The Adoration of the Child

Artist Italian , Florentine School

Place of OriginFlorence, Italy

Datelate 15th century

Dimensions48 7/8 × 43 1/8 × 5 7/8 in. (124.1 × 109.5 × 14.9 cm)

MediumTempera on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

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

Object number

1930.214

On View

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

Label TextMany of the important traits of Renaissance art are featured in this painting by an unknown Florentine artist. The Virgin Mary with the Christ Child is the most popular subject of Renaissance art, and Mary adoring her divine child is a common variation (see Piero di Cosimo’s version also in this gallery). Though depicting holy figures, the artist gives them an appealing, expressive humanity—another hallmark of Renaissance art. The carpet of plants and flowers and the landscape receding convincingly in space reflect Renaissance interest in the natural world. The artist proudly displays Florentine Renaissance architecture—adapted from classical Roman models—in the rounded arch and flat pilasters (columns attached to the end of a supporting pier). The frame, though imitating Renaissance forms, is not original.Published ReferencesReinach, Salomon, Tableaux inédits ou peu connus tirés de collections francaises, Paris, 1906, pp. 28-29, pl. XX, repr. (As Francesco Botticini).

Les Arts, no. 73, Dec. 1908, pl. 4, repr. (attr. Fra Filippo Lippi).

Reinach, Salomon, Répertoire de Peintures du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance, 1280-1580, Paris, 1918, IV, p. 400, repr. (attributed to School of Ghirlandaio).

Art News, XXIX, Feb. 14, 1931, p. 3.

Van Marle, R., The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, The Hague, 1931, XIII, pp. 224-225, (attr. Bastiano Mainardi).

Meyer, "Die Sammlung Gustave Dreyfus," Pantheon, VII, Jan. 1931, pp. 10-19, repr. pl. 18.

Art Digest, V, Feb. 15, 1931, pp. 1, 8, repr.

Pantheon, Mar. 1931, repr. pl. 120.

Parnassus, III, Mar. 1931, p. 52, repr.

Revue de L'Art Ancien et Moderne, (supplement) LIX, Apr. 1931, p. 178.

American Magazine of Art, XX, June 1931, p. 483, repr.

Godwin, Blake-More, "Our Painting by Filippino Lippi," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 67, Dec. 1933, pp. (911-917), repr. on cover, (det.).

Connoisseur, XCIII, Mar. 1934, p. 199, repr.

Venturi, L., Italian Paintings in America, New York, 1933, II, pl. 262, Vienna, 1935, p. 119, pl. 126, no. 212 (as Raffaelino del Garbo).

Tietze, Hans, Meisterwerke Europaische Malerei in Americka, VIenna, 1935, p. 60, repr. p. 237.

Scharf, Alred, Filippino Lippi, Vienna, 1935, p. 119, repr. p. 212 (attr. Raffaelino del Garbo, no. 164.).

Toledo Museum of Art Children's Museum News, no. 7, Mar. 1935, repr.

Neilson, K. B., Filippino Lippi, Cambridge, 1938, pp. 213-214, 215, repr. fig. 108, (as partial imitator of Filippino).

Godwin, Blake-More, European Paintings in the Toledo Museum, 1939, pp. 8-11, repr. pp. 9 and 11.

Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America, New York, 1941, no. 111, repr.

Shoolman, R., and C.E. Slatkin, Enjoyment of Art in America, Philadelphia, 1942, repr. pl 268.

Godwin, Molly Ohl, "Capolavori Italiani al 'Toledo Museum of Art,'" Le Vie del Mondo, vol. 14, 1952, p. 1155, repr. p. 1150.

Godwin, Molly Ohl, Master Works, Toledo, 1953, p. 8, repr. in color, p. 9.

"Ohio Cues for Ohio Youth," Historical Society of Northwestern Ohio, publication, vol. 7, no. 3, Dec. 1957, repr. p. 1.

The Orange Disk, vol. 12, no. 2, Nov.-Dec. 1959, p. 28, repr. (col.) on cover.

Faison, S. Lane, Jr., "From Lorenzo Monaco to Mattia Preti," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 445, 446, repr. (col.) pl. IX, p. 448.

Christensen, Erwin O., A Guide to Art Museums in the United States, New York, 1968, p. 172, 173, repr. no. 363.

Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri, Census of pre-ninteenth century Italian paintings in North American public collections, Cambridge, Mass., 1972, p. 35, 111, 344 (by Zeri as Francesco Botticini).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 83-84, pl. 8.