Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

Virgin and Child

Niccolò di Pietro Gerini · 1390–1400

Analyst brief

What the record supports

The painting "Virgin and Child" is attributed to Niccolò di Pietro Gerini and dated to 1390–1400. This Italian work, originally tempera on panel, was transferred to canvas. It measures 78.7 × 46.5 cm (31 3/8 × 18 5/16 in.) and is currently part of the Painting and Sculpture of Europe department.

The artwork's provenance traces back to James Kerr-Lawson in Florence by 1910, from whom it was sold to Martin A. Ryerson in the same year. It then passed to his wife, Carrie Hutchinson Ryerson, in 1932. The painting was bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1937, forming part of the Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

"Virgin and Child" has been exhibited in Chicago multiple times, including at the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago in 1931 and 1932, and the Art Institute of Chicago in 1938. The work has also been discussed in various scholarly publications, including those by Richard Offner and Bernard Berenson, appearing in art historical literature from 1921 through 1975. No auction prices or earlier provenance details are provided in the supplied data.

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

James Kerr-Lawson, Florence, by 1910 [according to invoice from Kerr-Lawson to Ryerson dated June 14, 1910, in curatorial file]; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (1856–1932), Chicago, 1910; by descent to his wife Carrie Hutchinson Ryerson (1859–1937), Chicago, 1932 [Last Will and Testament of Martin A. Ryerson, Died August 11, 1932, copy in Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1937.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, Exhibition of the Work of Old and New Masters of Religious Art, Apr. 7–20, 1931, cat. 76.
Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, Commemorative Exhibition from the Martin A. Ryerson Collection, Oct. 9–30, 1932, cat. 2.
Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Ryerson Gift, Jan. 26–31, 1938 (no cat.).
Chicago, Englewood High School, Short Term Loan, Jan.–Mar. 1946 (no cat.).
Chicago, C. D. Peacock Co., Short Term Loan, Apr. 15–30, 1952 (no cat.).

Literature

Published references

Richard Offner, “Niccolò di Pietro Gerini,” Art in America 9 (1921): 148–49, 153–55, fig. 1.
Raimond van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, vol. 3 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1924), 614.
Richard Offner, Studies in Florentine Painting: The Fourteenth Century (New York: Frederic Fairchild Sherman, 1927), 83, 85–87, 92, fig. 5.
Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1932), 394.
William R. Valentiner, Paintings in the Collection of Martin A. Ryerson, (unpub. MS, 1932, Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago), n. p.
Bernard Berenson, Pitture italiane del Rinascimento (Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1936), 339.
“Exhibition of the Ryerson Gift,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 22, no. 1 (1938): 3.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: Art Institute, 1961), 174.
Hans Huth, “Italienische Kunstwerke im Art Institute von Chicago, USA,” in Miscellanea Bibliothecae Hertzianae: zu Ehren von Leo Bruhns, Franz Graf Wolff Metternich, Ludwig Schudt (Munich: Anton Schroll, 1961), 516.
Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School, vol. 1 (London: Phaidon, 1963), 158.
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972), 81, 312, 571.
Miklòs Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370–1400 (Florence: Edam, 1975), 404.

Comparables