Central panel of a triptych: Virgin and Child “Hodegetria”; (in the spandrels above) The Annunciation

ArtistWorkshop of Berlinghiero di Melanese active 1228, Lucca; d. before 1236, Lucca

Datecirca 1225–1250

MediumTempera and gold leaf on panel

Dimensions28 1/4 x 19 1/4 in. (71.8 x 48.9 cm)
Frame: 33 3/8 x 23 1/2 in. (84.8 x 59.7 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Wachovia Bank and Trust Company

Object numberGL.57.16.1

On View

On view

Label Text
Several members of the Berlinghieri family were active in the Tuscan city of Lucca in the thirteenth century. Their Italo-Byzantine style of painting was inspired by the religious icons of the Eastern Christian (Byzantine) tradition. In this style, elongated figures with solemn expressions are silhouetted against a gold background. Long, continuous lines define facial features such as the brows and nose, and dark triangles represent shadows under the eyes. A web of lines articulates drapery folds and highlights. The Madonna and Child appear to be incorporeal, two-dimensional images rather than flesh and blood human presences.

The Virgin Mary’s fringed veil is adorned with stars to show that she is the “Star of the Sea,” the meaning of the Jewish form of her name, Miriam, and a reminder that she is as constant as the North Star by which mariners navigate. She holds the Christ Child high as he extends his right hand in a gesture of blessing. Mature in his wisdom, he holds a scroll of Old Testament scriptures, which is also a reminder that he is the Messiah foretold by the Jewish prophets.

The Madonna and Child was probably the central panel of a triptych. The flanking wings, which may have depicted saints and/or scenes from the life of Christ, are lost. The wings would have closed underneath the spandrels in the upper corners of the panel. An angel is still visible in the right spandrel, while its mate on the left has been damaged beyond recognition.
ProvenancePrivate collection, Llandaff, Glamorganshire, Wales (early 20th century); K. Duggan Collection, Stanford-de-Hope, Essex, England; sale, Christie's, London, June 13, 1952, lot 133 (as Sienese school); sale, Kende Galleries, New York, September 10,1952, lot 15 (as Sienese school); [purchased by] with Piero Tozzi Galleries, New York, until 1957; irrevocable loan to NCMA from Wachovia Bank and Trust Co., 1957; gift of Wachovia Bank and Trust Co. to NCMA, 1959.
Published ReferencesCatalogue of Old Pictures and Drawings from Christie, Manson, & Woods, Ltd. and Various Other Sources (auction catalogue) (London: Christie, Manson, and Woods, 13 June, 1952), lot 133 (as Sienese).

Kende Galleries, Paintings of the XVII - XIX Century...from a Private Collection (New York: Kende Galleries, September 10, 1952), lot 15, illus. 9 (as Sienese School).

Helen Comstock, "Berlinghio [sic] Berlinghieri Madonna,"The Connoisseur 132 (131?), no.128 (May 1953), 134.

W. R. Valentiner, "A Madonna by Berlinghiero Berlinghieri," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 1, no. 2 (Summer 1957), 1-3, illus (b-w) front cover. Also see "Opening of Four New Galleries of Early Sculpture and Decorative Arts," mentioned 22.

Edward B. Garrison, "Addeda ad Indicem V: 1. A New Berlinghieresque Madonna," from Studies in the History of Medieval Italian Paintings, Vol. 3 (Florence: L'Impronta, 1957-58), 261-4, illus. 263.

Masterpieces of Art: In Memory of William R. Valentiner, 1880-1958 (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1959), cat. no. 25, illus. (b-w) 49, fig. 25.

Mediaeval Art (exhibition catalogue) (Chapel Hill: William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, 1961), cat. no. 1, illus. 8.

The Tar Heel Banker (December 1964), illus. front cover.

Charles W. Stanford, Masterpieces in the North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1966), no. 27, illus. (b-w).

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 171.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 154.

I. Belli Barsali, "Berlinghiero," in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, 9 (Rome, 1967), 125.

A. Caleca, Momenti dell' Arte a Volterra (under Croce at Fuecchio).

La Pittura a Firenze nel Duecento (Florence, Alberto Bruschi, 1990).

Elizabeth Ayr, Thirteenth-Century Imagery in Transition: The Berlinghiero Family of Lucca (Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University, 1991), 51-3, 265-73 (cat. xx), 342 fig. 23 (as Lucchese Master, 1250-60).

Miklos Boskovits, The Origins of Florentine Painting [Corpus, I:1] (1993), 73, n. 146 (as Berlinghiero, c.1230, a late work). (Also note ptg. in p.c., Torino--Croce di Lucca.)

Rebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Madonna and Child, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 116, illus. (color).

Jo Woestendiek, "What Child is This?", Winston-Salem, NC: Prime Times (November 15, 2000), discussed briefly 12, illus.

Perri Lee Roberts, Corpus of Early Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections: The South, Vol. 3 (Athens, GA: Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 2009), discussed 606, illus. (b-w) 607.

Rebecca Martin Nagy, entry for Madonna and Child, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 244, illus. (color) 245.

Lyle Humphrey, "Saul Among the Prophets: W.R. Valentiner, Robert L. Humber, Carl W. Hamilton, and the Italian Collection at the NCMA," Lisandra Estevez, ed., Collecting Early Modern Art (1400-1800) in the U.S. South (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021), 37, 39, illus. fig. 2-3 (color).Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Masterpieces of Art: In Memory of William R. Valentiner, 1880-1958," April 6-May 17, 1959, cat. no. 25, illus. (b-w).

Chapel Hill, NC, The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, "Mediaeval Art," April 28-May 20, 1961, cat. no. 1, illus. 8.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Miracle on Morgan Street: The Foundations of the NCMA, 1946–1960,” September 16, 2020–April 11, 2021.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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