Exhibitions

+zoom	Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop (German, 1472–1553) Portrait of Martin Luther and His Wife, Katharina Von Bora, 1525 Oil on panel Unframed: 7 5/8 x 12 3/8 inches (195 x 315 mm) Framed: 13 1/4 x 18 inches (337 x 457 mm) Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909; AZ038 Cranach painted this pair of portraits in 1525, the year Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, a former Cistercian nun who had escaped from her convent with Luther's help in 1523. Luther argued against the practice of celibacy within the church, asserting his belief in clerical marriage with his own union. A friend of Luther's and a witness at his wedding, Cranach thereafter became the principal portrait painter of the couple.

+zoom	Workshop of Giorgio Andreoli, called Giorgio da Gubbio (Italian, ca. 1465/70–ca. 1553) Plate with a Woman in Profile, 1529 Majolica 10 5/8 x 1 3/8 inches (270 x 35 mm) Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1907; AZ028 Signed and dated 1529 on the back by the artist, this plate—depicting a woman identified by the inscribed scroll simply as Giustina—is typical of those produced in Italy during the Renaissance and may have been part of a larger service that commemorated a special occasion, perhaps a wedding.

+zoom	Giorgio Andreoli, called Giorgio da Gubbio (Italian, ca. 1465/70–1553) Plate with Tree and Arms, 1519 Majolica, with green, blue, pink, orange, and ochre glazes 9 1/2 x 1 1/8 inches (242 x 30 mm) Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1910; AZ030 A central green tree divides the roughly symmetrical composition of military trophies on this plate, produced in the workshop of Giorgio da Gubbio, one of the masters of Italian Renaissance majolica ware. Trophies, military arms, armor, musical instruments, and other objects captured after a battle were popular decorative motifs chosen by sixteenth-century majolica painters.

+zoom	Workshop of Giorgio Andreoli, called Giorgio da Gubbio (Italian, ca. 1465/70–ca. 1553) Plate with Putti Dancing and Winged Putti Playing a Double Flute, 1525 Majolica 11 x 2 1/8 inches (280 x 53 mm) Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1907; AZ018 The design of this plate is loosely based, in reverse, on Dance of Cupids, Marcantonio Raimondi's print traditionally considered to be after a drawing by Raphael (now lost) made ca. 1515. The plate, which bears on the reverse the initials MG and the date 1525, demonstrates artists' use of prints as a decorative source.

+zoom	Attributed to Desiderio da Settignano (Italian, 1428–1464) Bust of a Florentine Woman, Perhaps Marietta Strozzi, ca. 1460 Marble 21 1/4 x 16 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches (540 x 430 x 210 mm) Stand: 5 5/8 x 20 1/8 x 10 5/8 inches (142 x 510 x 270 mm) Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1908; AZ021 Desiderio was one of the most skillful sculptors of his age. This bust may be one of several depictions by the artist of Marietta Strozzi, a member of a powerful Florentine banking family. The genre of secular portrait busts emerged around 1450 in Florence, where they became popular among the city's prominent families.

+zoom	Gian Giacomo d'Alladio, called Macrino d'Alba (Italian, ca. 1465–1528) Portrait of a Knight of Malta, 1499 Tempera on panel Panel: 15 1/8 x 11 1/4 inches (383 x 285 mm) Framed: 33 7/8 x 23 7/8 inches (860 x 605 mm) Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1909; AZ015 The sitter wears the white cross of the Order of Malta, one of the oldest lay religious orders whose fifteenth-century members were Catholic, of noble birth, and devoted to works of virtue and charity. He may be Benvenuto San Giorgio of Biandrate, a nobleman, papal ambassador, and knight of the order since 1480. The dated inscription in the border reads By the hand of Macrino I shall live after death.

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