Lot 15: A Portable Triptych: The Madonna and Child enthroned with a female saint, Saint John the Baptist, a bishop saint, and Saint Peter; on the wings - The Nativity with the Angel of the Annunciation on the pinnacle above; and The Crucifixion with the

Niccolò di Tommaso Florence c. 1343-c. 1376
A Portable Triptych: The Madonna and Child enthroned with a female saint, Saint John the Baptist, a bishop saint, and Saint Peter; on the wings - The Nativity with the Angel of the Annunciation on the pinnacle above; and The Crucifixion with the Virgin Annunciate in the pinnacle above
tempera and gold on panel in a partial engaged frame
28 x 19 7/8 in. 71.1 x 50.5 cm.

Albert Stein, New York.
William and Eleanor Wood Prince, Chicago, by the 1950s, by whom given to
James and Doris Donovan, Illinois, and by descent
Benedictine University, Illinois, to whom gifted by the above, 2007.

PROPERTY OF BENEDICTINE UNIVERSITY, ILLINOIS, SOLD TO BUILD A CAMPUS ART GALLERY


This triptych, The Madonna and Child enthroned with a female saint, Saint John the Baptist, a bishop saint, and Saint Peter , shows the early influences on Niccolò di Tommaso, namely that of Maso di Banco and of Nardo di Cione. While details of the artist's training are scarce, the appearance of his name as witness to Nardo di Cione's will in 1365 is evidence of his close connection with that family of painters. Other documents reveal that he collaborated with the youngest di Cione brother, Jacopo, on various projects - it was Niccolò who supplied the design for the polyptych at San Pier Maggiore, Florence, which was ultimately realized by Jacopo di Cione in 1370.

While most of his activity centered around Florence, Niccolò received important commissions from Pistoia and from far-off Naples in the 1370s. His later works, which are more volumetric and monumental, reflect his knowledge of Giovanni da Milano and Andrea Bonaiuti's influential fresco cycle in Santa Maria Novella, Florence. By the time that he produced the triptych for the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Naples in 1371 (now Museo di San Martino, Naples), Niccolò had clearly moved away from the influence of the di Cione. His late masterpiece of 1376, the fresco cycle at the Convent of Sant'Antonio del Tau (which gave rise to his former identification as the Master of the Convento del T.), shows the artist at his most independent and creative.

This portable triptych depicting scenes from major events in the life of Christ is one of a group of private devotional works produced by the artist, which includes a triptych of The Madonna and Child with four female saints (fig. 1; Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore). The composition of the central panel in this work echoes The Madonna and Child enthroned with saints and angels (fig. 2; Acton collection, Florence) a single panel attributed by most scholars to Jacopo di Cione. In the Acton painting the figures crowd around the Virgin, each pulling on the canopy behind her - creating a scalloped backdrop for the central group. This arrangement is adopted by Niccolò in his earliest known work, Madonna and Child with saints and angels , dated 1359 (sold, Sotheby's, Monaco, 20 June 1987, lot 301). It is employed again here, placing this small triptych among the artist's early production of the 1360s.

We are grateful to Professor Miklós Boskovits for confirming the attribution to Niccolò di Tommaso, on the basis of photographs (private communication, 24 July 2007).