Workshop of Sano di Pietro, possibly attributed to Francesco di Giorgio

Possibly a Tuscan convent, until 1936 (according to Jacob M. Heimann);
With Jacob M. Heimann, New York, by 1936-1946;
From whom acquired by Anne R. and Amy Putnam, San Diego;
By whom gifted to the Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, 1946 (inv. no. 1946.42).

J. G. Andrews, A catalogue of European paintings, 1300-1870, San Diego 1947, p. 28 (as Sano di Pietro);
The Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego Catalogue, San Diego 1960, p. 57 (as Sano di Pietro);
B. Frederickson and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1972, pp. 182, 321 (as follower of Sano di Pietro);
M. Knauf, Sano di Pietro's Madonna Panels: A Survey and Catalogue Raisonné of his Madonna and Child Pictures for Private Devotion, Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University 1998, p. 434 (as not by Sano di Pietro);
J. Marciari, Italian, Spanish, and French Paintings before 1850 in the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego 2015, pp. 94-95, cat. no. 15, reproduced (as Follower of Sano di Pietro).

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 painting has a fairly recent restoration and presents nicely. The flesh tones have been reinforced with retouching glazes to address wear and although most of the restoration — only some of which is clearly visible under ultraviolet illumination — is unnoticeable to the naked eye, touches of restoration in Mary's face have blanched and appear whitish. These altered spots could be corrected without cleaning the painting. Details in the child's hair have been knit back together with retouching, while portions of the pattern on the child's garment are reconstruction. Mary's mantle is slightly hazy due to toning that has been applied to reduce the appearance of thinning in the blue paint. The panel displays a mild convex lateral warp. Two grain-oriented cracks are located in the bottom right quadrant, originating from the bottom edge. The reverse of the panel is coated with wax. This painting can be displayed in its current state, although if desired the blanched retouching could be adjusted with a small amount of further retouching.
"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 tender depiction of a Madonna and Child with two angels follows a model by the Sienese artist, Sano di Pietro, and is a fine example of the related work that was produced by artist's prolific workshop.  It has been suggested that the authorship of the present panel could be given to Francesco di Giorgio, an artist considered by some to have trained with Vecchietta, but more recently considered by others to have been active in Sano di Pietro’s workshop.  The work bears the punchmarks of the tools that Sano inherited from Sassetta, as well as those used also by both Sano and Francesco di Giorgio.  Francesco di Giorgio has also been suggested as responsible for a number of closely comparable works, including one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,¹ one in the Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge,² and one formerly in the Kress Collection and now in the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami in Coral Gables.³  It was presumably around 1450, the year in which Saint Bernardino was canonized, that Sano di Pietro was commissioned to paint numerous images of this patron saint of Siena.  This historical event sparked the popularity within Sano's workshop of small devotional panels depicting the Madonna and Child that were sometimes flanked by Saint Bernardino and other times flanked simply by angels, as is the case in the present composition.  In this painting, the motifs of the angels' heads  placed directly above the Madonna and Child to framing the figures below are typical of the artist's workshop, as are the garlands of flowers atop the angels' heads.  These garlands, along with the Madonna and Child, are rendered with such care and delicacy that it is no surprise why such compositions were highly sought after during and after the Sano di Pietro's lifetime.

We are grateful to Professor Laurence Kanter for his assistance in cataloguing this lot and for suggesting a possible attribution to Francesco di Giorgio. 

1. Inv. no. 1975.1.39, tempera on panel, 54.9 by 35.9 cm.  See K. Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born before 1865: A Summary Catalogue, New York 1995, p. 59.
2. Inv. no. 1958.284, tempera on panel, 46.5 by 28.6 cm. See Loan Exhibition of the Arts of the Italian Renaissance, exhibition catalogue, New York 1923, p. 7, cat. no. 20, reproduced. 
3. Inv. no. 61.025.000, tempera on panel, 73.4 by 46.4 cm.  See F.R. Shapley, Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Italian Paintings, XIII-XV Century, London 1966, p. 153, reproduced fig. 414.