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Unknown
Madonna Enthroned with Child between angels and saints Nicholas of Tolentino

1500s

About the Item

The painting features the enthroned Madonna and Child, two praying angels, and Saints Nicholas of Tolentino, Augustine, Luke the Evangelist, and Monica, below an elegant canopy. The work should be recognized as a preparatory sketch for a large altarpiece, still unknown today. Evidence of this is provided by the panel's measurements, which are not suitable for a church altarpiece or even for a small chapel in a private residence; by the painting, which in some places, such as the two angels on either side of the Madonna and Child or in St. Luke the Evangelist, is deliberately left in a sketchy state; and, finally, by the presence of obvious repentance. One can note in this regard the left arm of the holy bishop, initially thought to be closer to the right arm, and the right hand of the saint. Although the panel is a sketch, one can see details of great pictorial refinement, demonstrating the quality of the painter and the importance that these objects had with respect to the final work: the gold trimmings, for example in the Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, in the loincloth of the little angel in the upper left and in the globe held by the Child, enrich the preciousness of the composition. The somatic features of the figures are outlined at the tip of the brush, while the garments are constructed through more vigorous and less rigorous brushwork, further demonstrating that the work was not to be considered independent. Observe in this regard the cope of the holy bishop, in which we can glimpse figurative decorations-saints or apostles-and an imitation velvet decoration executed with a quick brushstroke that effectively traces only its general outline. The saints are qualified by a bright palette that particularly highlights the central depiction with the Madonna and Child, St. Augustine, and the angel in the upper right corner. The shadows and lights are studied with special care: the two praying angels are enveloped in the shadows created by the canopy, and accurate are the chiaroscuro effects on St. Luke, St. Monica, and the steps of the throne. The presence of the canopy is a clear legacy of early sixteenth-century Florentine culture: one thinks of the altarpieces by Raphael (Madonna del Baldacchino, Palatina Gallery in Palazzo Pitti, Florence) and Fra Bartolomeo (Pala Pitti, Palatina Gallery in Palazzo Pitti, Florence), from which our painter takes-as was the norm still in the second half of the sixteenth century in Florence-the general composition of the Sacred Conversation. Marco Collareta is credited with attributing the work to Santi di Tito (Borgo San Sepolcro 1536 - Florence 1603) on the occasion of the celebrated 1980 exhibition: Palazzo Vecchio: Medici patronage and collecting. On that occasion the scholar dated the panel in the mid-1560s, recognizing a close link with the altarpiece fired by the Tuscan painter in 1566 for All Saints in Florence and noting in the painting still "the memory of the chromatic vividness of the frescoes made by the painter during his stay in Rome by 1564" (M. Collareta, 552. Madonna and Child, Angels and Saints, in Palazzo Vecchio: Medici commissioning and collecting, Milan 1980, pp. 283-284) The presence of the holy bishop Augustine and Augustinian saints Nicholas of Tolentino and Monica leaves no doubt in estimating that the work was commissioned by a community of Augustinians or by a private individual devoted to that order. The Evangelist's presence could be motivated by the dedication of an altar or chapel to that saint, or by the patron whose name must have been Luke. The basilica of Santo Spirito is the home of the Augustinians in Florence and could certainly be a place for which Santi di Tito worked here. Considering how the painter, an absolute protagonist of Florentine and Tuscan painting in the second half of the 16th century, was engaged in different commissions in the Florentine countryside and Tuscany (e.g., in Arezzo, Cortona, and Grosseto) and the widespread diffusion of the Augustinian order in this and other regions, it remains difficult to specify its location.
  • Creation Year:
    1500s
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 34.06 in (86.5 cm)Width: 28.15 in (71.5 cm)Depth: 1.97 in (5 cm)
  • Medium:
    Oil
  • Period:
    16th Century
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Milan, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU680314080222
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