Kneeling Angel

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Kneeling Angel

ArtistAttributed to Andrea Verrocchio and Workshop (Italian, ca. 1435-1488)

Place of OriginItaly (Florence)

Dateabout 1480

Dimensions31 1/2 × 24 1/4 × 8 5/8 in. (80 × 61.6 × 21.9 cm)

MediumTerracotta

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1955.80A

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 19

Label TextThese two kneeling angels, made of baked clay (terracotta), were once brightly painted. They probably flanked another sculpture (perhaps a Madonna and Child) in the center, and would have been placed on or behind a church altar. Andrea del Verrocchio is perhaps best known as the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci, who entered the master’s workshop as a teenager in the 1460s. While Verrocchio has long been eclipsed by his most famous pupil, he did have a very successful career as both a painter and a sculptor and operated a large, productive workshop in Florence in the late 15th century. These angels were probably completed in the studio of Verrocchio soon after his death in 1488.Published ReferencesEckhardt, Ferdinand, "The Second Figdor Sale," Apollo, vol. 12, no. 69, September 1930, p. 206. ("...they have been attributed to Benedetto da Maiano but are probably the work of an artist closely related to Verrocchio, but who also came in contact with the art of Francesco Francia...one head is a little reminiscent of Vencenzo Onofri, but better.").

"Figdor Collection," Connoisseur, vol. 86, Nov. 1930, p. 340.

"Nearly a Million Brought by Figdor Sale in Berlin," Art News, vol. 29, Oct. 4, 1930, p. 4.

Wescher, "Die Zeite Figdor-Auktion," Pantheon, vol. 6, Nov. 1930, p. 530.

Toledo Museum News, New Series, vol. 1, no. 1, repr. p. 4 (angel facing right).

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April-June 1959," The Art Quarterly, vol. 22, 1959, p. 278, repr. p. 275.

Balogh, Jolán, "Un Capolavoro Sconosciuto del Verrochio," Acta Historiae Artium, Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Tomus VIII, 1962, pp. 55-98, figs. 27, 28, 26, 32.

Faison, S. Lane, Jr., "From Lorenzo Monaco to Mattia Preti," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, pp. 444, 445, repr. (b&w), fig. 3, p. 449, (col.) cover.

Zsombor, Jékely and Boros Ildikó, Verrocchio Krisztusa (Verrocchio's Christ), Szépmúvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 2003, pp. 7, 13 - 19 (in Hungarian), pp. 89, 90-94 (in English), notes 6, 35, 53 on pp. 98, 99 (in English), fig. 7, p. 11, fig 15, p. 20.

Exhibition HistoryZürich, Kunsthaus, 1952 (loan from a private collection).