In accordance with the traditional iconography of the Madonna of Humility, the Virgin sits in the centre of the panel on a cushion worked in gold. The wriggling Child in her arms has her veil in one hand and a goldfinch (a symbol of resurrection and redemption) about to take wing in the other. Two angels support hold up an embroidered cloth of honour behind them.

The wooden support is warped and has a large vertical crack running through the middle. This is clearly visible on the back, where five butterfly joints have been inserted and traces of glue can be seen. Damage from wood-eating insects is evident at the top. The painted surface is also very worn and details like the goldfinch have almost completely disappeared. Signs of a dent can be seen in the upper section immediately above the cloth of honour. It is possible to discern the artist’s considerable technical skill in the handling of the gold, starting with the tooling and punch work of the frame. A punch was also used for the gilded braid of the Virgin’s white mantle, which is decorated with a diamond pattern. The fringes of the cushion are stippled only on the upper edge so as to obtain a highlight effect. 

Photograph no. 17182 of the Zeri Foundation shows the panel in a state of preservation prior to the last restoration. The frame had undergone complete regilding, replacement of its two Solomonic columns and the painting of two fictitious coats of arms at the bottom. 

Before entering the Cerruti Collection, the Madonna of Humility had been owned by Paolo Candiani,¹ as attested by a label on the back, which also attributes the work erroneously to Lorenzo di Niccolò. As early as 1975, when its location was unknown, the painting had instead already been attributed by Miklós Boskovits to Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, a prolific Florentine painter active during his long career - stretching between 1368, when he was admitted to the Guild of Physicians and Apothecaries, and 1416, the year of his death - in all the most important places in Florence as well as other towns in Tuscany, including Pisa and Prato. This success is related to his rigorous reinterpretation of the illustrious tradition of Giotto of the early 14th century as handed down by the workshop of Andrea and Nardo di Cione, where he appears to have served his apprenticeship.

In the panel examined here, the volumetric solidity of the figures and the rigidity of their movements still show the influence of Andrea di Cione’s (better known as Orcagna) monumental prototypes. At the same time, however, the great technical skill displayed by the artist in the handling of decorative details, the delicate chromatic harmonies, e.g., between Mary’s white mantle and the orange lining, or the Child’s shimmering garment, are all indicative of Gerini’s response to the more modern late- Gothic approach. Moreover, it was not until the end of the 14th century that Florentine depictions of the Madonna of Humility began to present the variants of the Child standing rather than lying in Mary’s arms and the angels holding the cloth of honour, the latter derived from the prototype frescoed by Simone Martini in the lunette at the entrance to the church of Notre-Dame-des-Domes in Avignon.² It is these stylistic and iconographic elements that suggest a dating of the work later than the one put forward by Boskovits (1385-90), also taking into consideration the past reference to Lorenzo di Niccolò, who worked with Gerini from halfway through the last decade of the 14th century until about 1404. 

[Silvia De Luca ]

1 The architect and painter Paolo Candiani (Busto Arsizio, 1897 - Gorla Maggiore, 1981) served as president of the Accademia di Brera in Milan. His collection of paintings, mostly by artists of the Veneto and Lombardy regions, also included several gold-ground panels, including a work by Jacopo di Cione. See Busto Arsizio 2013, p. 19.

2 Meiss 1936, pp. 447-448.