(Siena 1450 – 1516/17) The Community of the Saints as Intercessors before the Virgin Mary, oil on poplar, 93 x 62 cm

Literature: comp. / cfr. B. Kanter, “Guidoccio Cozzarelli” in: Painting in Renaissance Siena 1420–1500, exhibition catalogue, New York 1988/89 Certificate: We thank Dr. Everett Fahy, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, for identifying the present work as a composition by Guidoccio. / Siamo grati al Dottor Everett Fahy del Metropolitan Museum of Art di New York per aver identificato il dipinto come opera di Guidoccio di Giovanni Cozzarelli It was only recently that Dr. Everett Fahy succeeded in identifying this altarpiece as a work by the Sienese master Cozzarelli. The latter’s work and life had first been explored by Bacci in 1939, who fundamentally elucidated the biography of this important artist active during the last quarter of the 15th century who by then had almost fallen into oblivion. Due to the rediscovered work’s iconography, the painting may be dated to the second half of the 15th century and can be identified with a work from Siena, at that time the most important centre of early Renaissance art production besides Florence. In the bottom row of saints, Saint Catherine Benincasa of Siena (1347–1380) appears right at centre, directly beneath the Virgin Mary; next to Catherine of Alexandria, flanking the former on the right-hand side, are Saint Bernard of Siena (1380–1444), Saint Christopher, Saint Sebastian, and Saint Dorothy, while Saint Jerome, Francis of Assisi, Saint Clara, and Saint Lawrence, appear on the left hand side. Guidoccio di Cozzarelli was apprenticed to Matteo di Giovanni, who dominated Sienese art around the middle of the century. The figure of the Virgin in the present painting also resembles that in a comparable composition in the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum in Budapest, particularly in terms of the physiognomy.