Lorenzo di Bicci (c. 1350 – 1427), DOCUMENTED IN FLORENCE 1370 - 1427
A PORTABLE TRIPTYCH SHOWING THE MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED WITH SAINTS, WITH THE ANNUNCIATION, NATIVITY, AND CRUCIFIXION DEPICTED ON THE WINGS
Tempera on panel, gold ground, pointed tops
central panel: 73.9 by 39.8 cm.; 29 by 15 5/8 in.
wings, each: 56.4 by 13.5 cm.; 22 1/8 by 5 1/2 in
Private collection
The arrangement and combination of subjects in this devotional triptych were common throughout the Florentine Trecento and early Quattrocento, a tried and tested formula which found its origin in Bernardo Daddi's Bigallo Triptych of 1333, in the Museo del Bigallo, Florence. The left wing depicts the Nativity; the right wing shows the Crucifixion. The pinnacles above each wing form a single narrative representing the Annunciation. At centre, below a blessing Christ, the Virgin sits on a Gothic throne, adorned with a red and gold cloth of honour. A corporeal Christ Child sits upon her lap and, with an innovative gesture of tenderness, clutches her finger. Surrounding them are a group of six saints, which include John the Baptist and John the Evangelist.
Lorenzo di Bicci (c. 1350 – 1427) was an Italian painter of the Florentine school, traditional in outlook. He is believed to have learned his trade from his father, about whom little other than his name, Bicci, is known. By 1370, Lorenzo was a member of the Guild of Saint Luke, the painters' guild of Florence. Lorenzo's earliest documented work, Saint Martin Enthroned, dates from 1380 and is now in the Depositi Galleria Arte in Florence. More on Lorenzo di Bicci
Cola di Petruccioli da Orvieto
ACTIVE ORVIETO 1372 - 1401 PERUGIA
THE MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED, FLANKED BY SAINT CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRA, SAINT VERONICA, SAINT MUSTIOLA AND SAINT LUCY
signed lower centre: COLA DE URBIUETERI / PINXIT
Tempera on poplar panel, gold ground with a shaped top
64.3 by 32 cm.; 25 1/4 by 12 5/8 in
Private collection
The present work has a decorated gable featuring a small depiction of The Crucifixion contained within a roundel supported by three angels; Cola acknowledges the predestined scene of Christ’s suffering in his representation of a small bird flying away from the Christ Child, yet tethered to his finger by a fine thread. Since pagan antiquity the motif of the bird has signified the soul of a man that flies away at his death – a meaning that is retained in Christian iconography. More on this work
Saint Catherine of Alexandria is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of fourteen, and converted hundreds of people to Christianity. She was martyred around the age of 18. Over 1,100 years following her martyrdom, St. Joan of Arc identified Catherine as one of the Saints who appeared to her and counselled her.
The emperor condemned Catherine to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but, at her touch, it shattered. Maxentius ordered her to be beheaded. Catherine herself ordered the execution to commence. A milk-like substance rather than blood flowed from her neck.
The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates her as a Great Martyr, and celebrates her feast day on 24 or 25 November (depending on the local tradition). In the Catholic Church she is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In 1969 the Catholic Church removed her feast day from the General Roman Calendar; however, she continued to be commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 25 November.
More on Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Veronica is known as the woman who offered a cloth to Jesus so He could wipe His face on the way to His crucifixion. The cloth is believed to exist today in the Vatican and is considered one of the most treasured relics of the Church.
Saint Veronica is not mentioned in the Bible, but is known to us by Catholic tradition and in the Sixth Station of the Cross, "Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus."
Legend states that as Christ was walking to Calvary, his face dripping with sweat and blood, Saint Veronica, a bystander, was moved with compassion. She approached Jesus and offered Him a cloth, likely her veil, which He accepted and used to wipe His face.
The image of his face was subsequently imprinted on the cloth. More on Saint
Saint Mustiola was first identified in this painting by Roberto Longhi in 1962.6 Saint Mustiola was the patron saint of Chiusi, an Umbrian town only fifty kilometres from Orvieto and Perugia. Her cult is strongly linked with the cult of the Santo Anello (the holy quartz ring that Saint Joesph is said to have given the Virgin Mary upon their marriage) which had been kept at different locations in Chiusi, at one time alongside the remains of the Saint. Longhi speculates that the inclusion of Saint Mustiola in the present work might indicate that it was commissioned by a patron from Chiusi. More on Saint Mustiola
Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), better known as Saint Lucy, was a Roman Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is one of eight women (including the Virgin Mary) explicitly commemorated by Catholics in the Canon of the Mass. Lucia of Syracuse was honored in the Middle Ages and remained a well-known saint in early modern England. She is one of the best known virgin martyrs, along with Agatha of Sicily, Agnes of Rome, Cecilia of Rome and Catherine of Alexandria. More on Saint Lucy
Cola di Petruccioli, a native of Orvieto, was first recorded as the author of a fresco of The Crucifixion, signed and dated 1380, in the crypt under the tribune of the Duomo in Orvieto. Cola is known to have been one of several pupils working under Ugolino di Prete Ilario, the first well-known figure in the school of Orvieto, who was charged with much of the decoration of the Duomo between 1372–78. Ugliono appears to have been significantly influenced by the Sienese master Luca di Tommé and indeed documentation exists that confirms Luca’s presence in Orvieto at this time, and Ugolino’s acquaintance with him. Since Sienese masters such as Luca di Tommé travelled to neighbouring towns and often far further into the Italian peninsular, the particular artistic style of the Sienese that had developed from the radical and progressive works of masters such as Giotto and Simone Martini (who himself had worked in Orvieto around 1320), had an influence that extended far beyond Siena’s own city walls.
