The Madonna and Child with a goldfinch, with Saints John the Baptist and Anthony Abbot and two angels

This graceful Madonna and Child is a beautiful and rare example of late gothic painting from Florence on the eve of the Renaissance. Upon examining the panel in 2000, Everett Fahy, to whom we are grateful, proposed an attribution to the Master of 1416, an elusive Florentine artist named by Richard Offner in 1926 after an altarpiece dated 1416 in the Galleria dell’Academia, Florence. In the 1960s, Federico Zeri made further additions to the master's substantial body of work (in 'Appunti sul Lindenau-Museum di Altenburg', Bollettino d'arte, 49, January-March 1964, pp. 48-9; and 'Sul catalogo dei toscani del secolo XV nelle gallerie di Firenze', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 71, 1968, pp. 65-70, 77, no. 5). In addition to devotional works, of which this elegant gold ground panel is a fine example(see also a small portable triptych, Christie’s, New York, 8 June 2011, lot 37, $206,500), the master painted some secular subjects, such as the childbirth tray illustrating Boccacio’s tale of Ameto's Discovery of the Nymphs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. On the basis of the master's affinity with the late Gothic Florentine painter Lorenzo di Niccolò, Stefan Weppelmann suggested that he may be identified with two relatives of Lorenzo di Niccolò's who shared a workshop: his nephew Bartolomeo di Piero(c.1390-1427/31) and his son Piero di Lorenzo (1402-1451) (S. Weppelmann, “Lorenzo di Niccolo e la Bottega del Maestro del 1416”, in D. Parenti ed., Intorno a Lorenzo Monaco: Nuovi Studi sulla pittura tardogotica, Livorno 2007, p. 111.)

In this panel, the elegant Madonna gently tilts her head towards the Christ Child, a sinuous gesture reminiscent of Byzanto-Sienese precedents. Resting on her lap, Christ holds a goldfinch, the symbol of the human soul’s yearning for salvation as well as an allusion to his forthcoming Passion; according to a legend, the goldfinch acquired its red spot from a drop of blood that fell from Christ’s forehead onto the bird’s neck during the walk to Calvary. Flanking the Madonna and Child are two adoring angels clad in vibrant vermillion robes and below, acting as intercessors between the viewer and the holy figures, are Saint John the Baptist, patron Saint of Florence, and Saint Anthony Abbot. The fine halos bear intricate punchwork motifs reminiscent of elaborate metalwork from the period.