Angel of the Annunciation

Stefano Bardini [1836-1922], Florence.[1] Prince Johan II of Liechtenstein [1840-1929], Vienna, by 1896;[2] Prince Franz I of Liechtenstein [1853-1938]; Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein [1906-1989]; acquired 2 April 1953 by (J. Seligmann & Co., New York);[3] purchased February 1954 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1960 to NGA. [1] See correspondence in NGA curatorial files between Alison Luchs and Fiorenza Scalia, director of the Museo Bardini, dated 27 February, 7 May, and 26 June 1991. [2] Bode, Wilhelm von, _Die Fürstlich Leichtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie_, Vienna, 1896: 130. [3] See letters addressed to Jacques Seligmann & Company from the Director of the Liechtenstein Collection, dated 2 April 1953, in the Jacques Seligmann & Co. Records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: Box 244; copies in NGA curatorial files. [4] An agreement was made in September 1953 with Seligmann & Co. by the Kress Foundation to purchase this sculpture (and others) on 1 February 1954. The invoice bears this date, and payment was made shortly thereafter. Copies of the correspondence and invoice are in NGA curatorial files. Ulrich Middeldorf's entry that includes the sculpture contains an error: the year of the Kress Foundation's acquisition is incorrectly given as 1953 (_Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century_, London, 1976: 12).