Ambrogio di Stefano da Fossano called il Bergognone

Wilhelm Suida, New York.

B. Berenson, Italian Paintings of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools, New York 1968, vol. I, p. 45.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. Although fairly recently framed, this pair of paintings has not been recently restored. The panels are both stable and the paint layers are also very stable. In the portrait of the saint in the orange gown, the condition seems to be excellent. The paint layer is quite dirty and consequently no restorations are visible under ultraviolet light. To the naked eye, although there may be a few retouches here and there, it seems more than likely that the faces, the hands and a good deal of the remainder of the picture are very well preserved. There are remnants of the original gilding around the head which do not seem to have been restored. These are pictures could be hung as is, yet they could also be cleaned, which would reveal a brighter palette and a healthy paint layer. The figure in red is in similarly good condition. There is a restoration in the middle of the chest and probably in the upper left leg, and a couple of spots in the red gown, yet as with its mate, these are not visible under ultraviolet light. A visual appraisal deems the condition impressive, and it could also be likely cleaned to good effect.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

We know little about Bergognone's training or early career, and he is first mentioned in the matricola (or register) of Milanese artists only in 1481.  He seems to have been largely immune to foreign influences, but in the later 1480s his paintings reflect the influence of Vincenzo Foppo, a fellow Lombard. 

The handling of Saint Peter and Saint John the Baptist, particularly the treatment of the features of these two small saints and that of the drapery, are undoubtedly characteristic of Bergognone, but aspects of the paintings present an interesting puzzle.  They are recognizable as fragments of a larger altarpiece, but the structure of that altar is unclear.  The presence of the curtains drawn back by the two pages and the absence of beveling on right edge of Saint Peter and the left edge of John the Baptist, indicate that they were originally the flanking figures on a larger, oblong composition.  Indeed one can see large red and blue forms of the drapery and the traces of the haloes that must have belonged to other figures in the original composition.  The curved line of the rear edge of the floor suggests they were arranged in a semi-circle perhaps around a central object of veneration such as a Madonna and Child.   One can find similar groupings on some of Bergognone large altarpieces, but these small figures seem to be quite unusual for him.  The figure of Saint Peter himself is closely related to another depiction of the saint is a private collection in Milan, datable to the first decade of the sixteenth century.¹  The saint's features, the color and details of his clothing and the treatment of the drapery are all strikingly similar, and though the Milan painting shows a higher degree of finish, that is most likely attributable to the larger scale. 

1.  See G. C. Sciolla, Ambrogio da Fossano detto il Bergognone.  Un pittore per la Certosa, Geneva and Milan 1998, p. 340, no. 64.