This painting is a collaborative work, done in the period when the two artists shared a workshop in Florence, from 1503 to 1509.

Forthcoming

?Gonzaga family, dukes of Mantua, Mantua; conte Gaetano Susanni, Mantua (by 1827–68; Susanni sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 28, 1868, no. 37, as "La Présentation de Saint Jean-Baptiste," by Francia); Alfredo Omfray, Naples (in 1871); Mme Baude, Paris (by 1891–94; sold to Lawrie); [T. Lawrie and Co., London, 1894–96; sold for $4,647 to Davis]; Theodore M. Davis, Newport, R.I. (1896–d. 1915; his estate, on loan to the MMA, 1915–30)

Trenton. State of New Jersey Museum. "Christmas exhibition," December 19, 1948–January 2, 1949, no catalogue.

Winter Park, Fla. Morse Gallery of Art. "Christmas exhibition," December 12, 1952–January 12, 1953, no catalogue.

Stamford, Conn. Stamford Museum. "Christmas exhibition," December 12–31, 1954, no catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," June 15–August 15, 1971, no catalogue.

Monumenti di pittura e scultura trascelti in Mantova e nel suo territorio. Mantua, 1827, pp. 1–2, pl. 1 (engraving by Carlo D'Arco and L. Bustaffa), as in the collection of Gaetano Susanni; attributes it to Francesco Francia and relates that on Saint John's cross the initials FFA were seen at one time but disappeared during a restoration.

Otto Mündler. Diary entry. May 27, 1857, p. 88v [published in Carol Togneri Dowd, ed. "The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler, 1855–1858," Walpole Society 51 (1985), p. 155], mentions seeing this picture in the Susanni collection in Mantua; notes that it is called a Francia but that he attributes it to Giovanni Antonio Sogliani (1492–1544).

J[oseph]. A[rcher]. Crowe, and G[iovanni]. B[attista]. Cavalcaselle. A History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Fourteenth Century. 3, London, 1866, pp. 498–99 n. 5, note that it is attributed to Francia, but call the "composition like a youthful one of Raphael, the character of the work Bugiardini's".

Bernard Berenson. Letter to Theodore M. Davis. 1896, attributes it to Bugiardini.

Emma B. Andrews. Journal entry. May 1, 1897 [in "A Journal on the Bedawin, 1889–1912: The Diary Kept on Board the Dahabiyeh of Theodore M. Davis During Seventeen Trips up the Nile," [New York], 1918, 2 vols., unpaginated], notes seeing a picture in Turin by Bugiardini with an infant Saint John the Baptist very similar to the one in Davis's collection; adds that Berenson had attributed the Davis picture to Bugiardini "a year or more ago" in a letter to Davis.

Joseph Breck. "Dipinti italiani nella raccolta del Signor Teodoro Davis." Rassegna d'arte 11 (July 1911), pp. 114–15, attributes it to Bugiardini and tentatively identifies it with the painting formerly in the Susanni collection; compares it with a tondo by Zacchia in the Berlin museum.

Joseph Archer Crowe, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. "Sienese and Florentine Masters of the Sixteenth Century." A History of Painting in Italy: Umbria, Florence and Siena from the Second to the Sixteenth Century. 6, London, 1914, p. 120 n. 1, Borenius quotes Breck's [see Ref. 1911] identification of this painting with the one from the Susanni collection.

Adolfo Venturi. "La pittura del cinquecento." Storia dell'arte italiana. 9, part 1, Milan, 1925, p. 426 n. 1, lists it as a work by Bugiardini.

Bryson Burroughs. "The Theodore M. Davis Bequest: The Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 26, section 2 (March 1931), pp. 14, 16, attributes it to Albertinelli.

Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 119, lists it as by Bugiardini.

Bernhard Berenson. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936, p. 103.

F. Mason Perkins. Letter. March 24, 1938, attributes it to Bugiardini.

Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, p. 61, ill., attributes it to Albertinelli; notes the influence of Fra Bartolomeo.

Federico Zeri. Letter. May 27, 1948, identifies the MMA painting as the one formerly in the Susanni collection, Mantua, and illustrated in Ref. Monumenti 1827.

Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School. London, 1963, vol. 1, p. 45.

Federico Zeri with the assistance of Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Florentine School. New York, 1971, pp. 188–89, ill., attribute it to Albertinelli, noting the influence of Fra Bartolomeo, Piero di Cosimo, and Raphael; suggest a date of about 1506.

Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 4, 336, 607.

S[ilvia]. Meloni Trkulja in Dizionario biografico degli italiani. 15, Rome, 1972, p. 16, attributes it to Bugiardini and calls it an early work, from before about 1505.

Ludovico Borgo Harvard University. The Works of Mariotto Albertinelli. New York, 1976, pp. 160–61, 300–302, Cat. Rais. I, no. 14, fig. 21, attributes it to Albertinelli, perhaps assisted by Bugiardini; dates it about 1506, and notes the influence of Raphael; states that the painting belonged to the Duc de Gonzagues in 1872.

Laura Pagnotta. Giuliano Bugiardini. Turin, 1987, pp. 28, 195, no. 9, fig. 9, identifies it as probably a work of collaboration between Albertinelli and Bugiardini in the first years of their association, about 1505, noting the influence of Raphael, perhaps specifically a drawing in the Musée Wicar, Lille [that is, in the Wicar collection in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille; no. 431].

Anna Matteoli. "Un'inedita 'Madonna' di Giuliano Bugiardini." Storia dell'arte 99 (May–August 2000), pp. 20, 22 n. 13, calls it a collaboration between Albertinelli and Bugiardini and dates it about 1505.

Andrea De Marchi in Fonds d'or et fonds peints italiens (1300–1560). Exh. cat., G. Sarti. Paris, 2002, pp. 178, 182, 184–86 n. 6, fig. 1, attributes it entirely to Bugiardini.

Fonds d'or et fonds peints italiens (1300–1560). Exh. cat., G. Sarti. Paris, 2002, pp. 172, 174 n. 9.

The painting is a collaborative work of Albertinelli and Bugiardini, dating from the period when they shared a workshop in the Via Valfronda in Florence, that is, from April 29, 1503 until about 1509.