Lot 24: GIOVANNI DI SER GIOVANNI GUIDI, CALLED SCHEGGIA

THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH MUSIC-MAKING ANGELS

147.3 by 128 cm.; 58 by 50 1/2 in.

tempera on panel, gold ground

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 40 (as by Francesco d'Antonio);
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School, London 1963, vol. I, p. 63 (as by Francesco d'Antonio);
S. Dell' Orso, in M. Natale ed., Pittura italiana dal '300 al '500, Milan 1991, p. 120, reproduced (as by Francesco d'Antonio);
L. Bellosi & M. Haines, Lo Scheggia, Florence-Siena 1999, p. 77, reproduced (as by Lo Scheggia).

Ushaw College, since the 19th century;
By whom sold ('Property of the Trustees of Ushaw College'), London, Sotheby's, 19 April 1989, lot 1 (as by Francesco d'Antonio), for £95,000;
Offered, London, Christie's, 10 July 1992, lot 40 (as by Francesco d'Antonio);
Anonymous sale ('Property from a Private Collection'), London, Sotheby's, 7 July 2004, lot 39 (as by Francesco d'Antonio), where acquired by the present owner.

This painting was for a long time attributed to Francesco d'Antonio, ever since Berenson's 1932 publication, and so it remained until 1999 when Luciano Bellosi and Magaret Haines first recognised it as a youthful work by Lo Scheggia; an attribution that was endorsed at the time of the 2004 sale by Dott. Andrea de Marchi (acknowledged in a saleroom notice at the time). Like many of the artist's early works it shows the influence of his elder brother, Masaccio, but also that of Fra Angelico. Both these painters also favoured the theme of The Madonna of Humility, in which the Virgin is shown seated on the ground, and the delicate flowers in the foreground of this panel are strongly reminiscent of those in Fra Angelico's Deposition, painted for the church of Santa Trinità in Florence.

From December 1420 and throughout the following year Lo Scheggia is recorded as a pupil of Bicci di Lorenzo although he was in regular contact with Masaccio's workshop, often collaborating with it, and indeed in 1427-28 he shared his brother's studio in Piazza Sant' Apollinare (now Piazza San Firenze). In 1430 he enrolled in the Compagnia di San Luca where he became known as 'Scheggia' (literally 'splinter'); a nickname given on account of his slight stature.

The strong influence of both Fra Angelico and Masaccio in the present panel would indicate, as Bellosi suggests, that this is a youthful work by Lo Scheggia, datable to the 1420s.