GIROLAMO DA SANTA CROCE
ITALIAN (VENETIAN SCHOOL), 1480/1485–1556
The Artist
The Annunciation
Until recently it was thought that Girolamo da Santa Croce
had been born in the town of Santa Croce near Bergamo
but new evidence points to another town of the same
name near Trieste in the Istrian region of Slovenia. In any
case, Girolomo spent his life working either in the great
seaport trading center of Venice or else along the Venetian
dominated Dalmatian coast.
1540s–1550
Oil on wood panel
Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Provenance: Contessa Ferretti, Florence; Count ContiniBonacossi, Florence; Samuel H. Kress Collection, New
York acquired 1937 ( K 1103 ); Columbia Museum of Art
since1962.
Girolamo is thought to have been apprenticed to the
Venetian painter Gentile Bellini and then, after his death
in 1507, to have been taken on by that artist’s very talented
brother, Giovanni, who numbered among his other students
Giorgione, Cima da Conegliana and Titian. In fact, the
influence of Giovanni Bellini and, through him, that of
Giorgione and Cima da Conegliana, as well as Titian,
is evident throughout Girolamo’s oeuvre. Content to
paraphrase the compositional elements of others, Girolamo
never achieved artistic independence and greatness. Yet if one
looks beyond his lack of originality, it is possible to appreciate
the artist’s talent for assimilation. Of particular note is his
use of brilliant color and the inclusion of pleasant landscapes
in his work. Whatever his failings, he was a precise and
skillful painter, as punctilious in detail as a Flemish master
– qualities which allowed him to enjoy extensive patronage
throughout the Venetian area.
A number of Girolamo’s paintings have survived, including
a 1527 Charity of St. Martin, painted for the church of
Luvigliano near Padua, a 1532 series of fourteen frescoes
representing scenes from the life of St. Francis Assisi; a Christ
in Benediction; and a small picture of the Martyrdom of St.
Lawrence, which has received some attention from recent art
historical research.1
The Painting
When one thinks of Venetian painting during the sixteenth
century, one naturally thinks of Titian and Tintoretto (see
cat. 47 and 48), both of whom practiced a painterly style
suffused with atmospheric effects. Girolamo’s Annunciation
is quite different.2 The clear and bright colors, the precise
definition of form, and jewel-like hardness seem more in
keeping with Flemish tradition than Venetian practice. In
fact, one can even detect the residuals of the old triptych
format, with a featured central scene complemented by side
panels.
The center of Girolamo’s composition is devoted to the
Annunciation itself and features an elegant Archangel
who rushes into the scene to announce the Immaculate
Conception. Mary kneels before a prie-dieu and modestly
and gracefully accepts the Divine Will. The event takes
place on a surreal stage set, at once church and bedchamber
(note the massive bed covered with rich red fabric behind
the Virgin). The apse-like bedchamber is illuminated by a
large bifore window. Below this runs a cornice shelf crowded
with fruit, books, and a flower-filled vase—all symbols of
the Virgin and her everlasting purity. The wall between the
cornice and a dado-like bench is covered with green fabric.
The whole scene takes place under the close supervision of
God the Father, who appears in a cloud bank flanked by
angels. God raises his arms as he dispatches the Dove of the
Holy Spirit on its flight toward the future mother of Christ.
When viewing this painting, the word “pastiche” comes
automatically to mind for it, in fact, is an assemblage of
elements lifted directly from the works of other artists.3 It has
long been recognized that much of the central Annunciation
event was meticulously copied from a painting by Titian
known today only through a detailed description recorded by
an admiring Pietro Aretino and from an engraving by Gian
Giacomo Caraglio (1500–65). In this respect, Girolamo’s
panel plays an important historical role for it preserves the
only painted memory of Titian’s lost masterpiece, executed in
Venice and sent to Isabella of Spain in 1537.4 The plagiarism
has indeed been so faithful that Girolamo even includes the
same Latin passage on the Virgin’s book, which reads SPES
MEA IN DEO EST (“My hope is in God.”). Slavishly copied
from Titian’s painting are such incidental elements as the
prie-dieu and the Virgin’s sewing basket (an iconographical
testimony to her housewifely rectitude). Girolamo deviates
from his model (if we are to believe in the faithfulness of the
Caraglio engraving) in respect to the angel-filled cloud bank
floating above the Virgin Annunciate. Titian, apparently,
omitted the figure of God from his composition being
content to depict only the heavenly host of angels encircling
the emphasized holy dove of the Immaculate Conception.
