Updated 02 April 2026
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
The Madonna and Child
| Date | c. 1516 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | Oil on poplar |
| Size（cm） | 89 x 66.6 |
| Inscriptions | Inscribed on the verso in a seventeenth-century hand: 14 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.2014-0001 |
Andrea del Sarto, a leading figure of the High Renaissance, exerted a tremendous influence on Florentine art throughout the sixteenth century. In creating this intimate representation of the Virgin and Child, a painting of his mature period, Andrea is thought to have used his future wife as model. The head of the Infant Christ is also based on a living model, although the sinewy expression of the body follows the sculptural style of the time. A painting with the same composition is held in Ottawa, Canada; presumably it was executed around the same time employing the same cartoon as used for the present work. (Source: Gallery label, July 2016)
Provenance
Clara Winthrop, Boston; bequeathed to All Saints Episcopal church, West Newbury, Mass., in the 1930s; sold Sotheby's, New York, 28 January 2000, lot 12; Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd., London, Private Collection, Austria; Christie's, London, 5 July 2011 (not sold); purchased by NMWA, 2014
Exhibition History
- 2002
- Titian to Tiepolo: Three Centuries of Italian Art, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 28 March 2002 - 16 June 2002, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, 7 July-5 October, cat. no. 5, pp. 60-61, illus.
- 2025
- [Special Exhibition] Emulation and Admiration: Two Stories of Collecting European Art European Master Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art and The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, the Special Exhibition Wing, 11 March 2025 - 8 June 2025, cat. no. 6
Bibliography
- 2000
- Sotherby's New York,eds. Old Masters 2000. Friday 28 January 2000, pp. 38-43, lot 12.
- 2001
- Brown, B. Andrea Del Sarto Rediscovered, London, 2001
- 2005
- Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and the Renaissance in Florence (exh. cat.). Johnston, C; Franklin, D. eds. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2005, pp. 142-144, under no. 37.
- 2011
- Christie's London eds. Old Master & British Paintings Including a Drawing by Michelangelo, Evening Sale. Tuesday 5 July 2011, pp. 214-219, lot 62.
- 2016
- Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 49 (Apr. 2014-Mar. 2015), 2016, Watanabe, Shinsuke. New Acquisitions. pp. 9-12, List of New Acquisitions. p. 26, repr.
- 2025
- Emulation and Admiration: Two Stories of Collecting European Art: European Master Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art and The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Kyoto City Museum of Art (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum); Nikkei Inc., eds. Tokyo, Nikkei Inc., 2025, pp. 35-36, 218, cat. no. 6, col. repr.