(Siena 1365/70–1435)
Madonna and Child enthroned, with Saints Augustine and Lawrence, a triptych, in the pinnacles: the Redeemer, Saint John the Baptist and a Saint
on gold ground panel, 105.5 x 114.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
A. Stein collection, Paris
Anonymous sale Christie´s, New York, 12th December 1986, lot 83 (as Master of S. Verdiana);
Private European collection

We are grateful to Alessandro Tomei for his help in cataloguing this painting.

The present triptych depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned, with Saints Augustine and Lawrence; in the pinnacles, within roundels, an image of the Redeemer (centre) flanked by Saint John the Baptist (on the left), and an unidentified saint (on the right).

Formerly in the Stein collection in Paris and sold at auction by Christie’s (New York, 12 December 1986, lot 83) and attributed to the Master of Santa Verdiana, the painting was subsequently archived in the Federico Zeri photograph archive as Martino di Bartolomeo di Biagio (see Fototeca Zeri, no. 7407).

The son of a goldsmith, Bartolomeo di Biagio, Martino di Bartolomeo must have been born in Siena between 1365 and 1370 and most probably trained in the large and famous bottega of Taddeo di Bartolo. As well as being an appreciated painter of panels and frescoes, he was also a painter of illuminated manuscripts, as evidenced by numerous documents bearing witness to an intense activity, for the most part in Pisa and Siena. It was in Pisan territory, at Cascina, that the artist signed and painted a wholly autograph cycle of frescoes in 1398, in the church of San Giovanni Battista.

In Pisa, Martino di Bartolomeo worked with the workshop of Giovanni di Pietro da Napoli, with whom in 1402 he produced a panel for the Ospedale di Santa Chiara, now conserved in the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, and for which the commissioning contract still survives. Around 1405, he returned to Siena, where he was awarded some major commissions, including frescoes for the Opera del Duomo and the Palazzo Pubblico, and for other leading city institutions. In 1434, he wrote his will and there is no other news about him thereafter; he must have died before 26 April 1435.

The present painting should most probably be dated to the first decade of the fifteenth century, perhaps when he was in Pisa. It is possible to note a firm approach with the composition of the figures and a sense of volume achieved through a skilful use of chiaroscuro that suggest a recourse to the plastic values typical of the neo-Giottesque phase of Tuscan painting in the dying years of the Trecento and opening years of the Quattrocento. The same stylistic accents characterise works now in the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa, such as the panel showing the Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and donor and the polyptych of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anthony Abbot, Saint Bartholomew, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Lucy, Christ blessing, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint James the Great, Saint Peter and a Martyr Saint.

Provenance:
A. Stein collection, Paris
Anonymous sale Christie´s, New York, 12th December 1986, lot 83 (as Master of S. Verdiana);
Private European collection

We are grateful to Alessandro Tomei for his help in cataloguing this painting.

The present triptych depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned, with Saints Augustine and Lawrence; in the pinnacles, within roundels, an image of the Redeemer (centre) flanked by Saint John the Baptist (on the left), and an unidentified saint (on the right).

Formerly in the Stein collection in Paris and sold at auction by Christie’s (New York, 12 December 1986, lot 83) and attributed to the Master of Santa Verdiana, the painting was subsequently archieved in the Federico Zeri photograph archive as Martino di Bartolomeo di Biagio (see Fototeca Zeri, no. 7407).

The son of a goldsmith, Bartolomeo di Biagio, Martino di Bartolomeo must have been born in Siena between 1365 and 1370 and most probably trained in the large and famous bottega of Taddeo di Bartolo. As well as being an appreciated painter of panels and frescoes, he was also a painter of illuminated manuscripts, as evidenced by numerous documents bearing witness to an intense activity, for the most part in Pisa and Siena. It was in Pisan territory, at Cascina, that the artist signed and painted a wholly autograph cycle of frescoes in 1398, in the church of San Giovanni Battista.

In Pisa, Martino di Bartolomeo worked with the workshop of Giovanni di Pietro da Napoli, with whom in 1402 he produced a panel for the Ospedale di Santa Chiara, now conserved in the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, and for which the commissioning contract still survives. Around 1405, he returned to Siena, where he was awarded some major commissions, including frescoes for the Opera del Duomo and the Palazzo Pubblico, and for other leading city institutions. In 1334, he wrote his will and there is no other news about him thereafter; he must have died before 26 April 1435.

The present painting should most probably be dated to the first decade of the fifteenth century, perhaps when he was in Pisa. It is possible to note a firm approach with the composition of the figures and a sense of volume achieved through a skilful use of chiaroscuro that suggest a recourse to the plastic values typical of the neo-Giottesque phase of Tuscan painting in the dying years of the Trecento and opening years of the Quattrocento. The same stylistic accents characterise works now in the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa, such as the panel showing the Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and donor and the polyptych of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anthony Abbot, Saint Bartholomew, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Lucy, Christ blessing, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint James the Great, Saint Peter and a Martyr Saint.