The Madonna and Child with a Goldfinch

This is an early work by 'Tommaso', also known as the Master of the Czartoryski Tondo or the Master of the Sacra Conversazione in the church of the Santo Spirito, Florence. Its style resembles closely Tommaso's Madonna and Child with an Angel in the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Madonna and Child with Saints in the Musée d'Angers.

Tommaso worked either in the workshop or in the close circle of Lorenzo di Credi (Florence, 1457-1536), whose influence is evident in this panel. The castle with a bridge in the background derives from Credi's Adoration of the Child in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin. (G. Dalli Regoli, Lorenzo di Credi, Pisa, 1966, p. 124, no. 49, figs. 73-74). In 1932 Degenhart suggested that Tommaso might be identified as Antonio Ceraiuolo, who Vasari mentions as a pupil of Lorenzo di Credi. The work of the Master is certainly parallel with that of Lorenzo, yet also shows that the artist was familiar with Piero di Cosimo (B. Degenhart, 'Die Schle des Lorenzo di Credi', Mnchner Jahrbuch fr Kunstgeschichte, 1932, pp. 129-137; see also B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Florentine Schools, London, 1963, I, pp. 207-8).

We are grateful to Everett Fahy for confirming the attribution.