Bernardo Daddi and Studio Active in Florence circa 1320 - 1348

Count von Ingenheim, Reisewitz (Silesia);
With A.S. Drey, Munich, in the 1920s;
With Duveen Brothers, Inc., New York, by 1946;
Acquired by the Norton Simon Foundation, Los Angeles in 1964 and given on long term loan to the Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena;
From whom acquired by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston, in 1979.

London, Canada, McIntosh Memorial Gallery, University of Western Ontario, Italian Masters, March-April, 1956, reproduced (as by Daddi);
New York, Duveen, Art of Tuscany, Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, 1963, cat. no. 14, reprodued (as by Daddi);
Houston, TX, The Museum of Fine Arts, Space in Two Dimensions, 28 March - 27 May 1979;
Charleston, SC, Gibbes Art Gallery, Masterpieces of Italian Art, 19 May - 27 June 1982, listed on p. 25, reproduced fig. 1 (as by Daddi);
Columbus, OH, 1984, Columbus Museum of Art, Italian Masters 1400-1800, 1 October - 20 November 1983;
Houston, TX, Museum of Fine Arts, Five Centuries of Italian Painting from the Collection of the Sarah Cambell Blaffer Foundation, 10 September - 10 November 1985, and numerous other locations through May 1993.

B. Berenson, "Quadri senza casa. Il Trecento fiorentino," in Dedalo, XI, 1931, pp. 973, 978 (as by Daddi);
R. Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting: The Fourteenth Century, Section III, Vol. IV, New York-Berlin 1934, p. 118, reproduced Plate XLVI (as by a close follower of Daddi, based on not having seen the original);
H. Friedmann, The Symbolic Goldfinch: Its History and Significance in European Devotional Art, Washington 1946, pp. XXI, 71-72, 111 143, reproduced plate 42 (as by Daddi, but on p. 118 as close follower of Daddi);
R. Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, New York 1958, Section III, Vol. VIII, 205 (as Follower of Daddi);
B. Berenson, Homeless Paintings of the Renaissance, London 1969, p. 87, reproduced, fig. 129 (as by Daddi);
D. Kowal, "Italian Art from the S. Campbell Blaffer Foundation," in Apollo, CXVI, 1982, p. 115, reproduced fig. 1 (as by Daddi);
T. Pignatti, Five Centuries of Italian Painting, 1300-1800. From the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston 1985, p. 26, reproduced p. 27 (as by Daddi);
R. Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, Florence 1991, Section III, Vol. IV, pp. 346-349, reproduced Plates XLVI and XLVI¹ (as "Close Following of Daddi", based on not having seen the original);
M.S. Frinta, Punched Decoration on Late Medieval Panel and Miniature Painting, Prague 1998, p. 411 (under "Shop of Bernardo Daddi").

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. Although this painting has been recently restored, the restoration is very poor indeed. However, this restoration is not a good reflection of the condition of the picture. The frame has been restored and should remain as is. On the painting itself, the gilded and tooled background is in lovely condition. There are small restorations in this gilded area, but none of them disguise the fact that the whole background and the halos of the figures are in very good state. The Madonna and Child, however, have received some very poor restoration. One can clearly see, in the photograph of the piece taken before restoration in the book by Offner, 1991 (cited in the catalogue entry) that there are losses in the cloak of the Madonna on the left side. These are legitimate losses and they should receive restoration. Whether the conservation that this painting has recently received is of a high enough standard is questionable. In the remainder of the figure group, except for the halos, although the paint layer may be worn and the cracking may be noticeable, the retouching is extremely heavy-handed and certainly does not provide an accurate description of either the real condition or the quality that this painting undoubtedly possesses. As the earlier photograph suggests, there are other damages in the figures but it is hard to judge what the condition in these areas might be underneath the most recent overpaint, particularly in the face of the Madonna. While there are certainly many paintings that can continue to be properly viewed with old restoration, this particular restoration is a hindrance to any proper appreciation of the painting.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Bernardo Daddi was one of the most important Florentine artists of the first half of the fourteenth century. He is documented as having matriculated in the Florentine Painters Guild, the Arte dei Medici e Speziali, around 1320. Generally thought to have been a pupil of Giotto, he was certainly closely related to his workshop.  He was also influenced by artists in Florence, such as the St. Cecilia Master, who were working on a smaller, almost miniaturist scale and who may have contributed to the development of Daddi's sweet and intimate style. His own workshop emerged in its own right in the 1330s in response to the growing demand for panel paintings on both a monumental and private devotional scale, and in this latter category he played an important role in the pioneering of portable miniature tabernacles.

This painting would most likely have once formed the central panel of a polyptych.  The ornamental punchwork pattern of the Madonna's halo, a rose alternating with four leaves running in one direction, is a well known motif in Daddi's oeuvre and can be found in other paintings such as the Bigallo altarpiece of 1333, a panel in San Michele Crespina, and a small Madonna, circa 1332, in the Accademia, Florence.  In addition, the pattern decorating the hem of the Christ Child is another distinctive feature in Daddi's paintings.  A similar pattern can be found on the Christ Child in his Madonna and Child With a Finch in the Berenson Collection at the Villa I Tatti, Florence, which probably also dates to the 1330s, and to the hem on the figure of St. John The Evangelist sold London, Sotheby's, 8 July 2009, lot 23 (one of a pair).