Maestro Paroto

Commissioned on Easter Day, 8 April 1447, for the Church of San Siro, Cemmo, near Brescia;
By whom sold circa 1852;
Museo Cavaleri, Milan, by whom de-accessioned in 1873 when the collection was acquired en bloc by;
Enrico Cernuschi (1821-1896), Paris;
Victor Martin Le Roy (1842-1918), Paris;
Thence by descent to a private collection, Paris, until sold;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 4 December 1956, lot 12 (as School of Provence, 15th Century);
Private collection.

G. Rosa, Relazione della Commissione Provinciale per la conservazione ed illustrazione dei monumenti ed archivi, Brescia 1872, p. 88;
S. Fenaroli (ed.), Dizionario degli artisti bresciani, Brescia 1877, p. 194;
D. Santambrogio, "La Chiesa sussidaria di San Rocco a Bagolino", in Illustrazione bresciana, no. 43, Brescia 1909;
A. Sina, "Intorno a due pittori camuni del '400", in Illustrazione bresciana, September 1910;
U. Thieme and F. Becker, "Paroto", in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, XXVI, Leipzig 1932, p. 252;
M.L. Ferrari, Giovan Pietro da Cemmo, Milan 1956, pp. 15-16, 19, 26, 31-32, 35, 118-119, footnote 7, and p. 121, footnote 20;
M. Meiss, "An Early Lombard Altarpiece", in Arte Antica e Moderna, nos. 13-16, 1961, pp. 125-133, reproduced in colour p. 124 and p. 508, figs. 42-44b (as the 'Master of the De Natura Deorum', datable circa 1410-15);
R. Longhi, "Qualche aggiunta antologica al 'Gotico internazione' in Italia", in Paragone, no. 155, November 1962, p. 77;
E. Arslan, "Riflessioni sulla pittura gotica 'internazionale' in Lombardia nel tardo Trecento" in Arte Lombarda, VIII, part II, 1962, pp. 37 and 64, footnote 27;
M. Laclotte, "Tableaux de chevalet français vers 1400", in Art de France, III, 1963, p. 220, and footnote 3;
G. Panazza, "La pittura nella prima metà del quattrocento", in Storia di Brescia, II, Brescia 1963, pp. 916-17, footnote 3, reproduced p. 914;
F. Mazzini, Affreschi lombardi del Quattrocento, Milan 1965, pp. 617-19;
L. Castelfranchi Vegas, Die Internationale Gotik in Italie, Dresden 1966, p. 28 (incorrectly states that the polyptych bears the date 1445);
G. Paccagnini, Pisanello e il ciclo cavalleresco di Mantova, Venice 1972, pp. 144-145 and 162, footnotes 125-127;
A. Cadei, "Il Maestro del 'De Natura Deorum'", in Belbello miniatore lombardo. Artisti del libro alla corte dei Visconti, Rome 1976, pp. 57-65, 129-130, footnotes 52-53;
F. Zeri, "Un piemontese a Genova verso la fine del Trecento: Pietro da Alba", in Diari di lavoro 2, Turin 1976, pp. 27-28, and footnote 1;
F. Murachelli, Cemmo, Storia d'una pieve camuna, Esine 1978, p. 53;
G. Ghetti, "Il polittico del Parotus già in S. Siro ora a New York", in Quaderni Camuni, 1979, pp. 175 182, reproduced pp. 177 and 179;
A. Cadei, Studi di Miniatura Lombarda: Giovannino de Grassi, Belbello da Pavia, Rome 1984, pp. 107-108, 110, 112, 116, 118 - 120, and 202, footnotes 77-78, the figure of Saint Apollonia reproduced plate V;
G. Kaftal and F. Bisogni, Iconography of the Saints in the Painting of North West Italy, Florence 1985, pp. 623-24, cat. no. 218 b (only Saint Sirus), where listed as by the Master of the De Natura Deorum;
M. Natale, Arte in Lombardia tra Gotico e Rinascimento, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Palazzo Reale, 1988, pp. 138 and 140-141, under cat. no. 24, Saints Agatha and the two Johns reproduced fig. 3;
F. Mazzini, La chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta di Esine, Gli affreschi di Giovan Pietro da Cemmo, Bergamo 1989, pp. 179-180 and 184, footnote 2;
A. Tartuferi, Paintings and Miniatures from the XIVth to the XVIIIth Centuries, exhibition catalogue, Monte Carlo 1990, pp. 37-40, reproduced p. 38;
V. Terraroli, "Brescia", in La pittura in Lombardia: Il Quattrocento, Milan 1993, pp. 230-31, 242, and 464-465, reproduced p. 220, fig. 235;
E. Moench, Pisanello: le peintre aux sept vertus, exhibition catalogue, Paris 1996, p. 78, under cat. no. 34;
C.B. Strehkle, "Una pala d'altare per Monza", in R. Conti (ed.), Monza: Il polittico del Duomo. Un recupero, un restauro, Milan 1997, p. 19, reproduced fig. 3.

