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
6. Guidoccio Cozzarelli: Two Angels. Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts fig. 8) or with the panel by Verrocchio and the young Leonardo in the Uffizi (fig. 9). 4 In fact, two angels on the left appear in a very similar arrangement in the Baptism of Christ altarpiece painted by Cozzarelli himself shortly before 1483 for the church of San Bernardino in Sinalunga (fig. 12). 5 Besides the outdoor setting and the grouping of the angels, there is a further element in the Budapest fragment which supports this interpretation: the part of claret drapery resting on the shoulder of the right angel, which apparently does not belong to his attire. This must be the "purple robe" of Christ held by the angeli ministrantcsf traditionally shown in Tuscan works of the Baptism in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This detail is particularly comparable with Cozzarelli's Sinalunga altarpiece: there the angel standing closest to the Saviour holds the purple robe on his right shoulder in the same position. 4 There are further examples of angels paired this way in scenes of the Baptism of Christ in the fresco by Agnolo Gaddi and his workshop (Santa Croce, Florence, Cappella Castellani), in Domenico Ghirlandaio's fresco (Santa Maria Novella, Florence), Cosimo Rossclli's predella scene (Centro per i Studi sul Rinascimento, Florence), Lorenzo di Credi's panel (San Domenico, Fiesole), etc. The same arrangement can be noted, in reverse, on the right side of the Baptism in Jacopino di Francesco's fresco (S. Anastasia, Verona), in a fourteenth-century Sienese miniature (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena. Corale 125, fol. 48v), in Domenico Ghirlandaio's fresco (Sant'Andrea a Brozzi, San Donnino). Pietro Orioli's panel (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), etc. 5 For an exhaustive study of this altarpiece, see Paardekooper, loc.cit. (n. 1) esp. p. 53. 6 Cf. Mt 4, 11; Mk 1,13; and the inscription above the angels assisting to the Baptism in Renier de Huy's baptismal font in Liège.
