傳為喬瓦尼·迪·馬可 - 或稱喬瓦尼·達·彭德

With Alberto di Castro, Rome, by 1997 and until 2013.

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 fragment comes from the pointed pinnacle of a larger panel; large additions to the top corners and in a triangular shape at the bottom create a square format, with wood strips added to the perimeter. The new areas have been decorated with gold leaf and punchwork. Considering the picture has been altered, the original material is in remarkably fine condition: note the vibrant red lakes throughout and the confident brushwork in the hair and face of God the Father. Retouching reinforces the linear details of God the Father's crown, with the section overlapping the right corner being a reconstruction to continue the design. The darkest shadows in the garments are strengthened slightly. A few minor cracks are visible, and all appear stable. On the reverse, the shape of the original remaining panel, partially coated with plaster, is apparent.
"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."

This beautiful fragment of a pinnacle would once have formed the apex of a larger panel.  Lorenzo Sbaraglio suggests that this God the Father may in fact correspond with a similarly shaped Archangel Gabriel, in the Martello collection, New York and published by Miklos Boskovits in 1992 (fig. 1).¹  The importance of the subject matter here suggests it would likely have crowned the central panel of the altarpiece, with the Martello Archangel facing toward it at left and a depiction of the Virgin at right. 

In his 1878 edition of Vasari’s Vite, Gaetano Milanesi noted one Giovanni di Marco recorded as “Giovanni dal Ponte”, due to the proximity of his workshop to the church of Santo Stefano al Ponte beside the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.²  This identification, bolstered by numerous documents in Florentine archives, allowed the preliminary reconstruction of the painter’s oeuvre offered in 1904 by Carlo Gamba and Pietro Toesca.³  It had been thought that Giovanni trained in the workshop of Spinello Aretino, though Boskovits thought it more likely that he learned his skill from a number of painters in “in a late-gothic Florentine milieu”.⁴  While close to Spinello Aretino, Giovanni’s work also bears the influence of contemporary painters such as Lorenzo Monaco and Gherardo Starnina.⁵ 

The panel can be dated to the first half of the 1420s.  Prior to that decade, in the artist’s so-called “Iberian” period, his style was closely related to those of Starnina and Alvaro Pirez, employing a severe palette and conveying intense emotion.⁶  Yet by the 1420s, Giovanni’s output was characterized by a chromatic softness that is evident both here and in the Martello Archangel.  The artist’s sfumato effects became more delicate, as visible here in the mantle and in the pleasing transition of color, from pale rose to grey shadow. The painter’s imagination had by now been captured by new influences in sculpture, particularly in works by his contemporaries Lorenzo Ghiberti and Niccolò Lamberti.  In acknowledgment of the sculptors’ artistic advancements, Giovanni’s figures adopted a greater sense of plasticity, and his works conferred a stronger narrative as opposed to the direct, almost abrasive emotion of earlier models.

As Andrea G. De Marchi indicates, the gilt additions, lending the panel its new quadrangular format, were produced in Rome in the very early 19^th century and are themselves of great interest.⁷  This period saw the beginning of the “rediscovery” of the Italian Trecento and a renewed interest and veneration for the art and literature of the period, from Giotto and the Pisani to Dante and Petrarch.  The highly decorative punch work in the three adjoining sections was intended to compliment the panel’s own gold-ground decoration.  This panel was clearly prized by its then owner, given the great care and expense dedicated to its new framing element. 

We are grateful to Lorenzo Sbaraglio, Andrea G. De Marchi and Sonia Chiodo for independently endorsing the attribution on the basis of photographs.

 

1.  Private written communication with the owner, dated 12 May 2014; M. Boskovits, The Martello Collection, Further paintings, drawings, and miniatures, 13th-18th century, Florence 1992, pp. 82 – 83, reproduced p. 83.
2.  G. Vasari, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, G. Milanesi ed., vol. I, Florence 1878, pp. 633, note no. 2.
3.  C. Gamba, “Giovanni dal Ponte”, in Rassegna d'Arte, IV, 1904, pp. 177-186; P. Toesca, “Umili pittori fiorentini del principio del Quattrocento”, in L'Arte, VII, 1904, pp. 49-58.
4.  M. Boskovits, op. cit.
5.  Ibid.
6.  Ibid.
7.  Private written communication, dated 7 October 2014.