From the Gothic Tradition to the Early Renaissance
Moretti Fine Art’s third exhibition in New York will not only reveal the richness of gold-ground and panel painting but also draw attention to the works of great early Italian masters which have hitherto been under appreciated. The majority of these pictures were intended for devotional use, commissioned by private individuals or the Church, and their spiritual significance still resonates today. A panel with an interesting history is a small depiction of Saint Anthony Abbot by Giotto’s heir, Taddeo Gaddi (c.1300-1366), which has identical punch-work and design and comparable measurements to his Saint Julian in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These strong similarities indicate that the two saints were part of the same triptych for the Church of Santa Maria della Croce al Tempio, and this exhibition provides an exceptional opportunity to compare the two panels. Information about individual artists and the way they worked has frequently been lost. Moretti Fine Art is therefore particularly excited about a tondo depicting the Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist. The eminent art historian, Everett Fahy, of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has attributed this work to the Master of the Johnson Assumption (c. 1485-1515), as it strongly relates to a panel in the John G. Johnson Collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
