Ask the Scholar
Page 1 of 1
I can add historical knowledge about this page.
Page image
Document source description
This painting is the fragment of a fresco, a type of wall painting in which pigment is applied to plaster when it is still wet. It must have been part of a much larger composition that showed the Madonna in glory, probably holding the Christ Child and flanked by saints. Rays of light shining from the Madonna's mandorla (full-body halo) are still visible around her head. The fresco likely adorned the wall of a church or chapel that was later demolished.Formerly attributed to Alvaro Pirez (active 1411-34), a Portuguese painter who worked in Tuscany, the painting has recently been assigned to Giovanni da Riolo, a little-known painter who worked in his native region of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. The attribution to Giovanni is based on the fresco's presumed similarities to Giovanni's signed and dated (1433) polyptych at the Museo Diocesano, Imola.
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- c86703fbdc0feffe
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 38676
- Core
- obj
- Type
- drawing
DTO data
{
"id": "38676",
"sourceUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.1057",
"contentType": "drawing",
"stage": "normalized",
"title": "Head of the Madonna",
"description": "This painting is the fragment of a fresco, a type of wall painting in which pigment is applied to plaster when it is still wet. It must have been part of a much larger composition that showed the Madonna in glory, probably holding the Christ Child and flanked by saints. Rays of light shining from the Madonna's mandorla (full-body halo) are still visible around her head. The fresco likely adorned the wall of a church or chapel that was later demolished.Formerly attributed to Alvaro Pirez (active 1411-34), a Portuguese painter who worked in Tuscany, the painting has recently been assigned to Giovanni da Riolo, a little-known painter who worked in his native region of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. The attribution to Giovanni is based on the fresco's presumed similarities to Giovanni's signed and dated (1433) polyptych at the Museo Diocesano, Imola.",
"provenance": "[Said to have come from an oratory in the region of Florence]; Private collection, Florence, until 1911 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Balimore, after 1911 [mode of acquisition unknown] [through Berenson as agent (?)]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.",
"date": "mid 1400s (Renaissance)",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.1057",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"genreSpecific": [
"Painting & Drawing",
"paintings",
"fragments",
"frescoes"
],
"iiifBase": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL2_37.1057_Fnt_NF_C39.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL2_37.1057_Fnt_NF_C39.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL2_37.1057_Fnt_NF_C39.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"pageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensions": [
{
"units": "cm",
"width": 56,
"height": 53.3,
"depth": 8.6
}
],
"dimensionsRaw": "Plaster block H: 22 1/16 x W: 21 x D: 3 3/8 in. (56 x 53.3 x 8.6 cm); Pained surface approx. H: 19 11/16 x Approx. W: 18 7/8 in. (50 x 48 cm)"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "38676",
"label": "Head of the Madonna",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "drawing",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.1057"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "38676",
"sourceUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.1057",
"contentType": "drawing",
"stage": "normalized",
"title": "Head of the Madonna",
"description": "This painting is the fragment of a fresco, a type of wall painting in which pigment is applied to plaster when it is still wet. It must have been part of a much larger composition that showed the Madonna in glory, probably holding the Christ Child and flanked by saints. Rays of light shining from the Madonna's mandorla (full-body halo) are still visible around her head. The fresco likely adorned the wall of a church or chapel that was later demolished.Formerly attributed to Alvaro Pirez (active 1411-34), a Portuguese painter who worked in Tuscany, the painting has recently been assigned to Giovanni da Riolo, a little-known painter who worked in his native region of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. The attribution to Giovanni is based on the fresco's presumed similarities to Giovanni's signed and dated (1433) polyptych at the Museo Diocesano, Imola.",
"provenance": "[Said to have come from an oratory in the region of Florence]; Private collection, Florence, until 1911 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Balimore, after 1911 [mode of acquisition unknown] [through Berenson as agent (?)]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.",
"date": "mid 1400s (Renaissance)",
"citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/37.1057",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"genreSpecific": [
"Painting & Drawing",
"paintings",
"fragments",
"frescoes"
],
"iiifBase": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL2_37.1057_Fnt_NF_C39.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL2_37.1057_Fnt_NF_C39.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/art/PL2_37.1057_Fnt_NF_C39.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"pageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensions": [
{
"units": "cm",
"width": 56,
"height": 53.3,
"depth": 8.6
}
],
"dimensionsRaw": "Plaster block H: 22 1/16 x W: 21 x D: 3 3/8 in. (56 x 53.3 x 8.6 cm); Pained surface approx. H: 19 11/16 x Approx. W: 18 7/8 in. (50 x 48 cm)"
}
Document source extras
{
"med": "fresco",
"creator_ids": [
"17266"
],
"collection_ids": [
"REN"
],
"exhibition_ids": []
}
Page context
{
"seq": 1,
"pageIndex": 0,
"type": "photo",
"url": "https://art.thewalters.org/images/raw/PL2_37.1057_Fnt_NF_C39.jpg",
"mediaId": "c86703fbdc0feffe"
}