The Master of the Fiesole Epiphany active in Florence circa 1500

E. Fahy, "The Este predella panels and other works by the Master of the Fiesole Epiphany", in Nuovi Studi, 2001-02, nos. VI-VII, vol. 9, p. 24.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The poplar panel has a reinforcing wooden veneer attached to the reverse to help consolidate a vertical join to the centre left of the painted surface and to hide previous worm damage. There is a 10cm vertical split from the top. Under U-V light a scattering of retouchings can be seen to the roof (covering small crater-like damages caused by old worm damage), to the sky left of the Madonna and to the faces and flesh tones of St.John and the Christ child. There is restoration down the length of the consolidated vertical join. Some dark craquelure to the Madonna's face and neck has been reduced. The paint surface in the mid and background has beeen abraded and original glazes have been compromised. There is the remains of an old varnish on the Madonna's blue cloak and elsewhere across the surface."
"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."

It was Everett Fahy who first named this master after the Adoration of the Magi with Saints Paul, Francis, and John the Baptist in the monastery church of San Francesco in Fiesole painted in about 1490.¹  In his article, Fahy speculates that the artist may have been Filippo di Giuliano (1449-1503), who shared a workshop with Jacopo del Sellaio and with whom he shares stylistic links (see Literature).  In 1483 Filippo di Giuliano is recorded as working with Domenico Ghirlandaio on the decoration of the Sala dei Gigli in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, but no firmly attributable works have yet come to light to substantiate such an identification. The Master of the Fiesole Epiphany's work has most recently been discussed in the exhibition catalogue Maestri e Botteghe,² and by Padoa Rizzo.³

In the present work we find the Madonna with her arms crossed, though it is more usual for her hands to be together as if in prayer, as can be found, for example, in the Fiesole altarpiece itself.  The figure of the infant Christ reaching up to the Madonna, however, is more readily found; for example in The Virgin and Infant Saint John adoring the Christ Child, in London, Courtauld Institute Gallery (Gambier-Parry Bequest),⁴ The Madonna and infant St. John the Baptist adoring the infant Christ, Saint Joseph in the distance;⁵ and The Madonna and the Infant Baptist adoring the Infant Christ.⁶  The relatively small size of the panel suggests that is was intended for private devotion.

1.  See E. Fahy, "Some early Italian pictures in the Gambier-Parry Collection", in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CIX, March 1967, pp. 128-39.
2.  Exhibition catalogue, Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 1992-93, pp. 163-64.
3.  See A. Padoa Rizzo, "L'altare della Compagnia dei Tessitori in San Marco a Firenze...", in Antichità Viva, vol. XXVIII, 4, 1989, pp. 17-24.
4.  Fahy, op. cit.,  p. 135, reproduced plate 30.
5.  Sold New York, Sotheby's, 14 January 1994, lot 7.
6.  Sold London, Christie's, 19 April 2000, lot 74.