A portable triptych: the central panel: The Madonna and Child enthroned with twelve Saints, God the Father above; the left wing: The Adoration of the Magi, with the Angel of the Annunciation above: the right wing: The Crucifixion, with the Virgin Annunciate above; the outer faces decorated with trompe l'oeil intarsia doors (see fig. 1)

Details

The Master of San Lucchese (Florence, active circa 1350-70)
A portable triptych: the central panel: The Madonna and Child enthroned with twelve Saints, God the Father above; the left wing: The Adoration of the Magi, with the Angel of the Annunciation above: the right wing: The Crucifixion, with the Virgin Annunciate above; the outer faces decorated with trompe l'oeil intarsia doors (see fig. 1)
with inscription 'AVE · MARIA · GRATIA · PLENA · DO: T.' (on the later plinth)
on gold ground panels, shaped tops, in an integral frame (with later additions)
the central panel 25¾ x 10¼ in. (65.4 x 26.1 cm.); the wings 15¾ x 4¾ in. (40 x 12.1 cm.)

Provenance

with Lucas, Vienna, before 1930 (cf. Berenson, 1931).
with Canessa, Milan.
Gould Collection, New York (cf. Boskovits).
In the present family since the late 1960s.

Literature

B. Berenson, 'Quadri senza Casa: Il Trecento Fiorentino', Dedalo, XI, November, 1931, pp. 1291 and 1297.
R. Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, III, V, New York, 1947, p. 212, note 1.
B. Berenson, ed. H. Kiel, Homeless Paintings of the Renaissance, London, 1969, p. 116, fig. 189.
M. Boskovits, Pittura Fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, Florence, 1975, p. 200, note 87.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Sale room notice

Professor Miklòs Boskovits considers that this picture is by the Master of Tobias, 'a highly interesting figure of the mid-Trecento in Florence', whose work has recently been explored in M. Palmieri's 'Profilo di un pittore Fiorentino della meta del Trecento', Arte Cristiana, XCIII, 2005, pp. 405-416.

Please note that the provenance should read:
with Ercole Canessa, Milan; American Art Association, New York, 29 March 1930 (where acquired by the following)
with Felix Gouled, before 1947 (cf. Offner, loc. cit.).

This picture will be published in a forthcoming volume of the Offner Corpus of Florentine Painting.

Lot Essay

Bernard Berenson wrote of this picture in 1931:
'Then there is a triptych which harks back to Daddi, but has much in common with Jacopo di Cione and Niccolò di Tommaso, but so much more still with Giovanni dal Biondo that it will be well for the student who means to write a monograph on this painter to give it his attention.'

Subsequently ascribed to Giovanni dal Biondo, this triptych was recognised by Everett Fahy - to whom we are indebted - as the work of the Master of San Lucchese. This artist, who was strongly influenced by Bernardo Daddi, was first isolated by Richard Offner. The list of pictures he intended to publish in the corpus, which included this triptych, was significantly amplified by Miklòs Boskovits in 1975.
Since the photograph published by Berenson was taken, the carved leaves and cornice of the gable as well as the base have been replaced.

More from Important Old Master & British Pictures Evening Sale

View All