New Acquisitions

016

For $4.4 million at a Sotheby’s auction in January, the Kimbell Art Museum of Fort Worth acquired a Madonna and Child known as The Borromeo Madonna. It is a terracotta relief by 15th-century sculptor Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello.

The relief had hung in the church of San Giovanni Battista in Lissaro di Mestrino (outside Padua) until the early 20th century, when it was sold to fund the purchase of an organ. A plaster copy now hangs in place of the original.

Only a substantial cleaning in recent years revealed that the relief was indeed by Donatello. The elegance of emotion in the faces contrasted with the heavy “wet” folds of the drapery are in the distinctive style of the master himself.

A second work was acquired at the same auction as a gift for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for a mere $1.3 million. It pictures Mary Magdalene, overcome with the emotion of the moment, looking for guidance from an angel. Known as The Penitent Magdalene, this piece was painted in the 18th century by Italian painter Corrado Giaquinto.

Three of the four canonical gospels feature Mary Magdalene only as a key witness to the crucifixion and Resurrection. Luke, however, relates that Jesus cast seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2). In later church tradition, the stories about Mary Magdalene were expanded. Conflated with the adulteress whom Jesus saved from stoning and the sinful woman who anointed his feet with perfume, Mary Magdalene became known as a converted sinner and an exemplar of repentance.^c

In The Penitent Magdalene, Giaquinto painted a sensitive rendition of the Magdalene’s conversion, using much of the standard iconography: Contemplating a skull, a symbol of mortality, she is pictured with a crown of thorns and a crucifix nearby to recall her presence at the crucifixion. She is portrayed here with long, loose hair and clothes, as well as a pot of perfume and a discarded string of pearls, which all served as reminders of the sinful life of luxury she was rejecting.

For $4.4 million at a Sotheby’s auction in January, the Kimbell Art Museum of Fort Worth acquired a Madonna and Child known as The Borromeo Madonna. It is a terracotta relief by 15th-century sculptor Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello.