FEMALE NARRATOR:
These two panels by Pietro Lorenzetti belonged to a large altarpiece commissioned by the Carmelite religious order in Siena in 1329. They originally flanked a picture of the Virgin and Child with St. Nicholas and the Hebrew prophet Elijah.
The panel on your left depicts Elisha, a follower of Elijah, who witnessed his master’s miraculous ascension to heaven in a fiery chariot. The Latin passage on his scroll is from the Old Testament:
ACTOR:
“Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel.”
NARRATOR:
Like Elijah, who was venerated as the founder of the Carmelite order, Elisha generally appears in the Carmelite habit: a white mantle over a dark brown tunic. The presence of both saints in this altarpiece was a clever and original conceit, designed to bolster the Carmelites’ claim to be the only religious order with roots in the Bible.
The panel on your right shows St. John the Baptist, emaciated and dressed in animal skins to recall his life of self-denial in the desert. In his left hand he holds his traditional attribute, a reed cross with a long slender stem, with his right he points at the enthroned Virgin and Child, who were the subject of the missing central panel.
Full-size standing saints appeared earlier in Florentine painting, but Lorenzetti’s figures are the first in Siena, set in an illusionistic space and rendered in brilliant colors against a stenciled gold ground. In both style and composition, they are outstanding examples of 14th- century Sienese painting.
Saint John the Baptist
c. 1329
Pietro Lorenzetti (Italian, active c. 1306-c. 1348)
On View
This panel and that of the Prophet Elisha are fragments of a major altarpiece that belonged to the Carmelite church of San Niccolò del Carmine, Siena. The altarpiece functioned as a manifesto of the Carmelite Order, narrating its origin from the Old Testament prophet Elijah to his successor Elisha, to whom the Carmelites traced their heritage. Elisha and Saint John the Baptist originally flanked a central panel depicting the Madonna and Child enthroned with saints.
Lorenzetti presented both figures standing solidly within the clearly implied space of an architectural niche. Keenly observed details—the weathered skin and camel hair garment of the Baptist—impart vivid characterizations to these holy men. The artist’s sophisticated palette is evident in the striking use of red for the Baptist’s cloak and the myriad shades of white in Elisha’s cope. Full length, calm, and dignified, these figures form compelling and immediate images.
Details
- Artist Name: Pietro Lorenzetti (Italian, active c. 1306-c. 1348)
- Title: Saint John the Baptist
- Date: c. 1329
- Medium: Tempera and gold leaf on panel (one of a pair)
- Dimensions: 49 3/4 x 18 3/8 in. (126.4 x 46.7 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1973.08.1.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Presumably from a polyptych commissioned by the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Siena.
Jerome “Bonaparte” Wheat (1809-1895), Branford, Connecticut, by descent to;
Blanche Wheat Bauer (d. 1938, Wheat’s daughter), Branford, Connecticut, by descent ca. 1946 to;
Jocelyn Helen Bauer Baldwin (1909-1985, Wheat’s granddaughter), Branford, Connecticut; sold 24 March 1972 for $16,250 to;
[Newhouse Galleries, New York; stock no.18532A/B; in partnership with Bruno Meissner (4 May 1972; 2 share), Frederick Mont (August 1972; 1/4 share), and Piccolo; sold by Frederick Mont, Inc., New York, 5 March 1973 to;]
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Jerome “Bonaparte” Wheat (1809-1895), Branford, Connecticut, by descent to;
Blanche Wheat Bauer (d. 1938, Wheat’s daughter), Branford, Connecticut, by descent ca. 1946 to;
Jocelyn Helen Bauer Baldwin (1909-1985, Wheat’s granddaughter), Branford, Connecticut; sold 24 March 1972 for $16,250 to;
[Newhouse Galleries, New York; stock no.18532A/B; in partnership with Bruno Meissner (4 May 1972; 2 share), Frederick Mont (August 1972; 1/4 share), and Piccolo; sold by Frederick Mont, Inc., New York, 5 March 1973 to;]
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Three Loans from the Norton Simon Foundation: First Public Exhibition
- Princeton University Art Museum, 1973-05 to 1973-05
- Maginnis, Hayden B. J., Art Bulletin, figs. 5-6 pp. 183-211
- Previtali, G., Fenway Court, n. 12 p. 42
- Christa Gardnery von Teuffel, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, fig. 18 pp. 16-17
- Zeri, Frederico, Arte Illustrata, 1972, figs. 6,7 pp. 146-156
- Meiss, Millard, Three Loans from the Norton Simon Foundation: First Public Exhibition, 1973, figs. 2, 3
- Van Os, Henk, Sienese Altarpieces 1215-1460, 1984, figs. 105-106 pp. 94-95
- Volpe, Carlo, Pietro Lorenzetti, 1989, nos. 105-106 pp. 41-42, 135, 139, 140, 149
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 13
- Gilbert, Creighton, Christianity and the Renaissance, 1990, figs. 6.1, 6.2 pp. 166-168
- Italian Altarpieces 1250-1550: Function and Design, 1994, fig. 33 pp. 46, 48, 50
- Chiara Frugoni (ed.), Pietro e Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 2002, pp. 64-67
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 928A p. 352
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