(Florence active 1394–1424)
The Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Anthony Abbot,
tempera and gold on panel, 66 x 36 cm, engaged frame

Provenance:
Private collection, Switzerland

We are grateful to Andrea G. De Marchi for suggesting the attribution on the basis of a photograph.

The present painting, datable to the 1420s, is an example of the artistic production of one of the most significant painters from the period of transition between late Gothic and early Renaissance style of painting in Florence: Mariotto di Nardo di Cione.

Saints John the Baptist and Anthony Abbot are placed in reverence before the Madonna, kneeling at her feet and are depicted with sculptural monumentality. Their solid outlines reveal how the painter was aware of the achievements of other Florentine artists of the period, especially Masolino (1383–1447) and the young Massaccio (1401–1428), as well as the sculpture of Ghiberti (1378–1455). In addition, the attention to the refined decorative tooling of the gold, especially notable in the halos of the Madonna and Child and the saints, reflect how Nardo di Cione was also well aware of the Florentine works of Gentile da Fabriano (circa 1370–1427).

The present painting can be compared to works by Mariotto di Nardo completed towards the end of his career such as the Panzano Triptych of 1421 in Pieve of San Leonino, Panzano and the Serristori Polyptych of 1424 which is thought to be one of Mariotto’s last works, since his will is dated to the same year (see S. Chiodo, Mariotto di Nardo – Note per un egregio pittore, in: Arte Cristiana, 791, 1999, pp. 91–104 and S. Chiodo, Il polittico Serristori di Mariotto di Nardo, in: Prato, 8, 2007, pp. 9–27). In the present painting, as well as in the above mentioned works, the artist simplified certain linear refinements, typical of the International Gothic, without abandoning the use of gold or decoration, as can be seen in the tooling of the halos and the fall of the drapery folds.

Mariotto di Nardo di Cione was born in Florence; he was registered in the guild of the ‘medici e speziali’ (doctors and apothecaries) between February 1389 and 7 January 1390. Vasari records him in both editions of his Vite, as the nephew of Andrea di Cione, called l’Orcagna (1315/20–1368), who alongside his brothers Nardo and Jacopo, ran one of the principal workshops in Florence during the second half of the Trecento (see G. Milanesi, Le vite de più Eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti, di Giorgio Vasari: scelte ed annotate da Gaetano Milanesi, Florence 1886, p. 84).

Mariotto trained in the ambit of late Gothic Florentine art, looking not only to painters, such as Jacopo di Cione and Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (active 1368–1415), but also to the achievements in contemporary sculpture. The success he achieved as a painter is demonstrated by the works that were commissioned from him by the leading Florentine families, as well as patrons including Pandolfo Malatesta of Pesaro (1370–1427) confirming Mariotto’s position among the leading exponents of the International Gothic style, active from the latter half of the Trecento.