Master of the Tempere Francescane

Painting presents itself beautifully, and requires no further restoration. There are some restorations in the nose, cheek and forehead of the face of the Madonna, most of which appear to attempt to minimize the natural craquelure in the face. Overall though the face of the Madonna appears to be well modeled and mostly devoid of damage or restoration. The face of the child has had more restoration. The elaborately decorated garments of the Madonna and Child has had some abrasion in the past, and there are areas of the blue, orange, and red drapery do appear to be reinforced in sections where the craquelure runs inconsistently through the picture. The alternating red and blue dots in the border also appear to be unevenly enhanced, though some may be original. The beautiful and elaborate punch work in the panel appears well done and original, and runs throughout the picture, adding to the overall sumptuousness and elegance of the picture.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This intimate and tender Madonna and Child was painted in Naples circa 1340 by the Master of the "Tempere Francescane", an anonymous Neapolitan artist whom Ferdinando Bologna tentatively identified as Pietro Ormina.¹ The panel illustrates the continued influence of the art of Avignon on Neapolitan painters active in the Angiovin court of King Robert of Anjou, particularly evidenced here by the refined punchwork, both in the tooling and in the intricate sgraffito decoration of the figures’ cloaks.² This little-known but highly distinctive artist takes his name from an unusual series of four works of tempera painted on linen, today in a private collection in Milan, which were commissioned by the Franciscan community in Naples.³ 

The Master’s early style is marked by a certain archaism which was still very much rooted in the monumentality of Giotto (circa 1266-1337), who had moved to Naples as first court painter in 1328, where he remained until 1333. Though only very few of Giotto’s Neapolitan works have survived, his presence was felt in the city for many years after his departure. However, by the time the present panel was painted, the Master’s style had become more refined, falling under the spell of the gentle lyricism of Simone Martini (circa 1284-1344).  A direct knowledge of Simone's earlier work produced for the Angevin court in Naples around 1320 is evidenced here, such as the wonderfully textured surface of the altarpiece of Saint Louis of Toulouse and its predella in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples.⁴

While the present figures are still Giottesque in their sturdiness, the attention to detail confirms the Master's stylistic evolution. The elongated physiognomy and the carefully delineated nose of the Madonna find parallels in the large altarpiece by the Master in the cathedral in Ottana, in Sardinia, painted around the same date as the present work; similarly, the facial expression recalls the Saint Francis in the church of Santa Chiara, Naples.⁵ Though the figures are still reliant on the earlier phase of Simone's career, the punched pattern which frames the composition and the beautiful tooled decoration of the figures’ robes incised by careful sgraffito find their roots in Simone’s work in Avignon around 1340, such as the panels created for Cardinal Orsini, among them the Annunciation panels today in the Koninklijk Museum in Antwerp.⁶ The close ties and crosscurrents between the Angevin court in Naples and the papal court at Avignon ensured that Neapolitan painters were aware of, and would have adopted, the artistic developments in France. The pattern at the edge of the design also recurs in some of the smaller panels of the aforementioned polyptych in Ottana, as do the characteristic scratched thin rays which make up the inner sections of the haloes.

The attribution was first proposed by Professor Gaudenz Freuler, to whom we are most grateful for his invaluable assistance in cataloguing this lot.

 

 

1. See F. Bologna, I pittori alla corte angioina di Napoli (1266-1414), Rome 1969, pp. 168, 177, notes 135-140; 235-57; 282-3, notes 1-47.
2. The close artistic connection between Naples and Avignon is best illustrated by the anonymous Adoration of the Magi in the Lehman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and its companion panels of the Annunciation and the Nativity in the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence (see J. Pope-Hennessy, Italian Paintings in the Robert Lehman Collection, New York 1987, pp. 90-92, cat. no. 40, reproduced).
3. See Bologna, op. cit. The linen support is extremely rare in fourteenth-century painting; confer the set of four works on linen by the Florentine Nicolò di Pietro Gerini sold in London, Sotheby's, 5 December 2012, lot 16.
4. See P. Leone de Castris, Simone Martini, Milan 2003, pp. 349-50, reproduced in color p. 139 and pp. 145-52.
5. See P. Leone de Castris, Arte di corte nella Napoli angiona, da Carlo I a Roberto il Saggio (1266-1343), Florence 1986, pp. 433, reproduced figs. 27-28; and p. 433, reproduced figs. 22-24.
6. See Leone De Castris, 2003, pp. 362-63, reproduced in color pp. 302-03.