The Master of Ladislao Durazzo Active in Florence circa 1390 - 1420

The Master of Ladislao Durazzo was most probably active in Florence from around 1390 to 1420, and produced a large number of birth plates (deschi da parto) and chests (cassoni) in a style seemingly influenced by Jacopo di Cione and Niccolò di Tommaso. Another version of this composition is, for example, now in Museum Czartoryski in Krakow in Poland (reproduced in P. Schubring, Cassoni, Leipzig 1915, plate XIV, fig. 97) and, together with its companion, formed the basis for a group of related works brought together by Boskovits under the name of 'The Master of Krakow', since re-named by Everett Fahy as 'The Master of Ladislao Durazzo' due to his having painted that family's coat-of-arms. Several deschi are given to his hand, among them a Nativity in the Louvre, two Birth scenes in Cambridge, Mass., and Detroit, Institute of Art, and a Hunting scene in New Haven (for which see C. de Carli, I Deschi da Parto e la Pittura del primo Rinascimento Toscano, Milan 1997, pp. 62-76, nos. 1-6, all reproduced).

We are grateful to Everett Fahy for proposing the attribution to The Master of Ladislao Durazzo, on the basis of photographs.