The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Farmhouse on the Slope of a Hill

Farmhouse on the Slope of a Hill

c. 1508
(Italian, 1472–1517)
Sheet: 22.3 x 29.4 cm (8 3/4 x 11 9/16 in.); Secondary Support: 27.5 x 41.2 cm (10 13/16 x 16 1/4 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The artist who made this drawing, Fra (brother) Bartolommeo, left his successful Florentine artistic studio in 1500 and renounced painting in order to join the Dominican Order.

Description

This is a significant early example of pure landscape drawing in Europe, as it is dedicated completely to the depiction of nature for its own sake, without suggestion of a biblical or historical narrative. The rapidity and regularity of strokes used for the evergreen and deciduous trees and the sweeping lines in the foreground suggest that the landscape in Farmhouse on the Slope of a Hill was made directly from nature. The sheet comes from an album of 41 landscape studies by Fra Bartolommeo assembled by an eighteenth-century collector and disbound for sale in the mid-20th century. A member of the Dominican Order, Fra Bartolomeo likely produced these drawings during his travels in and around Florence, often to Dominican establishments.
  • 1517-1547?
    Probably by descent to studio assistant Paolo del Signoraccio (died 1547), called Fra. Paolino da Pistoia, monastery of San Marco, Florence
    1547-1588?
    Possibly bequeathed to his pupil, Sister Plautilla Nelli [1523-1588], convent of Santa Caterina, Florence
    1588?-1725?
    Possibly to the Convent of Santa Caterina da Siena, Florence, to 1725
    1725-1742?
    Cavaliere Francesco Maria Nicolò Gabburri (d. 1742), Florence (his mount), Lugt 2818 and Lugt suppl. 2992b
    1742
    By descent to his heirs
    1742?-1748?
    William Kent (1685-1748), London and Rome.
    ca. 1748
    his sale, London.
    ?-1925
    Private collection, southern Ireland
    ?-1957
    Private collection, England
    1957
    with Sotheby’s, London, 20 November 1957, “Drawings of Landscapes and Trees by Fra. Bartolommeo," no. 3.
    1957
    with F. Kleinberger, New York
    1957-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.
  • Joachim, Harold, and Suzanne Folds McCullagh. Italian Drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979. Mentioned: p. 24
    Jeudwine, W. R. "Fine Works on the Market: A Volume of Landscape Drawings by Fra Bartolommeo." Apollo 66 (November 1957): 132-135. Mentioned: pp. 132-135; reproduced: p. 132, n. I
    Sotheby & Co. "Catalogue of Drawings of Landscapes and Trees by Fra Bartolommeo." (November 1957). Mentioned: p. vii, under n. 3
    Frankfurther, Alfred M. "Cleveland: Model Museum for a Modern Cosmopolis." Art News 57 (March 1958): 24-37. Reproduced: p. 30, n. 18
    Fleming, John. "Mr. Kent, Art Dealer, and the Fra Bartolommeo Drawings." Connoisseur 141 (May 1958): 227. P. 227
    "International Salesroom." Connoisseur 141 (February 1958): 44. Reproduced: p. 44, n. 17
    Columbia University, and M. Knoedler & Co. Great Master Drawings of Seven Centuries. New York: The Trustees of Columbia University, 1959. Mentioned: pp. 17-18, under n. 13; reproduced: plate IX
    Kennedy, Ruth Wedgwood. "A Landscape Drawing by Fra Bartolommeo." Bulletin of the Smith College Museum of Art (1959): 1-12. Mentioned: p. 11, note 30
    Berenson, Bernard. I disegni dei pittori fiorentini, vol. 2. Milan: Electa editrice, 1961. Mentioned: p. 72
    Richards, Louise S. "Three Early Italian Drawings." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 7 (September 1962): 167-174. Mentioned: p. 172; reproduced: p. 173, n. 5 www.jstor.org
    Jaffé, Michael. "Italian Drawings from Dutch Collections." The Burlington Magazine 104, no. 711 (June 1962): 230-238. Pp. 232-233 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. “Two Italian Drawings.” August 20, 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Harkonen, Helen Bernice. Farms and Farmers in Art. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co, 1965. Mentioned: p. 26
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 86 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Selected Works: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Reproduced: n. 139
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 86 archive.org
    Baer, Curtis O. Landscape Drawings. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1969. Mentioned: pp. 15 and 50, under n. 8; reproduced: p. 51, n. 8
    Pillsbury, Edmund P. Florence and the Arts Five Centuries of Patronage. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 1971. Mentioned and reproduced: n. 57
    Von Holst, Christian. "Florentiner Gemälde und Zeichnungen aus der Zeit von 1480 bis 1580. Kleine Beobachtungen und Ergänzungen." Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 15 (May 1971): 1-64. Mentioned: p. 18, note 34 www.jstor.org
    Neilson, Nancy Ward. Italian Drawings Selected from Mid-Western Collections. St. Louis: The Saint Louis Art Museum, 1972. Mentioned and reproduced: n. 2
    Avery, Catherine B, ed. The New Century Italian Renaissance Encyclopedia. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1972. Mentioned: p. 98; reproduced: p.97
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 99 archive.org
    Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. Mentioned: pp. 39-40; reproduced: p. 41, n. 42
    Olszewski, Edward J., and Jane Glaubinger. The Draftsman's Eye: Late Italian Renaissance Schools and Styles. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. Mentioned: pp. 13, 16, 21, 25, 27-28; reproduced: p. 27, n. 3
    Denison, Cara D., and Helen B. Mules, eds. European Drawings, 1375-1825. New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981. Mentioned: p. 39
    Olszewski, Edward J. "Italian Drawings in Cleveland." The Connoisseur 206 (April 1981): 284-288. Mentioned: pp. 285 and 287; reproduced: p. 285, n. 6
    Shaw, James Byam. The Italian Drawings of the Frits Lugt Collection, vol. 1. Paris: Institut Néerlandais, 1983. Mentioned: p. 23
    Gordley, Barbara Pike. "The Drawings of Beccafumi." Ph.D. diss., Princeton University 1988. Mentioned: pp. 38-39 and note 77 and pp. 365-366, under n. 32
    Fischer, Chris. Fra Bartolommeo: Master Draughtsman of the High Renaissance: a Selection from the Rotterdam Albums and Landscape Drawings from Various Collections. Rotterdam: Museum Boymans-van Beuningen Rotterdam, 1990. Mentioned: pp. 375-377 and 393-394, under n. 111; reproduced: p. 392
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 75
    Monbeig-Goguel, Catherine. "Book Reviews." The Burlington Magazine 133 (July 1991): 453-454. Mentioned: pp. 453-454
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterpieces from East and West. New York: Rizzoli International, 1992. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 10
    Olszewski, Edward J. "Central and Landscapes in Italian Renaissance Paintings." Source: Notes in the History of Art 17, no. 3 (Spring 1998): 29-35. Mentioned: p. 29; reproduced: p. 31, n. 2 www.jstor.org
    Torriti, Piero, ed. Beccafumi. Milan: Electa, 1998. Mentioned: p. 240, under n. D1
    DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications: New York, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 8, 26-27, and 283; reproduced: p. 27
    Olszewski, Edward J., ed. A Corpus of Drawings in Midwestern Collections: Sixteenth-Century Italian Drawings, vol. 1. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepos Publishers, 2008. Mentioned: pp. 38-39, under n. 33; reproduced: p. 38, n. 33
    Alsteens, Stijn, Carmen C. Bambach, George Goldner, Colta Ives, Perrin Stein, and Nathalie Stresser, eds. Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. Mentioned: p. 9; reproduced: p. 8, n. 5
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 152-154
    Ackerman, James S. Origins, Invention, Revision: Studying the History of Art and Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016. Reproduced: p. 12, pl. 10
    Elen, Albert J., and Chris Fischer. Fra Bartolommeo: The Divine Renaissance. Rotterdam: Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, 2016. Mentioned: p. 119; reproduced: p. 121, 216, no. 6.10
  • Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-October 29, 2023).
    Fra Bartolommeo: The Divine Renaissance. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (organizer) (October 15, 2016-January 15, 2017).
    Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    Drawings by Fra Bartolommeo. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (organizer) (December 15, 1990-February 17, 1991).
    Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 1986-March 1, 1987).
    National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983).
    Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980).
    The Draftsman's Eye: Late Italian Renaissance Schools and Styles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 6-April 22, 1979).
    Italian Drawings with von Hirsh Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 15-December 4, 1978).
    Italian Drawings Selected From Mid-Western Collections. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (organizer) (February 25-April 16, 1972).
    Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).
    Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-February 25, 1968).
    Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968).
    Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).
    Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965).
    Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965).
    Old Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-31, 1964).
    Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963).
    Art and Humanism in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 23-February 25, 1962).
    Drawings from the Museum Collection: 15th-17th Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 18-October 11, 1960).
    Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959).
    cma 1958-59; New York 1959a, 16-18, pl. ix, no. 13; cma 1960b; cma 1962a; cma 1964; cma 1965b; cma 1966-67a; cma 1968b; Cleveland 1971, no. 57; Saint Louis 1972, no. 2; cma 1978b; Cleveland 1979a, 13, 16, 21, 25, 27-28, no. 3; Cleveland 1980, 39-42, no. 42; cma 1983f; cma 1986-87b; Rotterdam et al. 1990-92, 107, 375-77, 379, 393-94, no. 111.
  • {{cite web|title=Farmhouse on the Slope of a Hill|url=false|author=Fra Bartolommeo|year=c. 1508|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1957.498