With Stefano Bardini (1836–1922), Florence, by 1902; His sale, London, Christie’s, 26–30 May 1902, lot 559 (French catalogue) or 554 (English catalogue), reproduced pl. 43, and sold on the 27th for 400 Guineas to a Mr Burns (probably Walter Spencer Morgan Burns, 1872–1929);
Private collection, London, by 2006; Private collection, New York, 2007–19, from whom acquired by the present owner.
Literature
W. Bode, ‘Ein Florentiner Thonbildner vom Anfang der Hochrenaissance’, Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, n.s., 13, 1901–2, pp. 1–4, reproduced p. 3 (as Florentine master from the beginning of the High Renaissance);
Catalogue des objets d’art, antiques du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance provenant de la collection Bardini de Florence dont la vente aura lieu chez Mr. Christie . . .le 27 Mai 1902, 2 vols, Paris, 1902, vol. [1], p. 91, no. 559, and vol. [2], pl. 43 (as ‘Florence, XVe siècle’);
Catalogue of a Choice Collection of Pictures and Other Works of Art, Chiefly Italian, of Mediaeval and Renaissance Time, the Property of Signor Stephano Bardini of Florence, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 1902, p. 88, no. 554 (as School of Donatello);
W. Bode, Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, Berlin, 1902, pp. 314–15, and 316, fig. 139 (as Florentine master around 1500);
C. von Fabriczy, ‘Kritisches Verzeichnis toskanischer Holz- und Tonstatuen bis zum Beginn des Cinquecento’, Jahrbuch der königlich preuszischen Kunstsammlungen, 30, 1909, Beiheft, pp. 1–88 (p. 40, no. 141, as ‘Meister der Johannesstatuetten’);
W. Bode, Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, 2nd edn, Berlin, 1910, pp. 310–11 and fig. 166 (as Florentine master around 1500);
W. Bode, Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, 3rd edn, Berlin, 1911, pp. 310–11 and fig. 166 (as Florentine master around 1500);
W. Bode, Florentiner Bildhauer der Renaissance, 4th edn, Berlin, 1921, pp. 303–4 and fig. 187 (as Florentine master around 1500);
F. Schottmüller, Königliche Museen zu Berlin: Beschreibung der Bildwerke der christlichen Epochen. Zweite Auflage, vol. 5: Die italienischen und spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barocks in Marmor, Ton, Holz und Stuck, Berlin, 1913, p. 93 (as ‘Meister der Johannesstatuetten’);
L. Planiscig, ‘Toscanische Plastiken des Quattrocento (unbekannte Werke Francesco di Giorgios und Andrea del Verrocchios)’,Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, 39 (= n.s. 3), 1929, pp. 73–90 (pp. 83–4 and notes 26–7, and fig. 85, as Francesco di Giorgio);
F. Schottmüller, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Bildwerke des Kaiser-Friedrich-Museums. Die italienischen und spanischen Bildwerke der Renaissance und des Barocks, vol. 1: Die Bildwerke in Stein, Holz, Ton und Wachs. Zweite Auflage, Berlin, 1933, p. 146 (as Baccio da Montelupo);
J. Pope-Hennessy and R. Lightbown, Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 3 vols, London, 1964, vol. 1, p. 193 (as Master of the David and Saint John Statuettes, and in the Museum Bardini, Florence);
G. Gentilini, ‘Ignoto maestro fiorentino fra il 1505 e il 1510 (Maestro del San Giovannino), San Giovannino adolescente, seduto. . . ’, in La civiltà del cotto: arte della terracotta nell’area fiorentina dal XV al XX secolo, exh. cat., Florence, 1980, pp. 97–8, no. 2.8 (p. 98, as ‘Maestro del San Giovannino’: Jacopo Sansovino?);
F. Caglioti, ‘Benedetto di Bartolomeo Grazzini, dit Benedetto da Rovezzano . . ., Saint Jean-Baptiste . . ., vers 1500–1510’, in D’Agostinodi Duccio à Caffieri, exh. cat., Paris, 2012, pp. 22–7 (p. 25, as Benedetto da Rovezzano);
J. Warren, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Italian Sculpture, 2 vols, London 2016, vol. 1, p. 62 and notes 9, 10 and 20 (p. 66; as Florence, early XVIth century);
J. W. Mann, ‘Italian, 16th century, Florence, Seated Saint John the Baptist’,in J. W. Mann and E. Wyckoff (eds), Learning to See: Renaissance and Baroque Masterworks from the Phoebe Dent Weil and Mark S. Weil Collection, exh. cat., St. Louis, Mo. 2017, pp. 230–33, no. 73 (pp. 232, fig. 54, and 233, as attributed to Benedetto da Rovezzano);
L. Principi, ‘Benedetto da Rovezzano. . ., attributed to, John the Baptist. . .’, in A. Chong and L. Principi (eds), The Sculpture of Giovan Angelo Montorsoli and His Circle: Myth and Faith in Renaissance Florence, exh. cat., Manchester, N.H. 2018, pp. 96–9, no. 2 (pp. 98, and 99, fig. 5, as ‘Benedetto da Rovezzano?’).