Both acquisitions significantly add to the collection and include
an important manuscript
and a rare painting
The
J. Paul Getty Museum announced today two major acquisitions: the
Irmengard Codex, a manuscript made for the 11th-century noblewoman
Irmengard of Nellenburg, a member of the House of Egisheim-Dagsburg in
Germany; and Madonna and Child with Saint Lucy, Saint Dominic, and Saint Louis of France by the renowned and influential Italian painter Annibale Carracci.
“These
two exquisite acquisitions add key works to our representation of
northern European medieval manuscript illumination and to our already
strong holdings of 17th-century paintings,” says Timothy Potts, Maria
Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the Getty Museum. “The
Irmengard Codex, with its unusually rich body of imagery, is a
spectacular example of early medieval manuscript illumination, the likes
of which has not appeared on the market in over half a century. And
together with Caravaggio, Annibale was one of the prime instigators of
the baroque movement in Italian art.
Irmengard and Her Husband Werner, shortly after 1053. Tempera colors, gold, and ink.
Virgin and Child with St. Lucy, St. Dominic, and St. Louis of France, about 1596–1598, Annibale Carracci.
The French Catholic Institute of Lille discreetly sold this priceless masterpiece of medieval piety, which a priest had nevertheless offered to his library.
As for the French Republic, it classified it as a “national treasure” but let Los Angeles slip away…
