These elegant gold ground panels of Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Lawrence, Dominic, and Julian date to the early career of the Sienese artist Taddeo di Bartolo when he was working in Pisa. They once formed part of the Casassi altarpiece, an important polyptych painted by Taddeo in 1395 for the burial site of Gherardo Casassi in the Church of San Paolo all’Orto in Pisa, having been commissioned from the artist for 100 florins by Gherardo's three sons. A reconstruction of this large and elaborate altarpiece has recently been published by Gail Solberg in her catalogue for the groundbreaking exhibition on Taddeo di Bartolo recently held in Perugia (fig. 1).1

Within this altarpiece, the present four paintings would have been placed on the pilasters that flanked the central feature, with Saints Dominic and Catherine on the left and Julian and Lawrence on the right. The central section showed the Madonna and Child with Saints, today in the Musée de Grenoble. The three pinnacles above showed Christ the Redeemer,2 Saint John the Baptist,3 and Saint Peter,4 and four of the predella panels below all illustrating scenes from the Life of Christ have also been identified.5

Fig. 1: A reconstruction of the Cassassi Altarpiece, with the present panels visible on the two pilasters.

As confirmed by an inscription that runs across the reverse of all four of the present saints, these works once belonged to Carlo Lasinio (1759-1838) in Pisa. In addition to being an engraver, Lasinio served as the curator of the Camposanto in Pisa, worked as a dealer, and also amassed an impressive collection of his own. He specialized in small jewel-like masterpieces from dismembered altarpieces like the present panels, which he sold to the antiquarian Dawson Turner in November 1825.

These panels will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonne on the artist currently in preparation by Dr. Gail Solberg, to whom we are grateful.

1. Solberg 2020, p. 289, fig. R3.

2. 61.5 by 35 cm. Lindenau Museum Altenburg, inv. no. 63-28.

3. 50.5 by 30.5 cm. Simonpietro Salini collection, Asciano.

4. 50.5 by 30 cm. Private collection.

5. Crucifixion (Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon, inv. no. 383), Arrest of Christ (Private Collection), Resurrection (Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne), Descent into Limbo (Private American collection).