The Madonna of Humility - Boydell & Brewer

© Beth Williamson 2009
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First published 2009
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Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
vi
x
Introduction 1
part i Development
1 The Madonna of Humility:
Descriptions and Definitions 15
2 The Madonna of Humility in Avignon 29
3 Early Appearances of the Image 70
part ii Dissemination
4 Bohemia 86
5 Siena and Florence 112
part iii Reception
6 Image and Ideal 132
7 Using the Madonna of Humility 148
8 Responding to the Madonna of Humility 166
Conclusion 175
Bibliography 179
Index 189

chapter 1
The Madonna of Humility:
Descriptions and Definitions
The name ‘Madonna of Humility’ has been used as the designation
of a group of images chiefly because some examples carry inscriptions
designating the Virgin as ‘Our Lady of Humility’. The earliest dated example
(1346), by Bartolomeo da Camogli, in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo
(Colour plate i) is inscribed ‘n[ost]ra d[on]na de humilitate’, and
that by Fra Paolo da Modena in the Galleria Estense in Modena (illus. 1) is
inscribed ‘la nostra donna d[e] umilita’. However, there are other
examples of the same iconography which are inscribed differently from the
Palermo and Modena paintings. Therefore we must consider whether, in
fact, an inscription such as ‘Nostra Donna de Humilitate’ can be regarded
as describing and circumscribing a distinct and recognisable iconographical
type, when other examples of the same iconography exhibit different
inscriptions. This study will examine this group of images that are brought
together as a ‘type’ under the banner of inscriptions referring to humility. It
will suggest that, since many examples of the Virgin seated on the ground
do not in fact carry inscriptions relating to humility, and many carry inscriptions
with a completely different focus, it is probably not wise to think of
‘the Madonna of Humility’ as a ‘title’ that describes the iconography of a category
of image, but rather as a reference to a mental or spiritual characteristic
of the Virgin Mary. Later chapters will explore the range of meanings that
this image might have had in the various areas of its early diffusion, and will
challenge the long-held assumption that this group of images represents a
unified and homogenous type with one over-arching meaning.
Linked with the assumption that these images represent a coherent ‘type’
has been the conviction that the image of the Virgin seated on the ground
was invented to express the Virgin’s humility. The etymological connection
of ‘humus’ (ground) and ‘humilitas’ (humility) has been offered as support
for this suggestion. 1 However, a consideration of the processes by which this
group of images came to be developed will offer an alternative suggestion
for the origins and meaning of the seated posture in these images. This will
further indicate that ‘Nostra Donna de Humilitate’ or ‘La Nostra Donna de
Umilita’ should not be thought of as ‘titles’ describing the iconography of
what we call ‘the Madonna of Humility’, but that they bear a more complicated
relationship to the meaning of the images, related to the qualities and
attributes of the Virgin.
1 See below, 18–19.

16
The Madonna of Humility
There have been several studies of the image, most of which have been
concerned with the place of origin, and with the way in which the image
might have been developed. As far back as 1935 Georgiana Goddard King
argued for a Spanish origin, developing out of images of the Woman of the
Apocalypse in Spanish Apocalypse manuscripts. 2 Millard Meiss, a year later,
argued for a Central Italian origin, developing out of images of the Virgin
seated on the ground at the Nativity. 3 In 1969, Henk van Os published a
book on ‘Humble Madonnas’, 4 in which he developed further the discussion
of the Madonna of Humility. He agreed with Meiss that the image had a
Central Italian origin, but he suggested that the type had developed out of the
seated Virgin Annunciate. More recently, Joseph Polzer has broadened the
base of suggested source images by investigating Central Italian representations
of the Crucifixion in which the Virgin sinks to the ground beside the
crucifix. 5
Millard Meiss’s 1936 article has remained influential, and is still the most
frequently cited source on the type in general works and catalogues. He suggested
that the Madonna of Humility composition was invented by Simone
Martini, whose earliest dated work was in Siena, and who produced much
important work for that city, but who also produced work for patrons all over
Central Italy, including in Assisi, Orvieto and San Gimignano, as well as for
patrons in Naples and Avignon. Meiss’s guiding method was to consider the
Madonna of Humility as a devotional image derived from a narrative image.
Erwin Panofsky produced the classic definition of this process of derivation
in his discussion of the type of image he called the Andachtsbild, an image
designed to be the focus of devotion, excerpted from a narrative context
which focuses on moments of high emotion or pathos with the intention
of arousing the viewer’s compassion. 6 Meiss saw the process of the development
of the Madonna of Humility as ‘an isolation of a group appearing
2 Georgiana Goddard King, ‘The Virgin of Humility’, Art Bulletin, 17 (1935), 474–91.
3 Millard Meiss, ‘The Madonna of Humility’, Art Bulletin, 18 (1936), 435–64; reprinted in
Meiss’s Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death (Princeton, 1951), 132–56. Unless
otherwise indicated, all references here will be to this reprinted version.
