Mariotto di Nardo

Possibly William Young Ottley (1771-1836), London (according to label formerly affixed to the verso);

Sir George Leon, Bt. (1875-1947), London;

Thence by descent until sold, London, Christie's, 17 December 1999, lot 30;

Where acquired by a private collector;

By whom sold (“Property of a Private Collector”), New York, Sotheby's, 26 January 2007, lot 181;

Where acquired by the present collector.

Produced by the Florentine artist Mariotto di Nardo in the first decade of the fifteenth century, this pair of standing male saints originally formed part of a larger altarpiece that also included depictions of Saints Nicholas of Bari and a female saint, ether Lucy or Reparata.¹ The son of the painter Nardo di Cione, Mariotto was a prolific artist who produced monumental frescoes and illuminated miniatures in addition to panel paintings. During his career, which spanned the dawn of the fifteenth century, Mariotto worked on commissions for Florence’s most important civic and religious institutions, including the churches of Santa Maria del Fiore and Santa Maria Maggiore as well as Orsanmichele, an important shrine devoted to the Madonna and the city’s granary. 

¹ For the latter, see Miklos Boskovits, Pittura Fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinasimento, Florence 1975, p. 396, reproduced fig. 486 (as circa 1400-1405).