Lot 213: n - PAOLO DI BERNARDINO D'ANTONIO, CALLED FRA PAOLINO PISTOIA 1490 (?) - 1547

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR, SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE

THE DEPOSITION

measurements note
39 3/4 by 37 in.; 101 by 94 cm.

oil on panel, with the panel maker's mark branded on the reverse

PROVENANCE

Guicciardini family, in the late 19th Century (from a wax seal and label on the reverse of the panel);
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, January 22, 2004, lot 9A (as Attributed to Fra Paolino).

NOTE

The present composition is clearly inspired by Fra Bartolomeo's Pietà in the Pitti Palace, Florence (see Fra Bartolomeo La Pietà di Pitti restaurata, exhibition catalogue, Florence 1988). The highly emotional depiction of the Magdalene embracing Christ's legs may have been influenced by the strong religious climate in cinquecento Florence. There are several known contemporary copies after Fra Bartolomeo's composition: one by Fra Paolino in the Museo di San Marco, Florence; a second by Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio in the Chiesa di S. Agostino, Colle Val d'Este; and a third by Leonardo Mascagni, in the Galleria Comunale di Palazzo Pretorio, Prato (see op. cit.).
Around the same moment that Fra Bartolomeo conceived his composition of the Pietà, Andrea del Sarto produced an equally emotive depiction of the scene (Pietà di Luco, Pitti Palace, Florence).

Roberto Coletti has seen this painting firsthand and has confirmed the attribution to Fra Paolino. We are also grateful to Roberto Ciabattini who, based on photographs, has confirmed the attribution to Fra Paolino. He believes it to be an early work, certainly before 1517, when he was still in the studio of Fra Bartolomeo. He will publish this work in a forthcoming article in Il Tremisse Pistoiese.