Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

The Nativity

Perugino · 1500–05

Analyst brief

What the record supports

Perugino's painting, "The Nativity," is dated 1500–05. The medium is tempera on panel, transferred to canvas, with dimensions of 26.2 × 46.3 cm (10 5/16 × 18 1/4 in.). It is classified as tempera, falls under the Painting and Sculpture of Europe department, and represents Italian culture. The artwork is part of the Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

The provenance traces the artwork from Alexander Barker in London by 1852 to William Ward (first Earl of Dudley) by 1868. It was then sold at Christie's in 1892 to Durand-Ruel, acting for Martin A. Ryerson, who acquired it in 1893. The painting was intermittently loaned to the Art Institute of Chicago from 1893 and was bequeathed to the institution in 1933.

"The Nativity" has been exhibited internationally, including in London (1852, 1857, 1868, 1871, 1892), Chicago (1898, 1933, 1993), and later in Grand Rapids (1997–1998) and Perugia, Italy (2004). The work has been cited in numerous publications, with the earliest reference in Gustav Friedrich Waagen's "Treasures of Art in Great Britain," vol. 2 (1854).

Generated from the catalogue fields shown on this page. Nartmad does not assert attributions, valuations or prices that no cited source supports.

Provenance

Ownership history

Alexander Barker, London, by 1852 to at least 1857 [lent to London 1852 and Manchester 1857]; sold by Barker to William Ward (d. 1885), first Earl of Dudley, London, by 1868 [lent by Dudley to Leeds 1868]; sold Christie’s, London, June 25, 1892 (nos. 76-77, 79-80. The Resurrection, no. 78, was sold separately and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art), to Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York, acting on behalf of Martin A. Ryerson [according to letters from Durand-Ruel to Ryerson dated June 25 and 29, 1892 in the Art Institute archives]; sold by Durand-Ruel to Martin A. Ryerson (d. 1932), Chicago, 1893 [according to the bill of sale dated April 8, 1893 in the Art Institute archives]; intermittently on loan to the Art Institute from 1893; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

London, British Institution, 1852, no. 31.
Manchester, Art Treasures of the United Kingdom, 1857, no. 85.
Leeds, National Exhibition of Works of Art, 1868, no. 2905.
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Works of the Old Masters, 1871, no. 308.
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Works by the Old Masters, 1892, no. 146.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Selected Works of Old and Modern Masters, 1898, no. 12.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, 1933, no. 123a.
Canton, Ohio, The Art Institute, 1955 (no cat.).
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Glad Tidings of Great Joy. Christmas at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1993.
Grand Rapids, Michigan, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Perugino: The Master of the Italian Renaissance, November 15, 1997 – February 1, 1998, no. 1a.
Perugia, Italy, Gallerie Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugino: il divin pittore, February 28, 2004 – August 18, 2004, no. I.48a.

Literature

Published references

Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, vol. 2 (London, 1854), p. 127.
W. Bürger [T. Thoré], Trésors d’art exposés à Manchester en 1857 (Paris, 1857), pp. 34–35.
W. Bürger [T. Thoré], Trésors d’art en Angleterre, 3rd ed. (Paris, 1865), pp. 34–35.
J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Fourteenth Century, vol. 3 (London, 1866), pp. 250–51.
“Leeds Exhibition,” The Art Journal 7 (1868), p. 137.
John Charles Robinson, A Critical Account of the Drawings by Michel Angelo and Raffaello in the University Galleries, Oxford (Oxford, 1870), pp. 135–36, under no. 20.
William Roberts, Memorials of Christie’s: A Record of Art Sales from 1766 to 1896, vol. 2 (London, 1897), p. 197.
Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of Objects in the Museum, Part I, Sculpture and Painting, 3d ed. (Chicago, 1898), p. 124, no. 196.
George C. Williamson, Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino (London, 1903), p. 126.
Bernard Berenson, The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, 3d ed. (New York and London, 1909), p. 218.
J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Sixteenth Century, ed. by Edward Hutton, vol. 3 (London and New York, 1909), pp. 258, 259 n. 1.
Bryson Burroughs, “A Painting by Perugino,” Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 6, 6 (1911), p. 130.

Comparables