(Florence active in the second half of the 15th Century)
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist,
oil on panel, 86 x 60 cm (overall), arched top, integral frame

Provenance:
Collection of Baron Michele Lazzaroni (1863–1934), Paris, 1931;
art market Italy;
Private European collection

Literature:
R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 1931, vol. XIII, p. 130, illustrated p. 131, fig. 83 (as Benedetto Ghirlandaio);
E. Fahy, Some Early Italian Pictures in the Gambier-Parry Collection, in: The Burlington Magazine, vol. 109, no. 768, 1967, p. 133, mentioned under note 22 (as ‘might have been painted by Filippo di Giuliano or conceivably by some other unknown painter who collaborated with Sellajo […] we may name this anonymous painter after the Fiesole Epiphany […] it is possible that this master is identical with Filippo di Giuliano’);
E. Fahy, Some followers of Domenico Ghirlandajo, New York/London 1976, p. 170 (as Master of the Fiesole Epiphany);
E. Fahy, The Este Predella Panels and other works by the Master of the Fiesole Epiphany, in: Nuovi Studi, 2003, p. 24 (as Master of the Fiesole Epiphany)

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no. 104232 (as Master of the Fiesole Epiphany)

Everett Fahy was the first, in 1967, to group together a corpus of works for this anonymous master, who he named after the Adoration of the Magi with Saint Francis, Paul and John the Baptist, today in the Church of San Francesco in Fiesole. Fahy placed the Florentine artist in the circle of Domenico Ghirlandaio, pointing out his knowledge of the works of Jacopo del Sellaio and Cosimo Roselli as well as those of Sandro Botticelli and Filippo Lippi. He might even be identified as Filippo di Giuliano who maintained a workshop in Florence together with Jacopo del Sellaio around 1480, with whom he had collaborated from as early as 1473.

The present painting shows the Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist in front of a stone ledge and a hilly river landscape beyond. Both the Madonna and the Infant Saint John focus their attention on the Christ Child who marks the compositional and iconographical centre of the painting. The elegance of the Madonna’s features corresponds to the ideals of Florentine Renaissance: her slightly inclined head, the soft facial expression with the almond-shaped, lowered eyes, her bright, golden hair covered with a translucent veil, the elongated fingers and the sumptuous drapery with a jeweled brooch.

The work is a colmo da camera, a type and format of image that was popular in fifteenth-century Florence and intended for private devotion.