(active Piedmont early 16th Century)
Saint Anna (?),
oil on panel, 45.8 x 34.5, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection 

Literature:
Serena D’Italia, Gotico e Rinascimento Piemontese nelle Collezioni Private, in: Serena D’Italia et al., Rinascimento privato. Da Spanzotti a Defendente Ferrari nelle collezioni piemontesi, exhibition catalogue, Genoa 2022, p. 19, fig. 6 (as Master of San Martino Alfieri)

The Master of San Martino Alfieri is a still mysterious artist of the early Renaissance. The painter, possibly of French origin, was mainly active in Piedmont, where he worked closely with Macrino d’Alba (1460–1520) during the early 16th century. He takes his name from four panels depicting Stories of the Virgin now in the Palazzo Mazzetti Museum, Asti, originally in the nearby parish church of San Martino Alfieri.

This figure of a female saint appears to have been painted by using the same model chosen by Macrino for a version of the biblical episode of the Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate: the right panel of this polyptych for the church of Saint Francis, Alba and now in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt (inv. No. 837, circa 1494).

The collaboration between the Master of San Martino Alfieri and Macrino d’Alba must have been close, as there are numerous instances of the use of the same models, probably derived from preparatory drawings. Compared to Macrino, however, the present anonymous master uses a warmer colour palette and more simplified form, probably derived from Franco-Provençal painting of the second half of the 15th century. The movement of artists between Southern Piedmont and Provenance and vice versa was quite frequent at the time. It is also possible that the Maestro of San Martino Alfieri stayed for some time in Liguria, where he would have been aware of the work of Ludovico Brea (1450–1523).