The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 09 March 2023

展示中 Permanent collection

  • Share
    ×
    • twitter
    • facebook
    • line
    • Copy permalink
  • Enlarge
  • Zoom
  • Print

On Display

Permanent collection

Carlo Dolci

Florence, 1616 - Florence, 1687

Mater Dolorosa

Date ca. 1655
Materials and Techniques oil on canvas
Size(cm) 82.5 x 67
Inscriptions Inscribed on the reverse: REGINA MARTIRUM ORA PRO NOBIS
Credit Line Purchased
Category Paintings
Collection Number P.1998-0002

This elegant work was created around 1655 when Carlo Dolci was 39 years old. The dark background yields to a faint light surrounding a beautifully sad image of the Madonna, wrapped in a blue robe created in deep lapis lazuli pigment. These factors all conspire to deeply appeal to the viewer. According to F. Bardinucci, the first to write a detailed biography of Dolci, from an early age Dolci was deeply faithful and was a lifelong member of the Order of St. Benedict. In addition to his large-scale religious works, around 1650 he began to paint relatively small-scale works depicting various half-length portraits of saints. This work is an extremely fine example of this type. The model for this image of the Madonna with folded hands can be found in the Madonna images of Titian, and the source for Titian's images may be found in the images of the Madonna that were extremely popular in Spain during the 16th-17th centuries. Dolci's paintings of the Madonna in this style became quite popular; there is one known extant copy of this work and other images of the Madonna with slightly different compositions are known. For many years the model for this painting was thought to be the painter's wife Teresa Bucherelli, whom he married in 1654, but comparisons with known portrait drawings of his wife reveal some questions about this attribution of the sitter. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 22)

Provenance

Possibly the like-sized oval Madonna from the Colonna Collection, Palazzo Colonna, Rome; sold in London by W. Young Ottley, 24 January 1801, lot 12; Carlo Dorci Madonna Dolorata Oval-2 ft. 8 ins. high by 2 ft. 2 ins. wide; Duke of Buckingham and Chandos until 1848; Lord Dudley and Ward 1848-1892; Christie's London, 8 December 1892, lot 60, bt by Mr. Dunthorne; Purchased by the NMWA, 1999.

Exhibition History

1993
Trafalgar Galleries: XII, London, 23 November 1993 - 10 December 1993, no. 12
2000
Tanka at the National Museum of Western Art: An Encounter between Poet and Art, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 25 July 2000 - 29 October 2000, cat. no. 11
2008
Masterpieces from the Vatican Museums and Christian Culture in Japan, Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, 1 November 2008 - 12 January 2009, cat. no. 224, col. repr.
2017
[Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017] Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: From the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, 22 April 2017 - 2 July 2017, Akita Museum of Modern Art, 15 July-18 September, cat. no. 12
2019
Virgin Mary of Japan: Mainly of Tokyo National Museum's Collection Relating to the Early Christian Faith in Japan, Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, 9 November 2019 - 7 December 2019, cat. no. 20

Bibliography

1848
Forster, Herny R. The Stowe Catalogue. London, 1848, lot 404.
1854
Waagen, G. Treasures of Art in Great Britain. vol. 2, London, 1854, p. 232.
1918
Graves, A. Art Sales. London, 1918, p. 230.
1988
The Provenance Index of the Getty Art History Information Program. Index of Paintings Sold in the British Isles. vol. 1, 1801-5, 1988, p. 237.
1995
Baldassari, F. Carlo Dorci. Turin, 1995, no. 99.
2000
Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 33 (April 1998-March 1999), 2000, Koshikawa, Michiaki. New Acquisitions. pp. 12-14, List of New Acquisitions. p. 44, col. repr.pp. 12-14, repr.
2006
Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 22, col. repr.
2009
Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 22, col. repr.
2013
Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 37, col. repr.
2019
Virgin Mary of Japan: Mainly of Tokyo National Museum’s Collection Relating to the Early Christian Faith in Japan(exh. cat.). Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region Special Exhibition Executive Committee (Nagasaki, Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture), 2019, cat. no. 20, col.repr.

Page top

Permalink:https://collection.nmwa.go.jp/en/P.1998-0002.html

©2022 The National Museum of Western Art, Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art