Ercole de’ Roberti worked in Bologna and, from 1486, in Ferrara, where he was associated with the brilliant court of the ruling Este family. Whereas his earlier works possess an almost frenzied emotional intensity, this late Virgin and Child is calmer, expressing a gentler melancholy. Roberti’s mannerisms are nevertheless evident in the exaggerated, slender fingers of the Virgin, which seem to barely hold the Christ Child, even as they press into his flesh.
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Fritz Harck, “Quadri di maestri italiani in possesso di privati a Berlino,” Archivio storico dell’arte 2 (1889), p. 209.
Tancred Borenius, The Painters of Vicenza (London, 1909), p. 158, ill. opp. p. 158.
S. Rumor and M. H. Bernath “Buonconsiglio, Giovanni” in Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart , vol. 5 (Leipzig, 1911), p. 229.
J. A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in North Italy, 2d ed., vol. 2, ed. by T. Borenius (London, 1912), p. 140 n. 1.
Adolfo Venturi, Storia dell’arte italiana, vol. 7, pt. 4 (Milan, 1915), p. 636, fig. 408.
Roberto Longhi, Officina ferrarese, 1934, reprinted with later additions in Opere complete di Roberto Longhi, vol. 5 (Florence, 1956), pp. 42, 103 n. 83, 131, 181, fig. 141.
Daniel Catton Rich, Catalogue of Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection of Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings (Chicago, 1938), p. 10, no. 6, pl. v.
S. Ortolani, Cosimo Tura, Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de’ Roberti (Milan, 1941), p. 170.
Katharine Kuh, “The Worcester Gift,” Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 41 (1947), pp. 58–59.
Benedict Nicolson, The Painters of Ferrara: Cosme Tura, Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de’ Roberti, and Others (London, 1950), p. 19.
Mario Salmi, Ercole de’ Roberti (Milan, 1960), pp. 31, 55, ill.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), pp. 202–03.
Eberhard Ruhmer, “Ergänzendes zur Zeichenkunst des Ercole de’ Roberti,” Pantheon 20, 4 (1962), p. 244, fig. 8.
Lionello Puppi, Ercole de’ Roberti (Maestri del colore 132) (Milan, 1966), n. p., pl. IX.
Eberhard Ruhmer, “Roberti, Ercole de’” in Encyclopedia of World Art (New York, 1966), col. 230, pl. 158.
Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools, vol. 1 (London, 1968), p. 121.
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections (Cambridge, Mass., 1972), p. 175, 323, 571.
Rosemarie Molajoli, L’opera completa di Cosmè Tura e i grandi pittori ferraresi del suo tempo, Francesco Cossa e Ercole de’ Roberti (Milan, 1974), pp. 98–99, no. 122, ill.
Joseph P. Manca, The Life and Art of Ercole de’ Roberti, Ph. D. diss. (Columbia University, 1986, Ann Arbor, Mich), pp. 21, 171–74, 235, 305–07, no. 21, fig. 21.
Daniele Benati, Francesco Bianchi Ferrari e la pittura a Modena fra ‘4 e ‘500 (Modena, 1990), pp. 64, 188-19, fig. 40.
Kristen Lippincott, “A Masterpiece of Renaissance Drawing: A Sacrificial Scene by Gian Francesco de’ Maineri,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 17, 1 (1991), pp. 13, 89 n. 13, fig. 5.
Joseph P. Manca, The Art of Ercole de’ Roberti (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 14-15, 65-66, 142–43, no. 21, fig. 21.
Christopher Lloyd, Italian Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Collection (Chicago, 1993), pp. 209–212 , ill.
Monica Molteni, Ercole de’ Roberti (Milan, 1995), pp. 88-89, 152, no. 27, ill.
Kristen Lippincott, “Roberti, Ercole (d’Antonio) de’” in Dictionary of Art, vol. 26 (London, 1996), p. 458.
Enrico Maria Dal Pozzolo, Giovanni Bonconsiglio, detto Marescalco. L’opera completa (Milan, 1998), p. 204, no. R5, ill.
Luke Syson, “Ercole de’ Roberti: The Making of a Court Artist” in Ercole de’ Roberti. The Renaissance in Ferrara, exh. cat., J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1999; also published as supplement to Burlington Magazine 141, 1153 (April, 1999), pp. xiii, xxxii, under nos. VI - VIII.
The University of Chicago, The Renaissance Society, Religious Art from the Fourth Century to the Present Time, 1930, no. 31, as Buonconsiglio.
The Detroit Institute of Art, Italian Paintings of the XIV to XVI Century, 1933, no. 100, as Buonconsiglio.
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Christmas Story in Art, 1938–39, no cat.
Adolf von Beckerath, Berlin, by 1889 [Harck 1889]. Benedict and Co., Berlin; sold by Benedict and Co. to Charles H. Worcester, Chicago, 1929; intermittently on loan to the Art Institute from 1930; given to the Art Institute, 1947.
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