Martino Piazza da Lodi

Sessa Fumagalli collection, Milan;
Raimondo Orselli, Florence;
Orsino Orselli, Florence;
Private collection, United States.

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central Italian & North Italian Schools, London 1968, vol. I, p. 336, reproduced vol. III, plate 1468 (as Albertino and Martino Piazza);
F. Moro, "Due Fratelli Due Differenti Percorsi: Martino e Alberto Piazza", in Studi di Storia dell'Arte, Todi (Perugia) 1997, p. 129, reproduced fig. 6 (as Follower of Martino Piazza [Cesare Magni?]).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This panel is in very healthy state. There are two battens on the reverse to restrain the wood. They are situated at the top and the bottom and the run horizontally. The wood is flat and the paint layer is stable and has been quite recently cleaned. Retouches are only visible in the building on the right side around the animals, in a few spots in the sky in the upper left and again in a few tiny spots in the neck of the Madonna and on Christ himself. Overall however, the condition is fresh and the picture is well preserved.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Berenson (see literature) listed this painting as a collaborative work by Albertino and Martino Piazza and, more recently, Franco Moro (also see literature) published it as by a Follower of Martino, possibly Cesare Magni.  However, Everett Fahy, on the basis on photographs, believes it to be a work fully by Martino stating that "this looks like an independent work by Martino, and very fine."

Martino belonged to a family of painters whose workshop dominated art in Lodi in the 16th Century.  Martino and his brother, Albertino, often worked together on projects and both are documented at the Incoronata at Lodi in 1514.  Two signed works by Martino are the St. John in the Baptist (London, National Gallery) and an Adoration of the Shepherds (Milan, Ambrosiana) which are monogrammed MPP.  Martino's three sons, Cesare, Callisto and Scipione, were also painters.