Csornay Boldizsár - Dobos Zsuzsa - Varga Ágota - Zakariás János szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 98. (Budapest, 2003)

SALLAY, DÓRA: A Proposal for a Baptism of Christ-Lunette by Guidoccio Cozzarelli

upper vestment. A thick, wine-coloured garment covers his right shoulder. Soft light coming from the left pervades the scene.

2 The two figures appear as if they were engaged in conversation about something invisible to us, on which the left angel fixes his gaze. The outdoor setting and the narrative tone of the scene led to some confusion in the past when, because of these features, the subject matter has been described as probably Tobias and the Archangel Raphael.

3 Since both figures are winged, this cannot be maintained; a wide-spread compositional tradition in the position of the two angels' heads suggests a different context instead. Angels in an open air scene, turning towards each other this way often appear in depictions of the Baptism of Christ, as is shown by a comparison with Ghiberti's relief on the baptismal font in the Sienese Baptistery (fig. 7), with Domenico di Bartolo's predella scene (Galleria Nazionale deH'Umbria, Perugia, inv. 116, 2 Tempera and gold on wood, inv. 19. Provenance: J. A. Ramboux Coll., no. 144 (1832/42-1866); A. Ipolyi Coll. (1867-1872), gift of Ipolyi to the Museum in 1872. The painted surface is abraded. The paint film holds well except for the upper right corner where it has become loose and flaking. There are losses along the edges, especially at the bottom. The halo of the angel on the right is repaired at the bottom on both sides. A triangular section of the wooden support in the upper left corner is a later addition with a complete reconstruction of the pictorial surface. In the original part just below the upper right corner of this addition two small gilt dots are discernible along the edge. The original part of the panel consists of a single piece of wood that has been thinned to about 0.5-0.7 cm. It has a horizontal grain and is strongly warped. The back of the panel carries an inscription in ink "Matteo da Siena". Ramboux's red wax seal is visible in the lower left corner. For previous literature on the work, see Ramboux, J.A., Katalog der Gemälde aller italienischer Meister ( 1221-1640) in der Sammlung des Conservator .I.A. Ramboux, Cologne 1862, 26. no. 144 (Matteo di Giovanni von Siena); Catalog der nachgelassenen Kunst-Sammlungen des Herrn Johann Anton Ramboux, Conservator des städtischen Museums in Cöln (Heberle, J.M. [H. Lempertz]), Cologne 1867,28, no. 144 (Matteo di Giovanni von Siena); Térey, G

., A Szépművészeti Múzeum régi képtárának leíró lajstroma, Budapest 1906, 29, no. 61 (Sienese painter, 2

nd half of 15

th c.); Berenson, B., Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance, 2

nd rev. and enl. ed., New York - London 1909 (henceforth abbreviated Berenson, 1909), p. 158, (Guidoccio Cozzarelli; all subsequent references retain the same attribution); Berenson, B.. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932 (henceforth abbreviated Berenson, 1932), p. 157; Berenson, B.,Pitture italiane delRinascimento, Milan 1936 (henceforth abbreviated Berenson, 1936), p. 136; Van Marie, op.cit. (n. 1) p. 384; Galetti, U. - Camesasca, E., Enciclopedia áella pittura italiana I, Milan 1950. p. 733; Pigler, A., Országos Szépművészeti Múzeum -A régi képtár katalógusa I, Budapest 1954 (henceforth abbreviated Pigler, 1954), p. 129; Pigler, A., Katalog der Galerie Alter Meister I, Budapest 1967 (henceforth abbreviated Pigler, 1967), p. 160; Berenson, 1968 (n. 1) p. 98; Museum of Fine Arts - Budapest. Old Masters' Gallery. A Summary Catalogue of Italian, French, Spanish, and Greek Paintings (ed. Tátrai, V), Budapest -London 1991, p. 31; Lust und Verlust II. Corpus-Band zu Kölner Gemäldesammlungen 1800-1860 (ed. Kier, H. -Zehnder, F. G.), Cologne 1998, p. 565, no. 148; F. Dózsa, K., cat. entry, in Egy nagyváros születése. Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából XXVII ( 1998) p. 272, cat. no. 3.1.29. 3 Pigler, 1954 (n. 2) p. 129; Pigler, 1967 (n. 2) p. 160: Museum of Fine Arts..., op.cit. (n. 2) p. 31. Pigler's idea is not altogether clear, since he entitled the work

—departing from Berenson's, Van Marie's, and Galetti and Camesasca's title simply as "Heads of Angels"

—as "Köpfe zweier Erzengel," while in the text he laconically describes the subject as probably a fragment from the journey of the young Tobias. One wonders if he perhaps referred to a rare type of Tobias-representation where the young Tobias is accompanied by not one but three archangels (e.g. Botticini, Uffizi, Florence, inv. 8359; Neri di Bicci, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; Filippino Lippi, Galleria Sabauda, Torino)? The compositional tradition for this type of Tobias-representation, however, shows the archangels at a certain distance from one another, differently from the angels in Budapest.