Moretti Fine Art will stage their third annual winter exhibition of early Italian Old Masters at their gallery at 24 East 80th Street, New York, from 18 January to 10 February 2012.  Entitled The Middle Ages and Early Renaissance: Paintings and Sculpture from the Carlo de Carlo Collection and other provenances, the exhibition will comprise twenty-four paintings and two sculptures, all of which are as remarkable for their beauty as they are for their rarity.

Carlo de Carlo (1931-1999) was Florence’s undisputed leading authority in matters of connoisseurship.  He was a self-made man blessed with an innate intuition for artistic quality, who developed a special love of early Tuscan painting, particularly for the elegant and colourful world of Sienese art.  As well as being a successful and highly-respected dealer, he formed a private collection which was a monument to his expertise.  Gaudenz Freuler writes in his introduction to Moretti’s exhibition catalogue: “Quality was a hallmark of a De Carlo painting.  If anyone bought a painting from him he could be sure of owning a painting of considerable artistic significance and quality and, invariably, in good condition.”

One of the key examples from the De Carlo collection, which illustrates the collector’s aesthetic in this New York exhibition, is a triptych of the Enthroned Virgin and Child with Angels and Saints; the Redeemer; the Annunciation by the Master of the Richardson Triptych (c.1370-1415).  This delightful work is remarkably well preserved, retaining its side panels, while the chalk paste decoration ornamenting the three compartments is almost intact.  A comparison with the photograph of the painting published by Berenson in 1918 shows no significant change in its condition.  (price in excess of $1,400,000).

Exhibition title: The Middle Ages and Early Renaissance: Paintings and Sculpture from the Carlo de Carlo Collection and other provenances

Dates:  Wednesday 18 January to Friday 10 February 2012

Location: Moretti Fine Art, 24 East 80th Street, New York, NY 10075, USA. Tel. +1 212 249 4987, www.morettigallery.com

Opening hours:  Monday to Friday, 10 am to 5 pm

                        Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 January, 11 am to 4 pm

Fabrizio Moretti opened his gallery in Florence in 1999 with the inaugural exhibition From Bernardo Daddi to Giorgio Vasari and soon established a respected reputation in the field of Italian Old Masters.  The gallery works closely with the most notable scholars and public institutions and is known for its dedication to research and for handling works of the highest quality as well as for making this particular area more accessible to private collectors.  In 2005 Moretti opened his first gallery space in London and takes part in the annual Master Paintings Week.  In 2007 he opened a gallery in New York in collaboration with Adam Williams Fine Art.  Just steps away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this Upper East Side gallery offers a glorious space in which to present the finest of Italian Old Masters.  In December 2011, Moretti Fine Art moved its London headquarters from New Bond Street to central St. James’s, on Ryder Street.