The Assumption of the Virgin

Artist Massimo Stanzione Italian, 1585–1656

Datecirca 1630–1635

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions108 1/2 x 74 5/8 in. (275.6 x 189.5 cm)
Frame: 126 5/8 x 92 3/8 in. (321.6 x 234.6 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Object numberGL.60.17.52

On View

On view

ProvenanceGranada, Spain in 1863; sold to Sir Francis Cook (1817–1901) [1], Doughty House, Richmond, as Alonso Cano, The Virgin in Glory; through inheritance 1901 to his son; Sir Frederick Cook (1844–1920), Doughty House, Richmond; through inheritance 1920 to his son; Sir Herbert Cook (1868–1939), Doughty House, Richmond; by bequest to his son; Sir Francis Cook (1907–1978), London, until at least 1951 [2]; sold to/through Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York; sold 1955 to Samuel H. Kress, New York; given to NCMA, 1960.

[1] Sir Francis Cook lent the painting to the National Exhibition of Works of Art, Leeds, 1868, no. 45, where it is stated, “Painted about 1660. Bought at Grenada, in 1863. Contributed by F. Cook, Esq.” Shapley, p. 96, incorrectly says that the painting was acquired in Granada in 1863 by Sir Henry Wellesley (1773–1847), first Lord Cowley, the younger brother of the Duke of Wellington and ambassador to Spain from 1809 to 1823. Shapley further states that the painting passed to his son; Henry Richard Charles Wellesley (1804–1884), first Earl Cowley, and was sold at his estate sale at Christie’s, 18 July 1885, lot 27, as Alonzo Cano. Because Cook owned the painting by 1868, the painting sold by Cowley’s heirs in 1885, described as “A. Cano, The Assumption of the Virgin,” must have been another painting, possibly the painting Cowley exhibited as no. 98 at the British Institution in 1838: Alonzo Cano, Vision of the Crescent.

[2] Catalogue of the Exhibition of Works by Holbein & Other Masters of the 16th and 17th Centuries, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1950–51, cat. no. 321, lent by Sir Francis Cook, Bart.
Published ReferencesAbridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House Richmond (Belonging to Sir Frederick Cook, Bart, M.P., Visconde de Monserrate) (London: 1903), no. 6.

J. C. Robinson, "The Early Works of Velasquez," The Burlington Magazine 11 (1907), 320 (as Alonso Cano).

A. L. Mayer, "Der Racionero Alonso Cano und die Kunst von Granada," Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen 31 (1910), 6.

H. Voss, "Die Falschen Spanieren," Der Cicerone 2 (1910), 9-10.

Algernon Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, Vol. 1 (London: Algernon Graves, 1913), 149 (as The Virgin in Glory by Cano, Alonzo from the Cook Collection).

Maurice Brockwell, English, French, Early Flemish, German, and Spanish Schools and Addenda: Catalogue of the Paintings at Doughty House and Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, BT, Visconde de Monserraten (Herbert Cook, ed.), Vol. 3 (London: William Heinemann, 1915), no. 514, illus. pl. 21.

Pigler Ander, "Pacecco de Rosa Muveszetehez," Archaeological Ertesito 45 (1931),158-69, 333-34, illus. fig. 103.

Pigler Ander, Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House Richmond Surrey in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook, Bart (London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1932), no. 514.

Exhibition of Works by Holbein and Other Masters of the 16th-17th Centuries (exhibition catalogue) (London: Royal Academy, 1950), cat. no. 321 (as Stanzione).

Harold C. Weathy, Alonso Canno Painter, Sculptore, Architect (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955), 186 (as Assumption of the Virgin, Neapolitan School, 17th Century).

The Samuel H. Kress Collection (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1960), 106, illus. (b-w) 107.

Art Treasures for America (exhibition catalogue) (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1961) cat. no. 87 (as Stanzione).

Charles Seymour, Jr., Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings and Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection (London: The Phaidon Press, 1961), 136-37, 216, illus. fig. 127.

Thomas B. Hess, "Culture as the Great American Dream," Art News 60, no. 8 (December 1961), 55.

Fern Rusk Shapley, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Paintings XVI-XVIII Century, Vol. 3 (New York: The Phaidon Press, 1973), 95-96, illus. fig. 173.

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) 197.

Nicola Spinosa, ed., La Pittura Napoletana del' 600 (Milan: Langanesi & c., 1984), illus. fig. 276.

Stéphane Loire, ed., Simon Vouet - Actes du colloque international Galeries nationales du Grandes Palais, 5-6-7 février, 1991 (Paris: Documentation Française, 1992), 238-39, notes: 57-61, 244, illus. 238, fig. 16.

Sebastian Schütze and Thomas Willette, Massimo Stanzione, L'opera completa (Napoli: Electa Napoli, 1992), 69, 113, 194-95, 474, illus. (color) 34, fig. 8, (b-w) 284, fig. 121.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 187.

David Steel, "A Gift to America," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 1993), illus. (b-w) 7.

Chiyo Ishikawa, et al, A Gift to America: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Samuel H. Kress Collection (exhibition catalogue) (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994), cat. no. 17, illus. (color).

Chuck Twardy, "Store-bought art," Raleigh: The News and Observer, Arts and Entertainment (February 6, 1994), illus. (color) 1.

Noel Yancey, "State Art Museum's Roots Reach to Warren County," Warrenton, NC: The Warren Record (February 14, 1996), illus. B1.

Marion Wheeler, Her Face: Images of the Virgin Mary in Art (Cobb, CA: First Glance Books, 1998), illus. 151.

David Steel, entry for The Assumption of the Virgin, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 136, illus. (color), detail (color) 130.

David Steel, entry for The Assumption of the Virgin, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 290, illus. (color) 291.

Nicola Spinosa, Pittura del Seicento a Napoli: Da Caravaggio a Massimo Stanzione (Naples: Arte'M, 2010), cat. no. 430, discussed and illus. (b-w) 406.

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), 23, 39.Exhibition HistoryLeeds, England, City Art Gallery, "National Exhibit of Works of Art," 1868, cat. no. 45 (as Cano).

London, New Art Gallery, "Exhibition of Spanish Art," 1895-96, cat. no. 142 (as Cano).

London, Grafton Galleries, "Spanish Old Masters," October 1913-January 1914, cat. no. 73 (as Cano).

London, Royal Academy, "Exhibition of Works by Holbein and Other Masters of the 16th-17th Centuries," December 9, 1950-March 7, 1951, cat. no. 321 (as Stanzione).

Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, "Art Treasures for America," 1961-62, cat. no. 87 (as Stanzione).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "A Gift to America: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Samuel H. Kress Collection," February 5-April 24, 1994; Houston, TX, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, May 22-August 14, 1994; Seattle, WA, Seattle Art Museum, September 15-November 20, 1994; San Francisco, CA, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, December 17, 1994-March 4, 1995, cat. no. 17, illus. (color).

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

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