Getty Wins a Parmigianino
It's the most important Italian Renaissance painting to enter an American museum collection in over a decade. The Getty's last comparable purchase, a great Titian portrait, was in 2003. The following year the Metropolitan Museum added a tiny Duccio Madonna.
The Kimbell Art Museum made headlines in 2007 by buying a small painting that is credibly identified as the 12-year-old Michelangelo's copy of a Schongauer print, described by Vasari as the artist's first painting. It's jaw-dropping that any American museum could ever own a Michelangelo painting. Still, the Kimbell Torment of Saint Anthony is not a great Michelangelo. If MoMA owned a painted copy of a Manet etching by the 12-year-old Picasso, it wouldn't have it on permanent display. The Getty Virgin with Child is Parmigianino at the top of his form.
Comments
Not happy to say that since the Getty is a local trip to me compared with the long distance to Fort Worth.
Something about the pinkish colors and the roundish, moon face of Mary look cheesy to me. Not cheesy to the degree of Thomas-Kinkade cheesiness, but also not way above and beyond that.
Still, obviously better to have the artwork at the Getty than not.
I always thought of the Getty as valuing quality over quantity. Even though it's the world's richest museum, the Getty seems to only buy one painting every one of two years. I understand they're trying to make their money last, but they should start acquiring more. It's a shame the Getty only has one Van Gogh (although it's a great one) and no Picasso's.