Agnolo Gaddi
Italian, 1350-1396 ca.

Saint Ursula, 1388-1393, ca., n.d.
tempera on panel
27 1/4 x 16 1/4 in.

SBMA, Gift of Mr. Arthur Sachs
1946.6.2

RESEARCH PAPER

DESCRIPTION

This tempera painting on a panel depicts St. Ursula in a standing position, holding an arrow and a book. She is wearing a gold crown, a white robe and a red cloak and she is surrounded by a gilt back­ground. Originally full-length, the figure has been amputated at knee level so that the panel now measures 27 1/4" x 16 1/4".

Her long, oval face is divided by a slender nose which is suggested by shadow rather than by line. The almond shaped eyes are outlined by a dark line above and a lighter line below and contain sharply defined irises. Fine strands of fair hair are swept back, forming large curls. Her expression is of purity and serenity. Delicate flesh tones are achieved by green (terre-verte) underpainting to provide a neutral base for pink accents on her face. It was common for painters of this time to use several tones of vermillion lightened with white lead to achieve the subtle pink accents.

Because tempera paint dries quickly, this painting has a linear, stylized and rather flat appearance with sharp edges. However, the full, soft, sweeping folds of the drapery are modeled by a series of brushstrokes using varying tones of the same hue. Since it was impos­sible to blend the colors together, the artists of the fourteenth century prepared a color in three or four tones and began painting the dark folds of the drapery with the paint of the lowest value, then they applied one of a higher value and then one of still higher value. This process was repeated with many layers until the desired effect was achieved.

One of the most striking visual effects of the painting is the intense red-orange hue of the cloak. Highly saturated color is charac­teristic of the tempera medium. This color is particularly effective against the gilt ground into which is tooled the halo and crown. At the top of the panel, the gilt is embossed with a design of an arch with floral designs in the corners. Areas of red bole show through the gilt where it is worn. Red bole or gilders' clay was usually brushed over the surface before it was gilded to provide a fixing sur­face for the gold leaf which was then applied as small paper-thin squares of beaten gold. The gilt was finished by burnishing and decorating with a stylus, stamp or punch. The cloak is also high­lighted with tiny, gold stencilled patterns. These were usually applied by using gold powder in a thin solution of egg and brushing over areas containing glue.

In general, the panel is fairly well preserved. The gilt is worn and there are some abrasions and scratches in the paint. In 1979, the Balboa Art Conservation Center treated the painting by filling in and regilding scattered small losses in the ground and also filling in three small losses in the left hand.

The painting was given to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 1946 by Arthur Sachs of New York. Previous to being in the Sachs Collection, it was in the DeClemente Collection in Florence. Its early history is unknown. It was registered into the SBMA as a work of Lippo Memmi, a Sienese painter of the early fourteenth century, but in 1955 it was brought to the attention of the Museum Director that Berenson had attributed it to Agnolo Gaddi in 1932 while it was still in the Sachs Collection. Subsequently, Federico Zeri (1972), Miklos Boskovits (1973, 1975) and Bruce Cole (1977) all attributed St. Ursula to Agnolo Gaddi in published works.

The panel was originally part of a polyptych. Two other panels of the same altarpiece representing St. Augustine and Pope Gregory are located in the Staatliche Museen, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin-Dahlem. They are of the same size and contain the same decorative arch over the heads of the figures. The St. Ursula is more refined and of better quality. It is thought to be executed by Agnolo himself, while the other two were products of his large workshop. Boskovits attributes them to Cennino Cennini who was in Agnolo's workshop for twelve years.

STYLE

Agnolo Gaddi was born around 1350, the son of Taddeo Gaddi, who was a pupil of Giotto and a well known painter of the time. Agnolo executed his earliest existing work in 1384 and he died only twelve years later in 1396. He lived and worked in Florence and Prato.

