Francisco Solibes

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The panel has inherent problems which include unstable horizontal cracks and paint surface. There has been significant paint loss in the past e.g. to the sky and the lower right corner and many pin-prick losses throughout the surface. There are some areas of original paint that are in good condition, however, and a more sympathetic restoration would highlight these areas. There is a slight tonal improvement to be achieved with the removal of the varnish."
"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."

Francisco Solibes was from the Catalonian town of Bañolas and was a follower of the better known Catalan painter Jaume Huguet (circa 1415-before 1492). We are grateful to Profesor Antoni José Pitarch for endorsing the attribution to Solibes on the basis of photographs.

Profesor Pitarch has compared the present work with Solibes' altarpiece of 1480 in the Chapel of "La Pietat" in Sant Llorenç de Morunys and his altarpiece of 1481, in Santa Maria de la Bovera, near Guimerà. It is worth noting in particular the similarity between the physiognomy of the figures in our work and those in the artist's Pentecost panel from the "La Pietat" altarpiece.¹

It is likely that the present panel was originally part of a larger altarpiece, most probably one of the pinnacles.

 

1. See C.R. Post, A History of Spanish Painting, vol. VII, Part I, Harvard 1938, p. 355, reproduced fig. 121. For further examples of works by Francisco Solibes, please see C.R. Post, op. cit., pp. 350-375.