Page 19 - Jacobello del Fiore - His Oeuvre and a Sumptuous Crucifixion

Fig. 10 - EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ENGRAVER:
A Triptych attributed to Francesco del Fiore, Venice,
Museo Correr
As for the ‘dittico’ mentioned im-
mediately after by Lanzi, this was in fact a
triptych, with The Virgin of Humility with two
Saints and a Donor in the centre, flanked by
laterals with Saint Benedict and Saint Anthony
Abbot. Dated 1412 on the central panel, it
was marked ‘F. F.’, which could of course be
resolved as the initials of Francesco del
Fiore. While the painting was still in Venice
in the collection of John Strange, the
important English collector who had
purchased it from a convent, Sasso had had it
copied in a line engraving made for a
projected history of Venetian painting, a
work that remained in the state of
manuscript notes - ( Fig. 10).21
Yet in the light of documentary evidence,
the date 1412 said to be on the triptych
formerly in the Strange collection appears
more than a little dubious. Basing ourselves on
documents of 1409 and 1411 we can establish
with certainty that the painter died between
these two dates. In 1409, when his son
Jacobello, perhaps prior to a journey, prepared
his will, Francesco was said to be still alive,
whereas this was not the case two years later.22
By 14 February 1414 (Venetian style, that is, in
1415) his wife Magdaluzia was also dead.23
Otherwise there are few documented facts,
although these provide a sketch of Francesco’s
professional evolution: in 1376 ‘ser
Franceschin de Fior’ appears as gastaldo (chief
officer) of the Scuola dei Pittori in a contract
for that confraternity’s move from the church
of Santi Filippo e Giacomo to San Luca; he is
named therein as an associate of a certain
Vielmo24. On 12 April 1398, still ‘san de la
persona’ (‘healthy in body’), Francesco made
his will, leaving all his goods to his wife, and is
referred to in the deed as ‘pentor de la
contrada di san Lucha’, in close proximity to
the new seat of the Venetian confraternity of
painters.25
Beyond Lanzi’s words of praise, which were
broadly based on the surviving funerary
monument erected by Francesco’s son, the
known documents do not enlighten us as to his
role in the lateTrecento renaissance inVenetian
painting. He was certainly the head of a sizeable
and well-organised workshop, which included
his sons: Nicola, who was to die in 1404,26
20