(Asti documented 1493–1517)
Christ before the Sanhedrin,
tempera on panel, 28.5 x 50.7 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Giovanni Sarti, Paris, 2002;
Private collection;
sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 20 May 2021, lot 52 (as Gandolfino da Roreto);
where acquired by the present owner

Literature:
A. de Marchi, in: Fonds d’or et fonds peints Italiens (1300-1560), Paris 2002, pp. 148–157 (as Gandolfino da Roreto, circa 1500);
J. Marciari, Italian, Spanish, and French Paintings before 1850 in the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego 2015, pp. 115–117 (as Gandolfino da Roreto).

Gandolfino da Roreto is one of the significant Northern Italian artists during the stylistic transition from late Gothic to early Renaissance painting. The reconstruction of his corpus is based on his first identified commission, the large polyptych depicting the Assumption of the Madonna with Saints for the church of Saint Francis in Alba (Cuneo), signed and dated 1493, now in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin.

The present panel once formed part of a lower predella for an altarpiece of the Assumption of the Madonna. This predella originally illustrated a continuous narrative of the Passion of Christ. Five other panels would have originally joined the present one, of which four others are presently known. All share the same refined technique and multi-figured compositions. From left to right, the panels of this predella included The Last Supper (private collection, Turin); one panel illustrating multiple scenes of Mary Magdalene Washing Christ’s Feet, The Agony in the Garden, and the Arrest of Christ (private collection, Turin); the present lot; one panel illustrating The Flagellation, Crowning of Thorns, and Ecce Homo (location unknown); Christ Carrying the Cross (San Diego Museum of Art); and an as yet unidentified panel. The upper register of this altarpiece originally consisted of a central panel depicting the Assumption of the Madonna (location unknown), flanked by Saint John the Baptist and Saint Francis on the left (location unknown) and Saint Stephen and Saint Anthony of Padua on the right (Musei Civici d’Arte Antica, Turin).

Stylistically Gandolfino’s works reflect a traditional courtly taste incorporating a convincing and three-dimensional representation of the human figure, which appears modern. The influence of Flemish painting is also apparent in his works, besides other Southern European elements – a combination of influences which characterise Gandolfino’s corpus of works.