Pietro di Domenico

Piccolomini collection, Siena;
Private collection, U.S.A.

Siena, Mostra dell'Antica Arte Senese, April - August 1904, Room 33, no. 1[382] (as Sienese School, late 15th century, lent by Conte Tommaso Piccolomini).

R.C. Morrison, "An Elusive Sienese Master of the Fifteenth Century," in Art in America, XVIII, October 1930, p. 307 (as Pietro di Domenico);
R. van Marle, The Devolopment of the Italian Schools of Painting, The Renaissance Painters of Tuscany, vol. XVI, The Hague 1937, p. 456 (as possibly an early work of Bernardino Fungai?);
F. Zeri, Italian Paintings in the Walters Art Gallery, 1976, vol. 1, p. 131, under cat. no. 88 (as School of Siena 15th century);
F. Zeri and E.E. Gardner, Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 3, Sienese and Central Italian Schools, New York 1980, p. 99 (as unknown Sienese painter, late XV century).

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in very good condition overall. Delicate retouching in the flesh, located for the most part in areas in shadow, primarily addresses wear and light rubbing rather than actual loss of paint. The forehead of the Christ child has been reinforced to knit together light abrasion. Small touches of restoration are found in Saint Catherine's wimple, otherwise the garments are well preserved. The white dots on Saint Bernardino's chin appear to be retouches that have lightened due to an aging mechanism in the restoration paints. They seem to have been applied to visually suppress dark spots that may have been intended to be stubble. These retouches could be corrected without requiring a full cleaning of the picture. Despite rubbing in the gilded edging of Mary's dress, the decorative pattern remains legible. Regilding is found throughout the gold background, skirting Mary's halo. The panel displays a mild convex lateral warp.At one point the panel had been cradled; the cradle has been removed and cracks in the back of the panel repaired.
"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."

This painting was first ascribed to Pietro di Domenico by R.C. Morrison in 1930 (see Literature).  Federico Zeri later included it among a group of anonymous paintings, datable to the end of the 15^th and into the early 16^th century, influenced stylistically by Benvenuto di Giovanni and several other Sienese artists of the late 15^th century, such as Girolamo di Benvenuto and Bernardino Fungai.  More recently, Dr. Everett Fahy confirmed the present painting to be a work by Pietro di Domenico, on the basis of photographs.¹

The corpus of Pietro di Domenico is grouped around two signed paintings — a Nativity with Saints Martin and Galganus in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, and a Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and John the Baptist, in the City Art Gallery, York (inv. no. YORAG:730).  He was born in Siena in 1457, however there is some confusion concerning the date of his death with suggestions ranging from 1501 to as late as 1533.  A certain “Pietro di Domenico dipintore,” who entered the Confraternità di San Girolamo in 1497 and died in 1501, is perhaps most plausibly identifiable as the artist.²  The inclusion of Saint Jerome, the confraternity’s eponymous figure, in so many of Pietro di Domenico’s works would appear to substantiate his identification as the painter in the confraternity record.³  In addition, Pietro Orioli, with whom the artist is closely related and whose influence is evident in his more mature works, was a member of the same confraternity.⁴  Pietro di Domenico likely received his initial training in the shop of Benvenuto di Giovanni, however the works of Francesco di Giorgio and Matteo di Giovanni also influenced the young painter.

 

1.  Based on information provided by the present owner.
2.  S. Padovani and B. Santi, Buonconvento: Museo d’arte sacra della Val d’Arbia, Genoa 1981, p. 40.
3.  K. Christiansen et al., Painting in Renaissance Siena: 1420 - 1500, exhibition catalogue, New York 1988, p. 345.
4.  Ibid.
 

 

 

 

 

1 Based on information provided by the present owner.