Taddeo di Bartolo, « Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Lawrence, Dominic and Julian »

Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Lawrence, Dominic and Julian

inscribed across the reverse of the panels: Unico……ma Altare di S. Pa[olo?] d’Orto / Che rest a Pa… p Superior[e?] o vdi….spedit[o?] / Taddeo Bartoli / Vedi Vasari / Io Cavre Lasinio

a set of four, all tempera and gold ground on panel

each: 10⅝ by 5½ in.; 27 by 14 cm.

(4)

Condition Report

Provenance

Chiesa di San Paolo all’Orto, Pisa;

Carlo Lasinio (1759-1838), Pisa ;

From whom acquired by Dawson Turner, Esq., F.R.S., Great Yarmouth, 18 November 1825;

His sale, London, Christie’s, 14 May 1852, lots 1-2, 2 gns each, to Mr. Anthony;

H. Clark, London, by 1931;

Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence;

From whom acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim, New York, 1933;

Thence by bequest to the Denver Art Museum, 1953;

By whom sold (« Property from the Denver Art Museum, Sold to Benefit Acquisition Funds »), New York, Christie’s, 29 January 1999, lot 61.

These elegant gold ground panels of Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Lawrence, Dominic, and Julian date to the early career of the Sienese artist Taddeo di Bartolo when he was working in Pisa. They once formed part of the Casassi altarpiece, an important polyptych painted by Taddeo in 1395 for the burial site of Gherardo Casassi in the Church of San Paolo all’Orto in Pisa, having been commissioned from the artist for 100 florins by Gherardo’s three sons. A reconstruction of this large and elaborate altarpiece has recently been published by Gail Solberg in her catalogue for the groundbreaking exhibition on Taddeo di Bartolo recently held in Perugia [1]Solberg 2020, p. 289, fig. R3. .

Within this altarpiece, the present four paintings would have been placed on the pilasters that flanked the central feature, with Saints Dominic and Catherine on the left and Julian and Lawrence on the right. The central section showed the Madonna and Child with Saints, today in the Musée de Grenoble. The three pinnacles above showed Christ the Redeemer [2]61.5 by 35 cm. Lindenau Museum Altenburg, inv. no. 63-28. , Saint John the Baptist [3]50.5 by 30.5 cm. Simonpietro Salini collection, Asciano., and Saint Peter [4]50.5 by 30 cm. Private collection. , and four of the predella panels below all illustrating scenes from the Life of Christ have also been identified ^{[5]Crucifixion (Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon, inv. no. 383), Arrest of Christ (Private Collection), Resurrection (Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne), Descent into Limbo (Private American collection).}

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