(Florence, active in the first half of the 14th Century)
A portable altar: the Madonna and Child enthroned surrounded by Saints (central panel), Saint Paul, Saint Peter and the Archangel Michael (left wing), the Crucifixion with the Madonna, Mary Magdalene and Saint John the Evangelist (right wing),
tempera on gold ground panel, 35.5 x 37 cm (overall open), 31.5 x 9 cm (left wing), 35.5 x 18.5 cm (central panel), 32 x 9.5 cm (right wing)

Provenance:
Collection of Joseph Lindon Smith, New York, before 1950;
Collection of Mrs. Samuel W. Hale, Dublin, Massachusetts;
with Grace Gallery, Arezzo;
Private European collection

Literature:
R. Offner, An Archangel by Bernardo Daddi, in: International Studio, XCIII (1929), p. 26 (as Pittore Daddesco);
R. Offner/K. Steinweg (eds.), A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, The Fourteenth Century, New York 1930, new edition by M. Boskovits, Florence 1987, section III, vol. II, p. 266, plates CVII-CIX (as Biadaiolo Illuminator);
S. De Ricci, Vers un Corpus des Peintures Florentines, in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no. 140, October 1934, p. 116;
Thieme-Becker Künstlerlexikon, Meister des Biadaiolo, vol. XXXVII, Leipzig 1950, p. 46 (as Biadaiolo Master)

This portable triptych was made for private devotion. The choice of saints does not appear to have a specific iconographic or religious implication and it is therefore highly likely that they were chosen by the patron.

The Master of the Dominican Effigies is also known as the Biadaiolo Illuminator or the Biadaiolo Master.

This painting is a characteristic work of the as yet unidentified Florentine painter and miniaturist active during the first half of the Trecento whose name derives from his authorship of the illustrations of the codex entitled Specchio Umano ovvero il Biadaiolo by Domenico Lenzi (Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence, Cod. Laurenziano-Tempiano No. 3), datable to around 1335. It also reveals close affinities with the altarpiece in the Lehman Collection (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 1975.1.99, cited in R. Offner, Corpus, vol. II, 1986, p. 260 f.) which is the most significant panel painting referred to by the master. In the present work there are especially notable similarities with the representation of the Madonna and Child enthroned between Saint Peter Martyr and a Bishop Saint.

Amongst the paintings in this group, it is possible to discern the early style of the ‘Master of the Dominican Effigies’, whose works bear the dates 1337 and 1345 (see U. Procacci, in: Rivista d’Arte, 1960, p. 134; M. Boskovits, Corpus cit., vol. IX, The Painters of the Miniaturist tendency, Florence 1984, p. 55). In the present triptych the master, who is one of the finest Florentine exponents of the ‘Miniaturist tendency’ identified by Offner, clearly reveals the influence of Bernardo Daddi circa 1330, while deploying a highly personal interpretation of colour and the characterisation of figures.

Technical analysis by Gianluca Poldi:

The small dimension of this panel makes this work almost a miniature, and it is painted with great accuracy, even in the small details.

Despite the size, the painter used a quite large palette over the white ground, after the gilded areas were created, as a joined use of non-invasive analyses, Reflectance Spectroscopy (vis-RS) and X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), could ascertain. Some incisions can be noticed under raking light.

Natural ultramarine (from lapis lazuli) was used in the Virgin’s garments, both for the Madonna enthroned and for the Madonna standing by the Cross. Azurite, less precious but with a brilliant tone, was used for all the other blue colours, such as Saint Michael’s mantle and Saint Peter’s garment, and also for the peculiar blue-purple hue of Saint Paul’s cloak, where it was mixed with red lake. This lake, a coccid-based one (perhaps kermes), was found also in the Baptist’s cloak and in the lower step below the throne. Copper is detected in the green areas. Vermillion (cinnabar) constitutes the most brilliant red, such as the Magdalen’s garment and the red diamond pattern of the curtain in the central panel, while the black diamonds contain copper and iron, suggesting a dark blue that became black. The golden decoration of this curtain is well preserved. Yellow clothes are obtained with lead-tin yellow, with additions of yellow-brown ochre for the shadows, in accordance with usual practice.