Lot 6: Ambrogio di Stefano da Fossano called il Bergognone , ?Milan circa 1453 - 1523 Milan Saint Peter and an Attendant Page; Saint John the Baptist and an Attendant Page a pair, oil and tempera on panel with gilt, fragments

a pair, oil and tempera on panel with gilt, fragments Quantity: 2

measurements note each: 14 3/4 by 5 in.; 37.3 by 12.8 cm.

B. Berenson, Italian Paintings of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools, New York 1968, vol. I, p. 45.

Wilhelm Suida, New York.

PROPERTY OF AN EAST COAST PRIVATE COLLECTOR
We know little about Bergognone's training or early career, and he is first mentioned in the matricola (or register) of Milanese artists only in 1481. He seems to have been largely immune to foreign influences, but in the later 1480s his paintings reflect the influence of Vincenzo Foppo, a fellow Lombard. The handling of Saint Peter and Saint John the Baptist, particularly the treatment of the features of these two small saints and that of the drapery, are undoubtedly characteristic of Bergognone, but aspects of the paintings present an interesting puzzle. They are recognizable as fragments of a larger altarpiece, but the structure of that altar is unclear. The presence of the curtains drawn back by the two pages and the absence of beveling on right edge of Saint Peter and the left edge of John the Baptist, indicate that they were originally the flanking figures on a larger, oblong composition. Indeed one can see large red and blue forms of the drapery and the traces of the haloes that must have belonged to other figures in the original composition. The curved line of the rear edge of the floor suggests they were arranged in a semi-circle perhaps around a central object of veneration such as a Madonna and Child. One can find similar groupings on some of Bergognone large altarpieces, but these small figures seem to be quite unusual for him. The figure of Saint Peter himself is closely related to another depiction of the saint is a private collection in Milan, datable to the first decade of the sixteenth century.υ1 The saint's features, the color and details of his clothing and the treatment of the drapery are all strikingly similar, and though the Milan painting shows a higher degree of finish, that is most likely attributable to the larger scale. 1. See G. C. Sciolla, Ambrogio da Fossano detto il Bergognone. Un pittore per la Certosa, Geneva and Milan 1998, p. 340, no. 64.