意大利中部畫派，十五世紀

E. Bolton, London, 1927;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's Parke Bernet, 5 June 1986, lot 8 (as Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino).

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 picture has been very minimally restored, using a "neutral" tone in areas of complete loss in Mary's mantle and hands and only the barest amount of imitative retouching along cracks and in areas of the greatest degree of wear. As a result, the condition is fairly straightforward, with old damages and the degree of overall wear clearly visible. A few areas of slightly darkened retouching are visible running through the Virgin's face and the child's body. Much of the gold leaf in the background has been worn away, but the punchwork patterns remain legible due to material lodged in the punchmarks. The vertically grained wood panel support is sound with old cracks that appear stable. The painting is stable overall and can be displayed in its current condition. Depending upon taste, however, a different philosophical approach to the restoration might improve the appearance of extant areas and potentially return some degree of completeness to the forms.
"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."

At the time of the sale in 1986 (see Provenance), the gilt background of this Madonna and Child had been painted over with a rose hedge design. This modification had been carried out early in the painting’s history, perhaps in the 15^th century, with the intention of "modernizing" the picture.  The stellar motif used in the decoration of the panel's arched upper margin, visible since its cleaning, is not consistent with Tuscan models and appears to be 14^th century, thus suggesting the panel was repurposed.

The composition is close to a prototype by Francesco di Stefano, called Pesellino like that in the Isabella Stewart Garder Museum, Boston (inv. no. P16W11).¹  It was presumably the rose background that led to the painting’s misattribution to the Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino in the auction catalogue.  The rose tangle motif was one often employed by the anonymous Florentine artist and numerous examples survive today, including the Madonna and Child in the Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge Mass. (inv. no. 1959.35).²  While the present panel has a certain affinity with the Harvard painting, particularly in terms of its composition, the facial types are not the by the same hand.  The physiognomy of the Virgin is softer and 'sweeter' than the slightly pointed features in the paintings of Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino.  

 

1.  See M. Holmes, "Virgin and Child with a Swallow", in Eye of the Beholder, A. Chong et al. ed., Boston 2003, p. 49.
2.  See E. Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA. 1990.