Maestro del Crocifisso Corsi
The Moretti Gallery, in celebration of its tenth anniversary, is presenting a new catalogue highlighting the gallery’s most significant recent acquisitions. An exhibition in Florence will accompany the catalogue’s presentation, giving the public the possibility to view a selection of these works.
Among the published works is the impressive Crucifixby the Master of the Corsi Crucifix (Florence, first quarter of the 14th century). It merits mentioning the artist’s dramatic talent portrayed not only in this work, but in its twin in the collection Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia.
The Madonna with Childby Andrea di Deolao de’ Bruni (originally from Bologna, where he is documented in 1357, active in Ancona between 1369 and 1377) is an extraordinary gem, mentioned in the inventory of the Regio Palazzo in Lucca, dated 15 November 1834, as placed in room number 7 of the ground floor, together with Raphael’s Madonna of the Candelabras, now in Baltimore.
The panel by Andrea Bonaiuti(Florence, active from circa 1345-50, died in 1379) portraying a Bishop Saintand Saint Bartholomewis the left side panel of a dispersed triptych. Luckily, it has maintained its original structure unlike the two panels that constitute the right side with Saint Andrewand a Pope Saint (Gregory?), both in the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg. According to a plausible hypothesis formulated by Miklós Boskovits, the original triptych, which included our panel, could have been executed for the Church of San Martino al Mugnone at the gates of Florence and home to a convent of Camaldese nuns. In 1529, the convent moved to the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, where the church assumed the name San Martino della Scala.
The Madonnaand Child Enthroned with Saints Anthony Abbot and Francis with four angelsby Niccolò di Tommaso (Florence, active from 1350 to circa 1376) exhibits the pre-Late Gothic taste which became one of the constitutional elements in the art of Agnolo Gaddi and Lorenzo Monaco.
The characters of the picture by the Florence master,Francesco Botticini (Florence, 1446 - 1497), during his most profound combination of the teachings of Verrocchio, are represented here by the majestic Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints James and John the Evangelist, from the collection of Stefano Bardini.
Finally, the large panel by Arcangelo di Jacopo del Sellaio(Florence, circa 1477/8 - 1530) of the Annunciation, once part of the collection of the American magnate, Walter P. Chrysler, must be mentioned. The two figures of the Archangel and the Virgin and portrayed outside with a rich architectural scene behind them. In the background, an arch with a balustrade presents a reparatory of 15thcentury masterpieces: reproductions of Donatello’s Davidand Judithoverlook the two reliefs below exhibiting, to the left, Adam and Eve in Earthly Paradiseand, to the right, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve. These are faithful citations of the respective frescoes by Masolino and Masaccio in the Carmelite Brancacci Chapel.
The catalogue, edited by Gabriele Caioni, is done in collaboration with important art historians, including Cristina Guarnieri, Alberto Lenza, Andrea De Marchi, Nicoletta Pons, Gaudenz Freuler e Angelo Tartuferi.
A selection of works published in the catalogue will be on view in Florence from 26 September to 4 October.