Object details
Object number
F21c5
Creator(s)
Italian, Orvieto
Title
Ceiling
Date
about 1500
Medium
Painted wood
Dimensions
890 x 587 cm (350 3/8 x 231 1/8 in.)
Provenance
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner through Richard Norton (1872–1918), art historian and archaelogist, in Rome, November 1897 for 8,000 lire.
Commentary
In 1897, Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased the ceiling of a building in the city of Orvieto, Italy. Little is known about its history. Probably painted in the early 1500s, the coffers - recessed compartments between the beams - depict mythological, biblical, allegorical, and moralizing scenes. The ceiling's large size, many coats of arms, and elaborate decoration suggest that it originally came from the palace of a noble family or a guild meeting hall.
Bibliography
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 13. (as Roman)
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 168.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston: 1935), p. 191.
Betty Chamberlain. “Gothic Room” in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 40.
A. Hyatt Mayor. "Mrs. Gardner Comes to Call." Fenway Court (1972), p. 40.
Fausto Calderai and Alan Chong. Furnishing a Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Collection of Italian Furniture (Boston: 2011), p. 190.
Pieranna Cavalchini and Amanda Esteves-Kraus (eds.). Portrait (Boston, 2012), p. 47. (quoting the Diary of Willard T. Sears, 28 July 1901)
Lucia Bay, "Unveiling the Italian Coffered Ceiling’s Hidden Story," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 18 February 2025, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/unveiling-italian-coffered-ceilings
Gallery
Dutch Room
Rights and reproductions
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