- 403
Master of the Nevin Polyptych
Description
- Master of the Nevin Polyptych
- Saint Mary Magdalene;Saint Lawrence
- a pair, both tempera on panel, gold ground
- Each panel: 54.5 x 26.5 cm
Provenance
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 6 December 2007, lot 230.
Literature
M. Minardi, "Sulle tracce di Ansuino da Forlì", in Arte Cristiana, no. 785, 86, p. 109, note 39;
A. De Marchi, "Problemi aperti su Squarcione pittore e sui romagnoli a Padova", in Francesco Squarcione, Padua 1999, p. 125, note 39;
A. Tambini in N. Ceroni (ed.), Pinacoteca Comunale di Ravenna, Museo d'arte della Città, La collezione antica, Ravenna 2001, p. 32;
S. Facchinetti, Mantegna e il Rinascimento in Valpadana, Florence 2007, p. 96;
A. Tambini, Il Rinascimento: pittura, miniatura, artigianato, Faenza 2009, p. 21;
M. Minardi, "Studi sulla collezione Nevin, I dipinti veneti del XIV e XV secolo", in Saggi e memorie di storia dell'arte, 36, 2012 (2013), p. 333, reproduced figs. 34-35, 37;
M. Minardi, "Master of the Nevin Polyptych", in S. Chiodo and S. Padovani (ed.), The Alana Collection, Italian Paintings from the 14th to 16th Century, Florence 2014, pp. 184-195, cat. no. 26, reproduced pp. 186, 187, 189.
Condition
"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."
Catalogue Note
Alongside the present pair of half-length saints, Zeri published a further two panels from the upper tier of the altarpiece: an apostle, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, and a Saint John the Baptist, now in the Museo Civico Amedeo Lia, La Spezia (see Literature). The remaining three panels of the upper panels have yet to be traced. As Minardi indicates in his extensive study of the paintings (see Literature), the pose of Saint John the Baptist suggests he would have been placed to the immediate left of the central upper panel. The saint looks directly at the viewer while pointing with his right hand to the adjacent panel which would doubtless have included a depiction of Christ. Given its placement above the Assumption of the Virgin, Minardi proposes that a likely subject for the upper central panel would have been a Coronation of the Virgin. Furthermore, Sonia Chiodo notes that the apostle, Saint Lawrence and the Magdalene each face left and would therefore likely have been placed to the right of the central panel.
In the lower section of the Assumption of the Virgin are three male donors and a tonsured friar of the Augustinian order. The inclusion of the friar along with the lateral Saints Monica, Augustine and Nicholas of Tolentino, suggests the altarpiece was commissioned by an Augustinian church. Minardi hypothesizes that the Nevin polyptych may have been destined for a chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Holy Girdle or to Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, to whom the order dedicated particular devotion. Andrea G. De Marchi further conjectures that it may have been intended as the high altar for the church of Sant’Agostino, Faenza (see Literature).