(Florence 1439–1507)
Praying Putto,
oil on panel, gold ground, 39.5 x 12 cm, framed

Literature:
D. Civettini, L’enigma di Arundel Castle, in: Nuovi studi. Rivista di arte antica e moderna, 26, 2021, pp. 49–50, cited under footnote 38, not illustrated (as Cosimo Rosselli –  part of the Nocentino altarpiece by D. Civettini, L’enigma di Arundel Castle, in: Nuovi studi. Rivista di arte antica e moderna, 26, 2021, pp. 49–50, cited under footnote 38, not illustrated (on the suggestion of Emanuele Zappasodi as Cosimo Rosselli –  part of the Nocentino altarpiece by Cosimo Rosselli, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. no. 1075).

We are grateful to Andrea G. De Marchi for suggesting the attribution after examining the present painting in the original and for his help in cataloguing this lot.

The present painting, previously unknown to scholars, can be compared to two similar works also representing Praying Putti (Innocents) attributed to Cosimo Rosselli by Bernard Berenson (see B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School, London 1963, I, p. 192, II, plate 1003). These two panels published by Berenson, have been linked to a possible altarpiece for the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence (see F. Dabell, in: Important Old Masters Paintings within the image, exhibition catalogue, New York 1990, p. 15, p. 18 footnote 11).

Andrea G. De Marchi has suggested that the two Praying Putti, and the present panel, may have formed part of a painted frame, similar to the small panels representing Saints which ornamented the frame of the San Marco Altarpiece by Fra Angelico or those in the Tabernacolo dei Linaioli, also by Fra Angelico.

After training with Neri di Bicci and possibly also with Benozzo Gozzoli, Rosselli became one of the most well-established artists in Florence during the second half of the fifteenth century. Between 1480 and 1482 he was invited to participate in the fresco decoration of the Sistine Chapel along with Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio. On his return to Florence, his workshop flourished and among his pupils were Fra Bartolomeo and Mariotto Albertinelli. His final period was almost exclusively dedicated to the production of altarpieces which reveal how he absorbed the influence of Pietro Perugino, who during this period was training the precocious young Raphael.