ATTRIBUTED TO THE MASTER OF THE BEFFI TRIPTYCH (ACTIVE LATE 14TH/ EARLY 15TH CENTURY), ITALIAN, ABRUZZI, LATE 14TH/ EARLY 15TH CENTURY | VIRGIN AND CHILD

Private collection, Europe;

the present owner

This strong, fully frontal image of the Virgin and Child epitomises sculpture from the Abruzzi region of Central Italy: the slightly stiff, iconic image, the long straight nose, and the diminutive mouth. As opposed to most of the Italian peninsula, wood sculpture flourished in the Abruzzi region during the thirteenth and fourtheenth century, as suitable stone and marble for sculpting was not readily available (Moskowitz, op. cit., p. 175). Absorbing influences from many surrounding regions, particularly Tuscany, the Abruzzi region developed its own distinctive, homogeoneous style, in which a frontally facing sculpture, made out of a single trunk, was often placed as the central focus point on an altarpiece with painted wings. 

Delpriori has recently attributed the present Virgin to the Master of the Beffi Triptych, active in Abruzzi in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century (private correspondence). Although perhaps better known as a painter, Delpriori and Pasqualetti (op. cit.) both make a convincing comparison between the paintings and sculpture by the Master, with Delpriori arguing that the same master, or at least his workshop, would have been responsible for both the painting and the sculpting of a single altarpiece (op. cit. p. 71). Compare the drapery on the present Virgin with that of the figures of St Andrew and St Anthony in the Museo Civico in Sulmona (idem, figs. 17-18), where in particular St Andrew's robe shows similar folds. Delpriori further mentions the polychromy of the drapery of the Maestro di Beffi, which, influenced by earlier Abruzzi masters, as on the present Virgin, shows a bordered edge, and 'embroidered' geometric shapes.  

RELATED LITERATURE

A. Moskowitz, Italian Gothic Sculpture, c. 1250- c. 1400, p. 175; C. Pasqualetti, 'Riflessioni intorno a una societas artistica sulmonese del tardo medioevo (con una novita sul Maestro di Beffi)', in Il Molise Medievale, Archeologia e Arte, 2010, pp. 271-281; A. Delpriori, 'Il 'San Nicola' di Monticchio e i tabernacoli monumentali come pale d'altare: considerazioni sulla pittura e sulla scultura del Trecento tra Spoleto e L'Aquila, in C. Pasqualetti (ed.), La via degli Abruzzi e le arti nel Medioevo: secc. XIII-XV, L'Aquila, 2014, pp. 59-74