Signore Francesco Lombardi, Florence (according to a label on the reverse);
In the collection of a clergyman in Italy until the 1970s;
John Howe, Bishop of Saint Andrews, England, until 1994.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This arched panel is unreinforced on the reverse. It is flat and the paint layer is stable. The frame is probably 19th or early 20th century. The work itself seems to have not been cleaned for many years, if at all. It bears an attractive patina of age with a very dull surface, which may not have been varnished. The gilding seems to be original and the paint layer is in remarkably good condition. There are a few tiny losses in the red tunic of the figure on the left, a spot or two of loss in one of the saints in the lower right, and a couple of other spots in the figure of Saint Sebastian in the upper right. The condition is extremely good.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This charming private devotional panel is by Guidoccio Cozzarelli, a painter working in the late Gothic style in Siena during the late quattro and early cinquecento.  Although the precise circumstances surrounding the commission are unknown, the inclusion of Saints associated with protection from pestilence suggests that it was probably painted as a votive panel in thanksgiving for deliverance from a plague. To the right of the Madonna and Child are Saints Sebastian and Roch, both of whom were invoked for protection against sickness, and on the left is Saint Julian the Hospitaler.  In the lower register, on either side of the Dead Christ are depicted the twin brothers and physicians Saints Cosmas and Damian, wearing their distinctive physician's hats and holding their medical instruments, further supporting the likely raison d’être of the painting.

The work enjoys a distinguished history; according to an old label on the reverse it was in the collection of Signore Francesco Lombardi of Florence, one of the greatest Florentine collectors of the early 19^th century, whose collection passed to Ugo Baldi and became known as the Lombardi-Baldi Collection.¹  The best paintings from the collection, including Piero della Francesca’s Nativity and Paolo Uccello’s Rout of San Romano were acquired in 1857 for the National Gallery in London, where they remain today.  The apparent au♌thor of the label on the reverse of the panel was a certain Lodovico Metzger, an important Florentine dealer who sold numerous works to the National Gallery in London.  The label reads as follows:

Guidoccio Gozzarelli Madonna/Jesú Bambino e tre santi./Questo quadritto esisteva nella galleria/del fu Signore Francesco Lombardi/di Firenze e cio attesta il sotto/scritto escritoire testamentario/del fu ** Sig F Lombardi/Lodovico Metzger²

Guidoccio Cozzarelli was a painter and illuminator who trained in the workshop of the Sienese master Matteo di Giovanni (circa 1430-1495), with whom he was associated from around 1470 to 1483.  His work is characterised by a certain elegance and naiveté to the figures and the present work can be compared closely to the artist’s painting of The Annunciation and the Departure for Bethlehem from the Kress Collection, listed by Berenson as in the Lowe Art Gallery.³

Everett Fahy enꦉdorsed theattribution of this lot to Guidoccio Cozzarelli on the basis of photographs in a writ𝓀ten communication, 22 December 2003.

1.  For further information, see D. Gordon, National Gallery Catalogues, The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, vol. I, London 2003, p. XXX.
2.  Translates: Guidoccio Cozzarelli Madonna and Child with three saints. This small painting was in the gallery of the late Signore Francesco Lombardi of Florence, as attested by the underwritten writer and author of the will of the late Sig. F. Lombardi. Lodovico Metzger.
3.  See B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Central Italian and North Italian Schools, vol. II, London 1968, figure 823, reproduced.