Man of Sorrows,
tempera on panel, 26.5 x 17 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Private collection, Bern (acquired in Italy around 1880);
thence by descent to the present owner

The present composition relates to a signed painting by Naddo Ceccarelli in the Princely Collections, Liechtenstein, Vaduz-Vienna (inv. no. GE 862).

This panel is a significant example of mid-Trecento Sienese painting. The depiction of the Imago Pietatis, a half-length Man of Sorrows emerging from the tomb, shows a style and iconography which is typical of fourteenth century Sienese artistic culture, particularly in the circle and followers of Simone Martini.

The sinuous outlines of clear Gothic form, the meticulous rendering of the details and the marked graphic accentuation of the figure, together with the elegant decorations of the gold background show affinities with the earliest works by Andrea Vanni, such as the Christ Blessing of the Salini Collection in Siena (see L. Bellosi [ed.], La collezione Salini. Dipinti, sculture e oreficerie dei secoli XII, XIII, XIV e XV, Florence 2009, pp. 194–197) and the two panels, Saint Francis in the Lindenau Museum, Altenburg (inv. no. 46) and Saint James the Apostle in the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples (inv. no. 40), both parts of the lost Polyptych of the Chapel of the Castle of Casaluce executed by Vanni in 1355 for Queen Giovanna II of Anjou.