Lot 1001 | Madonna and Child with Saint Lucia, Catherine of Alexandria and two Apostles

The present painting was recognised in 2007 by Alberto Lenza as an original work by Scolaio di Giovanni (also known as Maestro del Borgo alla Collina) and discussed in his monograph on the artist when it was in the possession of the art dealer Guido Bartolozzi in Florence. The notorious name of this artist was given in 1938 by Georg Pudelko, who first reconstructed the catalogue by examining some of the works that Osvald Siren had attributed in 1904 and 1905 to the Maestro del Bambino Vispo, a painter now identified with the young Gherardo Starnina. Pudelko's proposal was later accepted by the greatest connoisseurs of the 20th century, including Roberto Longhi, Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Federico Zeri and Miklos Boskovits, who added numerous new additions to the catalogue of the Maestro di Borgo alla Collina. The identification of the anonymous painter with Scolaio di Giovanni was furthered in 1996 by Anna Maria Bernacchioni.
The scholar found the name of the parish priest of Borgo alla Collina, a centre in Casentino in the province of Arezzo, among the artist's debtors in the 1431 land register. Since the work of the same name by the Master of Borgo alla Collina is in the parish church of San Donato in Borgo alla Collina, she assigned it, with the consent of the critics, to the Scolaio di Giovanni. The charming panel presented here, with the representation of the Madonna and Child between St. Lucia, Catherine of Alexandria and two Apostles, is directly inspired by the Madonna Rothermere of the J.P. Getty Museum of Los Angeles (Inv. 82.PB.108) by Gherardo Starnina around 1410, as shown by the gesture of the child turning to the left. In addition to his knowledge of Starnina, the master who influenced him most, Scolaio di Giovanni shows that he was in good hands in the Tuscan art world, as shown by the work commissioned for the palace of Francesco Datini in Prato, where he painted around 1410 together with his colleagues Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, Ambrogio di Baldese, Alvaro Pirez d'Evora and Lippo d'Andrea.