.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This characteristic work by the most original painter of late quattrocento Verona, Liberale, depends on a terracotta relief by Donatello, the Verona Madonna, the number of extant versions of which testifies to its early popularity (see fig. 1). The panel was attributed to no less an artist than Mantegna by the influential and gifted critic, Roger Fry, in 1933, who stated that it is 'to all intents a copy' of the relief, comparing this specifically with the version of the relief originally at Verona and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and noting that the main difference is that Donatello's prototype shows the Madonna in three-quarter face rather than, as in this panel, in profile. Partly because the medium is oil, Fry assumed that the picture is of the 1470s. His attribution to Mantegna was followed by Fiocco. Tietze-Conrat, who stressed that she had not seen the picture, expressed the view that it was 'very unlikely that Mantegna would have followed another artist's work so closely', and correctly noted that the head and hands of the Madonna 'have no analogy in Mantegna's work'.
That the picture is by Liberale was recognised by Carlo del Bravo. It clearly postdates the artist's return from Siena, where he had worked from 1467 for almost a decade, most notably on the celebrated series of miniatures of choir books of the Cathedral that are perhaps the finest of all late quattrocento illuminations. From circa 1476 he was based in his native Verona, working both there, at Rovato and, at least briefly, in Venice. This panel was clearly executed at Verona, most probably, as its Veronese provenance indicates, from the terracotta now in New York. It suggests both the fame of Donatello's composition, and the enduring artistic validity this had for a master of Liberale's generation. Like the illuminations at Siena and the remarkable altarpiece of Christ with four Saints of 1472 at Viterbo, the picture expresses Liberale's personal taste and artistic intelligence, both in his debt to Donatello and his decision to change the position of the head in this.
The vase, which Fry assumed to be a pupil's addition to what he took to be Mantegna's unfinished picture, is of rather unusual form, and has for that reason attracted the interest of students of quattrocento ceramics. It is compared by Fiocco and Gherardi with one at Perugia which they assign to Forli or Faenza, circa 1500-50, but the shape of the latter differs in a number of respects. Liberale's decision to add the vase to rebalance the composition may imply an awareness of a Flemish or German picture.
We are grateful to Dr Mattia Vinco who, on the basis of photographs, dates the painting to circa 1480-5, after Liberale's return to Verona.
That the picture is by Liberale was recognised by Carlo del Bravo. It clearly postdates the artist's return from Siena, where he had worked from 1467 for almost a decade, most notably on the celebrated series of miniatures of choir books of the Cathedral that are perhaps the finest of all late quattrocento illuminations. From circa 1476 he was based in his native Verona, working both there, at Rovato and, at least briefly, in Venice. This panel was clearly executed at Verona, most probably, as its Veronese provenance indicates, from the terracotta now in New York. It suggests both the fame of Donatello's composition, and the enduring artistic validity this had for a master of Liberale's generation. Like the illuminations at Siena and the remarkable altarpiece of Christ with four Saints of 1472 at Viterbo, the picture expresses Liberale's personal taste and artistic intelligence, both in his debt to Donatello and his decision to change the position of the head in this.
The vase, which Fry assumed to be a pupil's addition to what he took to be Mantegna's unfinished picture, is of rather unusual form, and has for that reason attracted the interest of students of quattrocento ceramics. It is compared by Fiocco and Gherardi with one at Perugia which they assign to Forli or Faenza, circa 1500-50, but the shape of the latter differs in a number of respects. Liberale's decision to add the vase to rebalance the composition may imply an awareness of a Flemish or German picture.
We are grateful to Dr Mattia Vinco who, on the basis of photographs, dates the painting to circa 1480-5, after Liberale's return to Verona.