Here, in Cola’s enthroned Madonna and Child, we see proof of that influence on a charming, provincial Umbrian artist. Bernard Berenson was the first to endeavour to define Petruccioli's œuvre, and was able to give a name to this new small body of work on the basis of a signed diptych, at that time in the Spello Library and now in the Pinacoteca Communale, Spello. The two Spello panels represent The Coronation of the Virgin and The Crucifixion. As in the present work, the pinnacles of the Spello panels are separated from the lower part by an ornamentation in relief, and the gables above depict the Annunciation. For Berenson, the common indicators of Cola’s style were ‘the saucy female faces, with their pointed little noses, sensitive mouths, and mad eyes, […] their quaint piquancy gave me pleasure.’ The present work is, like the Spello diptych, a rare signed example by Cola. In this panel he signs his name COLA DE URBIUETERI, 'Urbiueteri' being the Latin name for the town of Orvieto, providing us with primary evidence of Cola's origin. More on Cola di Petruccioli
Jacopo di Cione
DOCUMENTED IN FLORENCE 1365 - 1398
THE MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED WITH MUSIC-MAKING ANGELS AND VIRTUES
Tempera on panel, gold ground, arched top
162 by 68.5 cm.; 63 3/4 by 27 in
Private collection
The Madonna and Child are here shown together with the three Theological Virtues: Faith with a cross and chalice, Hope, with hands joined in prayer, and Charity, shown with a flaming heart and cornucopia. They are shown together with the four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, with a sphere and a wand, Justice with the traditional symbols of scales and a sword, Temperance with two vases, and Fortitude, who holds a bow and a column. They are joined by the additional figure of Humility, who holds a lighted candle. Though not accorded a formal position among the Virtues, Humility was usually linked to Temperance in terms of importance to spiritual growth.
Jacopo di Cione was the younger brother of Andrea (Orcagna) and Nardo di Cione, and was admitted to the Arte dei Medici e Speziali in Florence in January of 1369, although he had probably been active for some years before that date. Following the deaths of his brothers in 1366 and 1368, he took over the running of the family workshop, which he continued until his own death thirty years later. In 1368, for example, he took over Orcagna's Saint Matthew altarpiece for Orsanmichele (Florence, Uffizi), which had been left unstarted. The magnificent polyptych commissioned for the Albizzi family for the high altar of San Pier Maggiore, documented to 1370–71 (principal panels now London, National Gallery), together with a Coronation of the Virgin of 1373, commissioned by the Mint in Florence and now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia2 there, together form the basis for the reconstruction of his œuvre. Both are thought to have been completed in collaboration with Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (c. 1340–1414), whose contribution to Jacopo's most prestigious commissions seems to have been important.
Alesso di Benozzo, ('Maestro Esiguo') (1473 in Florence – 1528)
ACTIVE IN FLORENCE AND PISTOIA AT THE END OF THE 15TH CENTURY
MADONNA AND CHILD BEFORE A CLOTH-OF-HONOUR HELD ALOFT BY TWO ANGELS
tempera on panel
33.8 by 24.6 cm.; 13 1/4 by 9 3/4 in.
Private collection
The composition of the present work may be associated with Benozzo's own Mystic Marriage of St Catherine in Terni and his Madonna of Humility with Sts Mary Magdalene and Martha in Berlin (now destroyed). Both those works show the Christ child bénissant seated on his mother's lap, before a cloth of honour held aloft by two angels. In the ex-Berlin painting the angels are particularly close to those here.
Alesso di Benozzo (1473 in Florence – 1528) was an Italian painter, son of Benozzo Gozzoli. He is mainly known for works, along with his brothers Gerolamo and Francesco, they completed in collaboration with their father. He painted an Annunciation now in New York. He is different from the contemporary painter Alesso Baldovinetti. Bennozo himself is sometimes called Benozzo di Lese (Alesso) after his father Lese.
After 1495, Benozzo was invited to Pistoia, by his son Francesco. There, along with Alesso and Gerolamo painted various works, including an incomplete Maestà for the Palazzo Comunale More on Alesso di Benozzo
Girolamo di Benvenuto, 1347 - 1380, SIENA 1470 - 1524
MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST AND SAINT CATHERINE
tempera on panel, gold ground
82.4 by 64.2 cm.; 32 1/2 by 25 1/4 in.
