Lot 8: Master of Cola della Casse active in Foligno mid 15th Century , St. Paul tempera and gold ground on panel

tempera and gold ground on panel

measurements 14 5/8 by 5 in. alternate measurements 37.2 by 12.6 cm.

F. Todini, La Pittura Umbra dal Duecento al Primo Cinquecento, Milan 1989, vol. I, p. 115, reproduced vol. II, fig. 933;
F. Todini, Niccolò Alunno e la sua bottega, Perugia 2004, p. 498, cat. no. II.8, reproduced, pp. 165, 498.

Wilhelm Suida, New York.

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
This Saint Paul is one of a group of three extant pilaster panels from an altarpiece, together with a Saint Francis of Assisi in a Florentine private collection, and a Saint John Evangelist, formerly in a private collection, Milan (see Todini 2004 literature). The Master of Cola della Casse was an artist active in the mid 15th Century in Foligno; his eponymous work is a series of frescoes in the Cola dell Casse chapel in the church of Santa Maria in Campis in that city. The works are highly expressive and realized with great individuality, and Todini considers the master a highly important figure in the development in the art of Foligno. He appears to have been a collaborator of the young Niccolò di Liberatore, and may have been linked with Pietro di Mazzaforte (documented 1444-1480, see Todini 2004 literature), although other scholars note the similarities between the master's works and that of the young Niccolò di Liberatore himself.