Liberale da Verona

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 4 July 1997, lot 362 (as Central Italian School, circa 1470);

Anonymous sale, Munich, Hampel, 10 December 2015, lot 228 (as workshop of Guidoccio di Giovanni Cozzarelli);

Private collection, Germany, until 2019;

With Benappi Fine Art, London;

Where acquired.

Celebrated as a painter, illuminator of manuscripts and designer of woodcuts, Liberale da Verona moved to Siena early in life, where he established himself as an artist of some standing. In 1470–74, alongside his associate Girolamo da Cremona (act. 1451–83), he illuminated the choir books for the city's Duomo, which are today preserved in the Piccolomini Library. A detail of a frieze embellishing the Graduale a Domenica Septuagesima, c. 110 v – though different in scale and support – is closely related to the present work in its composition, which features a putto sat atop a thistle seed, the flowers of which curl inwards on either side.¹ Such illuminations were to have great importance for Sienese painting and their influence can be detected above all in the work of Matteo di Giovanni (act. 1452; d. 1495) and Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1501). Upon Liberale's return to Verona circa 1476, he gained recognition as one of the city's leading painters, working on both public and private commissions. Around 1490, he executed frescoes in the Cappella Bonaveri in Sant’Anastasia.

The attribution to Liberale was proposed by Professor Alessandro Bagnoli when this painting was with Benappi (see Provenance).

¹ C. del Bravo, Liberale del Verona, Florence 1967, pl. 8, reproduced in colour.