Two panels from a polyptych: Saint John the Evangelist, with Saint Margaret above; and Saint Bartholomew, with Saint Catherine of Alexandria above

These beautifully preserved panels originally formed part of a polyptych, painted in Florence by Giovanni del Biondo in around 1370. Frequently heralded as a key figure in the generation of painters working in the wake of Giotto, and anticipating the developments ushered in at the turn of the fifteenth century, del Biondo was a prolific artist in Florence from his first documented presence in the city in 1356 until his death in 1399.

The painter’s early works, of which the 1363 high altarpiece at Santa Croce in Florence is first dated, show the influence of painters like Nardo Cione (d. c. 1366), with whom del Biondo had worked during the decoration of the Strozzi chapel at Santa Maria Novella in the late 1350s. By the period at which the the present panels were painted, del Biondo had formulated a characteristic style, using a recognisable and distinctive formula in the depiction of figures. Here, Saints John and Bartholomew are shown with relatively uniform facial structures, with carefully articulated hair, similarly shaped eyes and betray the master’s interest in bright and vibrant colouration, something that became yet more distinctive in his later paintings. The attitude of the figures and angular presentation of their features suggest the influence of the brothers Andrea and Jacopo di Cione on del Biondo’s practice during the late 1360s and early 1370s, with the rigid poses and consistent facial types reminiscent of paintings like the Strozzi Altarpiece, begun by Andrea di Cione, called Orcagna, in circa 1354 (Florence, Cappella Strozzi, Santa Maria Novella), or the San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece by Jacopo di Cione, painted in circa 1370-1 (London, National Gallery).

The original altarpiece included the two present apostles, who originally flanked a central image of the Madonna and Child, surmounted by the Blessing Christ in the pinnacle above (now in a private collection), together with two papal saints (Peter and Gregory) who, like the present two figures, faced inwards towards the central Madonna, and were similarly shown in three-quarter view (the altarpiece sold Sotheby’s, London, 4 July 2012, lot 1). At the time of the 2012 sale, Dr. Gaudenz Freuler proposed the attribution to Giovanni del Biondo and his workshop, which he has since rehabilitated to the artist himself following sensitive cleaning and conservation of the works. The original framing elements of the ensemble are lost, though the panels clearly can be united through their consistent stylistic features, the moulding of the decorative carving around the figures and the partially surviving inscription that appears to have run along all five. Other surviving retables from the early 1370s by Giovanni del Biondo, perhaps most significantly the Tosinghi altarpiece at Santa Croce in Florence of 1372, give a good indication of what the polyptych would have looked like in its original state.

The punchwork in the haloes of the two saints helps to provide an approximate date for the panels. In his survey of punchmarks in early Italian painting, Erling Skaug discussed the tools utilised for the punches in the present panels, which originated in Sienese painting during the 1350s, and appear to have been introduced to Florence after 1363, when the Lombard-born painter Giovanni da Milano returned to the city from Siena. Upon his return, a group of painters working in Florence appear to have begun sharing various tools amongst their workshops, including Cenni de Francesco, the Orcagna and Giovanni del Biondo, in what Skaug dubbed the ‘Post-1363 Collaboration’. By 1375, however, del Biondo had largely abandoned these new Sienese punches, returning to the use of his older tools. Given this, the present panels and the polyptych from which they derive must necessarily have been painted before this date, most likely in the first years of the 1370s.