Italian Paintings, 1250–1450, in the John G. Johnson Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art

When the Philadelphia lawyer John G. Johnson began to collect art in the late nineteenth century, he defied contemporary taste by acquiring Italian paintings from the early Renaissance. He eventually donated his distinguished collection to the City of Philadelphia, and it is now housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Although there have been several catalogues of these paintings, including one by Bernhard Berenson in 1913, Carl Brandon Strehlke, Adjunct Curator of the Johnson Collection, has prepared the first complete scholarly examination. His discussion of such art historical questions as dating and attribution combines extensive archival research with information he gained through his technical study of the paintings with Mark S. Tucker, the Museum’s Vice Chairman of Conservation and Senior Conservator of Paintings.

Strehlke’s introduction sheds new light on Johnson’s collecting and traces the history of the acquisition, conservation, and installation of the Philadelphia paintings. Subsequent chapters situate detailed discussions of the pictures within the context of richly detailed biographies. All the paintings are furnished with a full description; technical report; provenance; art historical commentary; discussion of related works; comparative illustrations; and bibliography.

This extensively illustrated book also provides an appendix of punch marks and a bibliography of some 2,500 entries.

“This catalog of the Italian portion of the museum collection, including a small number of non-Johnson acquisitions, is masterfully done; it hits the same high standard as recent catalogs in this area from London and Washington exhibitions.”—D. Pincus, Choice

“This catalogue will be of great interest to the scholar, providing a vast amount of information, both visual and factual, particularly with regard to punch marks. It is a work to be celebrated and cherished.”—Susan Martin, The Art Book

“Although this is not the first catalog dedicated to the John G. Johnson Collection, adjunct curator Carl Brandon Strehlke has done here a wonderful job, in a lavish, hardcover book that can be considered as a model in the art book genre. I see Italian Paintings, 1250-1450 as one of the most beautiful art books published in the United States during 2004. Academics in art history and religious studies will be delighted by that reading.”—Yves Laberge, Heliotropia

“This handsome, lavishly illustrated, and meticulously researched volume is the first comprehensive and scholarly treatment of the collection and the collector.”—Sara Nair James, Sixteenth Century Journal

Carl Brandon Strehlke is Adjunct Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Anne d’Harnoncourt and Joseph J. Rishel

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTES TO THE USE OF THE CATALOGUE

1. JOHN G. JOHNSON AND THE ITALIAN PAINTING COLLECTIONS AT THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

CATALOGUE

With conservation notes by Carl Brandon Strehlke and Mark S. Tucker

Allegretto di Nuzio

Andrea di Bartolo

Fra Angelico

Apollonio di Giovanni and Marco del Buono

Arrigo di Niccolò

Battista di Gerio

Benedetto di Bindo

Bicci di Lorenzo

Bartolomeo Bulgarini

Cenni di Francesco

Bernardo Daddi

Dalmasio

Fra Diamante

Domenico di Bartolo

Domenico di Zanobi

Duccio

Francesco d’Antonio

Francesco di Vannuccio

Agnolo Gaddi

Niccolò di Pietro Gerini

Giovanni dal Ponte

Giovanni di Francesco

Giovanni di Paolo

Giovanni di Pietro

Benozzo Gozzoli

Jacopo di Cione

Pietro Lorenzetti

Lorenzo Monaco

Lorenzo Veneziano

Martino da Verona

Martino di Bartolomeo

Masaccio

Masolino

Master of Carmignano

Master of the Castello Nativity

Master of 1419

Master of the Johnson Tabernacle

Master of Montelabate

Master of the Osservanza

Master of the Pesaro Crucifix

Master of the Pomegranate

Master of Staffolo

Master of the Terni Dormition

Neri di Bicci

Niccolò di Segna

Niccolò di Tommaso

Nicola d’Ulisse da Siena

Antonio Orsini

Pesellino

Pietro di Domenico da Montepulciano

Pietro di Miniato

Priamo della Quercia

Pseudo-Pier Francesco Fiorentino

Sano di Pietro

Scheggia

Paolo Schiavo

Starnina

Zanobi Strozzi

Taddeo di Bartolo

Tommaso del Mazza

Giovanni Toscani

Ugolino di Nerio

Vitale da Bologna

Venetian-Adriatic School, c. 1290-1300

Paduan School, c. 1320-30

Venetian Adriatic School, c.1340-60

Sienese School, mid-fourteenth century

Florentine School, late fourteenth century

Sienese School, c. 1400

Umbrian School, c. 1400

Marchigian School, c 1425-30

Sienese School, c. 1904

APPENDIX I: DOCUMENTS

APPENDIX II: PUNCH MARKS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

INDEX OF ACCESSION NUMBERS

INDEX OF PROVENANCE

PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS

Art History & Architecture

           European

           Exhibition Catalogs

           Medieval

Medieval and Early Modern Studies

           Medieval Art and Architecture