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been rebacked in the last half century onto composite wood panels within a recreated frame. There appears to be little of the original panel remaining, with a layer of gesso and fine canvas apparently immediately behind the original paint laid on the new support, which itself has been cradled. There is clearly no longer any insecurity or risk of movement. There is a very fine original craquelure throughout. The central panel seems to have had one central joint with another just visible on the left. Old flaking seems to have affected the upper background in particular in many of the panels, with some also scattered elsewhere. But there has been extensive careful detailed retouching at the same period as the structural restoration, perhaps in the mid twentieth century. However there has not been harsh over cleaning and the widespread minute retouching remains quite well integrated and in tone. There may well be a certain amount of surface dirt and general dimming of the surface through pollution, which could be removed and translucency restored with a fine layer of varnish, but reopening the present restoration could be a major operation. The old varnish is opaque under ultra violet light but the fine undamaged original areas can be seen with the naked eye, where the brushwork and craquelure is well preserved. In general the dark foliage behind the figures has survived well. The pigments have darkened, presumably including azurite and copper resinate, but these areas are largely intact. Whereas the lighter upper backgrounds have suffered quite extensively from flaking. The Madonna and Child. The face of the Child is especially finely preserved as is His hair. There is more retouching in the head of the Madonna, around the eyes and in the outer parts, with the highlights more intact, as are the eyes and the hair. Her lighter drapery is also far better preserved than the darker shadows where the rose madder has been widely reinforced. The gilding throughout appears to have been over a quite dark brown bole and possibly shell gold rather than gold leaf. In the crown it is worn with just the highlights on the jewels remaining strong. The Donor’s face has many little touches, with his blue also better in the lighter parts and widely strengthened in the darks. St. Sirus. The head is in rather good condition as is his mitre and the lighter areas of his robe. The upper background has patches of retouching. St John the Evangelist. The hair and lower foliage is well preserved, as are the lighter parts of the drapery. The inner shirt has retained its original traces of resinous glazing. St Michael. The head and the wings are in good condition, as is the deeper red, perhaps vermilion, drapery and, interestingly, the patterned outer robe. This is perhaps one of the most finely intact figures, with the background only having been retouched to some extent. St John the Baptist. This is also largely intact, with little touches in the background and in the blue robe and parts of the pink drapery strengthened, but with fine original touches in the drapery intact. St Apollonia. The background is much strengthened, as is her inner robe and the deeper pink shadows but elsewhere it is good. St Agatha. The head is lovely as is much of the figure. The outer robe may have been in a delicate vegetable pigment, which are liable to fade. St Stephen. The figure is well preserved, the drapery also probably in a vegetable pigment now having lost its colour. There are many little retouchings across the upper background. St Ludovicus. The front of his head, the profile, is intact with the other part of the face evidently lost and retouched. His lighter robe is fairly well preserved with many little touches elsewhere.
"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."

This rare example of a fifteenth-century Lombard altarpiece was painted by a 'Maestro Paroto' in 1447. We know his name only through the 19th-century transcription of the signature and date that used to lie along the lower edge of the central panel of the present polyptych (see Fenaroli under Literature). Not privy to this information, Meiss (see Literature) was the first to publish the work, associating it with a Lombard miniaturist who had provided a single beautiful illustration for a manuscript of Cicero's De Natura Deorum. Since then scholars have agreed that the polyptych is by the elusive 'Maestro Paroto', and while several other works have been ascribed to him on the basis of stylistic similarities, most fall short of the quality of the present work. The only other work which has been convincingly attributed to him is a polyptych in the Fondazione Bagatti Valsecchi in Milan which was first put forward by Panazza (see Literature), proposing that he may be the same as 'Maestro Pietro', a painter from Cemmo who is mentioned in a legal document of 1433.¹

Though few of his biographical details are known, it is clear from this polyptych that 'Maestro Paroto' was a fine and innovative artist. Betraying the influence of Michelino da Besozzo and Stefano da Verona, the dominant figures in Brescian painting in the 1420s, the figure types also recall the work of Bonifacio Bembo. The polyptych's refined figures and the light which delicately falls on the drapery are steeped in the International Gothic style, as is the elongated figure of the Madonna. Though the frame is modern, the panels are positioned correctly and an unusual iconography is developed in the two-tiered full-length portrayal of the saints.² The standard image of the Madonna of Humility has evolved and is now placed in a hortus conclusus, a reference to her virginity, while the Infant plays joyfully with the donor (the very Father Francesco Afro from the inscription) who enjoys the full support of Saint John the Evangelist.



1. See Panazza, under Literature, p. 919.
2. Idem, p. 916, footnote 3, where a 19th-century document is quoted as recording an upper level above the polyptych. Part of the central section was the fragmentary Crucifixion formerly with the Galerie Ribolzi in Monte Carlo (see Tartuferi under Literature) while the two side panels depicting the Annunciation are now lost. The link between the fragment and the present polyptych was first made by Federico Zeri based on the inscription quoted by Panazza.