(Siena, circa 1360-1370–1428)
Christ the Saviour
tempera on gold ground panel, a pinnacle of a polyptych, shaped, 36 x 25.5 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Alessandro Tomei for confirming the attribution and for his help in cataloguing the present lot.

The present painting depicts Christ the Saviour, bust length, blessing with his right hand, while his left hand holds the closed book of the Holy Scriptures. The picture was probably the pinnacle of a now dismembered polyptych, almost certainly placed above the central panel, given that the figure of Christ usually appears in this position.

The work is attributable to the Sienese painter and miniaturist Andrea di Bartolo, born around 1360 as in 1389 he was already recorded in the Breve dell’Arte, the register of artists active in the Tuscan city. According to a document published by De Nicola (see G. De Nicola, Andrea di Bartolo. Documenti inediti in Rassegna d’Arte Senese XIV, 1921, p. 12–15), he died on 3rd June 1428. He was the son of the painter Bartolo di Maestro Fredi and was active between the end of the fourteenth and the early fifteenth century.

The present painting may be compared to a predella panel of the Resurrection of Christ conserved in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, which forms part of a series showing the Passion of Christ which was reconstructed by Federico Zeri. Andrea di Bartolo, was influenced by his father, Bartolo di Maestro Fredi, and his oeuvre is marked by elegant linear cadences with a vivid sense of colour, which in the present painting is especially striking in the contrast between the Christ’s robe and the blue of the cloak against which the bright red of the book stands out.