Full title | David |
---|---|
Artist | Ugolino di Nerio |
Artist dates | documented 1317-27; died possibly 1329 |
Series | The Santa Croce Altarpiece |
Date made | possibly 1325-8 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 55.2 x 31.2 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1983 |
Inventory number | NG6485 |
Location | Room 52 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This is part of a large multi-panelled altarpiece made for the high altar of the church of Santa Croce, Florence. It is a pinnacle panel (from the uppermost section of the altarpiece). There are two other pinnacle panels in our collection, as well as panels from other tiers.
The crowned figure in an ermine-lined cloak is King David, who appears in the Old Testament. He makes a blessing gesture with his right hand and holds a scroll in his left. It bears a damaged Latin inscription, translated as: ‘One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne’ (Psalm 132: 11). These words are a promise from God to David – who was traditionally thought to be the author of the Psalms – that his dynasty would be long and fruitful. Jesus Christ was thought to be descended from David, which gave him a royal, and divinely blessed, lineage (Matthew 1: 1–17).
This panel comes from the uppermost part of a large multi-panelled altarpiece made for the high altar of the church of Santa Croce, Florence. There were originally six of these pinnacle panels, four of which survive. There are two others in our collection, of Isaiah and Moses; one, showing the prophet Daniel, is in the Philip G. Johnson collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The panel depicts an Old Testament king, David, and was originally placed above a panel showing Saints Bartholomew and Andrew. There is only the faintest trace of the inscription that identified him – it’s on the left, next to his shoulder. This led to his previous misidentification as Aaron, the brother of Moses, who led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt. Technical analysis has revealed that David’s crown is made of gold and silver leaf which have been beaten together to create a duller shade of gold.
The crown indicates his status, as does his cloak, the white lining of which is painted with dark patches to resemble ermine, which was typically worn by royalty. He makes a blessing gesture with his right hand, and holds a scroll in his left. It bears a damaged inscription in Latin, translated as: ‘One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne’ (Psalm 132: 11). These words are a promise from God to David, who was traditionally thought to be the author of the Psalms, that his dynasty would be long and fruitful. Jesus Christ was thought to be descended from David, which gave him a royal, and divinely blessed, lineage (Matthew 1: 1–17).
Like the other pinnacle panels in our collection, this has holes in the areas to either side of the pointed arch for decorative framing elements to be slotted in.
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The Santa Croce Altarpiece
These panels were once part of a large altarpiece which adorned the high altar of the church of Santa Croce in Florence. It focused on the Passion of Christ (his torture and crucifixion) and the Resurrection – an appropriate theme, as the church was dedicated to the Holy Cross.
Drawings made in the late eighteenth century show how it was arranged originally. There were four tiers of images: the main tier had a central image of the Virgin and Child flanked by images of the saints within arches, which were decorated with angels (there are two sets of these in the National Gallery’s collection).
Above was a row of saints framed in pairs; we hold two pairs. The uppermost tier consisted of six pinnacle panels, three on either side of a central image which probably showed the Crucifixion, itself topped by an image of Christ making a blessing gesture. The predella (the lowest layer) consisted of seven scenes showing Christ’s suffering and death; we have four of these.
These panels were once part of a large altarpiece made by the Sienese painter Ugolino di Nerio for the high altar of the Franciscan church of Santa Croce in Florence. In 1566 it was removed and replaced with a Crucifix. The altarpiece focuses on the Passion of Christ (his torture and crucifixion) and the Resurrection – an appropriate theme, as the church was dedicated to the Holy Cross. The imagery of the altarpiece was a suitable backdrop to the church’s annual procession of a relic of the Cross.
Although the altarpiece was later dismantled and its panels are now in collections around the world, we have a good idea of how it looked originally. Drawings made in the late eighteenth century show the altarpiece when it was in the friary connected to the church. At that time, Ugolino’s signature was noted on the altarpiece’s frame. Technical analysis of the panels, carried out at the National Gallery, revealed where the panels were connected to each other, and proves the drawing must be an accurate representation of their original arrangement.
The main tier followed the conventional pattern for altarpieces in fourteenth-century Italy, with an image of the Virgin and Child placed centrally and flanked by images of saints (in this case, three on either side painted within pointed arches). The panel with the Virgin and Child does not survive, but three of the panels with saints are now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Angels were painted in the spandrels of each panel, and those once above Saint Louis of Toulouse and those once above Saint Francis are in our collection.
Above this main tier of images was another row of saints, smaller in scale and framed in six sets of pairs; Saints Bartholomew and Andrew and Saints Simon and Thaddeus are in our collection. The uppermost tier consisted of six pinnacle panels, three on either side of a central image which probably showed the Crucifixion, itself topped by a Blessing Redeemer (Christ making a blessing gesture). Three of the pinnacle panels – Isaiah, Moses and King David – are in our collection.
The lowest layer sat beneath the main tier: the predella. It was originally painted on one continuous piece of horizontal wood, but was later cut into seven individual scenes, all of which survive. We have four – The Betrayal of Christ, The Way to Calvary, The Deposition and The Resurrection – and three are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
There is no known dated painting by Ugolino. The altarpiece was probably commissioned by four brothers belonging to the Alamanni family; letters written to their descendants in the sixteenth century seem to refer to their coats of arms on the altarpiece, and the family seem to have had rights over the church’s high altar. It is likely to have been in position by 1326, the year that commemorated one hundred years since Saint Francis’s death, or 1328, the centenary of his canonisation.
There are differences in the quality of the painting between the predella panels in particular, which suggests the involvement of more than one artist. Indeed it was not unusual for a workshop of artists to collaborate on a work of this scale. Ugolino may have used his family workshop to complete this commission.










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