(Rigoli circa 1348 – after 1438 Pisa)
Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Francis,
tempera and gold on panel, 31.5 x 43 cm, engaged frame

Provenance:
Private collection, Switzerland

We are grateful to Andrea G. De Marchi for suggesting the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

The present gold ground panel represents Saint Anthony Abbot with a long beard, wearing a mantle with a hood and holding a staff, alongside Saint Francis in his traditional habit, holding a cross and the gospels. Both figures are shown half-length within a portico rendered in relief with pastiglia. The gilding has been partially decorated with punch work, to ornament the halos of the saints, the inner edge of the arches and the outer edge of the frame.

This work, which was probably part of a predella, represents a series of saints in a manner typical of Tuscan Trecento painting. The characteristic features of Saint Antony Abbot and Saint Francis are rendered with elongated eyes, while their figures are rendered with their attributes in the foreground. The simplified depiction of their robes can be compared to other works by the artist, such as the saints painted by Vanni in the panel now in Palermo that is datable to the 1380s (see G. Abbate, Dipinti pisani a Palermo nella seconda metà del XIV secolo, in: G. Abbate [ed.], Pisa e la Sicilia occidentale. Contesto storico e influenze artistiche tre XI e XIV secolo, Palermo 2014, pp. 66–69). In this work, the stylistic and compositional references to Florentine and Sienese painting of the period are evident, revealing solutions that are similar to those deployed by Agnolo Gaddi, Andrea Orcagna, Niccolò di Pietro Gerini and Taddeo di Bartolo. Such stylistic references can also be seen in Vanni’s triptych in the church of San Bartolomeo degli Armeni, Genoa, which is signed and dated 1415 (see E. Carli [ed.], Pittura pisana del Trecento. La seconda metà del Secolo, Milan 1961, pp. 81–87, fig. 144).

Little is known about Turino Vanni’s formative years as an artist. He is documented as moving to the province of Liguria where he was active in Genoa and Savona. Subsequently he was to return to Pisa where he received commissions from Pisa’s religious institutions.