MATTEO DI GIOVANNI DI BARTOLO, CALLED MATTEO DA SIENA | The Madonna and Child

Professor Paolo Paolini, Rome;
His sale, New York, American Art Association, 10–11 December 1924, lot 44, for $650 to H. Henderson;
Mary T. Cudahy, New York;
By whose Estate sold, New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 11 January 1958, lot 452 for $1,600 to Dr. W.M. Serri;
Thence by descent within a private collection, New York, until sold
Anonymous sale ('Property of a New York Collector'), New York, Christie's, 26 January 2005, lot 10.

The panel is uncradled and slightly bowed. The paint surface is relatively dirty and the varnish is discoloured. The gold ground appears well-preserved. There is a very shallow vertical surface split, measuring 3 cm., running up from the lower margin, just left of centre. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a campaign of fairly extensive, sensitively-executed spot retouchings throughout the flesh tones of both figures, and scattered in the Madonna's blue robe. The decorative hem of this has also been strengthened. These interventions do not distract from the legibility of the image, which appears to have no need for further intervention.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The attribution to Matteo di Giovanni was first proposed by F. Mason Perkins and Professor G. de Nicola, Director of the Bargello Museum, Florence, who linked the physiognomy of the Madonna in the present composition with that of a Saint Barbara in San Domenico, Siena.¹ The attribution was most recently re-endorsed by Dr. Laurence Kanter prior to the 2005 sale (see Provenance). Matteo di Giovanni, one of the greatest and perhaps the most progressive of the remarkable series of painters of Siena in the fifteenth century, produced many devotional images of the Madonna and Child throughout his long and prosperous career. The simplicity of the present image is, however, more unusual within the artist's œuvre for its omission of the attendant angels or saints usually incorporated into his compositions, and is all the more intimate and devout in feeling for it.

1 Signed and dated 1479; see B. Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance, Central Italian and North Italian school, vol. I, London 1968, p. 260, reproduced vol. II, fig. 811.