Sold Without Reserve | MARIOTTO DI BIAGIO DI BINDO ALBERTINELLI | MADONNA AND CHILD ENTHRONED IN THE CLOUDS, SURROUNDED BY TWO ANGELS HOLDING INSTRUMENTS OF THE PASSION AND TWO CHERUBIM

Anonymous sale, Paris, Tajan, 22 June 2006, lot 4, where unsold;

With Antichità dei Bardi Srl, Florence;

Where acquired July 2013. 

Mariotto Albertinelli was born in Florence as the son of a goldsmith and originally trained as a goldsmith himself before joining the studio of Cosimo Rosselli (1439 – 1507) alongside Piero di Cosimo (1462 – 1522) and Fra Bartolommeo (1472 – 1517). Albertinelli collaborated with the latter beginning in 1494, and again following Bartolommeo’s departure from the Dominican order. The frescoes for Florentine churches on which the two worked, including the Last Judgment at Santa Maria Nuova and the Scuola San Marco, seem as if they were painted by one hand. Influenced by his training and collaborations, Albertinelli developed a style that combines attention to linear perspective and monumental scale with ornamental detail and bold colors, as well as knowledge of Flemish traditions from Piero di Cosimo.

The present tondo reflects a Renaissance tradition of using this circular format for depictions of the Virgin and Child, which would fall out of fashion in the 16th century. The panel likely dates to 1506-09, the period just before Albertinelli resumed his collaboration with Fra Bartolommeo. The Madonna reveals Albetinelli’s move toward monumental forms and the cherubim holding banners demonstrate the lingering influence of surface details from his master Roselli. Stylistically, the present tondo compares with another tondo of the Adoration of the Christ Child dated 1505 in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (fig. 1) as well as with the Blessing Christ in the Galleria Borghese, Rome.

The iconography of the angels holding instruments of Christ's Passion is a poignant devotional theme that originally gained popularity in the medieval period. The contradiction between the innocence of the angels and the violent reminder of Christ's eventual sacrifice directed the viewer to meditate on the meaning of the iconography. While mourning Christ's death, and empathizing with the Virgin who knew her Son's tragic future, the viewer was simultaneously reminded of the joyful outcome of His Resurrection, here illustrated by the playful angels and cherubim.