Interesting and rare painting originally part of a tabernacle for domestic use, for which this panel served as a door leaf enclosing it, as can be deduced from the small holes for the hinges on the right side of the painting.
This Saint Jerome was painted by a skilled pupil or assistant of Pietro di Cristoforo, known as Perugino, as can be inferred from the unmistakable style of the master born in Citta della Pieve in 1446.
It is plausible that this panel was produced between the end of the 15th century and the very early years of the 16th century, when Vannucci, at the height of his highly esteemed art, maintained two workshops, one in Perugia and one in Florence, which included a hotbed of artists closely linked to the master's figurative compositions, contributing to the wide dissemination of his artistic canons.
To venture an attribution is not simple, as numerous artists followed one another under the direction or apprenticeship of Vannucci, such as in Perugia, Andrea d'Assisi known as l'Ingegno, Giannicola di Paolo, Antonio da Viterbo known as il Pastura, etc. Certainly, the qualities of this painting allow it through a precise study of the sources and a careful stylistic analysis.
It is plausible that it may be a work carried out by these faithful helpers, just mentioned, but it is necessary to remember the numerous works of the Perugino area also attributed to anonymous artists, who already first contributed to spreading the taste and style of the master.
In fact, there are stylistic affinities with works attributed to the so-called Master of the Greenville Tondo, which studies hypothesize to be an artist of Tuscan descent, who, following his Florentine apprenticeship with Pietro Vannucci, produced numerous devotional works for ecclesiastical and private commissions between Tuscany and Umbria, even reaching Campania, in his later activity. It was the scholars Everett Fahy and Federico Zeri who grouped about thirty works known to them under this name.
Oil on panel made between the 15th and 16th centuries. 1500 approx.
The painting is in excellent condition and may need cleaning of the paint patina.
We enclose a historical certificate of authenticity with the sale.
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