Puccio di Simone

Anonymous sale, London, Christie’s, 10 July 1987, lots 95 and 96, where acquired.

Seattle, Seattle Art Museum, Renaissance Art in Focus: Neri di Bicci and Devotional Painting in Italy, 25 March-13 June 1994, no. 60.

M. Natale, Pittura italiana dal ‘300 al ‘500, Milan 1991, p. 223, reproduced (as probably executed in the 1340s under the direct influence of Bernardo Daddi);
E.S. Skaug, Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico: Attribution, Chronology and Workshop Relationships in Tuscan Panel Painting, With Particular Consideration to Florence, c. 1330-1430, Oslo 1994, vol. I, p. 137 and note 12, and vol. II, unpaginated, chart no. 6.1;
R. Offner, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, section III, vol. V, M. Boskovits (ed.) The Fourteenth Century: Bernardo Daddi and His Circle, Florence 2001, pp. 14, 18, 36, 489-91, 496 and 499 note 3, reproduced pp. 489, plates LIII,491, plate LIII1,3 (as datable to the 1340s);
E. Darrow and N. Dorman, Renaissance Art in Focus: Neri di Bicci and Devotional Painting in Italy, exhibition catalogue, Seattle 2004, pp. 57-60, cat. no. 60, reproduced in colour p. 58, figs. 1 and 2;
A. Labriola in M. Boskovits (ed.), The Alana Collection, Newark, Delaware, USA; Italian Paintings from the 13^th to 15^th Century, Florence 2009, p. 176, note 9 and under cat. no. 30.

The catalogue illustrations are representative, however, the reds are slightly lighter. Both are tempera and gold ground on panel. The first (illustrated on the left in the catalogue) has a very very slight bow however, the paint surface appears to be in good overall condition relative to the picture's age. The background is abraded and the gold has been reconstructed in passages, with the reddish ground visible. There is also a very minor fissure in his head by his ear as is visible in the catalogue illustration and a very superficial surface scratch running from the cheek down to his armpit. Examination under ultraviolet reveals retouching to the aforementioned area on the face as well as strengthening to the background and the areas of shadow; there are also scattered flecks of retouching to the flesh tones and costume as well as a milky varnish. The second (illustrated on the right in the catalogue) is on a flat stable panel and the paint surface is in fair overall condition thoguh the flesh tones are rather this and have been retouched. The background is abraded with the gold worn, and the red ground is visible. Examination under ultraviolet reveals strengthening to the hair on his head and vest and some flecks of retouching on his face and costume. The landscape has been retouched and there is some retouching to the flesh tones of the staff holding the hand and to the feet. Both are offered in modern pastiche period black painted and gilt wood and plaster architectural frames in good overall condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Puccio di Simone was active in Florence around the middle of the fourteenth century and was heavily influenced both by Maso di Banco and Bernardo Daddi. One of his early works, an Annunciation with two saints in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence, also betrays the influence of Giovanni da Milano. Puccio is first recorded as a painter in 1346 when his name was included in the records of the Arte dei Medici de Speziali, the guild of doctors, druggists and painters but he is known to have been active before then since his damaged frescoes in the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella in Florence once bore the date of 1340.
These youthful works, probably datable to the late 1340s, formed part of the same dismembered polyptych as the Saint James the Greater in the Seattle Art Museum.¹ Boskovits associated the latter with a Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine last recorded in Berlin with Paul Bottenweiser. In the original configuration, the Mystic Marriage would have formed the central component; along the left would have stood the present Saint James the Lesser and a fifth, as-yet unknown panel; on the right flank would have stood the Seattle Saint James the Greater and the present Saint John the Baptist (see fig. 1). All the extant panels except the Saint John the Baptist stand out for their lavish use of the same decorative arabesque motif which is also present in several late works by Bernardo Daddi and his shop and it is likely that the two artists were collaborating regularly by the early 1340s.²
In 1959 Puccio’s oeuvre was significantly expanded when Roberto Longhi – to general acceptance from other scholars - identified him as the Master of the Fabriano Altarpiece, a sobriquet coined by Richard Offner after the Saint Anthony Abbot altarpiece in the Pinacoteca Civica in Fabriano which is dated 1353.³ Several of Puccio’s works are dated but only two are signed: a Madonna of Humility between four saints in the Accademia in Florence (inv. no. 8569), and a Madonna and Child in the Alana collection which is also dated 1360.⁴

We are grateful to Professor Andrea De Marchi for endorsing the attribution following first-hand inspection.

1. See Offner, under Literature, pp 497-99, plate LIII4, where the Seattle panel is given to a follower of Daddi.
2. See B. Klesse, Seidenstoffe in der italienischen Malerei des 14 Jahrhunderts, Bern 1967, pp. 234-35, cat. no. 121.
3. See R. Longhi, ‘Qualità e industria in Taddeo Gaddi ed altri – II’, in Paragone, no. 111, March 1959, p. 9.
4. See respectively R. Freemantle, Florentine Gothic Painters, London 1975, p. 90, reproduced fig. 175; and Boskovits, under Literature, p. 172-76, cat. no. 30, reproduced.