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R. S. 

New York Herald Tribune, Friday, August 16, 1935

[[image - Photograph of "Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew" by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Sienese master. Christ standing to left with two bearded men fishing in boat with nets to right. Photo caption:  A Fourteenth Century Masterpiece Bought for $250,000]]

Mackay Duccio
Bought by [[underlined]] Kress [[/underlined]]
For $250,000
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Famous Panel of 'Calling of 
St. Peter and St. Andrew' 
Goes to Chain Store Head
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Painted in 14th Century
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Scene from life of Christ 
To Be Shown Here in Fall
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Samuel H. Kress, proprietor of S. H. Kress & Co., chain store firm, has bought Duccio di Buoninsegna's celebrated "Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew" from Lord Duveen, it was learned authoritatively yesterday. Mr. Kress is said to have paid $250,000 for the little panel, for which six centuries ago the dignitaries of Siena Cathedral gave their city's great master two-and-a-half gold florins.

The picture, which is seventeen inches square, and painted in exquisite brilliant colors on a burnished golden gesso ground, was brought out of Italy late in the last century by the English collector, Benson, who purchased it and three companion scenes from the life of Christ at Colle Alto.

Three Companion Scenes Sold Here

The entire Benson collection was purchased in 1927 for $3,000,000 by Lord Duveen, who brought it to this country. The "Calling" was disposed of to Clarence H. Mackay. Of its three companions, "The Temptation of Christ" is now in the Frick collection, while "Christ and the Woman of Samaria" and "The Raising of Lazarus" went to John D. Rockefeller jr. Each of the four was sold for the same price that Mr. Kress has now paid for the "Calling."

Some time ago the Mackay picture returned to the Duveen gallery, where it remained until Mr. Kress, who is one of the new important collectors, took a fancy to it. It has now returned to the United States, after having been shown at the great exhibition of Italian art at the Petit Palais in Paris, and it will be publicly exhibited in American for the first time this fall.

The picture represents Christ calling the two saints from their fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. It is one of a series of twenty-four panels of Christ's life which Duccio painted to form the back of his great altarpiece of the Virgin in Majesty. The predella, which was finally installed in Siena Cathedral with considerable pomp in 1311, was begun by Duccio in 1308. He was paid sixteen soldi a day for his work, and for the panels on the back received the extra remuneration also mentioned.

6 Panels Taken from Siena Cathedral

It is now known how the "Calling" and its companions came to be separated from Duccio's masterwork. Except for the four panels in American and "The Curing of the Man Born Blind" and "The Transfiguration," both now in the National Gallery in London, the altarpiece is preserved intact in Siena. The "Calling" is one of the loveliest of the panels which have become separated from the altarpiece. Dr. Lionello Venturi, the Italian expert, in his catalogue of Italian paintings in America, describes it as follows:

"The scene recalls very closely various Byzantine models, but it is distinguished by the relation established between the zones of light and shade and by the distinction of the different planes, as well as the dignity of gesture and form characteristic of Duccio.

"Whatever is touched by Duccio assumes a surprising and disconcerting charm. The whole and the details of the composition have a special rhythm of light and shade which disposes objects clearly on the surface and at the same time suggests, without realizing, the superimposition of zones of color with the aim of enriching the surface and gaining the maximum of plastic relef in every object represented."

One of Great Italian Masters

Duccio di Buoninsegna, painter of the Kress picture, was one of the greatest of the Italian maters. His work has been described as the last and richest flowing of the Byzantine style, but in it, and especially in such late examples as the wonderful "Majesty" altarpiece in Siena, there is a departure from the hieratic stiffness of the Greek painters. He was born in 1255, is first recorded as painting a cassone for the municipality of Siena in 1278, and died in 1319.

The "Majesty" altar piece is both his chef d'oeuvre, and the only one of all the works now attributed to him which is fully authenticated, the contracts being preserved in Siena Cathedral. It was completed on June 19, 1311, and on that day the municipality proclaimed a public holiday. The picture was carried in procession into the cathedral.i borne aloft by the principal men of the city, and installed over the high altar beneath the cupola amid scenes of great rejoicing.

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O'Donovan, 2d Lt. John H.. Cohoes, N. Y.;
to Pine Camp, Aug. 18 to 31. 


Transcription Notes:
'relef' is correct