Lot 02

Master of the Fiesole epiphany MADONNA WITH JESUS AND ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

Painting by a Florentine master active between 1475 and 1496. The Adoration of John the Baptist to the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus is a regular theme in the master's corpus. The Master of the Epiphany of Fiesole is an anonymous painter active in Florence in the second half of the 15th century, whose identification is based on research by the American art historian Everett Fahy (E. Fahy, "Some Early Italian Pictures in the Gambier-Perry Collection," The Burlington Magazine, 1967, CIX, 768, pp. 128-139). He notes the influence of Cosimo Rosselli (1439-1507) and Jacopo del Sellaio (1441-1493) on the work of the anonymous master, and suggests that the painter may have been Filippo di Giuliano (1449-1503), who shared Sellaio's workshop. The subject of the joyful or rejoicing Madonna, after one of the four Marian antiphons, is executed with bravura, with many hair strokes and layered glazes, the garment is decorated with numerous gilded borders, and the noble, relaxed face of the Madonna is lined with a diaphanous veil with pearly brush touches at the edge. The adoration scene is visually accentuated by the azure blue sky illuminating the hilly landscape with the road stretching into the distance. The work is a colmo da camera, a format popular in 15th century Florence, intended in type and size for private devotion. Literature. XIII, S. 130, Abb. S. 131, Abb. 83 (als Benedetto Ghirlandaio); E. Fahy, Some Early Italian Pictures in the Gambier-Parry Collection, in. 22 ("[...] könnte von Filippo di Giuliano oder denkbarerweise auch von einem anderen unbekannten Maler ausgeführt worden sein, der mit Sellajo zusammengearbeitet hat. [...] könnten wir diesen anonymen Maler nach der Epiphanie von Fiesole benennen [...]. Dieser Meister ist möglicherweise mit Filippo di Giuliano identisch."); E. Fahy, Some Followers of Domenico Ghirlandajo, New York/London 1976, S. 170 (als Meister der Epiphanie von Fiesole); E. Fahy, The Este Predella Panels and Other Works by the Master of the Fiesole Epiphany, in.