FG FINE ART LTD
Tommaso d’Antonio Manzuoli,
called Maso da San Friano
Florence, 1531 - 1571
This panel belong to the predella for the altarpiece created by Maso for the Church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence and was originally located in the fourth chapel from the left, under the patronage of the de’ Pesci family. The church of San Pier Maggiore was in a state of ruin in 1783, and its suppression was ordered by Duke Leopold in 1784; the contents of the church, including Maso’s panel, were dispersed, and all the altarpieces from the family chapels were removed by the patron families themselves.
Annunciation
1560
Oil on panel, 27 x 40.5 cm
PROVENANCE
Florence, Church of San Pier Maggiore, until 1783
Florence, De’ Pesci family, after 1783
Private collection
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Nesi, Per Maso da San Friano, in “Arte Cristiana”, XCV, 2007, pp. 22-23
S. Brevaglieri, Manzuoli Tommaso detto Maso da San Frediano, in “Dizionario Bibliografico
degli Italiani”, Roma 2007, vol. 69
A. Nesi, in La Bella Maniera in Toscana. Dipinti dalla collezione Luzzetti e altre raccolte private, Florence 2008. p. 130
1. Maso da San Friano, Annunciation, Rome, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Corsini Library
2. Maso da San Friano, Annunciation, Paris, Musée du Louvre
This charming panel, the central section of a predella, is a particularly important work in the catalogue of Maso da San Friano. The relevance of the painting is further confirmed by the existence of two preparatory drawings, a very unusual occurrence for works of this format and unique coincidence in Maso’s catalogue. The first sketch, coming from the Accademia dei Lincei and located in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe of the Corsini Library, Rome (fig. 1), while presenting some compositional and dimensional variations compared to the final version, already reveals a clear orientation of the angel and the vase, also central elements in the painted panel. The second study, now in the Louvre (fig. 2), originally from the collections of Filippo Baldinucci and later Filippo Strozzi before entering the museum’s collection, represents a more advanced stage of development, demonstrating a substantial correspondence with the final composition.
It is Vasari who, in his Vite, writing about Maso, cites the Visitation (fig. 3) as one of his greatest masterpieces:
But Maso Mazzuoli, known as Maso da San Friano, is inferior to none of the above-mentioned in talent, virtue, and merit [...], in addition to having shown how much he knows and how much can be hoped for in many paintings and minor paintings, has finally shown it in two panels to his great credit and to the full satisfaction of all, having shown in them invention, design, manner, grace, and unity in colouring. Of these panels, in one, which is in the church of Santo Apostolo in Florence, is the Nativity of Jesus Christ. And in the other, placed in the church of San Piero Maggiore, which is as beautiful as a very experienced and old master could have made it, is the Visitation of Our Lady to Santa Lisabetta, executed with many beautiful considerations and judgment; so the heads, the clothes, the attitudes, the buildings and everything else is full of beauty and grace.
3. Maso da San Friano, Visitation Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum
Another preparatory drawing for the same predella depicting the Birth of Saint John the Baptist is preserved in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, where it is erroneously described as the Birth of the Virgin.
The drawing in the Louvre was connected by Alessandro Nesi as a sketch of a panel, the possible existence and location of which was not known at the time he was writing, with other panels that originally formed part of the same predella and which depict four small stories of Christ and the Baptist, namely an Annunciation to Zechariah (29 x 50.5 cm) (fig. 4), a Birth of the Baptist (29 x 50.5 cm) (fig. 5), a Nativity (28.5 x 50 cm) (fig. 6) and a Baptism of Christ (28.9 x 50.2 cm) (fig. 7), all included in a painted oval frame.
Once the predella was reassembled, Nesi traced it back, based on iconography and measurements, to a figurative complement to the Visitation (fig. 3), signed and dated 1560 by Maso for the Florentine church of San Pier Maggiore and on loan since 1955 from the Fitzwilliam Museum (accession number 496) to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, which measures 248.5 cm at its base.
A full fact sheet is available on request.
4. Maso da San Friano, Annunciation to Zechariah, formerly baron John Campbell collection, Castel Cawdor, Nairn
5. Maso da San Friano, Birth of Saint John the Baptist, formerly baron John Campbell collection, Castel Cawdor, Nairn
6. Maso da San Friano, Nativity, Sotheby’s, Monaco
7. Maso da San Friano, Baptism of Christ, formerly John Hall collection, Springfield House, Acton