From its original location behind the altar of the Trinity at Florence cathedral, this image would have been visible across the entire length of the church. Mary, holding her breast, says to Jesus, "Dearest son, because of the milk that I gave you, have mercy on them." Jesus, touching the wound in his side, gazes up and asks, "My father, let those be saved for whom you wished me to suffer the Passion" as God the Father sends the Dove of the Holy Spirit down from Heaven.
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Detail - the Virgin Mary
Detail - Figures
Artwork Details
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Title:The Intercession of Christ and the Virgin
Artist:Attributed to Lorenzo Monaco (Piero di Giovanni) (Italian, Florence (?) ca. 1370–1425 Florence (?))
Date:before 1402
Geography:Made in Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Culture:Italian
Medium:Tempera on canvas
Dimensions:Overall: 94 1/4 x 60 1/4 x 1 in. (239.4 x 153 x 2.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings-Canvas
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1953
Object Number:53.37
Inscription: [on black band against background] PADRE MIO SIENO SALVI CHOSTORO PEQUALI TU / VOLESTI CHIO PATISSI PASSIONE (My Father, let those be saved for whom you wished me to suffer the Passion); DOLCIXIMO FIGLIUOLO PELLAC: / TE CHIO TIDIE ABBI MIA DI CHOSTORO (Dearest Son, because of the milk that I gave you, have mercy on them).
From the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy (removed sometime after 1846); [ William Blundell Spence 1814–1900, Florence (after 1846–sold 1856)] ; Alexander William Crawford Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford, 8th Earl of Balcarres 1812–1880, Haigh Hall, Wigan, Lancashire (1856–d.1880) ; by descent to his great-grandson, David Alexander Robert Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres, Haigh Hall, Wigan, Lancashire (sold 1946) ; his sale, Christie's, London (October 11, 1946, no. 18) ; [ Arthur Kauffman, London (1946–sold 1953)]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," June 15–August 15, 1971, no catalogue.
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Bellosi, Luciano. "La Mostra di affreschi staccati, al Forte Belvedere." Paragone 17 (November 1966). p. 78.
de Montebello, Philippe. "Four Prophets by Lorenzo Monaco." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 25, no. 4 (December 1966). pp. 155–56.
Meiss, Millard. French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late Fourteenth Century and the Patronage of the Duke. Volume 1, Text. London: Phaidon Press, 1967. p. 383 n. 103.
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Zeri, Federico. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Florentine School. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971. pp. 56–60.
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972. pp. 219, 354, 609.
Boskovits, Miklós. Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento. Florence: Edam, 1975. pp. 105, 229 nn. 91–94, pp. 386, 412, fig. 355, pl. 110.
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Pope-Hennessy, John. "Thoughts on Andrea della Robbia." Apollo 109 (March 1979). pp. 191–92, 197 n. 31.
Baetjer, Katharine. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980. p. 92.
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Végh, Janos. "The Particular Judgment of a Courtier: A Hungarian Fresco of a Rare Iconographical Type." Arte cristiana 74 (September–October 1986). p. 308, fig. 9.
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Lorenzo Monaco (Piero di Giovanni) (Italian, Florence (?) ca. 1370–1425 Florence (?))
ca. 1406–10
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