Neri di Bicci

Madonna and Child between Tobias and Archangel Raphael and Saint Catherine

Lot Closed

October 22, 03:13 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property of a Private Collector

Neri di Bicci

Florence 1419 - 1491

Madonna and Child between Tobias and Archangel Raphael and Saint Catherine

tempera on panel, gold ground

panel: 16⅜ by 14 in.; 41.5 by 35.5 cm.

framed: 27 by 24 in.; 68.6 by 61 cm.

Anonymous sale, Paris, Ader Tajan, 18 December 1991, lot 2 (as Workshop of Neri di Bicci; unsold);
Anonymous sale, Monaco, Sotheby's, 5 December 1992, lot 3, where acquired by European collector;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 2 December 2008, lot 109;
There acquired by Moretti Fine Art, London;
From whom acquired by the present collector.

Neri di Bicci was the third generation of a family of artists: his father Bicci di Lorenzo (1373-1452) and his grandfather Lorenzo di Bicci (1350-1427) had been successful painters before him. Because Neri di Bicci's style and iconography remained consistent throughout his career, dating his works is difficult. Characteristic of Neri di Bicci are the decorative details in the painting; the gold trim of the Madonna’s robe and the gold rays emanating from the stars and clouds scattered throughout the sky. The clothing, poses and expressions of Tobias and Raphael are similar (though in reverse) to those in a Tobias and Raphael with St. Jerome in the Keresztény Múzeum, Esztergom (inv. 55.178). Tobias and Raphael also appear on the right of a larger panel in the Brooklyn Museum, in which the Madonna wears the same transparent veil as in the present lot and the Christ Child also plays with a pomegranate.¹1. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/34311