Triptych of the Great Deësis

ca. 1534-1549, Pope Paul III Farnese (Rome, Italy); 1875, acquired in Rome from the collection of Cardinal Altieri [or, at the Altieri Palace] by Mikhail Petrovich Botkin (St. Petersburg, Russia); 1875-1914, Mikhail Petrovich Botkin (St. Petersburg, Russia); 1914-1917, by descent to Botkin’s widow, Ekaterina Nikitichna Solodovnikova Botkina (1852-1917), and daughter, Ekaterina Mikhailovna von Enden (St. Petersburg, Russia); 1917-1923, Botkin collection transferred to State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, for safekeeping during the Boshevik Revolution; 1923, confiscated by Soviet authorities and turned over to the State Museum Fund; 1930, Antikvariat [All-Union State Trading Office Antikvariat of the People’s Commissariat of the U.S.S.R.] (Moscow, Russia); summer 1937, U.S.S.R. government facilitated sale to Joseph E. Davies [ambassador to U.S.S.R.] (Washington, DC); 1937, Joseph E. Davies gifted to University of Wisconsin-Madison; 1967, transferred to the Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

• Holcomb, Melanie, Maria Saffiotti Dale, and Catherine Janis. "A Guide to Medieval Art in Midwestern Campus Collections," in Christina Nielsen, ed., "To Inspire and Instruct: A History of Medieval Art in Midwestern Museums." Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008. p. 189
• Alumni Association of the University of Wisconsin of the City of New York. "The Joseph E. Davies Collection of Russian Paintings and Icons Presented to The University of Wisconsin." New York: Alumni Association of the University of Wisconsin of the City of New York, 1938. pp. 64-65, 67, no. 100; pl. 100
• Rogers, Millard F., Jr. "Paintings at the Elvehjem Art Center, University of Wisconsin." The Magazine Antiques. Vol. CVIII, No. 6, December (1975). pp. 1147, 1150, fig. 3
• Il'in, Nikolas. "Prodannye Sokrovishcha Rossii." Moscow: Trilistnik, Russkii Avangard, 2000. p. 73
• Wilkins, Ronald J. "Religion in North America." Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, 1979. p. 167
• Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Handbook of the Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, 1990. no. 26
• Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Artscene." Fall 1997. p. 4
• Baker, D. Frederick, "A University Collects: The Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin," in Antiques & Fine Art Magazine (Autumn/Winter 2013) vol. XII, issue 6 :184-193. p. 3, no. 187
• Semyonova, Natalya, and Nocolas V. Iljine, eds. "Selling Russia’s Treasures: The Soviet Trade in Nationalized Art, 1917-1938." Paris: The M.T. Abraham Center for Visual Arts Foundation, 2013. pp. 94-95
• Galavaris, George. "Icons from the Elvehjem Art Center." Madison: Elvehjem Art Center, 1973. pp. 35-50, no. 1
• Watrous, James. "A Century of Capricious Collecting 1877-1970: From the Gallery in Science Hall to the Elvehjem Museum of Art," Madison, WI: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1987. 10, 8

• Caring for the Collection: Restoration Progress Report: Elvehjem Art Center, 11/2/1972–1/3/1973
• Masterpieces of Art from the Collections of the University of Wisconsin and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin: Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6/15/1949–7/8/1949
• Joseph E. Davies Collection of Paintings, The : Milwaukee Art Institute, 10/1/1938–10/31/1938
• Joseph E. Davies Collection of Russian Paintings and Icons Presented to the University of Wisconsin: Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6/1/1938–6/30/1938

• Europe
• Icons
• Joseph E. Davies Collection

The Chazen Museum of Art welcomes comments or inquiries about works in our collection. Please allow two–three weeks for a response. Chazen staff is not able to provide valuations or authentications and such inquiries cannot be answered.