4 Henk Van Os, Marias Demut und Verherrlichung in der sienesischen Malerei, 1300–1450 (The
Hague, 1969) [originally published in Dutch, as the author’s doctoral thesis].
5 Joseph Polzer, ‘Concerning the origin of the Madonna of Humility’, RACAR: Revue d’art
Canadienne/Canadian Art Review, 27:1–2 (2000), 1–31.
6 Erwin Panofsky, ‘ “Imago Pietatis”: ein Beitrag zur Typengeschichte des “Schmerzensmanns”
und der “Maria Mediatrix” ’, in Festschrift für Max J. Friedländer zum 60. Geburtstag
(Leipzig, 1927), 261–308. Other more recent studies of this process of image development
include: Sixten Ringbom, Icon to Narrative: The Rise of the Dramatic Close-up in Fifteenth-
Century Devotional Painting, 2nd ed. (Doornspijk, 1984); Hans Belting, The Image and Its
Public in the Middle Ages: Form and Function of Early Paintings of the Passion, trans. Mark
Bartusis and Raymond Meyer (New Rochelle, NY, 1990), translation of the German
original, Das Bild und sein Publikum im Mittelalter: Form und Funktion früher Bildtafeln
der Passion (Berlin, 1981); Karl Schade, Andachtsbild: die Geschichte eines kunsthistorischen
Begriffs (Weimar, 1996).

Descriptions and Definitions 17
in an historical scene, which was, in this instance, the Nativity.’ 7 He noted
that the evolution of the Nativity in the first third of the fourteenth century
in Tuscany was ‘characterized by an increasingly affectionate and intimate
relationship between the Virgin and Child.’ 8 He traced a development from
Giotto’s fresco in the Arena Chapel, where the Virgin reaches towards her
child, 9 through other Nativity paintings by Giotto and his circle, where the
Virgin holds the child in front of her, to paintings by Bernardo Daddi and
Taddeo Gaddi, where she holds the nursing infant at her breast. 10 This latter
group of paintings, Meiss argued, served as the source for the Madonna
of Humility. He envisaged a process where the composition of the Virgin
seated on the ground, suckling her child, was abstracted from the Nativity
narrative, and became the basis for the new devotional image. This understanding
of the process of development was supported by all the other writers
who investigated the origins of the image, even where they saw a different
narrative as providing the original source, such as the Annunciation or
the Crucifixion.
In fact, none of these narrative images, neither the Nativity, nor the
Annunciation, nor the Crucifixion, provides a basis for all the iconographical
elements of the Madonna of Humility image as it developed in the 1340s
and beyond. The Nativity image might explain the seated posture and
the suckling motif, but it does not explain the frequent references to the
Annunciation (unless we were to see the Annunciation as a generally alldefining
event in the Virgin’s life as Mother of Christ, and therefore understandable
as a background or an addition to any image of the Virgin Mary).
The alternative suggestion that the Madonna of Humility was abstracted
out of the Annunciation better explains the presence of the lily or the book,
and references to the Angel, but does not immediately explain the addition
of the suckling motif. The Crucifixion explains neither the suckling motif
nor the Annunciation references. And none of these three images provides
a reason for the addition of the Apocalyptic symbols of the sun, moon and
stars. Georgiana Goddard King’s hypothesis that the Madonna of Humility
was derived from illustrations of the Woman of the Apocalypse in Spanish
Apocalypse manuscripts of the twelfth and thirteenth century (specifically
those illustrating the eighth-century commentary of the Spanish monk
Beatus, and thus known as ‘Beatus Apocalypses’ ) 11 provides the best connection
with these Apocalypse symbols. But her theory was rejected by
Meiss, who suggested that the relationship which King traced between
the illustrated Beatus manuscripts and the Madonna of Humility seemed
7 Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, 147.
8 Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, 147.
9 See James H. Stubblebine, Giotto: The Arena Chapel Frescoes (London, 1969), fig. 25.
10 For example, the panel by Taddeo Gaddi in Berlin: Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, fig. 159.
11 See John Williams, The Illustrated Beatus: A Corpus of the Illustrations of the Commentary on
the Apocalypse, 5 vols. (London, 1994–2003).

18
The Madonna of Humility
improbable, on the basis that the Beatus manuscripts tend to show the
Woman standing in the heavens. 12 In other words, King’s theory provided
an explanation for the Apocalypse symbols, but not for the Annunciation
references, nor for the suckling motif, and not even for the seated
posture.
Meiss denied that there was any connection between the Madonna of
Humility and the Woman of the Apocalypse, and suggested that these symbols
were added to an image of the Virgin seated on the ground to indicate
her queenly sublimity: according to, as he put it, ‘a principle of polarity in
Christian thought’ which determined ‘the almost paradoxical combination
of the humble image of the mother nursing her Child with the awesome
Woman described in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse’. 13 By such a combination
the image could represent not just humility, by the seated position,
close to the ground, but also sublimity, by showing the Virgin as Queen of
Heaven, with the sun and the moon, and the crown of twelve stars.
Despite this address to the meaning of the Apocalypse symbols, however,
Meiss remained unsure about their relationship to the Madonna of
Humility image. But there was no uncertainty about the seated posture.
For Meiss the seated posture was the principal indicator of the Virgin’s
humility in this image. 14 This was because inscriptions referring to the
concept of humility can be found not only on images which show the combination
of the seated posture, the suckling motif and the sun moon and
stars, such as Bartolomeo da Camogli’s early example (Colour plate i) but
also on images that show only the seated posture, such as that by Don
Silvestro dei Gherarducchi in the Accademia in Florence (Colour plate
ii). This particular example is inscribed respexit · humilitatem ·
ancille · sue · ecce · e[nim] · e x · h o c · b[ea]ta[m] · m e . This is a
quotation from the third and fourth lines of the Magnificat, the hymn uttered
by the Virgin in response to the Annunciation, 15 and is therefore rather a different
evocation of humility from the inscriptions which address the Virgin
as ‘Our Lady of Humility’. However, the mention of humility, and the lack
of the suckling posture or the Apocalypse symbols in this particular image,
was enough to confirm for Meiss that ‘the humility of the Virgin resided
primarily in the single fact that she was seated on the ground’. 16
This conviction was further confirmed for Meiss by the etymological
connection of the word humilitas with the Latin word for ground: humus.
Isidore of Seville (d. 636) had observed that the root of humilitas was humus
12 Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, 155 n. 105.
13 Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, 153.
14 Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, 132 n. 1.
15 ‘Quia respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes
generationes’ (Luke 1:48): ‘For he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden: for
behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed’.
16 Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, 132 n. 1.

Descriptions and Definitions 19
(‘humilitas dicitur quasi humo acclini’ ) 17 and Thomas Aquinas had quoted
this etymology in his Summa theologiae. 18 As Meiss put it ‘it remained for
the Italian painters of this period [i.e. the fourteenth century] to enact the
virtue in the Madonna of Humility’. 19 His contention was that an image of
the Virgin seated on the ground was invented to express the Virgin’s humility,
and thus to illustrate Isidore’s etymology. Meiss regarded other elements
– the Apocalypse symbols, the Annunciation motifs – as additions to that
basic correspondence between the seated posture and the idea of humility.
All subsequent commentators have thus focused on the seated posture
as the defining characteristic of the type and therefore have sought models
that seem adequately to explain that particular characteristic.
The perception that the Madonna of Humility image graphically illustrated
the virtue of humility was bolstered by an understanding that another
of the key elements present in the majority of examples of the theme (the
motif of breast-feeding) was also linked with the virtue of humility. In
this case the association was a little more convoluted than humus: humilitas.
Meiss suggested that the image of the suckling Virgin signified moral
qualities such as benevolence and mercy and that, for this reason, it was suitable
to be represented within the context of the Madonna of Humility. The
image of the breast-feeding Virgin, or Virgin Lactans, is a much wider type
than the Madonna of Humility, and the Virgin breast-feeding appears in
enthroned, standing and half-length compositions, and in settings very far
removed from any obvious connotation of humility. 20 However, an assumption
has tended to be made in the literature that the image of the suckling
Virgin is generally to be regarded as connected with humility. Part of the
reason for this is that Meiss, and others, such as Marina Warner, 21 for example,
have discussed the image against the background of a belief that in the
later Middle Ages the act of maternal feeding was commonly regarded as
indicative of low status, and thus humbling or even humiliating.
Meiss argued that the image of the Virgin Lactans seated on the ground
conveys humility because she nurses ‘ “in public”, more like a simple housewife
or a poor peasant than the Queen of Heaven’. 22 Marina Warner echoed
this sentiment: ‘The Madonna of Humility, painted sitting on the ground,
sometimes with bare feet, often nurses the child at her breast. Such a connection
obviously depended on social prejudices that made breast feeding an
17 Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi, Etymologiarum sive Originum, 20 vols. (Oxford, 1911), bk. 10,
115.
18 Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, IIa–IIae, q. 161 a. 1 ad 1.
19 Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, 149.
20 Beth Williamson, ‘The Virgin Lactans and the Madonna of Humility in Italy, Metz and
Avignon in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation,
Courtauld Institute, London, 1996).
21 Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (London,
1976).