Noteworthy in Girolamo’s rendition are the inscriptions
on the scrolls that wrap about the columns held by angels
on either side of God the Father. These elements also were
copied from the Caraglio engraving. The columns represent
the Pillars of Hercules and the banners bear the Latin motto
PLVS ULTRA (Onward!) that appears upon the coat-of-arms
of Spain, a clear allusion to the royal Spanish patronage of
Titian’s painting, but irrelevant to Girolamo’s rendition.
While the central part of Girolamo’s painting is taken almost
verbatim from the Titian altarpiece, he chose other sources
for the subsidiary scenes to the left and right. Apparently the
two side scenes flanking the central episode function as visual
elaboration on the magnificent mystery of the incarnation,
nicely complementing the Annunciation in the middle and
playing the role, as noted earlier, as wings in this updated
triptych. That on the left, depicted through a pedimented
doorframe, was copied from Raphael’s famous painting of
The Holy Family with the Infant St. John and St. Elizabeth,
commonly called La Perla (The Pearl) and now in the Prado
Museum in Madrid.5 Although seemingly unrelated to the
main theme, this beautifully rendered depiction of the Holy
Family was intentionally included to remind the viewer of
the result and fruition of the Annunciation. On a niche
directly above the doorway stands a fictive sculpture of Isaiah,
the prophet who foretold the Immaculate Conception,
unfolding a scroll with his prophesy from Isaiah 7:14 ECCE
VIRGO CONCIPIET (“Behold a virgin shall conceive”).
Columbia Museum of Art
On the right side, a similar opening is visible, although
in the place of classical simplicity, we now find fictive
sculptural reliefs inspired by the Book of Genesis. Directly
above the lintel of the door Cain is viciously murdering his
brother while on the left post appear four scenes narrating
the creation of Eve, God’s admonition to Adam and Eve,
the Fall, and the expulsion from Paradise. These episodes,
repeatedly referring to the sinful nature of humankind,
provide the rationale for the redemptive mission of Christ
which, of course, begins with the Annunciation. Through
this elaborate portal can be glimpsed portions of a room
(a church sacristy?). At the far end of this room, raised
upon a cornice, is a polychromed sculptural representation
of the Crucifixion, a reminder of Christ’ unavoidable fate
but also an assurance of the fulfillment of God’s promise
for mankind’s redemption. Two female figures apparently
in Benedictine habit, one garbed in black and the other
in white, stand below the cross, engaged in conversation.6
Paintings by Titian and Raphael are demonstrably the
sources for the other elements in Girolamo’s composition
but the inspiration for this scene is not so easily recognizable.
Paintings by Gentile Bellini, Lazzaro Bastiani (see cat.18) and
the rather obscure Venetian artist Giovanni Mansueti (active
1485-1526) have been suggested as providing the inspiration
for the figure types.
For whom Girolamo da Santa Croce painted this
Annunciation is unknown; no relevant documentation has
surfaced. An internal clue, however, may be found in the
presence of the two nuns. These two contemporary figures,
are spatially detached from the rest of the composition and
appear to have no relevance to the Annunciation theme.
Their inclusion might well point to this painting as having
been commissioned by a Benedictine conventual, perhaps,
considering Girolamo’s retention of the angelic allusions,
with Spanish connections.
Whoever the patron, he or she was not alone in appreciating
Girolamo’s composite composition, for a variant of it is
now in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.7
That version preserved the Titian-derived Annunciation but
introduced certain changes, including the addition of the
Christ Child in the space between the dove and the Virgin
and alterations in the secondary scenes at the left and right.
