Leonardo di Bernardino del Signoraccio, called Leonardo di Bernardino da Pistoia

Private collection, Genoa, 1878;
On the London auction market in the 1890s;
With Thomas Harris, Conduit St., London;
Otto Froehlich, Vienna;
Acquired by the present owner's great-uncle in 1927 for 425,000 pesetas;
Thence by descent.

V. Capponi, Biografia Pistoiese, Pistoia 1878, p. 421;
G. Nerucci, in Bollettino storico pistoiese, I, 1899, p. 160;
G. D. Gronau, "Una tavola di scuola pistoiese", in Rivista d'Arte, year XI, no. 2, April - June 1929, pp. 214-219, reproduced fig. 1;
C. D'Afflito, F. Falletti, A. Muzzi, L'Età di Savonarola: Fra' Paolino e la Pittura a Pistoia nel primo '500, exhibition catalogue, Pistoia, Palazzo Comunale, 24 April - 31 July 1996, pp. 141 and 143.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The large panel has been cradled. There are various old repaired splits in the panel, some of which are now slightly open and there is scattered flaking, particularly down one vertical repaired split which runs down from the upper horizontal edge and is approximately 45 cm from the left vertical framing edge. There are other small scattered paint losses. Paint Surface The paint surface has a very discoloured varnish layer as well as surface dirt and a number of old discoloured retouchings which are visible in natural light. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows different stages of retouching, the most recent of which, and therefore the most easily identifiable, are lines of inpainting along the various repaired splits in the panel. There are other scattered retouchings and an earlier phase of inpainting which is particularly evident on the draperies of the Angel Gabriel and in the foreground. There may be other retouchings which are beneath old varnish layers and are therefore difficult to identify under ultra-violet light. I suspect that the gilding in the pillars and archways has been quite extensively retouched. Summary The painting does therefore have some structural issues and localised areas of flaking that should be addressed and does have the potential to be transformed should the painting be cleaned and restored.
"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."

The younger brother of Fra' Paolino da Pistoia, Leonardo di Bernardino del Signoraccio is today almost unknown and, but for various scholars' knowledge of this painting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he would today, at least as a painter, be lost to posterity. Beautifully preserved, this is the only signed work by this most accomplished painter from Pistoia, by whom only a handful of other works are referred to in the literature, and all of which are attributions based on a comparison to the old photographs of the present signed work: a Saint Irene that was apparently sold at Christie's in London in 1899;¹ a Sacra Conversazione in the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta in Lizzano in the province of Pistoia that is now attributed to Leonardo but whose attribution has oscillated between Fra' Paolino and Bernardino del Signoraccio, who was Paolino and Leonardo's father;² and a damaged fresco in the Chiesa di Santa Maria a Ripalta, Pistoia.³  The re-emergence of this tour-de-force of Florentine High Renaissance ecclesiastical painting after nearly a century in a Spanish private collection will undoubtedly precipitate a re-examination of the work of Fra' Paolino and his circle.

Like his brother, Leonardo's style is rooted in that of his father and, ultimately, in that of Fra' Bartolommeo whose influence here is pronounced. The conception and iconography derive from Fra Bartolommeo's own Annunciation of 1497 painted for the cathedral in Volterra.⁴  The Archangel Gabriel in particular is clearly conceived with Fra Bartolommeo's own in mind, though here he kneels slightly more upright, while the motif of the figure of God directly above, making the sign of a blessing and releasing the dove, also derives from Fra' Bartolommeo's painting. The setting of the Volterra painting, however, which is a well-to-do domestic interior, as well as the pose of the Madonna, are entirely different. The billowing folds around the angel's waist in the present work, and the choice of violet for their colour over a blue mantle, finds a close echo in Fra Paolino's version of the subject in the Collezione della Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia, though the latter seems stylistically later in date, more mannerist in conception and execution, and thus further removed from Fra' Bartolommeo's treatment than the present work.⁵ A closer comparison with Fra Paolino's work can be made with the Holy Family with an angel and Saint Agnes in the Museo di San Marco in Florence which is dated 1525 (and is of very similar dimensions).⁶

The Volterra altarpiece was to have a wide influence for several decades after its execution. It spawned another large altarpiece, painted circa 1520, that is in part inspired by it but which also seems to draw on Leonardo di Bernardino's own treatment; it is currently attributed to Giovanni Antonio Sogliani and shows the Madonna in a broadly similar pose to Leonardo's Madonna here, though the setting is very different, recalling instead that of Fra Bartolommeo and thus far removed from the Renaissance chapel here represented.⁷  The chapel setting imbues the scene with a more reflective and devotional air, aided in no small part by the classical simplicity and symmetry of the double arch and fluted Ionic column, all rendered in gold leaf.

The style of the signature here, both in the idea of setting it into the architecture and in its calligraphy, is also inspired by his father Bernardino who favoured the use of combined lettering and superscript. This, the architectural detailing, and execution of the figures recall Bernardino's Sacra Conversazione in the Chiesa di San Vitale in Pistoia which may only slightly pre-date the present work by Leonardo.⁸

Leonardo was the fourth son of Bernardino and three years younger than his famous brother Fra' Paolino. He was baptised on 13th December 1491. In the Priorista Franchi he is named Lorenzo but in his baptismal certificate he is correctly named Leonardo.⁹ No further biographical details are known and, other than the baptismal certificate, the present work is the only surviving document from his lifetime.

1.  According to Gronau, under Literature, p. 5, footnote 1.
2.  See D'Afflito, Falletti, Muzzi, under Literature, p. 141, cat. no. 13, reproduced p. 142.
3.  Ibid., p. 143, cat. no. 14, reproduced.
4.  See S. Padovani, Fra' Bartolomeo e la scuola di San Marco, exhibition catalogue, Florence 1996, pp. 57-60, cat. no. 6, reproduced.
5.  D'Afflito et al., op. cit., p. 198, no. 40, reproduced p. 196.
6.  Padovani, op. cit., pp. 258-9, cat. no. 85, reproduced p. 260.
7.  Ibid., pp. 266-8, no. 89, reproduced.
8.  D'Afflito et al., op. cit., pp. 138-140, cat. no. 11, reproduced. Falletti dates it circa 1510.
9.  Priorista Franchi, ms, 20, c. 339 v.