BERNARDINO FUNGAI | CHRIST SUPPORTED BY TWO ANGELS

Monasterio di S. Eugenio, Siena;

With Wildenstein Arte S.A., Florida and Buenos Aires, 1955 - 1969;

From whom acquired by private collector;

By whom sold, New York, Christie's, 7 February 2013, lot 265;

There acquired.

B. Berenson, The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance, London, 1909, p. 173, as in the Monasterio di S. Eugenio, Siena;

J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy from the II to the XVI Century, London, 1909, p. 356, under no. 2, as in the Monasterio di S. Eugenio, Siena;

B. Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance: a list of the principal artists and their works with an index of places, Central Italian and North Italian Schools, London, 1968, I, p. 151; II, fig. 932 (as ex-Monistero di S. Eugenio).

Bernard Berenson first identified this confidently signed painting in 1909 as coming from the right chapel of the Monasterio di San Eugenio in Siena. The painting apparently remained in situ until the mid-twentieth century and is typical of Fungai’s late style with its directness. The center of a predella panel depicting the same subject as the present lot was sold at Christie's New York, 11 January 1991, lot 5, and has been linked to four other panels originally made for Fungai’s masterpiece, the Coronation of the Virgin in the Basilica of San Clemente in Santa Maria dei Servi, Siena.