{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O127351"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127351/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019LY9599/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019LY9599/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019LY9599","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JX3843","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX7386","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O127351/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O127351","accessionNumber":"7559-1861","objectType":"Statue","titles":[{"title":"The Virgin Annunciate","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The statue formed part of the altar in Santa Maria dei Servi at Lucca set up by Giovanni and Martino Bernardini in 1519. It was originally set in the central niche of a tabernacle, which still survives in the Chapel of the Sacrament to the left of the High Altar. The statue of the Virgin Annunciate was retained over the original Bernardini altar in a new niche until about 1840, when the church was restored and the sculpture sold. Niccolo was the third son of Matteo Civitali, the most famous sculptor in Lucca during the Renaissance. He was employed as an architect by the Bernardini in 1512 to reconstruct their palace. Giovanni Bernardini was an important merchant, banker and public figure in Lucca. He was appointed gonfaloniere (head of a city community) in 1517.","physicalDescription":"The woman kneels on a tasseled cushion with her hands in a prayer position.  She wears a very simple ghirlanda (a roll of cloth wrapped around the head) with a rosette in the centre, a dress with a ribbon belt around her waist and a mantle.  The cushion is carved only in the front, and the sides and back of the base are squared off.  The back of the figure is fully carved. She has a flat ponytail at the nape of her neck, and her feet are hidden under the drapery of her mantle. She has traditionally been identified as the Virgin Mary, but both her costume and the nature of the carving do not support this identification.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Civitali, Niccolò","id":"A23259"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"AAT25181"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Marble, carved","categories":[{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2019LY9599","2017JX3843","2019LX7386"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES397817"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"statue","id":"AAT47600"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Lucca","id":"x37089"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1519","earliest":"1519-01-01","latest":"1519-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"105.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased for 120 lire from the Gigli-Campana collection and included in Migliarini, (1858, p.56 tav.lxvi).  Migliarini ascribed it to Matteo Civitali and said that Gigli had claimed it once belonged in the collection of Raffaello Borghini. Robinson believed Matteo Civitali to be the artist and included the work in his 1861 catalogue. (Robinson, 44). In his monograph on Matteo Civitali, Yriarte also credited him with the sculpture. (Yriarte, pp.124-125, fig.16)  \r\nStefano Bardini believed it to be a forgery and it was removed from the museum. (Pope-Hennessy, 279). Pope-Hennessy cited only a manuscript note in the archive for Bardini’s opinion, but not the location of the note. Bardini died in 1922, which provides a terminus ante quem for the sculpture’s removal. Maclagan and Longhurst did not include the sculpture in their 1932 catalogue, which could indicate that it was not on display at this time. It is not clear when it was returned to the museum.\r\nPope-Hennessy attributed it to Niccolò Civitali, Matteo’s son, stating that this had been a long-held belief in Lucca. (Pope-Hennessy, 281). He believed that it came from an altar commissioned by Giovanni and Martino Bernardini in 1519, based on a seventeenth-century description of the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Lucca. However, his interpretation of the documents, or Lightbown’s reading of them, do not appear to be correct. According to Pope-Hennessy, the description originally stated that  Niccolò Civitali created a statue of the Virgin Annunciate for a niche of the Bernardini altar in the chapel dedicated to the Annunciate, but was later modified to read “Matteo Civitali.”  However, the document makes no reference to Niccolò, and the “N.” that was transcribed is in fact the Italian word “dal,” thus indicating “by Civitali.”  The insertion of “Matteo” appears to have been by the same hand, and the deletions and insertions result from the author rephrasing as he wrote. The pagination published by Pope-Hennessy was either incorrect or revised at a later date. He noted that the comments came from f.323, which is now f.328.  He did not comment on the statements on f.323, which were copied from Giuseppe Civitali’s (d.1572) Storia di Lucca, in which he described the Altar of the Annunciation in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi as the work of his relative Niccolò Civitali . No mention was made of what sculptures the Chapel contained.\r\nPope-Hennessy noted that the base of the sculpture appeared to match the width of a niche in the same altar though he did not provide the dimensions of either (Pope-Hennessy, 280). Harms accepted Pope-Hennessy’s attribution to Niccolò. (Harms, 188-189).","historicalContext":"The clothing and hairstyle of the figure vary from those traditionally found in images of the Virgin. The ghirlanda that she wears is very simple for this type of headgear, which was usually elaborately embroidered, brocaded, or decorated with jewels and flower patterns.  This one appears to be made of plain cloth, with only one rosette in the centre. Although this type of simplicity may fit in with the personage of the Virgin Mary, such headgear had mainly fallen out of favour by the sixteenth century, and in any case did not exist in such simplified form. \r\n\r\nThe top of this figure’s head is not carved into locks of hair, but is smooth. This does not accord with the view from the front, as ghirlande were placed over a bare head, like a type of headband. Instead, it resembles a hat rather than a ghirlanda, which is not typical headgear for Renaissance women nor commonly found on sculptures of the Virgin. Yriarte inexplicably claimed that this type of hat was typical in Matteo Civitali’s oeuvre.