The Pseudo Bartolomeo di Giovanni

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in good condition overall. Strengthening in the landscape to the right of Mary and below the child appears to address normal age-related increased transparency of the paint combined with some degree of thinning. In Mary's blue mantle a slightly mottled quality can be attributed to successive campaigns of retouching. Retouching also addresses wear in the figures' flesh tones. Mary's halo is now depicted with paint but may originally have been created with gold leaf. The vertically grained wood panel has been thinned and a cradle attached to the reverse, with additional structural repairs to the support. The cradle is beginning to detach in the center of the tondo but this does not appear to be creating any issues in the artwork itself. The panel is planar and old grain-oriented cracks are visible in several locations. The varnish is clear and even. The painting shows no urgent need of conservation treatment and may be displayed in its current state. If the cradle continues to detach, structural intervention may be advisable.
"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."

The so-called Pseudo Bartolomeo di Giovanni is the name given by Federico Zeri to a distinct artistic personality, active in Florence in the late 15^th century, working within the circle of Bartolomeo di Giovanni and Domenico Ghirlandaio.  He grouped this master around the set of five panels depicting the Story of Job in the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. (inv. nos. 1346-1350).  This tondo can be compared to the Berlin paintings in the similar physiognomy of the figures, and the device of smaller figures in the sky surrounded by a yellow circle, also seen in two of the Berlin panels.¹  Another painting ascribed to this master by Zeri is the Dead Christ Supported by Saint Nicodemus in the Museo del Tesoro della Basilica di San Francesco e Collezione F.M. Perkins, Assisi.  The composition of the present work is based on a prototype by Sebastiano Mainardi, another Ghirlandaiesque master.  An interesting and whimsical touch is the inclusion of a giraffe in the background at left.

 

1. Job Afflicted with Boils (inv. no. 1348) and The Repentance of Job and the Blessing of God (inv. no. 1350).