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Smeraldo Di Giovanni
Expertised Italian 14th Century Gold Ground on Panel Painting

1420 ca.

$45,007.33
£33,063.42
€38,000
CA$61,796.51
A$69,263.31
CHF 36,260.29
MX$854,667.92
NOK 455,496.98
SEK 428,767.31
DKK 289,151.95
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About the Item

Museum-quality gold ground painting from the Renaissance period by Smeraldo di Giovanni. It depicts the “Virgin of the Roses” seated on a throne holding the Child Jesus. Of Florentine manufacture, it shows at the sides the two patron saints of Florence, San Lorenzo and San Giovanni Battista. Smeraldo di Giovanni (1365–1444) was an Italian painter of the late-Gothic through early-Renaissance period, active in Florence. He worked with Ambrogio Baldese in Orsanmichele in 1402. He is known to have been active in 1420, when he presumably worked in the same studio as Giovanni Dal Ponte (1385- c. 1438; thought to be the same person as Giovanni di Marco). The Scali chapel of Santa Trinita in Florence has a fresco cycle by Giovanni dal Ponte and Smeraldo di Giovanni. This artwork, never before on the market, comes from an important Italian private collection. Every item of our Gallery, upon request, is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Sabrina Egidi official Expert in Italian furniture for the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and for the Rome Civil Courts. Professional packaging assured The following is the technical-historical record compiled by one of Italy's leading contemporary art historians: Claudio Strinati " The Madonna of the Rose with Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Lawrence (tempera and oil on panel, 65 x 48 cm.) is a work of considerable value and formal preciousness, characterised by certain elements that lead one to date the work between the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century. The beautiful brocaded fabric that forms the background to the work and the refined carpet at the feet of the Virgin and the Saints give the sacred painting that secular and, one might say, bourgeois air of a home interior, according to a style that spread a little in all Italian painting traditions at the time, from Piedmont to Lombardy, from Tuscany to the Marches and so on. Here, in our painting, the characters also have another characteristic typical of that time: the youthful and almost boyish appearance as if they were innocent and gentle children who have taken on the solemn identity of sacred figures. Another characteristic typical of the time is the depiction of the child on the Virgin's lap completely naked from the navel up. An atmosphere, in short, familiar and smiling. Stylistically, our painting would seem to be part of the Tuscan tradition (also in relation to the saints represented and the image of the lily that stands out on the book of St. Lawrence) but with some interesting and problematic references also to the Veneto-Lombard tradition that includes giant personalities of strong influence such as Gentile da Fabriano or the Zavattari family or, in a broader sense, the painters and miniaturists gravitating around the immense construction site of Milan Cathedral and Monza Cathedral with echoes of Giovannino de' Grassi, Benedetto and Bonifacio Bembo, even the numerous and imaginative tarot painters. It remains, however, that the panel under examination here would seem to fall more coherently within the Tuscan culture with references both to the milieu of the great illuminators such as Don Silvestro de' Gherarducci, and the monumental painters such as Orcagna and the learned Rossello di Jacopo Franchi, Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, Ambrogio di Baldese, and Ventura di Moro. However, none of these painters, who have strong affinities with our panel, seems to me to be the author of the painting under examination here and, more generally, it seems very difficult to trace the same hand in works of certain attribution or signed in the Tuscan environment datable between 1390 and 1415/20, which I believe to be the period in which our painting was executed. The only comparison known to me that is a little more stringent seems to be the one that can be established with the worn frescoes in the Scali Chapel in the Church of Santa Trinita in Florence, which fairly reliable sources refer to two remarkable painters of the time and of the same circle just mentioned, Giovanni dal Ponte and Smeraldo di Giovanni. The latter, today little known (he was born around 1365 and died at the beginning of the fifth decade of the 15th century) could be our painter himself, with his enchanted and familiar tone at the same time, tending towards a description of happy and smiling characters, defined by a rounded and delicately full-bodied manner, perfectly consistent with a dating of the work to the second decade of the 15th century. The state of preservation is very good, the evident damage being only marginal. Very interesting is the refined drafting, where it is my impression that the traditional technique of egg tempera and oil tempera are co-present, giving the context precisely that preciousness and delicacy that arises almost naturally from such a technical combination, according to the recent (for the time) teachings of Cennino Cennini. Moreover, his celebrated Libro dell' Arte was written (it seems in Padua) at the very end of the 14th century and circulated with particular prominence in exactly the same years in which I believe our painting was executed. A painting, therefore, of remarkable quality and of even greater historical/critical interest." Claudio Strinati Under existing legislation, any artwork in Italy created over 70 years ago by an artist who has died can requires a license for export regardless of the work’s market price. The shipping may require additional handling days to require the license according to the destination of the artwork.
  • Creator:
    Smeraldo Di Giovanni (1365 - 1444, Italian)
  • Creation Year:
    1420 ca.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 25.6 in (65 cm)Width: 18.9 in (48 cm)Depth: 2.76 in (7 cm)
  • Medium:
    Tempera
  • Movement & Style:
    Renaissance
  • Period:
    15th Century and Earlier
  • Condition:
    There are various damages, all visible in the photos, not important and in the secondary parts of the painting.
  • Gallery Location:
    Roma, IT
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2883216513342

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