FG FINE ART LTD
Mariotto di Nardo (attr. to)
Florence, active 1388 - 1424
This fine Madonna and Child, surrounded by four saints and two angels playing musical instruments, was first suggested as by Mariotto di Nardo by Osvald Sirén in the occasion of the sale of the collection of André de Labrouhe de Laborderie in 1922. Recently Emanuele Zappasodi has also confirmed the authorship of this painting to Mariotto.
Madonna and Child with Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint John the Baptist,
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Paul and two angels playing musical instruments
Tempera on panel, 83.8 x 46.6 cm
PROVENANCE
Paris, André de Labrouhe de Laborderie
Their deceased sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 23 May 1922, lot 8
London, Christie’s, 14 December 1923, lot 9
London, J. Leger & Son
Lucerne, art market
Switzerland, private collection, in the early 1980s
London, Sotheby’s, 9 April 2025, lot 1
Son of the famous Florentine painter Nardo di Cione, Mariotto enjoyed a great success among his contemporaries. The artist was referred to by Lorenzo Ghiberti as an “excellent painter” and, according to the broad number of works he created and the prestigious commissions he received, including from rich and noble Florentine families of the time, the artist was undoubtedly amongst the most famous and esteemed of his generation.
Despite being one of the most famous painters in Florence during the late Trecento and the early Quattrocento, little has been documented about Mariotto di Nardo’s life. However, the oeuvre attributed to him and his workshop - one of the most prolific of the time - is vast and has drawn the attention of eminent scholars such as Mario Salmi, Richard Offner and Miklos Boskovits. His catalogue of works consists of a significant number of paintings from private devotional panels to large altarpieces, among which the polyptych of the Enthroned Madonna with Angels and Saints in the Museo Civico of Pesaro, probably created in 1400, and testifies the presence of the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti with Mariotto.
The composition of our painting is closely related to the one of the Virgin and Child with a female martyr, Saint John the Baptist and two angels by Mariotto di Nardo, which sold at Sotheby’s, London, in 1987: both pictures depict the Virgin and Child at centre, flanked by saints. Particularly striking is the composition of the kneeling angel, seen from behind and almost identically, with the exception of the colours, mirrored in both panels, which enhances the sense of depth and spatial dynamism. A closely comparable figure - differing only in that both knees resting on the ground - appears in the stunning Coronation of the Virgin with Five Music-Making Angels, dated 1408, now in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, originally made for the Florentine church of Santo Stefano in Pane.
In all of these paintings the artist uses a sophisticated style, favouring rich chromatic effects, based on bright, warm colours and a flowing use of line to give a smooth rhythmic character in full accordance with late gothic style. The monumental figures, filling almost the entire composition, are given ample robes, which envelop the bodies in smooth folds. The figures communicate with gazes, creating an intense and animated narrative in which the noble character of Florentine tradition blends with late gothic taste.
A full fact sheet is available on request.