Private collection
Striking parallels can be drawn between this work and a group of late works by the artist, which shows the Madonna and Child enthroned and surrounded by saints. The rosy-cheeked and sweet-faced Virgin turned to three-quarters in the present work is extremely close to both that in the Bagatti-Valsecchi altarpiece and another work from this period, a panel in the Landesgalerie, Hannover, showing the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine. These three works are evidence of the enrichment of Girolamo's style through the influence of Bernardino Fungai, something particularly visible in the docile figures, greater spatial awareness and decorative sensibility in the use of colour and treatment of drapery. More on this work
Saint Catherine of Siena, T.O.S.D. (March 25 1347 in Siena – April 29 1380 in Rome), was a tertiary of the Dominican Order and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. Since 18 June 1939, she is one of the two patron saints of Italy, together with St. Francis of Assisi. More on Saint Catherine of Siena
John the Baptist was the son of Zachary, a priest of the Temple in Jerusalem, and Elizabeth, a kinswoman of Mary who visited her. He was probably born at Ain-Karim southwest of Jerusalem after the Angel Gabriel had told Zachary that his wife would bear a child even though she was an old woman. He lived as a hermit in the desert of Judea until about A.D. 27. When he was thirty, he began to preach on the banks of the Jordan against the evils of the times and called men to penance and baptism "for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand". He attracted large crowds, and when Christ came to him, John recognized Him as the Messiah and baptized Him, saying, "It is I who need baptism from You". When Christ left to preach in Galilee, John continued preaching in the Jordan valley. Fearful of his great power with the people, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, had him arrested and imprisoned at Machaerus Fortress on the Dead Sea when John denounced his adultrous and incestuous marriage with Herodias, wife of his half brother Philip. John was beheaded at the request of Salome, daughter of Herodias, who asked for his head at the instigation of her mother. John inspired many of his followers to follow Christ when he designated Him "the Lamb of God," among them Andrew and John, who came to know Christ through John's preaching. John is presented in the New Testament as the last of the Old Testament prophets and the precursor of the Messiah. His feast day is June 24th and the feast for his beheading is August 29th. More on John the Baptist
Girolamo di Benvenuto (September 1470 - June 1524) was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and son of the painter Benvenuto di Giovanni. He was born and died in Siena. Learning the basics of art under his father's watchful supervision and trained in the traditional Sienese style of painting (he was a contemporary of Giacomo Pacchiarotti, Bernardino Fungai and Pinturicchio), he worked on several frescoes and altarpieces undertaken by his father's studio. His first independent work, The Assumption of Mary of 1498 for the city of Montalcino (whose museum still holds it), Girolamo shows several differences to his father's style, with more elongated figures with more pronounced expressions.
His most notable work, signed and dated to 1508, is his Madonna of the Snow, now in the Pinacoteca in Siena. It echoes two female portraits painted by him at about the same time (one in the National Gallery of Art, Washington). Surviving documents and works show he mainly produced religious works, but also created paintings on secular themes for domestic settings and cassoni - the latter include his Judgement of Paris tondo (intended for a bedroom and now in the Louvre). More on Girolamo di Benvenuto
Workshop of Alessandro Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli
FLORENCE 1445 - 1510
MADONNA AND CHILD WITH THE YOUNG ST JOHN
Tempera on panel, marouflaged, a tondo
diameter: 86.5 cm.; 34 in.
Private collection
Sandro Botticelli painted some of his most celebrated images of the Madonna and Child in the circular format of the tondo. In terms of treatment, subject and setting, this particular composition, which exists in more than one variant, is characteristic of his production of the 1480s, yet no prototype by the artist is known. The central motif of the Madonna del latte is relatively uncommon in Botticelli’s work. The prime example is the altarpiece now at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, originally painted for the Bardi Chapel of the Church of Santo Spirito in Florence, datable to 1485, but other smaller-scale works designed for domestic settings also exist. More on Sandro Botticelli
John Aitchison CBE RSA RA (1926 – 2009)
Nativity and Angels
16.02 X 11.97 in (40.7 X 30.4 cm)
Oil on canvas
Private collection
John Ronald Craigie Aitchison CBE RSA RA (13 January 1926 – 21 December 2009) was a Scottish painter.[1] He was best known for his many paintings of the Crucifixion,[2] one of which hangs behind the altar in the chapter house of Liverpool Cathedral,[3] Italian landscapes, and portraits (mainly of black men, or of dogs). His simple style with bright, childlike colours defied description, and was compared to the Scottish Colourists, primitivists or naive artists, although Brian Sewell dismissed him as "a painter of too considered trifles".
His career-long fascination with the crucificion was triggered by a visit to see Salvador Dalí's Christ of St John of the Cross in 1951 after it was acquired by the Kelvingrove Gallery. More on John Ronald Craigie Aitchison
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