Lot number 3550 - Auction 160
TRIPTYCHON MIT DER MADONNA DER DEMUT UND HEILIGE

GENTILE DA FABRIANO (FOLLOWER, PROBABLY 18TH CENTURY) 1370 Fabriano - 1427 Rome TRIPTYCH WITH THE MADONNA OF HUMILITY AND SAINTS Oil on panel. 61 x 66.5 cm. Verso: Inscribed in an old hand: 'Gentile da. Fabriano'. Part. min. retouching. Frame. At the centre of the three-part devotional painting, or triptych, stands the Madonna with the Christ Child. In the central panel, Mary is depicted in a monumental pose, almost entirely enveloped by her dark cloak. She holds the naked Christ Child close to her; the contact between their faces emphasises not so much the ceremonial aspect of a Maestà as the intimate bond between mother and child. The iconographic type is thus closely related to the so-called Madonna dell'Umiltà and, in particular, to a tender depiction of the Madonna. God the Father appears above Mary, surrounded by a mandorla-like halo of angels. On either side, the Annunciation scene flanks the central depiction. This lends the painting both a Trinitarian and a salvific-historical dimension. Alongside John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, further kneeling and standing saints are depicted on the side panels. The overall composition is therefore to be understood less as a narrative scene than as a 'Sacra Conversazione': Mary and Christ form the centre of a timeless community of saints. This community is spread across the three panels and is spatially organised by the open hinged wings. When open, this creates, as it were, a small heavenly court gathered around the Mother and Child. Provenance: Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia.