Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Guidi, called Scheggia

Ushaw College, by the 19th century;
By whom sold ('Property of the Trustees of Ushaw College'), London, Sotheby's, 19 April 1989, lot 1 (as by Francesco d'Antonio), for £95,000;
Anonymous sale ('Property from a Private Collection'), London, Christie's, 10 July 1992, lot 40 (as by Scheggia);
Anonymous sale ('Property from a Private Collection'), London, Sotheby's, 7 July 2004, lot 39 (as by Francesco d'Antonio);
Private collection, UK;
By whom anonymously sold, London, Sotheby's, 9 December 2009, lot 24 (as by Scheggia);
There acquired by the present collector.

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 40 (as by Francesco d'Antonio);
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School, London 1963, vol. I, p. 63 (as by Francesco d'Antonio);
S. Dell' Orso in M. Natale (ed.), Pittura italiana dal '300 al '500, Milan 1991, p. 120, reproduced (as by Francesco d'Antonio);
L. Bellosi & M. Haines, Lo Scheggia, Florence-Siena 1999, p. 77, reproduced (as by Scheggia).

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. Much of the robustly-painted imagery is in good condition, with only the heads of the angels on the right half showing some thinning in the flesh tones. Even so, the wear seems to be less than the initial impression suggests; the presence of discolored restoration weakens the appearance of the more worn passages. Most of the retouching, recognizable by its discoloration, addresses this local cleaning damage as well as scattered dents and gouges and isolated abrasion in the blue garment in the bottom right corner. The gold background has been regilt although it appears the majority of the halos retain their original gilding. The vertically-grained wood panel support displays a lateral warp, with replacement crossbattens on the reverse. It is expected that a new restoration to address the wear on the right side could raise the appearance of the angels on the right to be more closely equivalent to the well preserved faces on the left, providing a more even aesthetic across the painting.
"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 painting was for a long time attributed to Francesco d'Antonio, ever since Berenson's 1932 publication, and so it remained until 1999 when Luciano Bellosi and Magaret Haines first recognised it as a youthful work by Lo Scheggia. The attribution to Scheggia was endorsed at the time of the 2004 sale by Professor Andrea De Marchi (acknowledged in a saleroom notice). Like many of the artist's early works it shows the influence of his elder brother, Masaccio, but also that of Fra Angelico. Both these painters also favored the theme of the Madonna of Humility, in which the Virgin is shown seated on the ground, and the delicate flowers in the foreground of this panel are strongly reminiscent of those in Fra Angelico's Deposition, painted for the church of Santa Trinità in Florence.

From December 1420 and throughout the following year Lo Scheggia is recorded as a pupil of Bicci di Lorenzo although he was in regular contact with Masaccio's workshop, often collaborating with it, and indeed in 1427-28 he shared his brother's studio in Piazza Sant' Apollinare (now Piazza San Firenze). In 1430 he enrolled in the Compagnia di San Luca where he became known as 'Scheggia' (literally 'splinter'), a nickname given on account of his slight stature.

The strong influence of both Fra Angelico and Masaccio in the present panel would indicate, as Bellosi suggests, that this is a youthful work by Lo Scheggia, datable to the 1420s.