In 1348, approximately two years before Agnolo's birth, the great calamity, the Black Death, struck throughout Europe. More than half the inhabitants of Florence died of the bubonic plague and the survivors were stunned. All aspects of life in Florence, including art, were affected in the years following. Overshadowed was the influ­ence of Giotto (c. 1267-1337), who had revolutionized early fourteenth century painting with his naturalistic approach using sculpturally modeled human figures clearly positioned in the space around them. People now were preoccupied with themes of death and the Last Judge­ment. There was a reversion to otherworldly images of the earlier Byzantine tradition. Followers of Orcagna (active 1343-1368) and his circle became popular in the '60's and '70's. This style was sombre and austere with human figures who were fearful and impersonal. Agnolo was torn between the popularity of Orcagna's followers and the tra­dition of his father and Giotto. His early style (1380-1388) reflects both the popularity of the "Black Death" idiom and the influence of Taddeo and Giotto. Some of his works from this period contain grace­ful figures, soft drapery and pastel tones while others contain more iconic representations of saints with piercing looks and hard edged draperies.

St. Ursula was painted during his middle period (1388-1393) in which Agnolo began to develop his own style and showed an inclination toward a warmer, more monumental manner. St. Ursula does, however, adhere to the tradition prevalent after the Black Death of depicting standing saints, especially martyrs, holding symbols or messages. She is not typical, though, of the dark and brooding figures of that style. The brilliant red of her robe, the lightness of fleshtones and the serenity and purity of her countenance set her apart from the Black Death Style and express Agnolo's own emerging style. This St. Ursula is very similar, in pose, drapery, facial features and treatment of hair to an Agnolo Gaddi figure of St. Catherine from a polyptych in the Washington National Gallery which was also painted during the 1388-1393 period.

In his late period (1393-1396) his style became more monumental with huge figures appearing in his panels and frescoes. Agnolo Gaddi was one of the most popular painters in the Florentine art world of the late trecento. By continuing the narrative techniques of Giotto and employing his own graceful rhythms and brilliant colors, Agnolo helped to usher in the early renaissance.

CONTENT

St. Ursula is purported to have lived in the late fourth or fifth century, the daughter of the king of Brittany. Word of her wondrous beauty spread to England where the English king decided she should wed his son. Ursula, who was a Christian, agreed to this on certain con­ditions: that the son become a Christian and that she be allowed three years in which to travel accompanied by ten virgins as companions. She and each of the ten virgins were to be provided with 1,000 other virgins as companions. Thus the 11,000 virgins travelled throughout Europe to Rome. On their return trip, they were attacked by barbarians and all were killed except St. Ursula. When the prince of the barbar­ians saw her beauty, he proposed marriage, but she turned him down. He reacted angrily, drew an arrow, and pierced her through.

Thus she became a Christian martyr as symbolized in this painting by her red cloak. Red, by its association with blood, is a Christian symbol of martyrdom. Under her cloak, she is dressed in a white gown, a symbol of purity and virginity. She carries an arrow, the means of her death and a book, the symbol of enlightenment, as she was said to possess wisdom as well as beauty. She wears a royal crown denoting that she was a princess. This panel was originally part of a larger altarpiece placed in a church for the religious instruction of the illiterate congregation. The identity of the saint and story of her life were represented clearly to those who "read" the depicted attri­butes and symbols like words in a book.

Besides the instructional purpose of paintings such as St. Ursula, they functioned as instruments of inspiration to the people of the time. Gold-leaf decoration was an important element of panel painting until the middle of the fifteenth century. These panels were gilded to enhance their value, to symbolize divine radiance and to catch what light there was in churches with small windows and candlelight. The death of the martyr, in imitation of Christ, was symbolic of the triumph over death that leads to eternal life. To me, the serene expression of St. Ursula, conveys a viewpoint of optimism and hope to a population still preoccupied by gloomy thoughts of death and fear of an angry God, forty years after the Black Death.

Prepared for the Docent Council of the SBMA by Betsy Northrop, March, 1985

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

Berenson, Bernhard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Florentine School. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1963. Vol. l.

