Saint Augustus enthroned on a relief and flanked by Saints Roch and Sebastian, oil on panel, 81.8 x 60.8 cm, framed

We are grateful to Dr Nicoletta Pons for the suggesting the attribution of the present painting (written communication).

This composition is an important addition to the oeuvre of the Master of the Campana Cassoni. Everett Fahy succeeded in compiling a substantial group of works by this formerly unidentified artist and first referred to him as “The Master of Tavernelle”, since one of the artist’s paintings is preserved in the town’s museum. Federico Zeri subsequently changed the name to “Maestro dei Cassoni Campana”, adding eight further works to the group compiled by Fahy. Zeri believed that the painter was a Frenchman active in Tuscany during the first quarter of the 16th Century. Due to its stylistic idiosyncrasies, the present painting fits in well with the group in question. The types of figures and their gestures and rhythmic movements are closely related to those in the work in Tavernelle. Here too, it is possible to recognize the master’s interest in elaborately embroidered garments, which recur throughout his oeuvre and appear to emphasize the figures’ flowing and elegant movements, thereby displaying the artist’s origins in the workshop of Filippo Lippi. It seems that the painting may originally have formed part of an altar consecrated to Saint Augustus.