Saint Peter Damien Offering the Rule of the Camaldolese Order to the Virgin

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Saint Peter Damien Offering the Rule of the Camaldolese Order to the Virgin

Artist Pietro da Cortona Italian, 1596-1669

Date1629/1630

DimensionsPainting: 57 5/8 × 44 5/8 in. (146.4 × 113.3 cm)
Frame: 72 5/8 × 59 5/8 × 3 in. (184.5 × 151.4 × 7.6 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

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

Object number

1960.31

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 36

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesBarberini, F., Registrato di mandati 1628-1639 (MS. Arch. Barb. Armadio 42) August 21, 1629, no. 1934.

Barberini, F., Libro mastro a 1623-1629 (MS. Arch. Barb.) October 3, 1629, fol. 289.

Barberini, F., Giustificazioni Barberini Collection Inventory (MS. Barb. Lat. 5635), 1631, no. 63.

Orbaan, J. A., Documenti sul barocco in Roma, Rome, 1920, p. 506.

Pollak, O., Die Kunsttätigkeit unter Urban VIII, Vienna, 1928, I, p. 967.

Waterhouse, E.K., Baroque Painting in Rome, London, 1937, p. 59.

Blunt, A., "The Exhibition of Pietro da Cortona at Cortona," Burlington Magazine, XCVIII, Nov. 1956, p. 415.

Nicolson, B., "Three Old Master Exhibitions," Burlington Magazine, CII, July 1960, p. 334, fig. 47.

Briganti, G., Pietro da Cortona, Florence, 1962, pp. 75, 137, 175-176, fig. 54.

Noehles, K., "Rezension: Giulio Briganti, Pietro da Cortona," Kunstchronik, XVI, 1963, pp. 100, 105.

"La Chronique des Arts," Supplement a la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 63, no. 1141, February 1964, repr. no. 183.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 7, no. 4, Winter 1964, repr. p. 90 (also published as a handbook).

Wittmann, Otto, "Treasures for Toledo, Ohio," Apollo, vol. 81, no. 35, January 1965, p. 28, repr. (col.) pl. IV.

Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1966, repr. in color.

Faison, S. Lane, Jr., "From Lorenzo Monaco to Mattia Preti," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, December 1967, p. 449, repr. fig. 7.

Spaeth, Eloise, American Art Museums, New York, 1969, rev. ed., p. 203.

Lavin, I., "Pietro da Cortona Documents from the Barberini Archive," Burlington Magazine, CXII, July 1970, pp. 446, 449, 451, fig. 24.

Fredericksen, B. and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Collections, Cambridge (MA), 1972, p. 165.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 40-41, pl. 19.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 42.

Hall, Nicholas H. J., ed. Colnaghi in America, New York, 1992, p. 133, [listed].

Sotheby's Old Master Painting..., London, 7 December 1994, p. 100.

Bonfait, Oliver, "Pierre de Cortone on l'humanisme baroque," L'Estampille/L'Objet D'art, no. 321, Feb. 1998, p. 43, fig. 5 (col.).

Harris, Ann Sutherland, Seventeenth-Century Art and Architecture, London, Laurence King, 2005, p. 117, fig. 1.120.

Exhibition HistoryCortona, Mostra di Pietro da Cortona, 1956, no. 11, pl. XI (cat. by G. Briganti).

London, Colnaghi, Paintings by Old Masters, 1960, no. 9, pl. V.

Rome, Palazzo Venezia, Pietro da Cortona, 1597-1669, 1997-1998, no. 34, pp. 174, 175, 332, repr. p. 333 (col.).

Label TextThe Italian saint Peter Damian (1007-1072) became a monk of the white-robed Camaldolese Order—an austere order that fasted frequently and eliminated all luxuries. He became a leader in the Order, even modifying its rules; he later was made a cardinal of the Church, though against his will. In Pietro da Cortona’s painting, Peter Damian is shown offering the rules of the Camaldolese Order to a vision of the Virgin Mary, to whom he was especially devoted. Two cherubs play with his cardinal’s robe and hat. The dramatic presentation, glowing colors, dynamic composition, and promotion of Catholic saints and the Virgin Mary are all hallmarks of the Italian Baroque style, of which Pietro da Cortona was one of the leading practitioners. Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII, commissioned the painting in 1629 or 1630. Originally intended as a gift to the Camaldolese hermitage at Frascati, the painting remained in the Barberini family until it was acquired by the Museum in 1960.