Old Masters
on loan
The National Gallery of Australia’s collection – put together over just three decades – is a strong contemporary collection but includes less than twenty European Old Master paintings and sculptures.
Although there are some fine individual works among them, the Gallery’s Old Masters are not cohesive and could not represent 500 years of European art history. So, as part of the National Gallery of Australia’s commitment to providing increased access to the national collection, fifteen of its Old Masters are now on long-term loan to state galleries with stronger collections in this area. Victoria and South Australia, in particular, have been collecting Old Masters since the end of the nineteenth century.
The works on loan to Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales supplement their displays of Old Masters to present a fuller history of European art to Australian audiences.
These loans are part of the Vision for the National Gallery of Australia (October 2005 - pdf 1.14Mb) and represent a generous gesture by the National Gallery of Australia.
Master of the Marble Madonnas 'Madonna and Child' c.1480 marble and gold leaf Collection of the National Gallery of Australia more detail National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- Luca GIORDANO
Rape of the Sabine women [2000.33] - Giambattista TIEPOLO
Marriage allegory [74.377] - Cologne School
Virgin and Child with Saints [2001.19.A–C] - Artist Unknown
Pietà [86.1054] - Gianlorenzo BERNINI
St Agnes [84.1155] - Jean-Antoine HOUDON
Bust of a girl [84.551] - Matteo de' PASTI, Niccolò FIORENTINO and Antonio PISANELLO
Fiorentino medals [86.1809, 86.1808, 87.350, 86.1807]
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- Unknown Artist
Madonna of Humility [83.12] - Master of the Marble Madonna
Madonna and Child [88.1653 ] - Giambologna
Angel [84.1520] - Giovanni di PAOLO
Crucifixion with donor Jacopo di Bartolomeo [77.103]
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney