The Italian Paintings before 1400
National Gallery Catalogues
Dillian Gordon
London, 2011
Summary
ln 1989, following the systematic programme of examination jointly carried out by the National Gallery's curators, conservators and scientists, the National Gallery published Art in the Making: Italian Painting before 1400, which is acknowledged as a key source for information about the methods and materials of painting of this period. For the present volume, all but two works have been reexamined in the conservation studios, and this has revealed, through infrared reflectography., the significance of underdrawings in early Italian painting, together with other new information regarding technique.
ln reviewing and in some cases reattributing the works catalogued here, the author takes account of the considerable body of new research published over the last twenty years, including that on paintings and fragments of paintings in other collections which are related to panels in the National Gallery.
Online extracts from this catalogue
- Barnaba da Modena, 'Scenes of the Virgin; The Trinity; The Crucifixion'
- Cimabue, 'The Virgin and Child with Two Angels'
- Jacopo di Cione, 'The Crucifixion'
- Bernardo Daddi, 'The Coronation of the Virgin'
- Duccio, 'Maestà Predella Panels'
- Duccio, 'The Annunciation'
- Duccio, 'The Healing of the Man born Blind'
- Duccio, 'The Transfiguration'
- Duccio, 'The Virgin and Child with Saints Dominic and Aurea'
- Giotto, 'Pentecost'
- Giovanni da Milano, 'Pinnacle Panels'
- Lippo di Dalmasio, 'The Madonna of Humility'
- Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 'A Group of Four Poor Clares'
- Lorenzo Veneziano, 'The Madonna of Humility with Saints Mark and John'
- Margarito d'Arezzo, 'The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Narrative Scenes'
- Master of the Borgo Crucifix (Master of the Franciscan Crucifixes), 'Umbrian Diptych'
About the text
These catalogue entries are a mixture of new ‘born digital’ entries, and entries from previously published catalogues. A third of the previously published entries were chosen from among the Gallery's most important paintings, and two thirds from paintings that are interesting, but often overlooked.
When converting the previously-published files we have tried to stay as close to the original texts and arrangements as possible, whilst also creating online entries that are self-contained. This means that sections like bibliographies and appendices appear in the individual entry webpage. Bibliographies have been collated from various sources (this is why, for example, individual references may be formatted differently). The way we tag items to add them to lists of references may mean that the hyperlinking of references appears inconsistent – we’ll be working on improving this.
Editorially, we have corrected any known errors. We have also acquired and cleared new images, so credit lines have been updated. Images, which often fell in the middle of running text, have been moved to the next paragraph break. The main image for each entry has been moved to the top. Captions which applied to more than one image have been divided so that each image has its own caption.
Texts remain as they were published. In a few cases an ‘update’ section summarises recent research.
