Roberto d'Oderisio

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. The quality of this nicely preserved painting remains apparent despite the presence of dirt and discolored retouching. A normal, age-related network of drying cracks has developed across the surface, the darkness of which interrupts the smooth modeling in Christ's body and Mary's face and hands. Tiny touches of old restoration in Christ's body to address spots of wear have darkened over time. In order to deal with small losses and the age-related development of wide cracks in Mary's mantle, a wholesale toning was applied, which now — being quite old — appears murky, mottled and brownish. More recent restoration to deal with scattered small losses and wear in Christ's feet still matches it surroundings. The mordant gilt border of the mantle appears to be well-preserved, although that on Christ's loincloth is a bit worn. The thick varnish is not significantly discolored, but is cloudy in some passages. A good deal of the gold ground has been reworked in several campaigns, in some part with gold leaf, but predominantly with gold paint. The wood panel support, comprised of a single board of vertically grained wood, displays a mild lateral warp. Old woodworm damage and repairs to the cross grain molding on the bottom edge are visible on the back; the panel appears stable. It is expected that cleaning the painting would have a positive impact; freeing the painting from the muddy overpaint in Mary's mantle and removing old dirt would reestablish the proper tonality and brightness while a careful restoration to reduce the appearance of dark cracks and points of wear would knit together the modeling and focus attention on the pathos of the scene.
"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 touching Pietà is a late work by Roberto d’Oderisio, one of the foremost painters in 14^th-century Naples.  The corpus of this artist was reconstructed on the basis of a signed Crucifixion in the Museo San Matteo, Salerno, and a document from 1382 when he was appointed magistrum pictorium regium by King Charles III of Naples. 

Two other versions of this composition are known today, one in an arched format in the Museo Regionale Pepoli, Trapani (fig. 1), and another, which has suffered considerable damage and subsequent overpainting, in the church of the Pietatella a Carbonara, Naples.¹  Earlier works by the artist display a knowledge of the Tuscan school of painting and a particular awareness of the innovations of Giotto, who visited Naples with his assistants between 1328 and 1333.²  Pierluigi Leone de Castris notes that Oderisio appears to have abandoned these advances in spatial perception in the execution of the Pietà panels, which are among the artist’s last works.³  They seem to reflect a conscious reversion to a more traditional Neapolitan style.

We are grateful to Professor Andrea De Marchi and Mattia Vinco for endorsing the attribution upon firsthand inspection.

1. Pierluigi Leone de Castris, “Roberto d’Oderisi,” in The Dictionary of Art, vol. XXIII, p. 350-351.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.