Gandolfino da Roreto

A. de Marchi, in Fonds d'or et fonds peints Italiens (1300-1560), Paris 2002, pp. 148-157, reproduced (dated circa 1500);

J. Marciari, Italian, Spanish, and French Paintings before 1850 in the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego 2015, pp. 114-117, under cat. no. 20, reproduced p. 117.  

This lively and colorful panel illustrating the scene of Christ before the Sanhedrin was painted circa 1500-1505 by Gandolfino da Roreto, an artist primarily active in Asti as well as in the nearby cities of Alba, Casale Monferrato, and Savigliano. Far from a provincial hand, he was well traveled and also responded to the different traditions developing throughout Italy. His earliest known work, signed and dated 1493, is the large altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin today in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin (inv. no. 22371).¹  While his more youthful output displayed his Piedmontese roots, as he progressed in his career, he came strongly under Lombard influences from Milan and Cremona. 

This panel once formed part of a lower predella for an altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin.² This predella illustrated a continuous narrative of the Passion of Christ. Five other panels would have originally joined the present one, although only four others are presently known, and all shared the same refined technique and crowded compositions. From left to right, the panels this predella included The Last Supper (private collection, Turin); one panel illustrating multiple scenes of Mary Magdalene Washing Christ's Feet, The Agony in the Garden, and the Arrest of Christ (private collection, Turin); the present lot; one panel illustrating The Flagellation, Crowning of Thorns, and Ecce Homo (location unknown); Christ Carrying the Cross (San Diego Museum of Art)³; and an as yet unidentified panel. The upper register of this altarpiece would have included a scene depicting the Assumption of the Virgin at Center (location unknown),⁴ flanked by Saints John the Baptist and Francis on the left (location unknown)⁵ and Saints Steven and Anthony of Padua on the right (Musei Civici d'Arte Antica, Turin).⁶

1. Fondazione Zeri Archive no. 22371.

2.  For a proposed reconstruction of this altarpiece, see Marciari 2015, p. 117, reproduced fig. 20.1. 

3. Inv. no. 1947.39. http://collection.sdmart.org/Obj1449?sid=5487&x=32328&sort=9

4. Fondazione Zeri Archive no. 22361.

5.  Fondazione Zeri Archive no. 22359.

6. Fondazione Zeri Archive no. 22360