Other elements from Girolamo’s Annunciation in Columbia
recur in his A Bishop Saint Adoring the Madonna and Child
(bed and bifore window), now part of the Kress Study
Collection at Amherst College, and in his The Resurrected
Christ Appearing to his Mother (conversing figures),
formerly in the Baron Lazzarini Collection in Rome and
in the collection of C. Marshall Spink in London.8 Clearly
Girolamo did not limit his plagiarizing to the work of others.
The complexities of Girolamo da Santa Croce’s sources for
his Annunciation are further complicated by what the artist
painted over.9 A hint of what lies beneath the surface appears
in the murky area below the bifore where it is apparent that
the artist originally intend to extend the window. Other
pentimenti (underpaintings) have been revealed in x-ray
examinations or, in some cases, by very close observation.
Beneath God the Father, for example, a group of figures
depicting the stigmatization of St. Francis is visible through
the transparency of the paint in the area of the landscape.
Also on the back wall, underneath the vases, there used
to be two female figures, visible today only through X-ray
photographs. On the left side a Nativity was originally
situated around the space occupied by Joseph, including an
angel above St. Anne’s head that was subsequently painted
over. As the radiographs prove, there also used to be an
additional group next to the conversing nuns with a tall
figure resting a hand on the shoulder of the white-dressed
nun (the hand remains as a black spot on her shoulder).
It is also through X-rays that a number of alterations become
visible proving that the artist made liberal and numerous
changes to his original version of the painting. On the left
side where Girolamo faithfully copied Raphael’s La Perla,
there was originally a different composition, the exact
content of which cannot be determined. Furthermore, the
two windows in the center were significantly lower, almost
level with Gabriel’s wings, a change that is still visible in the
dark shading. Finally, it has been ascertained that this central
window was once an opening to a vast landscape with a
prominent kneeling figure that was probably a representation
of Moses. Since these elements depart considerably from
the main subject of the Annunciation and appear to be
thematically and semantically unrelated to the rest of the
panel, one might conclude that Girolamo recycled not only
the ideas for his Annunciation but the panel upon which he
painted it as well.
Columbia Museum of Art
by Argiri Aggelopoulou
Exhibitions: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,
1941-52; Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii,
1952-60; “Religion in Painting,” Arkansas Arts Center, Little
Rock, AK, 7 December 1963-30 January, 1964; “Venetian
Paintings of the Renaissance,” Georgia Museum of Art,
Athens, GA, 31 March - 17 June 1990.
Kress Foundation File Opinions: Written opinions from
Bernard Berenson, Giuseppe Fiocco (1937), Roberto Longhi
(1937), Federico F. Mason Perkins, William E. Suida (1937),
and Adolfo Venturi who all agree in the attribution to
Girolamo da Santa Croce.
Specific Literature: Preliminary Catalogue, p. 179, no. 469;
Book of Illustrations, p. 181; William E. Suida “Addenda
to Titian’s Religious Oeuvre,” Gazzette des Beaux-Arts 24
(1943), pp. 355-56; William E. Suida, The Samuel H.
Kress Collection in hte Honolulu Academy of Arts: Catalogue
(Honolulu, Hawaii: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1952) pp.
52-53; Berenson 1957, p. 155; Catalogue 1962, pp.6971; Census, pp. 93, 305, 575; Shapley 1968, pp. 192-93;
Andrew Ladis, Bruce Cole, et al, Venetian Painters of the
Renaissance, Athens, GA: Georgia Museum of Art, 1991, pp.
34-37.
Additional Bibliography: F. Gibbons, “Giovanni Bellini and
Rocco Marconi,” The Art Bulletin, 44 (1962), p. 127; K.
Prijately, “Le opere di Girolamo e Francesco da Santa Croce
in Dalmatia,” Arte Lombarda 12`(1967), p. 55; Harold
Wethey, The Paintings of Titian, London: Phaidon, 1969, I,
p. 71.
