From the Gothic Tradition to the Early Renaissance at Moretti Fine Art

Special Exhibitions

From the Gothic Tradition to the Early Renaissance at Moretti Fine Art
By STAN PARCHIN
January 2, 2010

Giovanni di Paolo (Italian, ca. 1397-1482). Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saints Bartholomew and James and Two Female Saints. Panel. 37.3 x 26.7 cm (14.75 x 10.5 in.) (with original frame).

Master of the Johnson Assumption (Italian, act. ca. 1485-1515). Madonna and Child with Young Saint John the Baptist. Tempera on panel. Diam.: 88.5 cm (34.8 in.).

Arcangelo di Jacopo del Sellaio (Italian, ca. 1477/8-1530). The Annunciation. Panel. Each: 130.8 x 79 cm (51.5 x 31 in.).

Moretti Fine Art presents From the Gothic Tradition to the Early Renaissance (January 19 to February 12, 2010) at its Manhattan townhouse gallery. Some 20 mostly devotional paintings, commissioned by 14th- and 15th-century secular and ecclesiastical patrons, call attention to Italian Old Masters deemed unappreciated by many cognoscenti.

Religious Works on View
The intimate relationship shared by the Virgin Mary and her infant son Jesus is a dominant theme of the exhibition. One highlight on display is the Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saints Bartholomew and James and Two Female Saints, a divine diminutive domestic altarpiece by the Sienese painter and manuscript illustrator Giovanni di Paolo (ca. 1397-1482) still in its original frame. The treasured work's appearance in New York allows visitors to compare it with four of the artist's extant religious compositions in the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art. They include his gem-like Madonna and Child with Two Angels and a Donor (ca. 1445) and highly expressive Creation of the World and Expulsion from Paradise (1445), the latter a must-see for habitués of the usually serene Robert Lehman Wing.

Facts about the artists represented in the installation are scarce. So is information about their methods and paintings' dates. The gallery's youthful partners (Fabrizio Moretti, Gabriele Caioni and Flavio Gianassi) are fortunate to have enlisted the aid of Everett Fahy, who retired last year as the John-Pope Hennessy Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at The Met. Dr. Fahy, former Director of the Frick Collection, recently attributed the tondo or round-shaped Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist to the anonymous Tuscan Master of the Johnson Assumption (ca. 1485-1515) after extensive scientific analysis of the painting's various pigment layers. The reworked image is strongly related to a panel in the John G. Johnson Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The Importance of Provenance
Provenance or an artwork's ownership history plays a vital role in Moretti Fine Art's show. Little documentation exists for many of its devotional paintings that were rarely exhibited publicly. Such is the case with the two remarkable panels that comprise The Annunciation by the Florentine Arcangelo di Jacopo del Sellaio (ca. 1477/8-1530). Acquired by prominent American art collector William P. Chrysler in 1954 and sold in a famous 1989 Sotheby's auction, the works' richly detailed backgrounds and execution of their figures strongly suggest the artistic influence of the painter's father.

From the Gothic Tradition to the Early Renaissance is a singular opportunity to study the techniques and materials used by Italy's late medieval and early modern painters. The exhibition, well-suited for students and enthusiasts of art history, succeeds in addressing the ever-important issues of patronage and provenance. Brave the Upper East Side's cold winter winds and run to see this splendid presentation of relatively unknown works, the likes of which will probably not grace Manhattan again until The Renaissance Portrait: From Masaccio to Botticelli (December 2011-March 2012) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Moretti Fine Art
Fabrizio Moretti opened his first gallery in Florence in 1999. Having earned a respected reputation in the field of Italian Old Master paintings, his London establishment debuted in 2005. In collaboration with Adam Williams Fine Art, Moretti Fine Art made its New York premiere in 2007.

Permalink: http://artmuseumjournal.com/moretti_fine_art.aspx

Art Museum Journal

The latest news from museums worldwide about permanent installations, special exhibitions and art history, covering antiquity through modern times.