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Lot Essay
This panel is a part of an altarpiece originally commissioned for the Florentine church of San Niccolò in Caffaggio (destroyed 1787), of which the central panel is the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Four Angels, dated 1433, in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Parma (on the reverse of which is a label that reads: 'Lorenzo di Bicci - Fu nella Chiesa delle soppresse Monache di San Niccolò - Acquistato in firenze nel 1787'), of which the design closely follows that of Gentile da Fabriano's Quaratesi altarpiece, painted in 1425 for San Niccolò oltr'Arno. The Caffaggio altarpiece was described by Richa (Notizie istoriche delle chiese fiorentine, 7, 1758, p. 35) as 'una porta di buon disegno, sopra la quale in una lunetta dell'Arco avvi un S. Niccolò a fresco di mano di Lorenzo di Bicci, siccome del medesimo Pittore è il quadro nella testata della Tribuna dipinto sull'asse, e che rappresenta Maria col suo Bambino, ed a'lati i Santi Gio: Batista, Matteo, Niccolò, e Benedetto.'
On that basis, it was for long thought that the missing laterals to that work were the Saints Thomas, John the Baptist, James, and Nicholas of Bari in the Pinacoteca Stuard, Parma. However, in 1958 Federico Zeri published (op. cit.) an alternative theory that the missing panels were the Saints John the Baptist and Matthew in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Saints Benedict and Nicholas in the abbey at Grottaferrata. In addition, Zeri identified four predella panels from the altarpiece: the present work, a Saint Nicholas providing the Dowries, a Saint Nicholas resuscitating the three Youths (both New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art) and a Saint Nicholas calming the Storm (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum); a fifth panel is in the Wawel Museum, Cracow. Zeri in fact later revised his opinion that the present panel was a part of the altarpiece, but subsequent authors have all reaffirmed the validity of his original opinion.
The authorship of the Caffaggio altarpiece is confirmed in a document published by Cohn (loc. cit.) that records that payment for the altarpiece was made jointly to Bicci and his 'chonpagno' Stefano d'Antonio. Cohn inferred from that that the Grottaferrata lateral panel, which is generally regarded as of lesser quality than that in New York, was the work of Stefano d'Antonio (certainly, however, the present panel is unanimously accepted as by Bicci). The altarpiece was valued on completion by Fra Angelico and Rossello di Jacopo Franchi at a figure of 186 florins and 18 soldi.
The iconography of the present panel derives (contrary to the more sensationalist title of the old inscription) from Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend, which relates that: 'A certain man, for love of his son who was learning his letters at school, annually celebrated the feast of Saint Nicholas in solemn fashion. On one particular occasion, the boy's father laid on a sumptuous feast, to which he invited many clerks. During the meal the devil, dressed as a pilgrim, knocked at the door and asked for alms. The father ordered his son to take alms to the pilgrim, and the youth, not finding him at the door, pursued him to a crossroad, where the demon waylaid and strangled him. Hearing this, the father moaned with grief, carried the body back to the house and laid it on a bed, and cried: "O dearest son, how could this have happened to you? And Saint Nicholas, is this the reward for the honour I have paid you all this time?" And while he was saying these things, the lad opened his eyes as if he were just waking up, and rose from the bed.'
On that basis, it was for long thought that the missing laterals to that work were the Saints Thomas, John the Baptist, James, and Nicholas of Bari in the Pinacoteca Stuard, Parma. However, in 1958 Federico Zeri published (op. cit.) an alternative theory that the missing panels were the Saints John the Baptist and Matthew in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Saints Benedict and Nicholas in the abbey at Grottaferrata. In addition, Zeri identified four predella panels from the altarpiece: the present work, a Saint Nicholas providing the Dowries, a Saint Nicholas resuscitating the three Youths (both New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art) and a Saint Nicholas calming the Storm (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum); a fifth panel is in the Wawel Museum, Cracow. Zeri in fact later revised his opinion that the present panel was a part of the altarpiece, but subsequent authors have all reaffirmed the validity of his original opinion.
The authorship of the Caffaggio altarpiece is confirmed in a document published by Cohn (loc. cit.) that records that payment for the altarpiece was made jointly to Bicci and his 'chonpagno' Stefano d'Antonio. Cohn inferred from that that the Grottaferrata lateral panel, which is generally regarded as of lesser quality than that in New York, was the work of Stefano d'Antonio (certainly, however, the present panel is unanimously accepted as by Bicci). The altarpiece was valued on completion by Fra Angelico and Rossello di Jacopo Franchi at a figure of 186 florins and 18 soldi.
The iconography of the present panel derives (contrary to the more sensationalist title of the old inscription) from Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend, which relates that: 'A certain man, for love of his son who was learning his letters at school, annually celebrated the feast of Saint Nicholas in solemn fashion. On one particular occasion, the boy's father laid on a sumptuous feast, to which he invited many clerks. During the meal the devil, dressed as a pilgrim, knocked at the door and asked for alms. The father ordered his son to take alms to the pilgrim, and the youth, not finding him at the door, pursued him to a crossroad, where the demon waylaid and strangled him. Hearing this, the father moaned with grief, carried the body back to the house and laid it on a bed, and cried: "O dearest son, how could this have happened to you? And Saint Nicholas, is this the reward for the honour I have paid you all this time?" And while he was saying these things, the lad opened his eyes as if he were just waking up, and rose from the bed.'