Lot 325A

Robert Compton Jones

Mariotto di Nardo is considered to have been one of the most promising talents of late Trecento and early Quattrocento Florentine painting. As the son of Nardo di Cione he was a descendent of the renowned family of Florentine painters, the di Cione brothers, which in addition to Nardo also included Jacopo di Cione and Andrea di Cione (better known as Orcagna). Given this artistic lineage it is not surprising that Mariotto was considered greatly popular and influential in the years immediately before and after 1400. The earliest documented reference to Mariotto di Nardo is a contract of 1394/95 to paint an altarpiece for San Donnino a Villamagna. It is most likely that his career began at least a decade before this as deduced from the regularity of commissions he received in the 1390s from the Opera del Duomo in Florence, indicating his status as a well-established master by that time. His many assistants and followers likely included other important artists such as Lorenzo Ghiberti. Although the frequency and prestige of his commissions in Florence continued until about 1416, Mariotto worked increasingly for provincial patrons in his later career and depended progressively on the use of assistants in the execution of both his large and small scale works.

Madeleine Mackenzie