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Lot Essay
This affectionate rendering of the relationship between the Virgin and the Infant Jesus is clearly derived from the Byzantine iconography of the Glycophilous Madonna that spread to Italian painting during the second half of the thirteenth century. The Virgin’s awareness of her Son’s tragic destiny is revealed by her melancholy gaze directed towards the viewer through the proximity of their faces, with cheeks touching; it is a prefiguration of the iconography of the Pietà, with the Virgin embracing the dead Christ, a theme that is clearly alluded to in the predella below. Barnaba had depicted this iconography in the Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria and the Crucifixion in the Galleria Estense, Modena (fig. 1). Two angels hold the cloth of honor which is dark blue on the outside and lined in red. The Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Annunciate occupy the two tondos in the upper corners of the panel, while the lower part, separated by a contoured frame, is a sort of predella, with the Man of Sorrows in the center between the Mourning Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist, flanked by (from left to right) Saint Mary Magdalen, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Benedict (?) and Saint Francis, all depicted with their usual attributes.
The presence of Francis, opposite Mary Magdalene, who was also venerated as exemplum perfectae penitentiae by the Friars Minor, would indicate that the painting was commissioned either by a member of the Order or by someone particularly devoted to it. One hypothesis, suggested by Clario Di Fabio (loc. cit.), is that the patron was a woman. Based on the information available, Barnaba began working for Franciscans around the second half of the 1370s. The Madonna del Latte in the church of San Giovanni, Alba (1377), the slightly later panel in the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa and the since lost polyptych for the Franciscans in Pisa, which all date from the same period as the present painting, are evidence of the artist’s ties to the Order.
The rectangular, rather than pinnacled shape of the panel, with the scenes of the Annunciation in the corner tondos, is typical of Barnaba’s mature works, such as the Madonna in Pisa (with the same iconography of the Annunciating Angel and the Virgin Annunciate) and the picture in a Turin collection. These paintings have a similar curved inner frame with its series of small, connected arches which, like the Annunciation above, are to be found in the center panels of some of the artist’s later polyptychs: the altarpiece from the church of San Bartolomeo al Fossato (Genoa, Museo Diocesano) and the other at Ripoli di Cascina.
At the time of its sale in 2010 (loc. cit.), it was suggested the painting was either the center panel of a triptych or a diptych leaf, but it is not possible to make comparisons with Barnaba’s surviving works. The typology of the half-length Virgin and Child in a rectangular panel, including a predella with images of saints below, does have an important precedent in a painting attributed to Simone Martini (Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), that was originally intended for private devotion. The Boston painting, which is much smaller than the one presented here, does not appear to have been originally attached to other panels. However, Lippo Memmi did paint a pinnacled diptych (now divided between the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Musée du Louvre, Paris) which also has a predella with busts of saints in the New York panel (fig. 2). Thus, due to the predella, the Madonna discussed here can be related to models that were widespread in the Sienese milieu, but the iconography of the Man of Sorrows in the center is autonomous and was rather borrowed from polyptych predellas. The earliest known example of a Madonna of this type with a predella in Barnaba’s oeuvre is the panel formerly in a Genoese collection (location now unknown) published by Di Fabio (ibid.), which also shows a Man of Sorrows between the mourners and saints. In that painting, the composition and the woodwork are less complex, lacking the tondos with the Annunciation at the top, the angels holding the cloth and the multifoil arch framing the central group.
The present painting is the most significant recent addition to Barnaba da Modena’s oeuvre, both for its quality and the fact that it is clearly dated. Despite alterations made to the inscription, still visible when the painting sold in 2010 (op. cit.), the 1380 dating seemed plausible to Di Fabio, who included the panel in a small group of paintings by the artist that reflect ‘a theology of the icon’ (loc. cit.). That this type of painting was considered almost an icon intended for private devotion is highlighted by the iconography, rooted in the Byzantine tradition. There is a deliberate, and not casual, return to type, rare in late fourteenth-century North-Central Italian painting, but not out of place in the Genoese cultural context, which had links throughout the Mediterranean. Similarly, Barnaba’s almost constant use of damascene-type decorations on the Virgin’s mantle in his mature works is a sign of the admiration for these archaic elements in the milieu in which he worked and hence of his patrons’ tastes and expectations.
The painting described here is certainly the artist’s last dated work and can serve as a good reference point in determining the chronology of paintings generally dated between the 1370s and 1380s. The faces of the angels to the sides and the fluid folds of the cloth of honor are consistent with the formulas adopted in the Ripoli polyptych that can be dated to the 1380s, like the Madonnas at Ventimiglia and Pisa. The former is generally dated between the 1370s and 80s, while the latter may have been painted shortly before the picture discussed here, but after the 1377 Madonna del latte in the church of San Giovanni Battista, Alba. The punched decorations on the halos are also very similar to those on the Ventimiglia painting and the gold pastiglia decorations on the spandrels recur with very similar motifs in several of Barnaba’s mature works. When compared to paintings datable up to around 1375, the chiaroscuro effects are less intense and smoky, while the light shimmers on the rounded faces with delicate shading. Furthermore, Barnaba’s earlier works were characterized by a tighter, almost sharp, Gothic linearism. This tension decreased towards the end of the 1370s, with lines and volumes becoming simpler in a quest for more compact and even expanded forms, as can be seen in the Infant Jesus here. For this reason, as well as the gentle expressions, the most appropriate painting for purposes of comparison is the Madonna dei Mercanti (Pisa, Museo Nazionale di San Matteo), one of the major commissions the artist received in Pisa. In the present Madonna, as in earlier versions of the same theme, the abstract damascene-type decorations do not prevent the fabric of the robe from following the contours of the body and defining its firmly rendered shape.
