Attributed to Lorenzo di Niccolò

With Richard Gabillet, Tours;

Where acquired, in 2008 (as Jacopo di Cione);

By descent to the present owner.

A Florentine artist active between 1392 and 1411, Lorenzo di Niccolò was long considered to be the son of Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, with whom he collaborated on several works. One of his most important was the polyptych in Santa Croce, which shows the Coronation of the Virgin in the centre, flanked by wings portraying four saints.

The present painting was very probably also the centre of a polyptych designed to decorate a chapel; its attribution remains uncertain. Stylistically, it shares with the Santa Croce polyptych an emphasis on the decorative aspect and figures notable for their elegance, with elongated forms. Everett Fahy firmly attributed our painting to Lorenzo di Niccolò, in a note attached to the back of a photograph in the Zeri Foundation (no. 105282), dated 2000.

The iconography with busts of red and blue angels close the upper part of the composition while the musician angels lower down are more comparable to the triptych in the Musée Condé in Chantilly, formerly attributed to Lorenzo di Niccolò and now thought to be by Giovanni dal Ponte (inv. PE 3). Likewise, the motif of the Virgin’s gown and the care the artist has taken with the drapery of all the figures resembles our painting.

An attribution to Jacopo di Cione has also been suggested more recently, by the Galerie Richard Gabillet.