Francesco di Michele (Master of San Martino a Mensola)

French private collection, Franche-Comté, since the mid-nineteenth century until acquired circa 1990 by the present owner.

The following condition report is provided by Rebecca Gregg who is an external restorer and not an employee of Sotheby's. The Right Wing: Saint Jerome The original panel appears in good condition. The panel appears stable with a slight convex curve. The gold ground is in relatively good condition. There are areas of retouching predominantly located to the left of the figure along the craqulure. The paint layers appear in relatively good condition. There is a network of raised craqulure; however the adhesion between the paint and ground layers and the support appears stable. There are multiple areas of retouching present from a previous restoration campaign. These are predominantly small areas along the craqulure; there are also areas of retouching located in the shadow in the centre of the gown, below the right hand and above the sitter's left eye. The lion's feet have also been restored. There are small areas where remnants of a strongly fluorescing varnish layer are visible under ultra violet examination. There is a thin varnish layer present. The Central Panel: Saint Gregory the Great The panel support appears stable; there are slight planar deformations across the panel. The gold ground has been retouched along the craqulure. The original paint layers appear stable. There is a network of raised craqulure across the surface; however the adhesion between the paint and ground layers and the support remains good. There are no recent damages or loss. There are multiple areas of retouching present across the composition, including a relatively large area in the central figures' robe. The remainder of the over-paint present are relatively small, multiple scattered retouching. There is a fluorescing varnish layer present and the sitter's dark robe fluoresces relatively strongly. This varnish layer is above the larger retouching present, minor retouching on the faces of the angels appears to be on top of the varnish layer present. Left wing: Saint Catherine of Alexandria The panel appears stable. There is a slight convex curve. There is also a localised planar deformation located in the centre of the lower edge, running 37cm in length vertically. There does appear to small amount of relatively recent movement in the lower half of this repair with tiny white losses indicating movement. There are minor retouchings present in the gold ground. The paint layers are in a relatively good condition. There are no significant recent damages or loss and the adhesion between the paint and ground layers appears stable, apart from the tiny area described above. There are relatively large areas of retouching present on the sitter's forehead, hair and crown. This is not visually disturbing and appears sensitively applied. The red robe has also been extensively retouched. There is also a secondary campaign of retouching present, these are smaller, localised retouching and are present above the varnish layer. There is a slightly discoloured fluorescing varnish layer present. The paintings were examined in the frame.
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The Master of San Martino a Mensola, first identified by Luciano Bellosi as Francesco di Michele, takes his name from the church of San Martino just above Ponte a Mensola, near Florence, in whose altar can still be found one of his mature works, a triptych dated 1391.¹ The church also houses another work by the master, a reliquary dated 1389 which holds the remains of Saint Andrew, an Irishman born of noble parents who is thought to have died circa 877 AD. Andrew followed his master, the scholar Saint Donatus, on a pilgrimage to Italy and on their arrival in Fiesole, just outside Florence, they found the locals pondering over whom to elect as their new bishop. Following the miraculous instruction of an angel, they chose to elect Donatus who duly made Andrew his archdeacon. On his master's instruction, Andrew rebuilt the destroyed church of San Martino and founded a monastery there.

Probably active from the beginning of the 1370s, Francesco di Michele's work has only relatively recently been grouped together and has in the past been confused with that of the Orcagna workshop, in whose wake he would have developed, and that of Agnolo Gaddi, toward whose style he veered later in his career. Indeed, by blending the two trends the artist encapsulates the end of the Trecento style in Florence. Other works by Francesco di Michele include a Madonna and Child with Saints, in the Acton collection, Florence, and a Saint Francis in the Horne Museum, also Florence.²

The panel used to bear an apocryphal inscription and date along the lower edge which was removed during conservation work. It read: SCA CHATARINA VIRGIN SCS GREGORIUS ANO 1371 SCA IERONIMUS DOTOR. This could well have been inscribed over an original inscription which had been rubbed off. Dr Gaudenz Freuler feels this date may be a little early and proposes instead a dating nearer the end of that decade.

Stylistically the panels find very clear parallels with other known works by the Master, particularly in the figure of Jerome, whose intensity of expression and posture come very close to those of another Saint Jerome in the Accademia in Carrara.³  The male figures present strong brows, with clearly outlined features and an almost portrait-like description of every facial contour. The very good condition of the work allows us to appreciate the strong colours, particularly the bold use of reds which contrasts with the discrete blue of Saint Catherine's undershirt and the inside of Saint Jerome's mantle. No less worthy of mention is the inclusion of intricate details such as the careful decoration of both sides of the central curtain and the carpet beneath Saints Catherine and Jerome, and the lion's heads and paws carved into the armrests and feet of Saint Gregory's throne.

The large size of the triptych suggests it was commissioned for an altar of some importance, possibly in a church - or certainly an altar - dedicated to Saint Gregory, one of the Fathers of the Church, as he is undoubtedly the focus of this triptych. Inspired by the Holy Ghost, represented by the dove beside him, he commands the central panel of the triptych and his elevated status in the scene is underlined not only by the fact that he is seated with an ornate curtain pulled back by angels behind him, breaking up the continuity of the backgrounds and creating a throne-like shape, but also by the fact that Saint Jerome, a fellow Father of the Church, is shown pointing towards him.

The attribution has been independently endorsed by Professor Miklós Boskovits, Dr Gaudenz Freuler and Everett Fahy, all on the basis of images. 


 
1.  See L. Bellosi, 'Francesco di Michele, il Maestro di San Martino a Mensola', in Paragone, XXXVI, January-March-May 1985, pp. 57-63.
2.  For a discussion of the artist and further works see M. Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400, Florence 1975, pp. 124-126, 379-81, figures 388-395.
3.  See R. Freemantle, Florentine Gothic Painters, From Giotto to Masaccio, London 1975, p. 284, figure 582 and detail p. 281, fig. 572.