Biagio d'Antonio

With Adolphe Stein (1913–2002), London;

Thence by descent;

By whom sold ('Property from the descendants of Adolphe Stein'), London, Sotheby's, 2 May 2018, lot 96;

Where acquired by the present owner.

This refined work is likely to have formed part of the predella of a larger altarpiece. Roberta Bartoli's monograph on the artist illustrates a comparable panel that is thought to have served as a similar compartment in an altarpiece by Biagio in the Church of Santo Spirito, Florence.¹ The latter features the same decorative floral detail and geometric structure as the present panel, as well as other half-length saints and a figure of Christ before the cross.

¹ R. Bartoli, Biagio d'Antonio, Milan 1999, pp. 130–31 and 232, no. 126, reproduced in colour fig. 232.