\r\n\r\nIn Italian Renaissance painting and sculpture, the Virgin is shown veiled, or with her hair elaborately dressed and reminiscent of how noble and/or rich women wore their hair, or a combination of the two.  The hairstyle of this statue, however, shows hair drawn back into a flat, short ponytail, which is atypical for the period. During the Renaissance in Italy, women’s hair was usually cut short over the ears and then curled. The long hair at the back was then braided or put in a bun. False hair was often added to create buns.  Another popular style, especially at the Northern courts, was to have long hair braided into a coazzone bound with ribbons, false braids or pieces of linen called bende. \r\n\r\nThe hair on this statue, parted in the middle, shares certain similarities with the hair of  Matteo Civitali’s Virgin from the Altar of San Regolo in the Lucca Cathedral (c.1484).  However, the San Regolo Virgin’s hair is wavier and more natural looking than that of the V&A sculpture. From the front, the hairstyle of the V&A figure is closer to that worn by a Virgin in a relief by Francesco and Bernardino del Maestro of the “Virgin and Child  with Saints John the Baptist and Andrea” from the Church of San Giovanni Battista in Fossola (Massa Carrara) (Rapetti, pp. 303-304). However, this relief dates to about 1545, much later than  the date ascribed to the V&A sculpture. The Fossola Virgin, as is more typical, wears a veil and not a ghirlanda.\r\n\r\nThere are also several difficulties with the dress that the figure wears. The treatment of the collar is again similar to that of the Fossola Virgin, taking the form of a band with gathering underneath it.  However, the V&A sculpture also has a squared-off area under the collar which may have been intended to indicate an apron. The dress has ribbon around the waist, and the top part of the dress – or apron – ends several inches below the waist.  This type of apron or shirt is highly unusual. The straight edge of drapery found just below the ends of the ribbon ties is also not commonly seen. The Virgin Mary is most often depicted wearing a dress under a mantle and not an apron. Similar blousing just under a figure’s waist is commonly much looser and associated with angels, and seems to suggest fantastic clothing.\r\n\r\nThe sleeves here end in pleated cuffs, rather than the typical tight plain cuffs found in Renaissance Italian dress. If decorated, cuffs remained flat and embroidered. The Fossola Madonna also has cuffs though they are not pleated.\r\n\r\nThe mantle of the V&A figure has similarities to that worn by the Fossola Virgin. However, the carving on the V&A figure has more of a curve in the sleeve on her left side, which is folded back over her arm in an S curve, while the sleeve on her right side is more closely adheres to her arm. The folds around her upper arms also differ from the left side to the right side.  Her right side evidences deeper under cutting, while her left is more angular.  \r\n\r\nThere are also parallels in the hair and collar of the dress with  a “Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist and St. Vincent” relief by the same artists of the Fossola Virgin over the entrance door to the small church of San Vincenzo in Ameglia (Liguria). (Rapetti, 305-307).\r\n\r\nThe back of the sculpture also presents some anomalies. Though proportionate from the front, the distance between her knees and feet is much too short, though this could be explained by an intended location in a niche. However, the back is fully carved, and the feet are indicated under the layers of her mantle. Usually when sculpture was not meant to be seen from the back, sculptors generally roughed out the form but did not bother to carve details. Here the edge of the cloak, the ponytail, and the feet under the mantle have been carved with more detail is usual.","briefDescription":"Statue, the Virgin Annunciate, marble, by Niccolò Civitali, Italy, Lucca, 1519","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Migliarini, A. M. <font -u>Museo di sculture del Risorgimento: raccolto e posseduto da Ottavio Gigli</font> ,1858, p.56 tav.lxvi"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Harms, Martina, <font -u>Matteo Civitali, Bildhauer der Fruhrenaissance in Lucca</font>, Munster, Rhema, 1995, 188-189"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kurz, Otto, <font -u>Fakes: A Handbook for Collectors and Students</font> London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1948."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Rapetti, Caterina, <font -u>Storie di marno: Sculture del Rinascimento fra Liguria e Toscana</font>, Milan: Electa, 1998."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pope-Hennessy, John, <font -u>Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum</font>, London, 1964"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1861 <u>In</u>: <u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I</u>. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 35"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. <u>Art Bulletin</u>. Vol. L, 1968, p. 99"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Virgin Annunciate","id":"N5281"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"The statue formed part of the altar in Santa Maria dei Servi at Lucca set up by Giovanni and Martino Bernardini in 1519. It was originally set in the central niche of a tabernacle, which still survives in the Chapel of the Sacrament to the left of the High Altar. The statue of the Virgin Annunciate was retained over the original Bernardini altar in a new niche until about 1840, when the church was restored and the sculpture sold. Niccolo was the third son of Matteo Civitali, the most famous sculptor in Lucca during the Renaissance. He was employed as an architect by the Bernardini in 1512 to reconstruct their palace. Giovanni Bernardini was an important merchant, banker and public figure in Lucca. He was appointed gonfaloniere (head of a city community) in 1517.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["7559-1861"],"accessionNumberNum":"7559","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1861,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LV8338"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-10-07","recordCreationDate":"2006-08-23","availableToBook":true}}