Circle of Tino da Camaino (circa 1280-circa 1337) Central Italian, Molise, first half 14th century

With weathering and surface abrasions/losses including high edges of drapery, tip of nose, hands, and feet. Loss to upper and lower right corners and right side. Traces of reddish polychromy. Otherwise chipping losses to edges and background.
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.
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RELATED LITERATURE
Giulietta Chelazzi Dini, Pacio e Giovanni Bertini da Firenze e la bottega napoletana di Tino di Camaino, Prato, 1996
Anita F. Moskowitz, Italian Gothic Sculpture c. 1250- c. 1400, Cambridge, 2001

Three limestone reliefs representing San Bartolomeo, the Madonna and Child (fig.1), and the Agnes Dei now adorn the facade of the church of San Bartolomeo in Gambatesa, in the region of Molise, northwest of Puglia. With integrally molded frames, the present relief of an Apostle comes from the same series which probably belonged to group of six reliefs that would have decorated a hexagonally-shaped pulpit or a tomb.

The sculptor of this apostle relief was undoubtedly influenced by the Sienese Gothic sculptor Tino da Camaino (circa 1280-circa 1337), who trained with Giovanni Pisano and who was engaged in major commissions in Siena, Pisa, and Florence. From 1323 he worked in Naples, under King Robert of Anjou for whom he executed several funerary monuments, including those of Catherine of Austria and Queen Mary of Hungary. The brothers Giovanni and Pacio Bertini from Florence were named in documents as being followers of Tino who arrived in Naples by 1343. They were also known as the masters who created King Robert of Anjou’s tomb in Santa Chiara, Naples. Clearly followers of Tino, their work is characterized by more robust, classicizing figures with heavy, often stylized drapery. The elongated shape of the eyes, treatment of the hair and large, stylized hands recall an array of works ascribed to Tino and his studio.

Elements of the present relief are echoed in the king’s tomb. The figures of angels drawing the curtains of the funeral chamber as well as the caryatids on the tomb (see Chelazzi Dini, op.cit.), both by the Bertini brothers. These figures are also clothed in drapery with similarly hollowed out curvilinear folds and large, simplified hands.

Riccardo da Gambatesa was an illustrious citizen of the town of Gambatesa from which the present relief and two other panels with apostles originate. He held several official positions and was partly responsible for the historic phase of the great flowering of his native Molisan city.  He was also a high ranking and trusted member of the Angevin court of Naples. Da Gambatesa was sent to Florence many times for official business and may have met the Bertini brothers during one of those visits; he certainly would have encountered the sculptors in Naples while they were employed by the court. Da Gambatesa’s involvement with the development of his native town, his proximity to the Bertini’s who hailed from a city that he frequented, and the present relief’s connection to Tino da Camaino’s and the Bertini’s tradition of carving, point to an attribution for the series of reliefs of apostles to the Bertini or another close member of Tino’s circle.

We would like to thank Dr. Anna Maria Tucci for her research on the present relief.