The Master of Marradi

Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Phillips, December 2, 1997, lot 86, where acquired by the present owner.

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 has been cradled. It seems to be made from two pieces of wood joined horizontally through the center. There is no instability to the paint layer, and the panel is flat. The upper left quadrant has been cleaned, and although the surface is dry here, one can see that the paint layer is in very healthy condition. It shows a few wormholes and scuffs but no real weakening to the paint layer. There is no reason that this kind of result should not become evident throughout the picture, and continuing the cleaning process throughout is certainly encouraged. There are some areas which have attracted filling and restoration here and there, particularly in isolated spots in the lower left and lower center. Although the work may have been abbreviated slightly on the right, and perhaps even the left edge, the composition is certainly very comfortable and effective as it is.
"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."

When sold in London in 1997 (see Provenance), this remarkable cassone panel showing a Roman army triumphing in battle, was given to the Master of Marradi by Everett Fahy, an attribution more recently endorsed by Prof. Andrea de Marchi upon seeing the work firsthand.

The Master of Marradi takes his name from the Florentine town where he worked in the monastic community of Bada dal Borgo in the latter part of the 15^th century.  A painter of cassone panels influenced by Domenico Ghirlandaio, the Master of Marradi is stylistically close to Biagio d'Antonio (1446-1516), particularly in the physiognomy of the figures and the depiction of trees and shrubbery.  This anonymous master has often been confused with another unidentified painter, the Master of Anghiari, whose paintings share his flair for decorative detail, most notably in the insignia of the multi-colored shields.¹  Indeed, the sensitively rendered landscape and the unusually conical hill formations in the distance are executed in a manner very similar to those in the Master of Anghiari’s eponymous battle scene, now in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (inv. no. NGI.778).

This work may indeed be the pair to a panel sold at Sotheby's London in 1999, then thought to possibly depict scenes from the Gallic wars (see fig. 1).²  Though the London panel is somewhat longer (measuring 26.8 by 65.2 in.; 68 by 165.5 cm.) the similar heights and parallels in subject matter act in favour of the match.  Here Caesar's armies are easily distinguished here by the letters SPQR inscribed on the red flags left and right and Caesar himself is referred to in the inscription on fringe of the tent, upper left, CAESAR IMPERATOR.

1. For other cassone panels by the Master of Marradi see those formerly in the collection of Lord Crawford, London, published by P. Schubring, Cassoni, Leipzig 1915, nos. 298-99, reproduced plate LXXII.
2. Sale, London, Sotheby's, July 8, 1999, lot 63, for £85,000.