22 Meiss, ‘Madonna of Humility’, 151.

Index
Alberti, Leon Battista, 135, 146
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Madonna
of Humility by the Ovile Master, 119,
158–9, illus. 26
Andachtsbild, 16
Andrea di Bartolo, 156, 163
Madonna of Humility, Washington,
DC, National Gallery, 156–7, 158,
159, illus. 36
Anna of Schweidnitz, third wife of
Emperor Charles iv, 105, 109
Annales School of historians, 9
Annunciation, 16, 17, 18, 19, 67, 75, 76, 109,
169, 170, 172, 173, 177
as proposed model for the Madonna
of Humility, 16, 62, 123, 129
as subsidiary element within Madonna
of Humility compositions, 21, 23,
53–4, 62, 67, 68, 69, 70, 96, 127, 150,
151, 152, 154, 173
in manuscripts, with seated Virgin
Lactans image, 55–60, 67, 174
Apocalypse, Woman of the, 129, 150, 167,
176, 177
as proposed model for the Madonna
of Humility, 16, 17–18, 37, 41, 42,
43–5, 49, 51, 53, 66–7, 75, 176
connection with the Virgin Mary,
39–42, 47, 49, 76, 104–5, 107, 109, 112,
123, 150, 152, 177
in Chapel of Our Lady, Karlštein,
102–7
in cloister of the Emmaus monastery,
Prague, 108–10
in manuscripts, 16, 17–18, 39, 42, 44–8,
167, 176
symbols of (sun, moon and stars)
in Madonna of Humility
compositions, 17–19, 21–23, 25–7,
36, 37, 41, 42, 48, 53–4, 56, 62, 67–9,
70–1, 81, 83, 95, 112, 114, 118, 125,
129–30, 156, 161, 173, 175, 176
in manuscript images of the Virgin
Mary, 44–5, 51–2, 53–6
appropriation, 2
cultural, 2
Aquinas, Thomas, 19, 60, 76, 78
canonisation, 76, 78
Aquino, Giovanna d’, 20, 76, 78, 80–3, 96,
148, 153
Ara Coeli Madonna, Prague,
Metropolitan Chapter of St Vitus
(on loan to National Gallery, Prague),
93–5, illus. 17
Ashley, Kathleen, 2, 6
Assisi, S. Francesco, lower right transept,
Crucifixion, school of Giotto, 123,
illus. 31
Assumption, 48, 54, 68, 106, 107, 109, 110,
123, 129, 169
Augustinus Triumphus, 67
Augustus, Emperor, 109, 110
Avignon, 23, 37, 68, 69, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77,
78, 82, 88, 90, 93, 98, 106, 115
Cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms,
29, 31, 42, 89, 101, illus. 2
chapel of St Marziale, 71
frescoes for Cardinal Jacopo
Stefaneschi, see under Martini,
Simone and under Stefaneschi,
Cardinal Jacopo
papal palace, 29
San Francesco, 115
Baldwin of Luxembourg, Electorarchbishop
of Trier, uncle of
Emperor Charles iv, 88
Bartolomeo Bulgarini, 119
Nativity, Boston, Fogg Art Museum,
123, illus. 28
Bartolomeo Pellerano da Camogli,
Madonna of Humility, Palermo,
Galleria Nazionale, 15, 20, 21, 24, 25,
57, 59, 67, 70, 71, 80, 148, 150, 166–7,
173
apocalypse symbols, 18, 95
inscription, 15, 67, 150, 166, 173
place of production, 73–4
relationship with Fra Paolo da
Modena’s Modena painting, 153–4
relationship with Lippo Memmi’s
Berlin panel, 26
relationship with Master of the
Franciscan Temperas’ Naples panel,
153–4

190
The Madonna of Humility
(Bartolomeo Pellerano da Camogli,
cont.)
