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| Piero di Cosimo The Visitation, with St Nicholas and St Anthony Abbot ca. 1489-90 National Gallery of Art (U.S.) |
One by one these paintings and drawings made in Europe before 1500 accumulated in the running file of stimulating images that contingency places in my path. This is not a period that I pursue, but nor do I avoid the occasional piece of particular allure. Now they are brought together here from their faraway home in the 1400s. It was during this century that the old settled world of faith and the new world of observation and inquiry came to coexist as equals.
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| Carlo Braccesco Annunciation triptych 1490s Louvre |
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| Maso Finiguerra Torso 15th century drawing Morgan Library |
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| Francesco Francia Ancient scene of Sacrifice 15th century drawing Morgan Library |
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| Andrea Mantegna Christ descending into Limbo ca. 1475-80 engraving Victoria & Albert Museum |
Curators at the Victoria & Albert Museum stress the unorthodox presentation of the central figure in the Mantegna engraving above. There are, they say, extremely few images in the entire history of Christian art that display Christ with his back turned toward the viewer. Mantegna uses this shocking disposition to stress the enormity of Christ's heroic degradation as he steps toward the descent into Limbo.
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| Andrea Mantegna Study for the Removal of the Body of St. Christopher 15th century drawing Morgan Library |
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| Italian School Man wearing a cap 15th century drawing Morgan Library |
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| Italian School Head of a monk 15th century drawing Morgan Library |
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| Benozzo Gozzoli Saints Nicholas of Tolentino, Roch, Sebastian and Bernardino of Siena, with Kneeling Donors 1481 Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Silver Reliquary of St. Sebastian 1497 Victoria & Albert Museum |
The base of the reliquary above contains fragments of wood wrapped in silk. Curators speculate that these were probably believed to be shards of the arrows that pierced the saint.
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| Albrecht Dürer Self-portrait 1493 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Bicci di Lorenzo St. Nicholas providing dowries for poor young women 1433-35 Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Marco Zoppo Man carrying bundle 15th century drawing Morgan Library |
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| Giovanni Agostino da Lodi Profile of youth 15th century drawing Morgan Library |