Condition: The panel is in good condition since it has been
subjected to only a few restorations. In February 1962
some blisters appeared and Mario Modestini restored the
damaged areas by securing the pigments with wax mixture
adhesive. The most severe threat the painting had to face
was a colony of termites which managed to eat parts of the
panel before it was discovered in May of 1962. The panel
was finally fumigated in 1975, after several attempts to
control the termites by less drastic means. The open hollows
were subsequently filled with an adhesive filler. Despite the
extensive problems with the support, the surface, itself, is in
a good state with the brilliant colors being well preserved and
only the copper green being a little overcleaned in the past,
perhaps because it had darkened. The lapis is of excellent
quality and has been freely used for the Madonna, Gabriel,
the sky, God the Father, and His accompanying angels.
Frame: The frame is old but not original to the painting.
Dating from the seventeenth century, it has survived multiple
alterations in size and surface reworking. The varnish has
worn and repair work had to be done. Some of the side
molding has cracked open leaving several holes. In its
proportions and use of acanthus-leaf decoration, the frame is
in aesthetic harmony with the classical mood of the painting.
Notes:
1. See for example Robert Gaston, “Tintoretto, the Santa
Croce painters, and the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,”
Australian Journal of Art I (1978) 7–26.
2. That the Columbia Annunciation is by Girolamo da Santa
Croce has seldom been disputed with only F. Heinemann
in his Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, Venice: Neri Pozzi,
1959, p. 183, disagreeing with the attribution and
preferring to see Girolamo’s son Francesco as the artist.
See Shapley 1968, p. 193, n. 2.
3. The unpretentious “cut and paste” method employed in
the painting may be perceived as a lack of inventiveness,
but we need to keep in mind that originality was not
valued in the Renaissance in the same way that it is today
and that artists very often copied from famous works,
sometimes at the request of their patrons.
4. Titian’s missing masterpiece, it was originally
commissioned by the Venetian convent of Santa Maria
degli Angeli in Murano but, unable to pay the artist the
requested 500 ducats, the nuns finally had to reject it.
Vasari claims that, following the advice of Pietro Aretino,
Titian sent the painting to Isabella of Spain as a “gift,”
hoping, to curry the favor of the Spanish monarchy. In
this he was successful, receiving 200 ducats. The panel
was placed in the royal palace at Avanjuez and remained
there until the Napoleonic period when it disappeared, a
probable casualty of the Peninsula War and the Spanish
insurrection. Titian’s masterpiece, or the engraving
of it, provided a compositional source for a number
of artists. See, for example, a painting attributedto a
late seventeenth-century Roman painter auctioned on
20 September 2006 as Lot no. 58 at the Casa d’Aste
Babuino, Rome.
5. Raphael’s La Perla, which actually may have been painted
by Giulio Romano sometime between 1518 and 1523
but based upon a design by Raphael, is thought to have
been painted for Lodovico Canossa, Bishop of Bayeux,
who died in 1532. According to his will, the painting
remained in the Canossa family palace in Verona (where
Girolamo da Santa Croce might have seen it). Later the
painting was sold and passed through the hands of the
d’Este, the Sforza, the Gonzaga, Charles I of England
Columbia Museum of Art
and, eventually, into the collection of Philip IV of Spain,
who is said to have called the painting” the pearl” of his
collection.
6. Even though no definite source has been found, the
white-dressed figure bears stunning similarities to a St.
Lorenzo Giustiniani painted by Girolamo’s teacher Gentile
Bellini and presently located at the Academy in Venice.
7. This is the version noted in Shapley 1968, described as
having been in the Achillito Chiesa Collection in Milan
but at the time of her writing in 1968 of unknown
location. It was illustrated in William E. Suida “Addenda
to Titian’s Religious Oeuvre,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 24
(1943), pp. 355-62. It also is discussed and illustrated in
Ladis and Cole, Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, p. 36.
8. Ladis and Cole, Venetian Painters of the Renaissance, p. 36.
9. Ibid, p. 37.
Columbia Museum of Art