Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli

With Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam, by July 1934 (inv. no. 2553, as Neri di Bicci);

Acquired by Hermann Göring (1893–1946), through forced sale from the above;

By whom sold to Alois Miedl (1903–1970), Amsterdam, by April 1941;

Acquired by a private collector, Switzerland, during the 1950s;

Thence by inheritance;

Until sold ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Sotheby's, 7 December 2017, lot 102 (as Neri di Bicci), for £87,500;

Where acquired by a private collector, Switzerland;

Restituted to the heir of Jacques Goudstikker, October 2024.

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Italiaansche kunst in Nederlandsch bezit, 1 July – 1 October 1934, no. 257 (as Neri di Bicci).

Italiaansche kunst in Nederlandsch bezit, exh. cat., Amsterdam 1934, p. 91, no. 257 (as Neri di Bicci).

Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli entered the workshop of Neri di Bicci (1419–1491) in 1460, at just ten years of age. The present painting is an early work by the artist that certainly bears the influence of his master: the composition closely relates to a picture of the same subject by Neri, datable to around 1457–63, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.¹

We are grateful to Prof. Andrea de Marchi for suggesting the attribution to Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli on the basis of digital images.

¹ Accession no. 1975.1.72; tempera and gold on wood, painted surface: 18.7 x 14 cm., overall 19.7 x 14.6 cm.: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459014.