Mauro Minardi
This is an abridged version of an unpublished manuscript by Dr. Minardi (2017). For a copy of the unabridged text with complete footnotes, please contact the department.
The presence of Francis, opposite Mary Magdalene, who was also venerated as exemplum perfectae penitentiae by the Friars Minor, would indicate that the painting was commissioned either by a member of the Order or by someone particularly devoted to it. One hypothesis, suggested by Clario Di Fabio (loc. cit.), is that the patron was a woman. Based on the information available, Barnaba began working for Franciscans around the second half of the 1370s. The Madonna del Latte in the church of San Giovanni, Alba (1377), the slightly later panel in the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa and the since lost polyptych for the Franciscans in Pisa, which all date from the same period as the present painting, are evidence of the artist’s ties to the Order.
The rectangular, rather than pinnacled shape of the panel, with the scenes of the Annunciation in the corner tondos, is typical of Barnaba’s mature works, such as the Madonna in Pisa (with the same iconography of the Annunciating Angel and the Virgin Annunciate) and the picture in a Turin collection. These paintings have a similar curved inner frame with its series of small, connected arches which, like the Annunciation above, are to be found in the center panels of some of the artist’s later polyptychs: the altarpiece from the church of San Bartolomeo al Fossato (Genoa, Museo Diocesano) and the other at Ripoli di Cascina.
At the time of its sale in 2010 (loc. cit.), it was suggested the painting was either the center panel of a triptych or a diptych leaf, but it is not possible to make comparisons with Barnaba’s surviving works. The typology of the half-length Virgin and Child in a rectangular panel, including a predella with images of saints below, does have an important precedent in a painting attributed to Simone Martini (Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), that was originally intended for private devotion. The Boston painting, which is much smaller than the one presented here, does not appear to have been originally attached to other panels. However, Lippo Memmi did paint a pinnacled diptych (now divided between the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Musée du Louvre, Paris) which also has a predella with busts of saints in the New York panel (fig. 2). Thus, due to the predella, the Madonna discussed here can be related to models that were widespread in the Sienese milieu, but the iconography of the Man of Sorrows in the center is autonomous and was rather borrowed from polyptych predellas. The earliest known example of a Madonna of this type with a predella in Barnaba’s oeuvre is the panel formerly in a Genoese collection (location now unknown) published by Di Fabio (ibid.), which also shows a Man of Sorrows between the mourners and saints. In that painting, the composition and the woodwork are less complex, lacking the tondos with the Annunciation at the top, the angels holding the cloth and the multifoil arch framing the central group.
The present painting is the most significant recent addition to Barnaba da Modena’s oeuvre, both for its quality and the fact that it is clearly dated. Despite alterations made to the inscription, still visible when the painting sold in 2010 (op. cit.), the 1380 dating seemed plausible to Di Fabio, who included the panel in a small group of paintings by the artist that reflect ‘a theology of the icon’ (loc. cit.). That this type of painting was considered almost an icon intended for private devotion is highlighted by the iconography, rooted in the Byzantine tradition. There is a deliberate, and not casual, return to type, rare in late fourteenth-century North-Central Italian painting, but not out of place in the Genoese cultural context, which had links throughout the Mediterranean. Similarly, Barnaba’s almost constant use of damascene-type decorations on the Virgin’s mantle in his mature works is a sign of the admiration for these archaic elements in the milieu in which he worked and hence of his patrons’ tastes and expectations.
The painting described here is certainly the artist’s last dated work and can serve as a good reference point in determining the chronology of paintings generally dated between the 1370s and 1380s. The faces of the angels to the sides and the fluid folds of the cloth of honor are consistent with the formulas adopted in the Ripoli polyptych that can be dated to the 1380s, like the Madonnas at Ventimiglia and Pisa. The former is generally dated between the 1370s and 80s, while the latter may have been painted shortly before the picture discussed here, but after the 1377 Madonna del latte in the church of San Giovanni Battista, Alba. The punched decorations on the halos are also very similar to those on the Ventimiglia painting and the gold pastiglia decorations on the spandrels recur with very similar motifs in several of Barnaba’s mature works. When compared to paintings datable up to around 1375, the chiaroscuro effects are less intense and smoky, while the light shimmers on the rounded faces with delicate shading. Furthermore, Barnaba’s earlier works were characterized by a tighter, almost sharp, Gothic linearism. This tension decreased towards the end of the 1370s, with lines and volumes becoming simpler in a quest for more compact and even expanded forms, as can be seen in the Infant Jesus here. For this reason, as well as the gentle expressions, the most appropriate painting for purposes of comparison is the Madonna dei Mercanti (Pisa, Museo Nazionale di San Matteo), one of the major commissions the artist received in Pisa. In the present Madonna, as in earlier versions of the same theme, the abstract damascene-type decorations do not prevent the fabric of the robe from following the contours of the body and defining its firmly rendered shape.
Mauro Minardi
This is an abridged version of an unpublished manuscript by Dr. Minardi (2017). For a copy of the unabridged text with complete footnotes, please contact the department.