(Florence, active circa 1290–1320)
A Triptych: Madonna and Child surrounded by Saints and Angels, with the Flagellation of Christ on the left wing, and the Crucifixion of Christ on the right wing,
tempera on gold ground panel, 29 x 32.5 cm (overall), 29 x 16 cm (central panel), 26.5 x 7.7 cm (left wing), 27.2 x 9 cm (right wing)

Provenance:
M. D’Atri, Paris
Mrs. Bonas, England, 1964
Lady Merton, England, 1969;
with Agnew’s, London, 1979;
Private collection, New York;
sale, Christie’s, London, 9 July 1993, lot 62;
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:

Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd., Old Master Paintings, Recent Acquisitions, exhibition catalogue, London 1979, p. 20, no. 14, illustrated (as the Master of Saint Cecilia);
M. Boskovits, A critical and historical corpus of Florentine painting, The Fourteenth Century, Section III, vol. IX, The Painters of the Miniaturist Tendency, Florence 1984, p. 144, pl. XV (as Master of the Madonna delle Grazie)

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri (no. 2283) as ‘Maestro della Madonna delle Grazie’ and as ‘Maestro di Santa Cecilia’.

This folding triptych is a significant example of Giottesque Florentine Gothic painting. The work was attributed to the Master of Saint Cecilia when it was in the collection of Lady Merton. The attribution was subsequently confirmed by Carlo Volpe (private communication – in photocopy). Miklòs Boskovits published the work on the basis of an old photograph, before restoration, with an attribution to the Master of the Madonna delle Grazie, however, when he examined the painting in the original he subsequently revised his opinion, confirming the attribution to the Master of Santa Cecilia (see Christie´s catalogue 1993, lot 62, p.105).

The moniker Master of Santa Cecilia derives from the reredos (altarpiece) with Saint Cecilia and episodes from her life in the Uffizi, Florence (circa 1304; inv. 449).

The artist was one of the leading exponents of the Giottesque school during the years spanning the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries and he evidently collaborated with Giotto on the decoration of the Upper Church of the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. In particular, the three final scenes in fresco representing Franciscan Stories have been attributed to this Master.

The present work can also be compared to other works attributed to the Master of Saint Cecilia, such as the two small panels representing Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Margaret both in the Cini collection, Venice (inv. 2066), the Madonna enthroned with Saints from the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (inv. no. 10), as well as a triptych in the Detroit Institute of Arts (inv. no. 53.386). A further comparison can be made with the central altar panel representing the Madonna and Child in the church of Santa Margherita a Montici, Florence (see B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Florentine School, London 1957, I, no. 89).