Bernardino Zaganelli, Virgin and Child Crowned by Two Angels, detail, London, Moretti Fine Art
Three panels from an altarpiece painted around 1510 by Bernardino Zaganelli will be reunited for the first time since their dispersal at Moretti Fine Art in London, from 30 November to 18 December 2026. Organised in partnership with The Faringdon Collection Trust, Back Together: Reuniting the Panels of an Altarpiece by Bernardino Zaganelli brings one of the painter’s most mature works into focus.
The Virgin and Child Crowned by Two Angels and Saint Helena, acquired by Moretti over several years, will be joined by a Saint Bishop lent by The Faringdon Collection Trust at Buscot Park in Oxfordshire. Their corresponding dimensions, stylistic affinities and shared foreground establish their common origin, although the altarpiece’s full arrangement remains uncertain. The saints may have occupied the outer positions of a five-panel ensemble, with two further figures separating them from the Virgin. Neither its patron nor its original destination is known.
Its collecting history offers another point of connection. Giacomo Alberto Calogero associates the panels with an inventory of works from Prince Alberico XII Belgioioso’s collection transferred in 1814. The document lists the Virgin and Saint Helena alongside other saints, among whom he identifies the Buscot Park bishop.
In his catalogue essay, Calogero examines Bernardino’s response to the emerging High Renaissance. The figures acquire a new monumentality, while their ornament retains a goldsmith’s precision. Angels crown the Virgin beneath a white canopy lined in green; Saint Helena holds her cross obliquely against the light. Pearls and gemstones punctuate the garments, whose angular folds contrast with the softly modelled flesh. Tracing Bernardino’s formation within the artistic cultures of Ferrara and Bologna, Calogero considers how these influences developed into a personal language of translucent colour, delicate modelling and increasingly imposing forms.
The Saint Bishop entered the collection of Gavin, 2nd Lord Faringdon, in 1965. Drawing on the Buscot Park archives, Amy Lim’s accompanying essay traces his interests from contemporary British painting to the Old Masters, examining the relationships with artists, dealers and advisers that shaped his collection. A painting usually seen within an English country-house collection can now be considered alongside two companions from its original devotional setting.