The Four Evangelists, within a Border of Flowers, Birds, and Insects

Description

His contemporaries boasted that the illuminator Giorgio Giulio Clovio could paint the entire ' Sistine Ceiling on a single page. This Michelangelesque miniature is actually a collage, and the coat of arms of Pope Gregory XIII suggests that it belonged to a manuscript housed in the Sistine Chapel. When Napoleon's troops raided Rome in the late 18th century, sixty manuscripts were stolen from the pontifical chapel; many of these are known to have been cut up and reassembled.

Provenance

Pope Gregory XIII (died 1583) and all succeeding popes, Sistine Chapel, Rome, c. 1572-1798 [Folds McCullagh and Giles 1997]; probably stolen from Sistine Chapel by Napoleon’s troops, 1798 [Folds McCullagh and Giles 1997]. Abate Luigi Celotti (died 1846?), Venice; sold, Christie’s, London, May 26, 1825, Celotti sale, lot 86, to Molteno [Folds McCullagh and Giles 1997]. William Young Ottley; sold, Sotheby’s, London, May 11-12, 1838, Ottley sale, lot 242, to Adamson [Folds McCullagh and Giles 1997]. Charles Rubens (died 1935), Highland Park, Ill.; by descent to his daughter, Katherine R. Lowenthal, Winnetka, Ill. [Folds McCullagh and Giles 1997]; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1982.

The Four Evangelists, within a Border of Flowers, Birds, and Insects

Giorgio Giulio Clovio

1572

Accession Number

97442

Medium

Tempera and gold paint on vellum, in paper montage with pen and brown ink and touches of watercolor

Dimensions

Overall: 36.7 × 25 cm (14 1/2 × 9 7/8 in.); Individual miniatures; Matthew: 7.8 × 7.5 cm (3 1/8 × 3 in.); Mark: 7.7 × 7.5 cm (3 1/16 × 3 in.); Luke: 7.8 × 7.8 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.); John: 7.8 × 7.7 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/16 in.); Border: 34.3 × 24.5 cm (13 9/16 × 9 11/16 in.)