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Lot Essay
We are grateful to Everett Fahy for suggesting the attribution on the basis of photographs, noting that two other panels by this hand are in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt (see R. Hiller von Gärtringen, Italienishe Gemälde im Städel, 1300-1550: Toskana und Umbrien, Frankfurt, 2004, pp. 427-38, colour plates 52 and 53, as 'Perugino [Schule]'), and one formerly in the Denver Art Museum (E-183; see G. Sarti, Primitifs et maniéristes italiens 1370-1570, Paris, 2000, pp. 130-35, as 'École ombrienne, vers 1500'). Filippo Todini, in his corpus of Umbrian paintings (La pittura umbra, Milan, 1989, p. 277), attributed the Frankfurt panels to an 'Archaising follower of Perugino. Similar to the banner of 1494 in San Domenico in Perugia'. To date, no one has identified the name of this specific artist, who must have been active in Umbria in circa 1500.
Château de Mello, whose foundations go back to the ninth century, was bought in 1819 by Franois-Alexandre Seillière, later Baron de Mello, French industrialist, art and book collector. His son, Achille (1813-1887) greatly augmented the collections which in turn were inherited by his sons Nicolas (d. 1887) and François-Florentin-Achille (d. 1890). The library at the château ('la bibliothèque de Mello') was one of the most important assembled in France in the nineteenth century.
Château de Mello, whose foundations go back to the ninth century, was bought in 1819 by Franois-Alexandre Seillière, later Baron de Mello, French industrialist, art and book collector. His son, Achille (1813-1887) greatly augmented the collections which in turn were inherited by his sons Nicolas (d. 1887) and François-Florentin-Achille (d. 1890). The library at the château ('la bibliothèque de Mello') was one of the most important assembled in France in the nineteenth century.