Master of the Feigen Adoration

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 10 April 1987, lot 75, for £20,000 (as by Girolamo Genga).

Uncradled panel has two horizontal wood battens set into reverse of panel. a small vertical crack in panel can be seen at extreme upper left corner and another small crack at lower right corner. there is a small chip to the panel at upper right corner which is not visible in catalogue image. the paint surface has been very well preserved and there is lovely retention of detail and coloration. only some very slight thinness in bottom of hair at right and tendrils at left. a few minor scuffs along top due to rubbing from frame. under UV: it is difficult to see through thick varnish. there appear to be some small scattered retouches to forehead, neck and a few on pages of book. otherwise it is hard to tell. In an elaborately carved and gilt wood frame with numerous small nicks and losses to gilding.
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.

The Master of the Feigen Adoration was one of the "eccentrici senesi" working in Siena in the opening decades of the 16th Century.  Fiorella Sricchia Santoro christened the painter after a panel in the Feigen collection when it was sent to Siena for the large Beccafumi exhibition in 1990.¹ The boundaries of the master remain, as yet, somewhat undefined; according to Sricchia Santoro's definition of his corpus, the present work would appear to represent the third known work attributable to him.  However, the Feigen Adoration had been previously published by Andrea De Marchi in his discussion of an artist whom he called the Master of the Chigi Saracini Heroines.² Most recently, Laurence Kanter has suggested that the artist of the namepiece Adoration in the Feigen collection may in fact be connected to Capanna Senese, an artist mentioned by Vasari in his Vita of Baldassarre Peruzzi.³

In whatever way the final profile of the artist resolves itself, it is clear that he was working in Siena and aware of both Sodoma and Genga (to whom many of his works, including the present panel, have been attributed in the past).  In addition, a knowledge of the work of Leonardo da Vinci, most likely transmitted through Sodoma while he was in Siena, is apparent in the face of the Magdalen, and in her elaborate, braided coiffure.  

 

1.   F. Sricchia Santoro, "Maestro dell'Adorazione Feigen," Domenico Beccafumi e il Suo Tempo, exhibition catalogue, Milan 1990, pp. 270-71, cat. No. 52, reproduced.
2.   A. De Marchi, "Maestro delle Eroine Saracini" in Da Sodoma a Marco Pino, Siena 1988, p. 87.
3.  L. Kanter, Italian Paintings from the Richard L. Feigen Collection, New Haven 2010, pp. 114-17.