Lot 105
  • 105

Niccolò di ser Sozzo Tegliacci

Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
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Description

  • Niccolò di Ser Sozzo Tegliacci
  • Madonna and Child with Two Angels
  • tempera, silver and gold ground on panel, unframed

Provenance

Prince Leon Ourusoff, Nice, France, before 1929;
Arthur Sachs (1880-1975), New York;
By whom sold via exchange to F. Steinmeyer, working as an agent for Julius Böhler Gallery, Munich and Lucerne, 1929;
With Galerie Paul Cassirer, Amsterdam, 1933-1952 (on consignment from Julius Böhler);
Returned unsold to Böhler, 1952;
From whom acquired by Thomas S. Hyland, Greenwich, CT, 1958 (as Luca di Tommè);
From whom acquired by The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1970.

Exhibited

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Italiaansche Kunst in Nederlandsch Bezit, 1 July - 1 October 1934, no. 389 (as Luca di Tommè);
Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum, An Exhibition of Italian Panels and Manuscripts from the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries in Honor of Richard Offner, 9 April - 6 June 1965, no. 28.

Literature

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 313 (as Luca di Tommè);
U. Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, Leipzig 1938, vol. 32, p. 502;
F. Zeri, "Sul problema di Nicolò Tegliacci e Luca di Tomè," in Paragone, vol. 105 (September 1958), p. 9;
F. Zeri, "Angelo Puccinelli a Siena," in Bolletino d'arte, vol. 49 (1964) p. 232, reproduced fig. 4;
M. Bucci, "Proposte per Nicolò di Ser SozzoTegliacci," in Paragone, vol. 105 (1965) p. 60 (note 3);
B. Klesse, Seidenstoffe in der Italienischen Malerei des 14. Jahrhunderts, Bern 1967, pp. 202, 285, nos. 72, 188;
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance:  Central and North Italian Schools, New York 1968, vol. I, p. 425, reproduced vol. II, pl. 359;
S.A. Fehm, Jr., Luca di Tommè (Fourteenth Century Sienese Painter), Yale 1971, unpublished Ph.D. diss., vol. I, pp. xx, 60-61, 77; vol. IV, p. 81, no. 72 (under rejected attributions), reproduced fig. 95;
B. Fredericksen, Catalogue of the Paintings in The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu 1972, pp. 4-5, no. 4;
S.A. Fehm, Jr., "The Collaboration of Niccolò Tegliacci and Luca di Tommè," in The J. Paul Getty Museum Publication, no. 5 (1973), pp. 11-12, 29 (note 17);
C. de Benedictis, "Sull'attività giovanile di Niccolò Tegliacci," in Paragone, vol. 291 (1974) p. 57, reproduced pl. 55;
S.A. Fehm, Jr., "Attributional Problems surrounding Luca di Tommè," in Essays Presented to Myron P. Gilmore, Florence 1978, vol. II, p. 156;
C. de Benedictis, La pittura senese 1330-1370, Florence 1979, p. 95;
E. Carli, La pittura senese del Trecento, Milan 1981, p. 224;
S.A. Fehm, Jr., Luca di Tommè:  A Sienese Fourteenth-Century Painter, Edwardsville, IL 1986, p. 23 note 27;
D. Jaffé, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 1997, p. 124, reproduced.

Condition

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work of art needs some thoughtful conservation, even though there has been restoration fairly recently. These are focused in the head of the angel in the upper left, but in the remainder of the picture the restorations do not seem to be a diligent or as far reaching. There is a good deal of thinness in the Madonna's face, particularly in the shadows, and similarly in the face of the Child. There are un-retouched losses in the face of the figure in the upper right, in her chest and across her forehead and eye. The decoration in the Madonna's chest seems to be very elaborate and amazingly well preserved. Her blue robe on the left has suffered as has the burgundy gown of Christ on the right; there is restoration in both of these areas. The condition of this painting is worried and a consistent approach needs to be taken to complete the conservation which seems to have been halted mid way, the hands of Christ and the Madonna in the lower right being very obvious example of this.
"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."

Catalogue Note

This imposing, early work was once the central panel for an altarpiece.  Although it is now cut down, it must once have depicted a full-length, larger than life-size Virgin and Child enthroned and flanked by angels.  The red ground that is visible in the Virgin's throne, her dress, the Christ Child's chemise and in the borders of their cloaks was originally covered with elaborately patterned silver gilt.  Remnants of the silver can still be detected in the dark indentations of the patterning; however, because it needed to be constantly polished to ward off tarnish, most of the lavish background has been rubbed away.  Although no other panels from this altarpiece have as yet been identified, a similar polyptych in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, signed and dated "NICCHOLAUS SER SOCII ET LUCAS TOMAS DE SENIS HOC OPUS PINSERUNT ANNI MCCCLXII," must be very close in composition and treatment to the present work.