medium involves pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder, typically egg yolk, applied to a prepared wooden surface.
Executed in 1437, this religious panel painting utilizes tempera applied to a poplar wood support. The work measures 48.4 cm in height and 21.2 cm in width, presenting a vertical format characteristic of devotional imagery. Stylistically, the composition focuses on the Madonna and Child, adhering to the iconographic tradition of the Madonna of Humility.
As a tempera painting on panel, the medium involves pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder, typically egg yolk, applied to a prepared wooden surface. The specific use of poplar indicates materials common to Sienese workshop practices of the early Quattrocento. The surviving physical object retains its original classification as a painting, though specific details regarding current surface condition, varnish layers, or evidence of past restoration handling are not detailed in the available records.
History & Provenance
The Madonna of Humility was painted by Sassetta in 1437 in tempera on poplar panel. Its earliest documented owner is M.F. Steinmeyer of Lucerne, by whom the work was held by 1929; Edward Forbes later recalled seeing it for sale at Steinmeyer's Gallery in Lucerne in 1933 or 1935. The painting subsequently passed into the collection of Edward Hutton (1874–1969) in London, and from him to Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi in Florence.
On 17 October 1936, Contini Bonacossi sold the work, as part of a group of eleven paintings, to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York. Three years later, in 1939, the Kress Foundation gifted the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it remains in the Samuel H. Kress Collection.
The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, accessioned as 1939.1.246 in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. It entered the Gallery in 1939 as a gift from the Kress Foundation. The work’s exhibition history prior to 1939 is documented through successive owners: it passed from M. F. Steinmeyer in Lucerne to Edward Hutton in London, then to Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi in Florence before being sold to the Kress Foundation in October 1936.
Overview
Sassetta's Madonna of Humility, painted around 1438, is a tempera on poplar panel work. It portrays the Virgin Mary seated on the ground, cradling the Christ Child. This piece exemplifies the Sienese master's approach during the early Renaissance, blending traditional elements with emerging artistic trends of the era.
Subject & Meaning
The painting presents the Virgin Mary in a posture of humility, seated directly on the ground rather than on a throne. She holds the infant Jesus, both figures rendered with gentle expressions. Mary's simple blue robe, accented with gold trim, and the radiant gold background emphasize the sacred nature of the scene, a common visual convention to denote divinity and sanctity in early Renaissance art.
Context
Sassetta worked in Siena during the early 1400s, a period preceding the full flourishing of the Italian Renaissance. His artistic practice was characterized by a synthesis of styles, incorporating the rich Sienese painting tradition with decorative aspects of Gothic art and the nascent naturalism emerging from Florence. This approach allowed him to create works that were both rooted in local heritage and open to broader artistic developments.
Artist & collection
Artist
Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo, known as il Sassetta (c. 1392–1450) was a Tuscan painter of the Renaissance, and a significant figure of the Sienese School. While working within the Sienese tradition, he innovated the…
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