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Lot Essay
This very individual triptych belongs to a group assigned in 1956 by Offner to his Mezzana Master (R. Offner, A Corpus of Florentine Painting, Florence, III, VI, 1956, 57-63). Subsequently Miklós Boskovits (in Offner, III, VIII, 1984) proposed an identification with the documented Pratese painter, Bettino di Corsino, recorded between 1288 and 1313, but, as he now points out, this suggestion is invalidated by subsequent findings (C. Cerretelli, 'Le Piazza e il Palazzo del Commune', Prato, Storia e arti, XXXI, 1990, pp. 32-5). He considers the picture to be by a painter working in Prato, probably between 1320 and 1340. The inclusion of Saint Louis of Toulouse, who was canonised in 1317 establishes a clear terminus post quem of that year.
Despite her proximity to Florence, Prato, like her neighbour Pistoia, was for much of the trecento a significant artistic centre in her own right. Her position on the flank of a major route across the Apeninnes dominating a territory that was agriculturally rich, underpinned a long economic prosperity based on the textile industry. This is best documented through the archives of the fourteenth-century merchant and entrepreneur, Francesco di Marco Datini.
We are grateful to Professor Boskovits for his assistance with this picture.
Despite her proximity to Florence, Prato, like her neighbour Pistoia, was for much of the trecento a significant artistic centre in her own right. Her position on the flank of a major route across the Apeninnes dominating a territory that was agriculturally rich, underpinned a long economic prosperity based on the textile industry. This is best documented through the archives of the fourteenth-century merchant and entrepreneur, Francesco di Marco Datini.
We are grateful to Professor Boskovits for his assistance with this picture.