relationship with S. Pietro a Majella
fresco, 72, 74
relationship with Simone Martini’s
fresco at Avignon, 22, 25, 36
relationship with Paolo Veneziano’s
Madrid panel, 155
relationship with Vyšehrad Madonna
(see under Prague, Vyšehrad), 95–7
suckling motif, 18
use by flagellant confraternity, 74–5,
148
Baxandall, Michael, 2
Beatific Vision, 33, 156
Beatus Apocalypse manuscripts, 17–18,
37, 41, 42
Benedetto di Bindo, diptych with
Madonna of Humility and St Jerome,
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 121, 123,
158, illus. 28
Benedict xii, Pope, 106
Bennett, Bonnie, 115
Berengaudus, Commentary on the Book
of Revelation, 39
Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Madonna of
Humility, see Memmi, Lippo
Bernard of Clairvaux, St, 67
Bernardino of Siena, San, 143–4
Binski, Paul, 42–4, 66
Blanche of Valois, first wife of Emperor
Charles iv, 87, 98, 99
Bloch, Marc, 9
Bock, Nicholas, 77
Bologna, Ferdinando, 76–7
Bonaventure, St, 67
Bossy, John, 9
Boston, Fogg Art Museum, Nativity, by
Bartolomeo Bulgarini, 123, illus. 28
breastfeeding, 7, 19, 132–47, 177
as humiliating/disdained, 19, 132–40,
143, 145–7, 177
Breviary of Provost Vitek, see Master
Theodoric
Budapest, Szépművészeti Múzeum,
Madonna of Humility by Taddeo di
Bartolo, 162, 164, illus. 38
Buonaccorso, Niccolo, Madonna
of Humility, San Diego, Timken
Museum, 121, 156, illus. 27
Campbell, Stephen, 2, 5
Catherine of Siena, St, 141–2
Cavallini, Pietro, 78, 83
Ceccano, Cardinal Annibale da,
great-nephew of Cardinal Jacopo
Stefaneschi, 78–9, 81–2
Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, 77, 84
Charles of Calabria, son of Robert of
Anjou, King of Naples, 78, 98
Charles iv, Holy Roman Emperor, 6, 84,
86–95, 97–9, 101, 102, 105–7, 109–10,
129–30
connections with Parisian court, 87–8
cultural contacts between Prague and
Naples, 97–9
importance of ancient Přemyslid
settlement at Vyšehrad to, 90–2
interest in apocalyptic themes, 101–5,
107–10, 129–30
interest in Italian art, 92–5
vision of the Virgin Mary at Terenzo,
106–7
Charles iv, King of France, 87
Clement, bishop of Metz, 50
Clement i, Pope, 50
Clement vi, Pope, 87
confraternities, 74–5, 148, 152, 154, 165
Crossley, Paul, 104
Crucifixion, 156
Virgin at, as model for Madonna of
Humility, 16, 17, 123
cultural appropriation, 2
cultural exchange, 2
cultural translation, 2
Daddi, Bernardo, 17, 124, 125
Duccio, 65
Edward ii, King of England, 46
Elizabeth Přemyslid, Queen of Bohemia,
mother of Emperor Charles iv, 87, 91
Elizabeth, St, 172
Febvre, Lucien, 9
Florence
Accademia, Madonna of Humility, by
Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci, 18,
127, 167, 172, 173, Colour plate ii
Accademia, Madonna of Humility
altarpiece by Puccio di Simone, 160,
164, illus. 37

Index 191
(Florence, cont.)
Madonna of Humility in, 124–6
S. Croce, Baroncelli Chapel,
Annunciation by Taddeo Gaddi,
123, illus. 30
wet-nursing in, 145–7
Fra Paolo da Modena, Madonna of
Humility, Modena, Galleria Estense,
15, 99, 153–4, 167, 173, illus. 1
inscription, 15, 167
relationship with Bartolomeo da
Camogli’s Palermo panel, 154
relationship with Vyšehrad Madonna,
99
Francesco da Barberino, Reggimento di
costumi di donna, 134–5, 137, 146
influence, 2
inscriptions, 15, 22, 73, 129, 149–50, 153,
155, 166–73
Ave Maria, 149, 168
Maria, Mater Dei, 169
Mater Hum., 168
Mater Omnium, 22, 149
Nostra Donna de Humilitate, 15, 67, 150,
166–70, 172–3
Nostra Donna de Umilita, 15, 67, 150,
166–70, 172–3
Santa Maria de Humilitate, 155
Respexit Humilitatem Ancilla Dei, 18,
129, 167, 172
Isabella of France, wife of Edward ii of
England, 46
Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, 18, 19
Gaddi, Taddeo, 17
Annunciation, Florence, S. Croce,
Baroncelli Chapel, 123, illus. 30
Gardner, Julian, 66
Genoa, 73
Gentile da Fabriano, 5
George, St, 31, 49, 50
Gherarducci, Don Silvestro dei,
Madonna of Humility, Florence,
Accademia, 18, 127, 167, 172, 173,
Colour plate ii
Ginzberg, Carlo, 9
Giotto, 17, 73, 78, 83,
(school), Crucifixion, Assisi, S.
