Madonna and Child with SS. John the Baptist, Bernardino, Catherine of Siena and an Unidentified Saint and Angels

This remarkably well-preserved panel, which retains its original engaged frame and, as x-rays reveal, nails that secure the planks of the panel, shows Pellegrino at his most refined and close to Sano di Pietro. It includes saints venerated in Renaissance Siena, notably San Bernardino, Saint Catherine of Siena, and Saint John the Baptist. The highly wrought punchwork and the richly embroidered draperies, whose patterns are almost abstracted, are typical of Pellegrino di Mariano at his very best.

Pellegrino here fuses the courtly elegance of Giovanni di Paolo, visible in details such as the tousled hair of the Christ Child, with the earnestness, grace and colorism of Sano di Pietro. And, as with all Sienese painters of the Renaissance, he never forgets the solemn dignity and refinement of the greatest of all Sienese artists, Duccio di Buoninsegna.

We are grateful to Giovanni Mazzoni and Laurence Kanter for confirming the attribution of this panel to Pellegrino di Mariano.