(Florence 1444/45–1510)
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist,
oil on panel, 82 x 66.5 cm, framed

*Associate means: a work created within the artist’s close sphere of influence

Provenance:
Albizzi Family, Florence;
by descent to Gherardo di Albizzo degli Albizzi, until 1950;
with Nicholas Acquavella, New York, 1950;
Bruno Pagliai and his wife Merle Oberon (1911–1979), USA, 1950–1979;
Mr. and Mrs. Bravo Valdes Pagliai, Mexico, 1979–1986;
sale, Christie’s, London, 22 April 1988, lot 19 (as Circle of Botticelli);
Collection of Steve (1944–2007) and Peggy Fossett (1944–2017), Chicago;
art market, USA;
private collection;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, on loan from 1966–10 July 1975, no. L.2559.66.13 (as Sandro Botticelli, Madonna degli Albizzi)

Literature:
A. Lusini, Un inedito di Sandro Botticelli. La ‘Madonna degli Abizzi’, in: Arti, Rassegna bimestrale di Pittura, Scultura e Architettura, November – December 1950, pp. 5–9 (as Sandro Botticelli);
H. Trimborn, 24 Great Paintings Go on Loan to Museum, in: Los Angeles Times, 22 September 1966, p. 2 (as Botticelli)

The present painting was published in 1950 by Aldo Lusini as a work by Sandro Botticelli and was compared to works from the artist’s mature period now in the Uffizi, Florence, as well as the frescoes in the loggia of Villa Tornabuoni, Florence. The panel was exhibited as a work by Botticelli when on loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

This attribution has not been endorsed in recent times, nevertheless stylistic elements that derive from Botticelli are apparent in this composition of the Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist: the delicate faces of the protagonists, the drapery, as well as the elegant poses of the figures.

Mauro Lucco, after examining the present work in the original, has suggested that the depiction of the landscape in the background appears to be by the hand of Gherardo di Giovanni di Miniato, called Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora. The composition also displays stylistic elements inspired by other artists of the Florentine Renaissance such as Ghirlandaio, Verrocchio and Lorenzo di Credi.

Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora was born in Florence in circa 1445 and probably trained among the artists active around the Opera del Duomo in Florence, where his father worked as a sculptor. In the refined environment of the Medici court, the young artist dedicated himself to miniature painting and the skilful production of mosaics, winning the appreciation of Lorenzo de’ Medici. He was also a talented musician and versed in Latin, learned by frequenting the circle of Angelo Poliziano and other Florentine intellectuals of the time. Giorgio Vasari dedicated a biography to him, emphasising the artist’s relationship with Ghirlandaio and his study of prints, particularly those of Albrecht Dürer, from where his singular landscapes probably derive (see Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite de’ più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori italiani, da Cimabue, insino a’ tempi nostri, vol. I, Florence 1550, pp. 471–472, ed. by L. Bellosi and A. Rossi). An extremely versatile artist, Gherardo is documented primarily as a miniaturist painter, but he also painted in fresco and on panel. His corpus of panel paintings was greatly increased following his identification in the studies with the so-called Master of the Triumph of Chastity, author of the work now in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin, the panel with the Combat between Love and Chastity in the National Gallery, London (inv. no. NG1196) and three panels once in Genoa in the Adorno collection (see E. Fahy, Some followers of Domenico Ghirlandaio, New York-London 1976, pp. 21–33, 113–125).

The work presented here, which dates to the last years of the fifteenth century, can be stylistically compared to Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora’s Madonna in Adoration of the Child with an Angel conserved in Palazzo Barberini, Rome (inv. no. 1658) and to a tondo painting of the same subject today conserved in the Seattle Art Museum (inv. no. 53.86).

The present Madonna boasts an illustrious provenance from the Albizzi family of Florence, major rivals and later allies of the Medici, who owned the present painting until the mid-20th century. The painting was known as the Madonna degli Albizzi after arriving in America and was part of the collection of the industrialist Bruno Pagliai and his wife, the celebrated actress Merle Oberon.

Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi:
The present painting is typical of the "pictorial modus operandi" that characterises works by Botticelli and some of his workshop.

This panel was prepared with a layer of gesso and the graphic outline of the composition was drawn on it, but this was not the simple transposition by pouncing of the 1:1 model of the cartoon, already finished on paper: as the composition was modified, balanced by small movements of some figures, by the redefinition of details, to find its final form.

IR reflectography allows the graphic outline of both the current final composition and the first version, which was modified especially in the figures of the two children, while the Madonna substantially followed the original underdrawing, except for a few corrections in her left hand, where the fingers were longer. The veil behind her head appears to have been longer. The landscape, studied in light and shade contrast behind the two openings, remains unchanged and no drawing was detected.

In some areas it is possible to see a thin underdrawing, followed by a second, larger and more flowing drawing, brushed in black ink, which outlines an intermediate version of the Madonna´s left hand and the first version of the children. The Christ Child and the Infant Saint John were originally drawn closer together, and the blessing arm of the former almost touched the face of the latter: both were moved back to their current position, carefully redrawing their profiles with the same medium. Consequently, the Child’s head and right hand were lower, and the thin cross - placed a few centimeters further to the right - almost touching him. The Madonna’s right hand was not visible, while two interrupted lines at the height of Christ’s chest suggest that the painter briefly had the idea of partially covering this area. Some changes also occur in Christs’ legs, and his belly and genitals were carefully drawn a little lower; while The Infant Saint John’s right arm was chubbier, as if it belonged to a smaller child, but was ultimately positioned further back. All this planning and adaptation is found in works by Botticelli himself, although usually created with slightly different graphic methods. Some linear incisions into the gesso preparatory layer, created with a straightedge and metal stylus and frequently found in Botticelli's works, can be noticed in the cross and in the architecture.

As for the pigments, numerous non-invasive investigations revealed the use of natural ultramarine blue in the sky, the landscape and the Madonna’s mantle, mixed with lead white and spread in a thin layer over a chromatic blue-greenish base containing non-pure azurite, a choice that allows the painter to obtain peculiar chromatic tones. Under many areas, including blues, a pinkish-brown priming can be identified under microscopy above the white preparation. Azurite, verdigris and rare grains of red lake are used in the dark vegetation of the background, while verdigris is used in the green lapel of the mantle. The red robe contains mainly vermilion, shaded with lake, but in the craquleur it is possible to see a first layer based on a high-quality red lake, with which the artist possibly initially wanted to paint the robe. Vermillion and lead white constitute the flesh tones, mixed with small amounts of ochre, and, in the lips, with some particles of lapis lazuli to achieve the purplish hue.

The painting technique is compatible with the late 15th and early 16th century working practice of Florentine painting and especially for Botticelli and some of his workshop.