Francesco, lower right transept, 123,
illus. 31
Giovanetti, Matteo, 71–2
Giovanni d’Andrea, Hieronymus, 158
Giovanni da Bologna, Madonna of
Humility, Venice, Accademia, 151, 173,
illus. 33
Giovanni di Paolo, 5
Gregorio di Cecco di Luca, Madonna of
Humility, Siena, Museo dell’Opera
del Duomo, 163–4, illus. 39
Guidini, Cristofano, 141
Guta/Bonne of Luxembourg, sister of
Emperor Charles iv, wife of King
John ii of France, 87
Henry vii, Holy Roman Emperor, 78
Hodegetria icon, 170
Homolka, Jaromír, 103
Jacopo di Cione, 127
Jerome, St, 158–9
John ii, King of France, 87
John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia,
87–8
Karlštein, 92–3, 102, 109
Chapel of Our Lady, 102–3, illus. 20, 21,
22
Chapel of St Katherine, 98, 103, 105
Holy Cross Chapel, 101–2, 105
King, Georgiana Goddard, 16–18, 37
Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane, 133, 137, 138,
139, 142, 144, 145
Koerner, Joseph, 8
Laclotte, Michel, 72
Last Judgement, 156, 177
Leone de Castris, Pierluigi, 23, 25, 35, 37,
71, 77
Leroquais, Victor, 49
Lippo di Dalmasio, Madonna of
Humility, London, National Gallery,
152–3, illus. 34
London, National Gallery, Madonna
of Humility by Lippo di Dalmasio,
152–3; illus. 34
London, National Gallery, Madonna of
Humility by Lorenzo Veneziano, 168,
illus. 40
Longhi, Roberto, 71
Lorenzetti, Ambrogio, 73, 113–18, 125, 156
Good and Bad Government, Siena,
Palazzo Pubblico, 113
Virgin Lactans, 115–17, illus. 24

192
The Madonna of Humility
Lorenzetti, Pietro, 73, 114, 118, 121, 125, 156
Birth of the Virgin, 121
Lorenzo Monaco, diptych with the
Madonna of Humility and St
Jerome, Copenhagen, Thorvaldsens
Museum/Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum,
158
Madrid, Thyssen Collection, Madonna
of Humility, by (a follower of)
Paolo Veneziano, 155, illus. 35
Magnificat, 18, 172
Majorca, 84
Maniura, Robert, 170
manuscripts, 16–17, 29, 39, 44, 62, 65–7,
81, 114, 155, 167, 174, 176
as possible place of development of
Madonna of Humility, 44–62
Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, ms 91,
50
Birmingham, Barber Institute, ms 1,
50, 60
Brno, Breviary of Provost Vitek, see
Master Theodoric
Lisbon, Gulbenkian Museu Calouste,
ms l.a. 139, 39–41, illus. 10
London, British Library,
Add. ms 42555, 40
London, British Library, ms Harley
2955, 51, 52, 59, 60, illus. 13
Location unknown (last sold at
Christie’s, London, 1960), 50
Location unknown (last sold at
Christie’s, London, 1994), illus. 11
New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke
Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
ms 657, 55, 59, illus. 15
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library,
ms m.88, 50, 56, illus. 14
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library,
ms m.524, 38, illus. 9
Oxford, ms Douce 39, 50
Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal,
ms 570, 50
Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal,
ms 5227, 50
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale,
ms lat. 1403, 50
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale,
ms lat. 1361, 61
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale,
ms fr. 13069 (Queen Isabella’s
Apocalypse), 46–9, 176, illus. 12
(manuscripts, cont.)
Paris, Private Collection (Hours of
Jean Royère), 55, 59, 60
Trier, Bistumsarchiv, Abt. 95, ms 407,
60–1, illus. 16
Margaret of Antioch, St, 49–50
Maria of Anjou, sister of King Robert
of Anjou, wife of Prince Sancho of
Majorca, 84
Marie of Luxembourg, aunt of Emperor
Charles iv, wife of King Charles iv of
France, 87
Marie of Valois, sister-in-law of Emperor
Charles iv, wife of Charles of
Calabria, 98
Mark, Claudia Marchietello, 45 n. 39, 57
Martindale, Andrew, 33, 35
Martini, Donato, 20, 26, 115
Martini, Simone, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 35–7,
42, 43, 51, 89, 114–15, 118, 129
altarpiece for S. Domenico, Orvieto, 35
Annunciation, St Petersburg,
Hermitage, 53
Annunciation, Florence, Uffizi, 53
frontispiece for Petrarch’s copy of
Servius’s Virgil commentary, Milan,
Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 89
