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Lot Essay
The Master of the Osservanza’s Dream of Saint Joseph may originally have belonged to the predella of an altarpiece, depicting the Birth of the Virgin in the Museo d’Arte Sacra, Asciano (fig. 1). Publishing the panel with an attribution to Sassetta in 1904, Bernard Berenson linked the Dream of Saint Joseph with the Virgin taking leave of the Apostles in his own collection, now the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti, Florence. The Harvard panel was correctly associated with the Asciano altarpiece, though both were at that time attributed by Berenson to Sassetta.
The three central panels of the Asciano altarpiece depict the Birth of the Virgin, surmounted by scenes of the Death of the Virgin, the Madonna of Humility and the Funeral of the Virgin. As Keith Christiansen suggests, the central Madonna of Humility would have in turn have been surmounted by a further pinnacle, perhaps the Assumption of the Virgin sold at Christie’s London, 5 December 1969, lot 126 (loc. cit.). Christiansen asserts that the altarpiece was not originally conceived as a triptych. Rather, its central narrative scene would have been flanked by two full-length saints, as evidenced by dowel holes along its vertical edges to which they would have attached (ibid.). The altarpiece was already in its current reduced state by 1865 when it was described by Francesco Brogi who again considered it to be a work by Sassetta (F. Brogi, Inventario generale degli oggetti d’arte della provincial di Siena (1862-1865), Siena, 1897, p. 12). The Harvard picture’s original format (before its upper corners were made up) matched that of the remaining pinnacles and likewise represents a scene from the Virgin’s death. It follows then that it would have surmounted one of the missing lateral saints, with a Burial of the Virgin atop the other.
While the association of this Dream of Saint Joseph with the Asciano altarpiece remains conjectural, its stylistic accordance with that work makes it a compelling hypothesis. The scenes associated with the Virgin’s death in the upper register of the altarpiece would indeed have been balanced well by a predella depicting episodes from her life. Given the width of the altarpiece with the inclusion of the flanking saints, its predella must have comprised at least five scenes. Christiansen proposes one likely candidate might be the Pietà in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon. The Dream of Saint Joseph is an unusual choice of subject matter. On the rare occasions the episode is depicted, it is usually as a minor addition to scenes of the Flight into Egypt. The latter would, however, make perfect sense within a cycle depicting the Life of the Virgin. Unlike most predella elements, the present panel has a vertical rather than a horizontal woodgrain, suggesting it may have constituted a projecting component, beneath a colonnette or pilaster.
This as yet anonymous master takes his name from a triptych formerly in the church of the Osservanza, outside Siena, and now in the city’s Pinacoteca. The appealing double-square punch tooling in the background and border of the present scene, in fact, similarly appears in his eponymous altarpiece. Many of the master's works had previously been assumed to be by Sassetta, but were recognized as a separate hand by Roberto Longhi in 1940, who grouped together an initial body of work (R. Longhi, ‘Fatti di Masolino e di Masaccio,’ La Critica d’Arte, 5, nos. 3–4, 1940, pp. 188–89). The Master of Osservanza was clearly influenced by Sassetta, with whom he probably worked in the 1420s (Christiansen, op. cit., p. 99). Scholars remain divided, however, on the matter of the artist’s identity, with him being associated variously with Sassetta, Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei, Ludovico (Vico) di Luca and with the young Sano di Pietro. Contemporary documents relating to the Asciano Birth of the Virgin, published in 2011 by Maria Falcone, prove that Sano di Pietro in fact received payment for altarpiece (M. Falcone, ‘La giovinezza dorata di Sano di Pietro: un nuovo documento per la Natività della Vergine di Asciano,’ Prospettiva, 138.2010, 2011, pp. 28–48). While the discovery lends credence to the hypothesis identifying the Master of Osservanza as the young Sano di Pietro, it is possible that the anonymous master shared a workshop with the latter, who may have received payment without necessarily having executed the altarpiece himself.
We are grateful to Laurence B. Kanter who has proposed an alternate attribution to Sano di Pietro.
The three central panels of the Asciano altarpiece depict the Birth of the Virgin, surmounted by scenes of the Death of the Virgin, the Madonna of Humility and the Funeral of the Virgin. As Keith Christiansen suggests, the central Madonna of Humility would have in turn have been surmounted by a further pinnacle, perhaps the Assumption of the Virgin sold at Christie’s London, 5 December 1969, lot 126 (loc. cit.). Christiansen asserts that the altarpiece was not originally conceived as a triptych. Rather, its central narrative scene would have been flanked by two full-length saints, as evidenced by dowel holes along its vertical edges to which they would have attached (ibid.). The altarpiece was already in its current reduced state by 1865 when it was described by Francesco Brogi who again considered it to be a work by Sassetta (F. Brogi, Inventario generale degli oggetti d’arte della provincial di Siena (1862-1865), Siena, 1897, p. 12). The Harvard picture’s original format (before its upper corners were made up) matched that of the remaining pinnacles and likewise represents a scene from the Virgin’s death. It follows then that it would have surmounted one of the missing lateral saints, with a Burial of the Virgin atop the other.
While the association of this Dream of Saint Joseph with the Asciano altarpiece remains conjectural, its stylistic accordance with that work makes it a compelling hypothesis. The scenes associated with the Virgin’s death in the upper register of the altarpiece would indeed have been balanced well by a predella depicting episodes from her life. Given the width of the altarpiece with the inclusion of the flanking saints, its predella must have comprised at least five scenes. Christiansen proposes one likely candidate might be the Pietà in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon. The Dream of Saint Joseph is an unusual choice of subject matter. On the rare occasions the episode is depicted, it is usually as a minor addition to scenes of the Flight into Egypt. The latter would, however, make perfect sense within a cycle depicting the Life of the Virgin. Unlike most predella elements, the present panel has a vertical rather than a horizontal woodgrain, suggesting it may have constituted a projecting component, beneath a colonnette or pilaster.
This as yet anonymous master takes his name from a triptych formerly in the church of the Osservanza, outside Siena, and now in the city’s Pinacoteca. The appealing double-square punch tooling in the background and border of the present scene, in fact, similarly appears in his eponymous altarpiece. Many of the master's works had previously been assumed to be by Sassetta, but were recognized as a separate hand by Roberto Longhi in 1940, who grouped together an initial body of work (R. Longhi, ‘Fatti di Masolino e di Masaccio,’ La Critica d’Arte, 5, nos. 3–4, 1940, pp. 188–89). The Master of Osservanza was clearly influenced by Sassetta, with whom he probably worked in the 1420s (Christiansen, op. cit., p. 99). Scholars remain divided, however, on the matter of the artist’s identity, with him being associated variously with Sassetta, Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei, Ludovico (Vico) di Luca and with the young Sano di Pietro. Contemporary documents relating to the Asciano Birth of the Virgin, published in 2011 by Maria Falcone, prove that Sano di Pietro in fact received payment for altarpiece (M. Falcone, ‘La giovinezza dorata di Sano di Pietro: un nuovo documento per la Natività della Vergine di Asciano,’ Prospettiva, 138.2010, 2011, pp. 28–48). While the discovery lends credence to the hypothesis identifying the Master of Osservanza as the young Sano di Pietro, it is possible that the anonymous master shared a workshop with the latter, who may have received payment without necessarily having executed the altarpiece himself.
We are grateful to Laurence B. Kanter who has proposed an alternate attribution to Sano di Pietro.