The Madonna and Child

Details

Sano di Pietro (Siena 1405-1481)
The Madonna and Child
on gold ground panel
14 ¾ x 10 in. (37.4 x 25.3 cm.)
inscribed 'AVE · GRATIA · PLENA · DOMINUS · TE[...]' (on the Madonna's halo) and 'XPS' (on the Christ Child's halo)

Provenance

J.N. Sepp (1816-1909), Munich.
Highly Important Pictures from the Collection Formed by the Late Chancellor Konrad Adenauer; Christie’s, London, 26 June 1970, lot 21, from which time in the possession of the following,
H. Kisters, Kreuzlingen, and by descent to the present owner.

Literature

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: the Central Italian and North Italian Schools, London and New York, 1968, I, p. 375.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Brought to you by

Lucy Cox

lcox@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2243

Lot Essay

Ansano di Pietro di Mencio, known as Sano di Pietro, was the most consistently productive Sienese master of the midfifteenth century. While less is known about his early years, his work is well documented from 1444 onwards. He executed numerous commissions in and around Siena, his compositions revealing the influence of other masters of the Sienese school, in particular Sassetta and Domenico di Bartolo. The intimate relationship between Madonna and Child in this panel, and the particularly tender expression of the Child, owes much to earlier precedent and is paralleled in other devotional panels by the artist, including, for example, the Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Bernardino and four Angels (Berenson, op. cit., II, pl. 581), and the picture sold in these Rooms, 9 July 2015, lot 2.

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