Boskovits, Miklos. Pittura fiorentina all vigilia del Rinascimento 1300-1400. Florence: Edam, 1975.

Cennini, Cennino D'Andrea. The Craftsman's Handbook; The Italian "Il Libro Dell'Arte". translated by Daniel V. Thompson, Jr. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1960.

Cole, Bruce. Agnolo Gaddi. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977.

de Voragine, Jacobus. The Golden Legend, translated by Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger. New York: Arno Press, 1969.

Fredericksen, Burton and Zeri, Federico. Census of Pre­-Nineteenth CenturyItalian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972.

Fremantle, Richard. Florentine Gothic Painters from Giotto to Masaccio. London: Martin Secker and Warburg, 1975.

Kaftal, George. The Inconography of the Saints in Tuscan

Painting. Florence, 1952.

Meiss, Millard. Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death; the Arts, Religion and Society _in the Mid-Fourteenth Century. New York: Harper and Row, 1951.

Van Marle, Raimond. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1924. Vol. 3.

Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects. Commentary by Gaetano Milanesi. Florence: G.C. Sansoni, 1973. Vol. 1.

Periodicals:

Boskovits, Miklos, "Book Review: 'Agnol Gaddi' by Bruce Cole," Art Bulletin, Vol. LX, No. 4, December, 1978, pp. 707-11.

Boskovits, Miklos, "Cennino Cennini - Pittore Nonconfor­mista," Mitteilungen des Kunthistorischen Instituts in Florenz, Vol. XVII, 1973.

McCorquodale, Charles, "Book Review: 'Agnolo Gaddi' by Bruce Cole," Art International, Vol. XXI, No. 5, October-November, 1977, pp. 65-7.

SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS

Ursula was an English Christian princess who was promised in marriage to a pagan prince as a reward for his conversion to Christianity. According to the fourth-century legend, Ursula and her 11,000 virgin companions traveled with the prince to Rome to meet the pope. On the return journey, Ursula and her retinue of virgins were massacred by Huns in response to her refusal to marry their leader. This painting was probably once part of a multi-paneled altarpiece of many saints flanking a central image of the Virgin and Child. St. Ursula holds an arrow, the instrument of her martyrdom, and a book of the Gospels, signifying her faith.

Gaddi was a follower of the great early Renaissance master Giotto, who transformed religious painting by moving away from the flat and static icon tradition. Gaddi uses Giotto’s technique of odelling with light and shade to make St. Ursula look solidly three-dimensional and lifelike.

- Ludington Court Reopening, 2021

Ursula was an English Christian princess who was promised in marriage to a pagan prince as a reward for his conversion to Christianity. According to the 4th-century legend, Ursula and her 11,000 virgin companions traveled with the prince to Rome to meet the pope. On the return journey, Ursula and her retinue of virgins were massacred by Huns after she refused to marry their leader.

This painting was probably once part of a multi-panel altarpiece of many saints flanking a central image of the Virgin and Child. St. Ursula holds an arrow, the instrument of her martyrdom, and a book of the Gospels, signifying her faith.

Agnolo Gaddi was a follower of the great early Renaissance master Giotto, who transformed religious painting by moving away from the flat and static icon tradition. Gaddi uses Giotto’s technique of modelling with light and shade to make St. Ursula look solidly three-dimensional and lifelike.

- Botticelli, Titian, and Beyond, 2015

Ursula, a Christian martyr, holds one of the arrows with which she was murdered by her pagan persecutors. A Gospel book in her other hand signifies her faith. The panel, now trimmed down from its original size, once showed the young woman full-length, probably within a group of saints flanking a central image of either Christ or the Virgin Mary. This multi-figural composition would have stood behind a church altar, where the faithful could contemplate it while the priests celebrated Mass.

At the time this work was made, the technique of painting images on wood with egg-based pigments and gold was relatively new in Italy, having been introduced there ca. 1200 as a borrowing from the Christian East.

- Religious Images of the Christian East, 2013