Holy Family, Liverpool, Walker Art
Gallery, 23, 68, 121
Madonna of Humility, Avignon, Papal
Palace (formerly Cathedral of
Notre-Dame-des-Doms), 20–5,
29, 33, 35–7, 42–5, 59, 62–73, 70–1,
73, 75–6, 77–81, 89, 101, 114, 118, 127,
148–9, 173, 175, Colour plate iv
Redeemer Christ, Avignon, Papal
Palace (formerly Cathedral of
Notre-Dame-des-Doms, 29, 32, 33,
35, 42, 43, 44, 64, illus. 3, 7, 8
Orsini Polyptych, various locations, 65,
89
proposed creator of the Madonna of
Humility composition, 16, 22, 23, 37,
45, 53, 59, 167
St Louis of Toulouse panel, Naples,
Museo di Capodimonte, 80–1
Master of the Franciscan Temperas,
Madonna of Humility, Naples,
Museo di Capodimonte, 96–9, 153–4,
173, illus. 18
relationship with Fra Paolo da
Modena’s Modena panel, 99
relationship with Vyšehrad Madonna,
96–8

Index 193
Master of the Luxembourg Genealogy,
92
Master Theodoric, 92, 99–101
(circle of) Madonna of Humility,
Breviary of Provost Vitek, Brno,
Moravian Library, r394, fol. Vv,
99–100, illus. 19
McLaughlin, Mary M., 133, 134, 147
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Meditations
on the Life of Christ, 119, 121, 132, 159
Meiss, Millard, 16–20, 41–2, 48, 57, 66–7,
79, 127, 129, 132–3, 166–8, 171, 176
on abstraction of Madonna of
Humility from narrative images of
the Nativity, 16–17, 36
on breastfeeding motif as indicator of
humility, 19–20, 132
on connections of Madonna of
Humility with Woman of the
Apocalypse, 18, 36, 41–2
on lost prototype Madonna of
Humility, 25, 36–7
on Simone Martini as inventor of the
Madonna of Humility image, 22–3,
36–7, 45, 66, 167
Memmi, Lippo
brother-in-law of Simone Martini, 20,
115
development and dissemination of the
Madonna of Humility theme, 125,
156
in Avignon, 115
Madonna of Humility, Berlin,
Gemäldegalerie, 20–7, 65, 112, 115,
125, 174, Colour plate v
relationship with Ambrogio
Lorenzetti’s Virgin Lactans, 117–18
relationship with Simone Martini’s
Avignon fresco, 22, 65
Metz, 45–51, 53–5, 57, 61, 79, 82
Michael, St, 51, 60
Michael, Michael, 51
Milner, Stephen J., 2, 5
Modena, Galleria Estense, Madonna of
Humility by Fra Paolo da Modena,
see Fra Paolo da Modena
Monaldeschi, Bishop Trasmondo, 35
Montaperti, battle of, 113
Morgan, Nigel, 49
Naples, 73, 77, 78, 82–3, 99, 101, 110–11,
129
Museo di Capodimonte, Madonna
of Humility by Master of the
Franciscan temperas, see Master of
the Franciscan Temperas
Museo di Capodimonte, Madonna of
Humility by Roberto d’Oderisio,
see Roberto d’Oderisio
S. Chiara, 77, 83
S. Domenico Maggiore, 20, 76, 96, 153
S. Maria Donna Regina, 83
S. Pietro a Majella fresco, 70, 71–2, 74,
96, 148, Colour plate vi
relationship with Bartolomeo da
Camogli’s Palermo panel, 71–2, 74
Nativity, as model for the Madonna of
Humility, 16–17, 41, 62, 129, 175
Očko of Vlašim, Jan, 89, 105
Opicinius de Castris, 68
Orcagna, Madonna of Humility,
Washington, DC, National Gallery,
127, illus. 32
Os, Henk van, 16, 53–4, 63, 164, 173–4
Ovile Master, 119
Madonna of Humility, Amsterdam,
Rijksmuseum, 158–9, illus. 26
Padua, Arena Chapel, 17
Palermo
Galleria Nazionale, Madonna of
Humility, see under Bartolomeo da
Camogli
S. Francesco, 73, 148
Palmieri, Matteo, 135
Panofsky, Erwin, 16, 65
Paolo da Certaldo, Libro di buoni costumi,
134, 135, 146
Paolo di Giovanni Fei, Madonna of
Humility, Siena, Cathedral, 118,
illus. 25
Passavanti, Jacopo, Specchio de vera
penitenza, 68
Paul, St, 143
Petrarch, 78, 89, 99
Philadelphia Museum of Art, diptych
with Madonna of Humility and St
Jerome, by Benedetto di Bindo, 121,
123, 158, illus. 28
Philip vi, King of France, 88
Pierre Roger (Pope Clement vi), 87

194
The Madonna of Humility
Pistoia, Basilica of Madonna dell’Umiltà,
Madonna of Humility, 164
Plesch, Véronique, 6
Polzer, Joseph, 16
Prague, 90, 92, 95, 98–9, 106–7, 110, 111
Cathedral of St Vitus, 93, 101
Ara Coeli Madonna, 93–5, illus. 17
Chapel of St Wenceslas, 101, 105
Hradčany, 90, 91, 92
Monastery of the Assumption of
Our Lady and Saint Charlemagne
(Karlov), 106
Monastery of Our Lady and the
Slavonic Patrons (Emmaus
monastery), 106, 107–11, illus. 23
Our Lady of the Snows, 106
Vyšehrad, see Vyšehrad
