Niccolini-Cowper Madonna
Encyclopedia
The Niccolini-Cowper Madonna, also known as the Large Cowper Madonna, is a painting
by the Italian
High Renaissance
artist Raphael
, depicting Mary
and Child
, against a blue sky.
paintings before he left for Rome. It is more complex than a similar painting the Small Cowper Madonna
of a few years earlier. The Virgin and Child fill the canvas, creating an imposing effect. The two are more closely related, both by positioning of their bodies and their intimacy. Raphael may have derived the talent for creating a natural intimacy through Leonardo da Vinci
. The portrayal of the infant's energy is reminiscent of works of Michaelangelo. The compelling, playful Child reaches for the Madonna's top as if wanting to nurse
. Both paintings bear the name of their former owners.
An inscription on the painting, center right on the border of Madonna's bodice: MDVIII.R.V.PIN tells that it was painted in 1508 by Raphael of Urbino
.
: Small Cowper Madonna
and this painting, the Niccolini-Cowper Madonna
. Tribuna of the Uffizi
shows Cowper looking at the Niccolini-Cowper Madonna
painting as it is offered by Johann Zoffany
. Zoffany had purchased the painting from the Niccolini family in 1782 and sold it to Cowper in 1785.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
by the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
High Renaissance
High Renaissance
The expression High Renaissance, in art history, is a periodizing convention used to denote the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance...
artist Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, depicting Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
and Child
Child Jesus
The Child Jesus represents Jesus from his Nativity to age 12. At 13 he was considered to be adult, in accordance with the Jewish custom of his time, and that of most Christian cultures until recent centuries.The Child Jesus is frequently depicted in art, from around the third or fourth century...
, against a blue sky.
The painting
The painting may have been the last of Raphael's FlorentineFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
paintings before he left for Rome. It is more complex than a similar painting the Small Cowper Madonna
Small Cowper Madonna
The Small Cowper Madonna is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael, depicting Mary and Child, in a typical Italian countryside.-Story:It is thought that Raphael painted this as a wedding present for someone...
of a few years earlier. The Virgin and Child fill the canvas, creating an imposing effect. The two are more closely related, both by positioning of their bodies and their intimacy. Raphael may have derived the talent for creating a natural intimacy through Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
. The portrayal of the infant's energy is reminiscent of works of Michaelangelo. The compelling, playful Child reaches for the Madonna's top as if wanting to nurse
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...
. Both paintings bear the name of their former owners.
An inscription on the painting, center right on the border of Madonna's bodice: MDVIII.R.V.PIN tells that it was painted in 1508 by Raphael of Urbino
Urbino
Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...
.
Provenance
- In the Niccolini family, Casa Niccolini, FlorenceFlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, from 1677 or earlier to sometime after 1772, - The artist Johann Joseph ZoffanyJohann ZoffanyJohan Zoffany, Zoffani or Zauffelij was a German neoclassical painter, active mainly in England...
(1733-1810) purchased the painting after 1772 - the painting came into the line of the Earls of CowperEarl CowperEarl Cowper was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1718 by George I for William Cowper, 1st Baron Cowper, his first Lord Chancellor, with remainder in default of male issue of his own to his younger brother, Spencer Cowper...
about 1775- sold first to George Clavering-Cowper, 3rd Earl CowperGeorge Clavering-Cowper, 3rd Earl CowperGeorge Nassau Clavering-Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper was an English peer who went on the grand tour as a young man, but actually emigrated. Despite becoming a Member of Parliament and inheriting lands and the title of Earl Cowper in England, he remained in Italy. He amassed a valuable art collection...
(d. 1789), Panshanger, HertfordHertfordHertford is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. Forming a civil parish, the 2001 census put the population of Hertford at about 24,180. Recent estimates are that it is now around 28,000...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and then subsequent inheritances, - George Augustus Clavering-Cowper, 4th Earl Cowper (d. 1799), Panshanger
- Peter Leopold Louis Francis Nassau Clavering-Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper (d. 1837), Panshanger
- George Augustus Frederick Cowper, 6th Earl CowperGeorge Cowper, 6th Earl CowperGeorge Augustus Frederick Cowper, 6th Earl Cowper , styled Viscount Fordwich until 1837, was a British Whig politician...
(d. 1856), Panshanger - Francis Thomas De Grey Cowper, 7th Earl CowperFrancis Cowper, 7th Earl CowperFrancis Thomas de Grey Cowper, 7th Earl Cowper KG, PC, DL , known as Viscount Fordwich from 1837 to 1856, was a British Liberal politician...
and 7th Baron Lucas (d. 1905), Panshanger and Wrest Park, BedfordshireBedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, England - Francis' widow, Katrine Cecilia Compton Cowper, Countess Cowper (d. 1913), Panshanger;
- Lady Ethel Grenfell, Baroness Desborough, granddaughter of the 6th Earl, Panshanger
- sold first to George Clavering-Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper
- sold for $875,000 in 1928 to Duveen BrothersDuveen BrothersThe Duveen Brothers, Joseph Joel Duveen and Henry J. Duveen , were notable art dealers in London, Paris, and New York from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. They brought to America high quality old master paintings and decorative arts from the great private collections in...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, New YorkNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, who purchased The Small Cowper Madonna from Lady Ethel Grenfall of Desborough in 1913. - sold for $1,166,000 in November 1928 to Andrew W. MellonAndrew W. MellonAndrew William Mellon was an American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector and Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932.-Early life:...
, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(1855-1937) - deeded 30 December 1930 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable TrustAndrew W. Mellon FoundationThe Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City and Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969...
, Pittsburgh - gifted in 1937 to the National Gallery of ArtNational Gallery of ArtThe National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
in Washington, DC
Story
Cowper's art collection absorbed a great deal of his time and money. His most notable possessions are probably the two Cowper Madonna paintings RaphaelRaphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
: Small Cowper Madonna
Small Cowper Madonna
The Small Cowper Madonna is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael, depicting Mary and Child, in a typical Italian countryside.-Story:It is thought that Raphael painted this as a wedding present for someone...
and this painting, the Niccolini-Cowper Madonna
Niccolini-Cowper Madonna
The Niccolini-Cowper Madonna, also known as the Large Cowper Madonna, is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael, depicting Mary and Child, against a blue sky.-The painting:...
. Tribuna of the Uffizi
Tribuna of the Uffizi (painting)
The Tribuna of the Uffizi by Johann Zoffany is a painting of the north-east section of the Tribuna room in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy.-Production:...
shows Cowper looking at the Niccolini-Cowper Madonna
Niccolini-Cowper Madonna
The Niccolini-Cowper Madonna, also known as the Large Cowper Madonna, is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael, depicting Mary and Child, against a blue sky.-The painting:...
painting as it is offered by Johann Zoffany
Johann Zoffany
Johan Zoffany, Zoffani or Zauffelij was a German neoclassical painter, active mainly in England...
. Zoffany had purchased the painting from the Niccolini family in 1782 and sold it to Cowper in 1785.