Master of the Castello Nativity

Bruno Canto, Milan, 1943-44;
In the present collection since at least 1963.

C. Lachi, Il Maestro della Natività di Castello, Florence 1995, p. 115, cat. no. 32, reproduced p. 167, fig. 48.

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. Restoration, most of it discolored, is found throughout the painting, most clearly visible as brownish touches in the flesh tones and dark spots in the sky. A lighter blue tone peeking through cracks around Mary's knee suggests the entire garment, aside from the portions with gilt accents, has been toned with restoration paint. The gilding in the cloth of honor behind the figures is sufficiently preserved to allow light to play off the multi-directional hatching although some wear is evident. The thick, glossy varnish remains clear and saturates the picture. The vertically grained wood support is comprised of two boards with the join left of center and displays a moderate lateral convex warp.
"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."

Named by Bernard Berenson after a painting from the Medici villa at Castello, the Master of the Castello Nativity was likely a pupil of Fra Filippo Lippi and was later an associate of Pesellino.¹  In her 1995 monograph, Chiara Lachi identified the anonymous painter as Piero di Lorenzo di Pratese, who is documented as having formed a commercial partnership with Pesellino in 1453 alongside Zanobi del Migliore.²  Lachi dates the present painting to the late 1470s.

We are grateful to Professors Andrea De Marchi, Mattia Vinco and Laurence Kanter for endorsing the attribution.

1. The eponymous Nativity is now in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, (inv. no. 171).
2. C. Lachi, under Literature, pp. 21-24; for more on the proposed identification see L. Kanter and P. Palladino, Fra Angelico, exhibition catalogue, New York and New Haven 2005, p. 287, note 8.