Page 39 - Jacobello del Fiore - His Oeuvre and a Sumptuous Crucifixion
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said to have been claimed by the Greek owner, S. Caterina, S. Mustiola; sul lato sinistro le figure,
Grivakis, in both Mason Perkins and Tonks, who sempre in piedi, di S. Antonio Abate, di S. Pietro e
both published the painting in 1909. See also S. Paolo apostoli’. In the upper register the priest
Chiappini di Sorio, 1968, p. 21 note 8; Negro 1994 then described ‘l’immagine di S. Cassiano raggiante
(who published its recent donation to the church of di viva luce nell’atto di salire alla gloria celeste’,
San Francesco in Pesaro, now known as Santa Maria while ‘nell’ordine medio trovasi l’immagine del
delle Grazie); and Franco 2000, pp. 60-61. Redentore morto sulle ginocchia di Maria
santissima, ma con ai lati la Maddalena e San
49 Clearly reproduced in Chiappini di Sorio 1989, Giovanni’. The chronicle and other related sources
figs. 7-8, who proposes Jacobello’s involvement not are also discussed by Franco 2000, p. 59.
just pictorially but conceptually, and attributes the
sculpture of the Blessed Michelina in the centre of 53 Less probable, as it turns out, is the hypothesis that
the Pesaro polyptych to Antonio di Bonvesin the center of this lost 1401 polyptych is the
Madonna of Humiltity now in the High Museum in
50 Christiansen 1982, p. 122. Atlanta (Zafran 1984, pp. 27-28), which, as
Minardi now claims, belongs to the group given to
51 Chiappini di Sorio 1968, p. 11. In a subsequent the ‘Master of the Madonna Giovanelli’ (Minardi,
article (1989, pp. 58, 20-22 note 4) she dismissed forthcoming). In that case, although it is certainly
the attribution of the Lecce painting in favour of a central element of a polyptych, in this instance
the Master of the Giovanelli Madonna, as later the Virgin is not represented nursing the Child.The
affirmed by De Marchi and Lucco, and emphasized painting had recently been included in an auction at
the differences between the anonymous master and Sotheby’s New York (26 January 2006, lot 35, as
Jacobello; she might better have pointed out their Jacobello del Fiore) but was subsequently
similarities. The provenance of the Lecce Madonna withdrawn from the sale. On that occasion, De
from the 1401 polyptych was also accepted by Marchi opined that the painting was by ‘Master of
Zampetti 1988, p. 267. the Madonna Giovanelli’ (oral communication).
52 From a late-nineteenth-century chronicle written 54 Lecce, Museo Provinciale, cm 75 x 55. The
by Don Carletti, parish priest of San Cassiano, we attribution to Jacobello derives from an oral
learn of the arrangement of the painted figures: communication from Cesare Brandi, as referenced
‘nel lato destro in piedi le figure di S. Cristoforo, in Urbani, 1951, p.68. Its redirection to the Master
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