Lot Essay
The present panel is an early work by the artist datable to the 1470's and may be compared to the small tabernacle of the Annunciation with Saints Benedict and Scolastica in the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo (see F. Rossi, Accademia Carrara, Catalogo dei dipinti sec. XV-XVI, 1988, p. 115, no. 974, pl. XIV.)
It is possible that the present lot was one of twelve panels (all of which were sold in these Rooms, June 12, 1981, lots 124-6) that formed part of a predella for Crivelli's altarpiece in the parochial church of Porto San Giorgio. The rest of the altarpiece has been reconstructed to the satisfaction of most authorities. The central panel, of the Madonna and Child, is in the National Gallery in Washington while others are in Detroit, Tulsa, Cracow, the National Gallery, London, and the Gardner Museum, Boston.
An inventory of the church dated 1771 records the altarpiece and mentions that in the same chapel hung two framed paintings on panel, each representing six saints and bearing the arms of the Salvadori family. In 1803 the church was demolished and by 1832 the altarpiece is recorded in the Casa Salvadori in Porto San Giorgio. In the meantime a new church was under construction. By 1834 the building was completed and the altarpiece back in situ, with the exception of 'i pezzi di quadri con dentro piu santi a mezze figure' which remained in the Casa Salvadori (see A. Ricci, Memorie Storiche delle arti e degli artisti della Marca di Ancona, I, 1834, p. 227). These were presumably the same two framed paintings of twelve saints originally in the chapel of the old church. A Salvadori family inventory of 1885, in addition to an unspecified number of Saints', also records a Last Supper of equal dimensions (a palm in height). The whereabouts of the Last Supper panel is unknown. Zampetti (op. cit., p. 73) and Shapley (op. cit., 1968, p. 34) imply it may have formed the central panel of the predella for Crivelli's altarpiece flanked by the two framed paintings of six panels discussed above. The altarpiece, according to the inventory of 1771, was signed and dated 1470.
We are grateful to Keith Christiansen for the attribution.
It is possible that the present lot was one of twelve panels (all of which were sold in these Rooms, June 12, 1981, lots 124-6) that formed part of a predella for Crivelli's altarpiece in the parochial church of Porto San Giorgio. The rest of the altarpiece has been reconstructed to the satisfaction of most authorities. The central panel, of the Madonna and Child, is in the National Gallery in Washington while others are in Detroit, Tulsa, Cracow, the National Gallery, London, and the Gardner Museum, Boston.
An inventory of the church dated 1771 records the altarpiece and mentions that in the same chapel hung two framed paintings on panel, each representing six saints and bearing the arms of the Salvadori family. In 1803 the church was demolished and by 1832 the altarpiece is recorded in the Casa Salvadori in Porto San Giorgio. In the meantime a new church was under construction. By 1834 the building was completed and the altarpiece back in situ, with the exception of 'i pezzi di quadri con dentro piu santi a mezze figure' which remained in the Casa Salvadori (see A. Ricci, Memorie Storiche delle arti e degli artisti della Marca di Ancona, I, 1834, p. 227). These were presumably the same two framed paintings of twelve saints originally in the chapel of the old church. A Salvadori family inventory of 1885, in addition to an unspecified number of Saints', also records a Last Supper of equal dimensions (a palm in height). The whereabouts of the Last Supper panel is unknown. Zampetti (op. cit., p. 73) and Shapley (op. cit., 1968, p. 34) imply it may have formed the central panel of the predella for Crivelli's altarpiece flanked by the two framed paintings of six panels discussed above. The altarpiece, according to the inventory of 1771, was signed and dated 1470.
We are grateful to Keith Christiansen for the attribution.