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Christ's Descent Into Limbo at the Bristol City Art Gallery

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Christ's Descent Into Limbo at the Bristol City Art Gallery CHRIST’S DESCENT INTO LIMBO AT THE BRISTOL CITY ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM: A SINGULAR WORK OF ART by HAZEL WESTON A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham For the degree of MPHIL (B) Department of History of Art College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham September 2009 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Contents Page no. Acknowledgements 2 List of Illustrations 3 Introduction: Condition of the Bristol Painting, Subject and Related Images 8 Chapter One: Problematic Accounts 14 Chapter Two: An Altered Interpretation 29 Chapter Three: A Work of an Accomplished Master 48 Conclusion: Artistic Process and a Possible Patron 69 Bibliography 72 Illustrations 77 Appendix 103-108 1 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum for permitting me access to their curatorial and conservation files on Christ’s Descent into Limbo, for allowing use of the unpublished documents they own, and permission to take photographs of the painting. I am very grateful to Carolyn Lamb (fine art conservator at the Bristol Gallery) who provided me with infra-red photographs and x-rays of the painting as well as giving her professional opinion on the condition of the work. Professor David Parker from the Theology Department of the University of Birmingham and Professor Keith Elliott, of the Theology at the University of Leeds, kindly assisted my study into the theology of the subject. Sincere thanks also go to Kay Sutton (Director of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at Christie‟s) who provided invaluable information for my research. Finally, I am indebted to my supervisor David Hemsoll in the History of Art Department at the University of Birmingham. 2 List of Illustrations 1. Christ’s Descent into Limbo, oil with some resin on vellum stuck onto panel, 518 x 373mm, Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum 2. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, engraving, 440 x 353mm (sheet); 445 x 346mm (plate), late-1460s to early-1480s, National Gallery of Art, Washington 3. Christ’s Descent into Limbo, pen and brown ink with brown wash on vellum, 372 x 280mm, Bibliothèque Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris 4. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, tempera and gold on panel, 388 x 423mm, c.1492, Barbara Piasecka Johnson Collection, New Jersey 5. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, pen and brown ink with brown wash on paper, 270 x 200mm, c.1492, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection 6. Christ’s Descent into Limbo, Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum, x-ray photograph taken in 1987 7. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), Christ’s Descent into Limbo (detail), engraving, National Gallery of Art, Washington 8. Line drawing of detail from Andrea Mantegna‟s Christ’s Descent into Limbo, engraving 9. Christ’s Descent into Limbo (detail), Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum 10. Line drawing of detail from Christ’s Descent into Limbo, Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum 11. Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, tempera on wood, 450 x 444mm, 1320-5, Alte Pinakothek, Munich 12. Fra Angelico (c.1387-1455), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, fresco, 1442, 183 x 166cm, cell 31, Museo di San Marco dell‟Angelico, Florence 13. Jacopo Bellini (c.1400-c.1470), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, predella of the Gattamelata Altarpiece, tempera on panel, 285 x 580mm, c.1459/60 Museo Civico, Padua 3 14. Jacopo Bellini (c.1400-c.1470), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, silverpoint on grey chalk ground on vellum, 422 x 283mm, c.1430-60, sheet 22v of the Musée du Louvre Book, Paris 15. Jacopo Bellini (c.1400-c.1470), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, leadpoint on paper, 413 x 335mm, c.1455-65, sheet 26 of the British Museum Book, London 16. Duccio di Buoninsegna (c.1255-1319), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, tempera on wood, 510 x 535mm, 1308-11, Museo dell‟Opera del Duomo, Siena 17. Master of the Osservanza (active c.1436), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, tempera on panel, 343 x 432mm, c.1440-44, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University 18. Andrea di Bonaiuto (active 1443-77) ), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, fresco, 1366- 88, Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence 19. Pietro Lorenzetti (c.1280-1348), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, fresco, c. 1320, south transept of the Lower Church, San Francesco Assisi 20. Giovanni da Rimini (active 1292-1309), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, tempera on panel, c.1305, one panel of a diptych, Galleria Nazionale d‟Arte Antica, Rome 21. Giusto de Menabuoi (c.1320-1391), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, fresco, 1376-8, Baptistery, Cathedral, Padua 22. Veneto-Byzantine School, Christ’s Descent into Limbo, mosaic, thirteenth- century, Basilica di San Marco, Venice 23. Donatello (c.1386-1466), Christ’s Descent into Limbo, bronze relief, 1460-5, North Pulpit, Church of San Lorenzo, Florence 24. