> Home > >
Annunciazione, San Pietro, Crocifissione di Cristo, e San Paolo Siena
Artist: Matteo di Giovanni
Year: 1450 circa
Current location: Oratorio di S.Bernardino - Museo Diocesano
Original location: Chiesa di San Pietro a Ovile
DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION
The altarpiece of San Pietro a Ovile is one of those textbook cases that art history has long favored, providing international critics with ample material for speculation, sometimes contradictory attributions, and, at times, controversy. In this case, after over a century of debate, our understanding of this splendid triptych seems to have stabilized. After a lengthy exchange between John Pope-Hennessy and Cesare Brandi in the mid-20th century, the battle over attributions gradually focused on the names of Matteo di Giovanni and Giovanni di Pietro, although some opinions remain divergent regarding the respective roles of each painter in the execution of the work. What is the current state of knowledge?
The interventions of the two painters are now identified with a good degree of certainty. If Matteo di Giovanni painted the side panels depicting Saints John the Baptist and Bernardino and the cusps containing the figures of Peter and Paul, the rest would be attributed to Giovanni di Pietro: the central panel with the Annunciation, which harks back to the style of the artist of the Madonna and Child with Saints in the Cleveland Museum of Art; the small Crucifixion on the central cusps; and the entire predella, which, unfortunately, has been separated from the ensemble since before the first half of the 19th century (see below, "Reconstruction of the Altarpiece").
The ensemble dates to the mid-1450s.
Annunciazione, San Pietro, Crocifissione di Cristo, e San Paolo