Unknown
Flemish
Nativity, 1515-1520
oil on panel
13 5/8 x 10 3/4 in.
SBMA, Museum purchase with funds provided in part by Wright S. Ludington
1965.63
RESEARCH PAPER
Oil Painting on Wood Early 16th Century first attributed to Piero di Cosimo, later arrtibuted to Tommaso di Stefano (Florentines)
Period:
Florence from the middle of the 15th century until 1492 was under the political influence of Lorenzo the Magnificent who was most liberal in his patronage of writers and artists. Florence reached the height of her power at this time. The last quarter of the Quattrocentro produced many master. Berenson, the great expert on Italian. Renaissanee painting, says the concerns peculiar to Florentine painting were tactile values, expression, movement and light and shade.
Artists:
a) Piero di Cosimo (1462-1521)
The "Nativity" in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art was first attributed to Piero di Cosimo by A. Venturi in 1937. Vasari in his "Lives of the Artists" credits Piero with studying nature with zeal and painting imaginative landscapes. Later critics say he excelled in landscape treating it with a true yet poetic feeling for nature. Piero painted many "Nativities" and always with an interesting background of trees and hills.
Art historians have pointed out the influence of Flemish painters in Florence, especially Van der Goes at this time. The influence of their style is evident in the way in which plants, flowers and animals are rendered in minute detail and also the rich coloring in some of Piero's paintings. Venturi points out the inspiration of Flemish art in the museum's panel: "in the modeling of the face of the kneeling Madonna... and even more clearly in the buildings at the left of the scenic landscape." The medieval walled city from which proceed the wisemen and their retinue is indeed a beautifully detailed section of the painting.
R.L. Douglas in his book on "Piero di Cosimo" points out details in Piero's works that are almost like a signature. He placed the Child on a sack for a pillow fast asleep on the ground. In our work, the Child is placed on a bolster pillow looking very much like a sack. The Baby, however, is wide awake and is pointing upwards. In the early 16th century, Piero painted "The Adoration of the Shepherds" with the Baby Jesus gesturing upwards towards its mother. Behind, on either side, are interesting craggy hills. Another motif Piero used was a leafless tree among trees with foliage. This last motif can also be found in the "Nativity" in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
b) Tommaso di Stefano-Lunetti (1496-1564)
This man was architect, painter and miniaturist. He was a pupil of Lorenzo di Credi, whose manner he successfully imitated. Lorenzo was a pupil (with Leonardo da Vinci) of Verocchio, the first Florentine painter to feel the importance of light and atmosphere landscape. Tommaso's chief excellence seems to have been in the painting of draperies. He painted an altarpiece representing the "Nativity." Information is very meager in regard to this minor painter.
R.L. Douglas believed that many inferior, negligible pictures of Credi's school have been attributed to "Tommaso" and he protested the identification of "Tommaso" with Piero di Cosimo. Tommaso seemed to borrow from him his feelings for chiaroscuro and some of his backgrounds, but was much his inferior. He thought "Tommaso" was a myth and an invention to explain certain works which cannot be attributed to anyone else. He said these works must be more critically examined, when he wrote his book in 1946.
In February 1967, after visiting our museum, the curator of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu pointed out in a letter to our director that this painting "is in fact a replica of a painting usually attributed to Tommaso di Stefano and which is illustrated in Berenson's list of 1963." Another art curator in Rome later in the year also agreed to the similarity of paintings and had faith in Berenson's attribution in 1963 to Tommaso di Stefano. The curator in Rome also pointed out "the strong influence of Ghirlandaio" in the museum's painting. Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) was the best fresco painter of his generation but never attempted oil painting. He was popular for his naturalistic detail, in a few instances shows strong Flemish influence, particularly that of Van der Goes. At least, the experts agree on the influence from northern Europe reflected in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art's "Nativity."
Medium & Technique of Oil:
The Flemish artists, the Van Eycks, seem to have developed the techniques of oil painting, which was first done on wood panels. The preliminary stages in painting were the same as in temperaicoating the wooden panel with gesso upon which the figures were drawn and modeled in light and shadow. Upon this groundwork were added successive coats of glazes, built up slowly.
The new oil medium and technique developed in the Renaissance permits subtle transitions from light to dark, richer color and atmospheric effects and perhaps more individual experimentation.
Style:
The new oil medium was the answer for coping with the problems of realism, such as translating nature, rendering of form in space and achieving perspective for the Florentine artists.
Uses:
In the Renaissance period religious paintings not only were commissioned by the churches, Lorenzo the Magnificent and other wealthy members of the Florentine bourgeoisie also acquired paintings from the masters for their homes. In the 15th century Florentine artists gradually freed themselves from the traditional manuals and were able to set aesthetic considerations over the demands of the church.
Bibliography
Bernard Berenson, "The Italian Painters of the Renaissance," Phaidon Publishers, New York, 1952.
Bryan's "Dictionary of Painters and Engravers," London 1934.
R. Langston Douglas, "Piero di Cosimo," University of Chicago Press, 1946.
"Piero de Cosimo," Exhibition Catalogue, Schaeffer Galleries, New York, '38
G. Vasari, "Lives of the Artists," Simon & Schuster, 1946.
Files on Provenance, Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Prepared for the Docent Council of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Approved P. C.
No date or name given
Prepared for the website by Loree Gold, Nov. 2005