(Padua 1394 – circa 1470)
Saint John the Baptist; and
Saint Paul,
tempera on panel, 47 x 23.5 cm and 47.5 x 21.5 cm, unframed, a pair (2)

Provenance:
Private collection, Switzerland

The present panels may have formed part of a polyptych and depict the two saints before a barren landscape with trees, both figures are separated from the background by a simple stone parapet that extends beyond the picture plan. Saint Paul is shown with a down turned gaze as he reads a book while Saint John’s features reveal his suffering as he looks out beyond the picture frame.

The linear quality defining the figures with crisp draughtsmanship, place these panels within the workshop of Francesco Squarcione. These characteristics are especially evident in the figure’s features and in the strong, dry and almost metallic appearance of their drapery folds. Indeed, Squarcione’s workshop is especially well known for the use of a classical idiom, often including archaic quotations, such as the lively play of colour to describe the veining of the marble floor in the present painting.

Francesco Squarcione’s workshop had a great impact on the formation of celebrated painters, among them Andrea Mantegna (1421–1506), Marco Zoppo (1433–1478) and Carlo Crivelli (143/35–1493/95); it has also been suggested that Squarcione’s studio in Padua was attended by Cosmè Tura (circa 1433–1495), who was to influence an entire school of painters active between Padua and Ferrara, and to whom the present two panels might be attributed to on stylistic grounds.