Puccio di Simone, Madonna of
Humility altarpiece, Florence,
Accademia, 160, 164, illus. 37
Pucelle, Jean, 65
Revelation, Book of, 18, 21, 101–5, 112, 150
Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, 77–8,
98, 99
Roberto d’Oderisio, Madonna of
Humility, Naples, Museo di
Capodimonte, 20, 24, 26, 76–7, 79–81,
97, 148–50, 153, 161, 168, 173, Colour
plate iii
apocalypse symbols in, 36
commemorative function, 20, 76, 148,
149, 150, 155
inscription, 149, 168
references to Annunciation in, 127, 173
relationship with Bartolomeo da
Camogli’s panel, 70
relationship with Simone Martini’s
Avignon fresco, 21–2, 77, 80
Ross, James Bruce, 133–6, 140
Rucellai, Giovanni, 135
Salve Regina, 31, 42, 62–4, 66, 75, 149
San Diego, Timken Museum, Madonna
of Humility by Niccolo Buonaccorso,
121, 156, illus. 27
Sancho of Majorca, 84
Sancia of Majorca, wife of Robert of
Anjou, King of Naples, 84
Savonarola, Giovanni Michele, 137
Shahar, Shulamith, 136, 139, 141
Siena, 37, 112–14, 115, 119, 123–4
Cathedral, Madonna of Humility by
Paolo di Giovanni Fei, 118, illus. 25
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo,
Madonna of Humility by Gregorio
di Cecco di Luca, 163–4, illus. 39
Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra,
Virgin Lactans by Ambrogio
Lorenzetti, 115–17, illus. 24
Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala,
114–15
Palazzo Pubblico, 113
S. Domenico, 115
Sinding-Larsen, Staale, 171
Soranus of Ephesus, Gynecology, 136–7
Speculum Humanae Salvationis (Mirror
of Human Salvation), 109
Sponsler, Claire, 6
Stefaneschi, Cardinal Jacopo
death, 32
frescoes for, at Avignon, by Simone
Martini, 20, 23–4, 29–30, 33, 35–7,
42–5, 59, 62–73, 75–6, 77–81, 89, 108,
114, 118, 127, 148–9, 173, 175
as funerary monument, 32–3, 62–4,
148–9
association with Annunciation, 67
inclusion of the Salve Regina, 62–4,
149
relationship with Lippo Memmi’s
Berlin panel, 118
relationship with Roberto
d’Oderisio’s Naples panel, 77–9
themes of intercession, 62–4, 147
transmission of themes beyond
Avignon, 77–9, 81–2, 89
knowledge of French visual culture, 43
Strehlke, Carl, 158
Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie, Apocalypse
paintings, 84
Taddeo di Bartolo, Madonna of
Humility, Budapest, Szépművészeti
Múzeum , 162, 164, illus. 38
Thomas, Keith, 9
Tino da Camaino, 78, 96
titles, 15, 20, 169–71
Tomaso da Modena, 92–3, 95, 99
translation, 3, 5
Vasari, Giorgio, 83
Vegio, Matteo, 135, 143

Veneziano, Lorenzo, Madonna of
Humility, London, National Gallery,
168, illus. 40
Veneziano, Paolo (follower of),
Madonna of Humility, Madrid,
Thyssen Collection, 155, illus. 35
Venice
Accademia, Madonna of Humility,
by Giovanni da Bologna, 151, 173,
illus. 33
Sant’Apponal, 152
Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista, 152
vernacular, applied to images, 3–5
Villers, Caroline, 152
Virgin Lactans, 19, 166, 169, 177
devotion to, in Metz, 48–9, 51, 53, 55
devotion to, in Siena, 112–25
in manuscripts, 44–5, 48, 51–9, 62, 64,
167, 174
intercessory associations, 149–50, 152
presence of suckling motif in images of
Nativity, 17, 41
presence of suckling motif in
Madonna of Humility images,
18–19, 21–6, 42, 54, 56, 62, 69, 71, 76,
81, 110, 151–2, 161, 171, 173–4, 175
perceptions of connections with
humility/humiliation, 19–20, 130,
132–3, 138–9, 147, 177
Visitation, 172–3
Index 195
Volek, Jan, Bishop of Olomouc, 91
Volto Santo (image of the Holy Face),
93, 95
Vyšehrad, 89–92, 164–5
Royal Collegiate Chapter of SS Peter
and Paul, 89–91, 101
S. Maria de Humilitate, 89–90, 99
‘Vyšehrad Madonna’, 89, 92–3, 95, 98–9,
101, 110, Colour plate vii
Wallace, David, 10, 178
Warner, Marina, 19, 132–3, 138
Washington, DC, National Gallery,
Madonna of Humility, by Andrea di
Bartolo, 156–7, 158, 159, illus. 36
Washington, DC, National Gallery,
Madonna of Humility, by Orcagna,
127, illus. 32
Wenceslas ii, King of Bohemia,
grandfather of Emperor Charles
iv, 87
Wenceslas iv, King of Bohemia, heir of
Emperor Charles iv, 101, 109–10
Westminster Retable, 42, 43
wet-nursing, 134–45
Wurmser, Nicholas, 92
Zeri, Federico, 90
‘Zeri Madonna’, 90, 99, 101