Master of San Jacopo a Mucciana

With Palotti, Florence, 1923;¹
George and Florence Blumenthal New York;
With Paul Drey Gallery, New York, by 1950;
There purchased by Murray G. Ballantyne, Montreal, in the 1950s;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

F. Zeri, in "La mostra 'Arte in Valdelsa' a Certaldo," in Bollettino d'arte, ser. 4, vol. 48, July-September 1963, p. 247;
M. Boskovits, Pittura Fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, Florence 1975, p. 238, under note 164;
R. Offner; H.B.J. Maginnis, ed., A Legacy of Attributions, New York 1981, p. 60, reproduced plate 129.

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. These two panels from a triptych, framed together, are in very good, stable condition overall. Both paintings are coated with an aged natural resin varnish whose pronounced yellow cast suppresses the color range. In The Virgin Annunciate the paint layers are very well preserved, with minor losses in the Virgin's garment where the red lake glaze was applied most thickly and a cluster of losses (retouched) is located in the Virgin's proper right knee. The blue mantle appears to have darkened over time. In The Angel of the Annunciation, restoration glazes applied to Gabriel's face have darkened, making the condition appear worse than it truly is; there do not appear to be losses here, only some thinning or increased transparency that has been broadly strengthened. A strong craquelure and scattered flake losses following the horizontal wood grain interrupt the form of the angel, with further losses visible in the arm. The gilding is in very good condition on both pictures, with a few rubs to the left of the Virgin. Both panels exhibit a slight convex lateral warp. The reverse of the panels was not examined due to the framing method. Removal of the considerably discolored varnish would improve the appearance of this pair, and a modest amount of retouching in the Angel would allow the volumes in the lower half of the figure to read more clearly.
"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 master’s eponymous work is a large triptych painted for the church of San Jacopo a Mucciana (San Casciano in Val di Pesa) and now in the Museo di San Casciano.  Richard Offner was the first to compile a list of this artist’s works in a 1946 Parke-Bernet Galleries sale catalogue² and the list of paintings ascribed to him was futher expanded by both Federico Zeri and Miklós Boskovits. (see Literature).  In the 1946 catalogue, Offner described this master as following "in the main stream of Florentine evolution and specifically in the wake of the great school of Orcagna.”

1.  Information related by Sonia Chiodo, from the Offner Corpus files.
2.  See sale, New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 5-6 June 1946, lot 149.