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), Death of the Virgin, tempera on panel, 540 x 420mm, c.1460, Museo del Prado, Madrid 25. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), St James Preaching, (now destroyed) fresco, c.1450, formerly Cappella Ovetari, Eremitani Chapel, Padua 26. Martin Schongauer (c.1448-1491), Nativity, engraving, 257 x 171mm, c.1470-5, National Gallery of Art, Washington 27. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), St Sebastian, canvas, 255 x 140 cm, c.1480, Musée du Louvre, Paris 28. Temptation of Adam and Eve, stone sculpture relief, fourteenth-century, west corner, Palazzo Ducale, Venice 29. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), Christ Crowned with Thorns, 103 x 64 cm, c.1490, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm 4 30. Giulio Campagnola (c.1482-c.1515-18), The Young Shepherd, engraving, 134 x 78 mm, c.1510 31. Giulio Campagnola (c.1482-c.1515-18), Landscape with Two Men Sitting near a Coppice, pen and brown ink, 134mm x 259mm, after 1510, Musée du Louvre, Paris 32. Giulio Campagnola (c.1482-c.1515-18), The Rape of Ganymede, engraving, 169 x 120mm, 1500–1505, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 33. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), Blood of the Redeemer, tempera on popular, 470 x 343mm, c.1460-5, National Gallery, London 34. Christ’s Descent into Limbo (detail), Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum, infra- red photograph taken in 1987 35. Christ’s Descent into Limbo (detail), Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum, infra- red photograph taken in 1987 36. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), The Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple, distemper on wood, 670 x 860mm, c.1454, Staatlich Museum, Berlin 37. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), The Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple, tempera on wood, 800 x 105mm, late 1460s, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice 38. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), Resurrection, oil on panel transferred to canvas, 1480 x 1280mm, 1475-79, Staatliche Museen, Berlin 39. Andrea Mantegna (1430/1-1506), Deposition, engraving, 452 x 362mm, c.1465, The British Museum, London 40. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), St Sebastian from the Polyptych of St Vincent Ferrer, tempera on panel, 1670 x 670mm, c.1460-5, Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice 41. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), St Terence (detail), predella panel of the Pesaro Altarpiece, oil on wood, 400 x 360mm, 1471-4, Museo Civico, Pesaro 42. Antonio Pisanello (c.1395-1455/6), Six Nude Women (detail), pen and ink on parchment, 222 x 165mm, c.1428-32, Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam 43. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), Pietà, oil on wood, 650 x 900mm, c.1505, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice 44. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), Pietà, oil on panel, 1060 x 840mm, 1471-74, Pinacoteca, Vatican 5 45. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), Sacra Conversazione (Madonna and Child with Two Saints), oil on wood, 58 x 107 cm, c.11490, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice 46. Gentile da Fabriano (c.1370-1427), Seated Woman (detail), Staatlich Museum, Berlin 47. Jacopo Bellini (c.1400-c.1470), The Annunciation Altar, tempera on panel, 1444, San Alessandro, Brescia 48. Jacopo Bellini (c.1400-c.1470), Madonna and Child, tempera on panel, 600 x 400mm, c. 1450, Musée du Louvre, Paris 49. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), St Jerome, oil on wood, 490 x 390mm, c.1505, National Gallery of Art, Washington 50. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), Madonna degli Albertti, oil on panel, 740 x 580mm, 1478, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice 51. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), St Jerome in the Wilderness, tempera on panel, 440 x 230mm, late-1450s to early-1460s, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham 52. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), St Jerome, tempera and oil on wood, 470 x 337mm, c.1480-5, National Gallery, London 53. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), St Jerome, oil on wood, 1510 x 1130mm, c.1480, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence 54. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), St Francis of the Desert, oil on panel, 1200 x 1370mm, 1480, Frick Collection, New York 55. Giovanni Bellini (c.1430-1516), Transfiguration, oil on wood, 1150 x 1520mm, c.1487, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples 56.
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