(Florence 1377 - after 1427)
The Virgin and Child, flanked by St. John the Baptist, St. Paul, and two female saints, tempera on gold ground on panel, 96 x 53.5 cm, pointed arched top, framed

Provenance: Florence, Palazzo Corsini, XXI Biennale, 25 September – 10 October 1999. (With Enzo Marianelli e Figlio); European Private Collection

We are grateful to Professor Filippo Todini for confirming the attribution.

The present work produced in Florence in the first half of the 15th Century and was probably executed between the second and third decades. Several formal elements relate the panel to a painter that is known by the name of Pseudo Ambrogio di Baldese, introduced by Van Marle (see The Development of Italian Schools of Painting, III, L’Aja 1924, p. 612, n. I; IX, 1927, p. 86 ss.). Under this name Van Marle grouped a number of works that seemed too late to be assigned to the production of Ambrogio di Baldese himself. Within this group of pictures two different hands can be distinguished. The main group has also been identified with the historical name of Lippo d’Andrea, as suggested by A. Procacci (“Lettera a Roberto Salvini con vecchi ricordi e con alcune notizie su Lippo D’Andrea”, in: Scritti di storia dell’arte in onore a R. Salvini, Florence 1984, pp. 213–26).
Lippo d’Andrea was presumably born in 1377 and joined the Arte dei Medici e degli Speziali and the Compagnia di San Luca in 1395 and 1411 respectively. He also participated in the decoration of the façade of the Palazzo del Ceppo in Prato, collaborating with Niccolò Gerini, Ambrogio di Baldese, Alvaro Pirez, and Scolaio di Giovanni. In 1424 he is mentioned as working with Masolino, and twelve years later is documented as being involved in the fresco decoration of the apses in the Cathedral of Florence together with Bicci di Lorenzo, Rossello di Jacopo, and Giovanni di Marco.

Provenance: Florence, Palazzo Corsini, XXI Biennale, 25 September – 10 October 1999. (With Enzo Marianelli e Figlio); European Private Collection We are grateful to Professor Filippo Todini for confirming the attribution. The present work produced in Fl