The Master of Marradi
(active in Tuscany, 1480-1500)
Madonna and Child Enthroned,
oil on panel,
exhibition labels and previous auction details verso,
image 85.5 x 63.5cms, in gilt frame 107 x 84cms total.

Exhibition:
Royal Academy of Arts - Winter Exhibition, 1881. No.184 'Small full-length figure of the Virgin and Child enthroned, in a red undergarment and dark blue mantle; the Child, seated on a red cushion on her lap, holds a jewelled clasp in his l. hand; on either side of the richly decorated throne is seen in a landscape with buildings, and on the l. figures on foot and horseback proceeding along a road. Panel 34 by 25' - To see the catalogue listing click here
Exhibition of Early Italian Art From 1300 to 1550: The New Gallery, Regent Street, 1893-4 - 115 'Full-length under life-size figure of the Virgin seated facing in a very richly ornamented shrine; the Infant Christ is seated on a cushion on her right knee playing with a jewel which hangs from her mantle; landscape background. Panel 34X 25 in.
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Royal Academy of Arts Exhibition - 1896 No.147 'Small fully-length figure of the Virgin enthroned, holding the Child, Whi is seated on a red cushion on her lap and holds the jewelled fastening of her robe in His l. hand...'.

Provenance:
Lot 137 - Christie, Manson & Woods, Catalogue of highly important pictures by old masters, the property of the late Charles Butler, Sold £1,102. Thence by descent.

Notes:
Previously attributed to Bernardino di Betto, known as Pinturicchio (Little Painter), this rare work has only recently been uncovered as a work by The Master of Marradi. The full-length Madonna and Child shows the Christ-Child holding a pendant suspended from the neck of the Virgin Mary. Seated on an altarpiece set within a landscape, behind a procession and town can be seen. The work was verified by Everett Fahy (1941-2018) in the mid-1990s and images and details are available in the Everett Fahy Photo Library found here.

The Master of Marradi produced altarpieces, tondi, ornamented chests or forzieri, and small devotional panels in Tuscany between the late 15th Century and the early 16th Century. The artist is named after the location where a large nucleus of his works are located, conserved in the church of San Lorenzo at Marradi, in the province of Florence, situated in the Appennines dividing Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. His works were originally situated in the nearby abbey church of Santa Reparata in Salto at Badia del Borgo, and consist of five altarpieces, the most important of which represents the titular saint of the abbey complex, the Santa Reparata Altarpiece, dated 1498. The latest work in his oeuvre can be dated with certainty; it is the Enthroned Madonna and Child of Montefiridolfi of 1513.

During the last century, various scholars identified this anonymous artist with a specific artistic personality: among them were Roberto Longhi and Wilhelm Suida, who proposed different names. However, it was during the 1960s that Federico Zeri coined the current and generally accepted name, based on his identification of the most substantial body of works by this anonymous Master at Marradi. Zeri identified this artist as a follower of Domenico Ghirlandaio and his circle, active in both Florence and its territories, as was the case with Marradi. Moreover, the artist reflects the influence of his contemporaries, including Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, and Perugino, by creating works (such as the present one being offered) in which rigorous compositional sobriety is combined with a delicate linearism. This is seen in the figures’ gracefully depicted faces and draperies, and in the detail, such as the Virgin’s transparent veil.