(Florence 1418/20 – 1492)
Madonna and Child with Angels,
tempera and gold on panel, 59.5 x 42.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Ercole Canessa (1868-1929), New York – Paris;
his sale, American Art Association, New York, 25-26 January 1924, lot 164;
where purchased from the above by James W. Oliver;
with Durand Ruel, Paris, 1952;
Evan M. Evans, New York;
Victor D. Spark, New York, 1961 and 1967;
sale, New York, Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet, 14th January 1988, lot 58 (as Neri di Bicci);
Private European Collection

This small devotional painting of the Madonna and Child with Angels is a typical work by Neri di Bicci. It depicts the Virgin, half-length, holding her Son, who lovingly caresses her hand. Her face is almost solemn, while the Baby’s expression is more sweetly naturalistic. Two Angels are praying behind them. The decorative elements are reminiscent of the gothic panels of the Trecento: the gold trim of the Madonna’s robe and the cushion on which Christ sits, the delicate punchwork of the haloes and the gold rays emanating from the stars and clouds scattered throughout the sky. These precious details are characteristic of the Neri di Bicci’s elegant style.

He was the third and last in line of a family of artists who had an active workshop in Florence from the second half of the fourteenth century. His father Bicci di Lorenzo (1373-1452) and his grandfather Lorenzo di Bicci (1350-1427) had been successful painters before him. Neri was a member of the Compagnia di San Luca in 1434 and began his artistic career as an assistant of his father. It was after Bicci di Lorenzo’s death in 1452 that he became an independent artist and began keeping a diary, both professional and personal, which covers his principal years of activity from 1453 to 1475. This account, called Le Ricordanze, is an important record of the prolific and versatile activity of a Quattrocento workshop and it is the most extensive original document of this kind that has survived. Thanks to this diary, we know that Neri di Bicci was not only a painter, but he also provided drawings for sculptures and fabrics, he collaborated with wood carvers, he decorated cassoni panels and he sometimes worked as an architect. In his workshop a number of talented artists are documented over the years, like Cosimo Rosselli, Giusto d’Andrea and Francesco Botticini.

Neri di Bicci’s paintings follow the early Quattrocento models of his father’s works but they also take some inspiration from the works of the more innovative artists of his own generation, such as Fra Angelico, Domenico Veneziano, Filippo Lippi and Andrea del Castagno. His traditional style and the devotional spirit of his paintings provided him with a constant stream of commissions from the Florentine bourgeoisie and religious institutions, and even from rural areas, where a lot of his works are still in their original locations.

Dating Neri di Bicci’s paintings is extremely difficult because his style remained largely unchanged throughout his career, but useful information can be found in his diary about the commissions of some works. This makes it possible to compare the present Madonna and Child with a dated panel by Neri: the Madonna’s facial type and costume, with the white veil, the gold-trimmed robe and the brooch, are the same as those in the large altarpiece of The Ascension of the Virgin in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, painted by the artist in 1464-65.