Giovanni da Milano documented 1346–69
NG 579.6  
The Apocalyptic Christ (Son of Man)  
NG 579.7  
The Virgin  
NG 579.8  
Saint John the Baptist

Dillian Gordon, 2011

Extracted from:
Dillian Gordon, The Italian Paintings Before 1400 (London: National Gallery Company and Yale University Press, 2011).

c. 1365

These three pinnacle panels come from a single altar piece (fig. 1), painted for an unknown location. They were acquired by the National Gallery attached to an altar piece by Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (NG 579.1–5, for which see p. 394).

NG 579.6: The Apocalyptic Christ (Son of Man) sits on a throne that is completely covered with a pale pinkish‐yellow cloth of gold. He holds a blue orb on which are seven gold stars in his right hand and two gold keys in his left. In his mouth he once held a sword.

NG 579.7: The Virgin is seated on a wooden bench,¹ with a cushion covered with an orange cloth of gold, with two tassels.

NG 579.8: Saint John the Baptist, with a beard, is seated on the same type of bench and cushion as the Virgin. His camel‐hair tunic is just visible at the neck of his cloak. He makes the traditional pointing gesture of the Baptist and carries a scroll with a false inscription, inserted at a later date, from Isaiah: ECCE VIRGO CŌCIPIET (Isaiah 7:14; ‘Behold the Virgin shall conceive [and bear a son]’).

Above each figure is a seraph in a quatrefoil, with pastiglia in the spandrels. The outer frame moulding of all three panels is not original. The pastiglia in all the spandrels is original, but has been regilded and thus coarsened.

Technical Notes

Panel structure and condition

NG 579.6: The Apocalyptic Christ (Son of Man)

The panel is a single board with a vertical grain. Overall dimensions, including frame: height (pointed top) 93.7 cm, height from base to shoulder 61.2 cm; width 37.2 cm. Thickness of panel 3.0 cm. Painted surface 63.8 × 25.6 cm. Quatrefoil, painted surface 6.4 × 6.4 cm.

There are traces of a horizontal batten channel approximately 7 cm wide, approximately 13.5 cm up from the base of the original panel.

NG 579.7: The Virgin

The panel is made of two boards with a vertical grain. Overall dimensions, including frame: height (pointed top) 89.3 cm, height from base to shoulder 58.5 cm; width 37.2 cm; width of original panel 30.0 cm. Thickness of panel 1.8 cm. Painted surface 58.2 × 25.8 cm. Quatrefoil, painted surface 7.0 × 7.0 cm.

T. Gaddi has been written on the back of the outer frame (see also NG 579.1–5, to which this panel was once attached). There are no traces of any batten.

NG 579.8: Saint John the Baptist

The panel is made of two boards with a vertical grain: there is a join c. 10.5 cm (at the base) /11.8 cm (at the shoulder) from the right (seen from the back). Overall dimensions, including frame: height (pointed top) 89.3 cm, height from base to shoulder 58.2 cm; width 37.3 cm; width of original panel 29.9 cm. Thickness of panel 1.8 cm. Painted surface 58.2 × 25.8 cm. Quatrefoil, painted surface 7.0 × 7.0 cm.

As with NG 579.7, T. Gaddi has been written on the back of the outer frame (see also NG 579.1–5, to which this panel was once attached). There are no traces of any batten.

Remains of nails are visible in the X‐radiographs of all three panels, in the centre of NG 579.6 and 579.7 and at the side of 579.8, level with the shoulder mouldings. These cannot relate to a single horizontal batten, since if the panels were indeed pinnacle panels, as is likely (see below), the batten would have been visible in the intervening spaces. When the nail holes are lined up, the tips of the panels are level, but the base of NG 579.6 is lower: the nail holes do not therefore relate to a later joining together of the three. The most likely explanation is that they relate to some sort of batten attached to each individual panel to support the whole altar piece against a back wall.

All three panels are extremely worm‐damaged and may have been thinned: they all show exposed worm channels on the back.

Painting condition and technique

All three panels were cleaned and restored in 1953–6.

Before the cleaning in 1953, and probably when the new frame mouldings were attached, the three panels had been completely regilded (see Conservation dossier). The cleaning uncovered punched borders which were partly original and partly an old restoration. The original punch used in the borders of NG 579.6 is a quatrefoil (Skaug no. 298; fig. 2).² The losses in the borders had been replaced with a six‐petal rosette formed of seven simple rings, which was then imitated in the 1953 restoration (most clearly visible down the right‐hand side of the border of NG 579.8). The original punch used in the borders of the other two panels (NG 579.7 and 579.8) was a five‐petal rosette (Skaug no. 402; fig. 3). The innermost arcs of the borders, which are incised, are all false; only a tiny part of the original punched arches remains on NG 579.6 (Skaug no. 62).

There is a large amount of underdrawing for the draperies in all three panels, consisting of very thin lines and extensive hatching, done with a liquid medium but mostly with a relatively dry brush, visible with infrared reflectography (see fig. 7) and in some places with the naked eye.³

The features of the seraphs in the quatrefoils above each of the three figures (fig. 6) have been painted with red lake and vermilion which has blackened, making their faces and details of their wings more marked than would originally have been the case.

NG 579.6: The Apocalyptic Christ (Son of Man)

There are several repairs to the background and the whole halo has been regilded and repunched.

In both NG 579.6 and NG 579.8, rosettes have been incised freehand; these are visible under the paint of the beard of the Apocalyptic Christ and the hair, neck and beard of John the Baptist (figs 4 and 5). They are difficult to explain, since this area was never gilded and was never intended to be punched.⁴

The stars on the orb have been roughly incised and then mordant gilded over the blue paint (see fig. 8). One of the stars crosses the hole made by the compasses used to incise the circle of the orb. The mordant is greyish, but difficult to see.

The pink of the cloak is painted with a red lake mixed with white, and is visible through the holes of the keys (fig. 9); the details of the keys have been painted with black over the gold leaf.

The sgraffito cloth of honour has been painted with a pale pinkish‐yellow base colour, with ultramarine for shadows, and with leaf‐shape patterns incised into the paint, which have been punched with a four‐prong punch (fig. 10). The border of the cloth of honour has been incised with pseudo‐kufic script.

Two incised lines run across Christ’s mouth (see figs 16 and 17). These marked the position of the sword he once held in his mouth (see below), tapering towards the left. This sword was almost certainly mordant silvered, but the silver and mordant have been lost. The treatment of 1953 disguised the loss, and also the remains of Christ’s teeth, which had been revealed by the removal of overpaint.⁵

The overall condition of the painted surface is good. Christ’s blue robe is painted with ultramarine mixed with white. His waistband, the border of his collar along the shoulder, the bottom of his robe and the apparel across his chest are now mostly exposed gesso ground; they were originally painted with yellow ochre mixed with yellow orpiment, small traces of which remain.⁶

There are isolated losses in the pink of his cloak. The pink has faded somewhat and there has been some blackening of [page 248][page 249][page 250]the vermilion used in the border of his cloak and in his shoe.

NG 579.7: The Virgin

Water gilding on a red bole has been used for the background, including the cushion and the halo. There is a large loss in the right side of the halo. For comments on the punching see above.

The Virgin and John the Baptist are seated on identical wooden benches with the same type of cushion, painted orange; its pattern is done with sgraffito and punched with a four‐prong punch. The cushion is mostly covered by the Virgin’s robe; the ball of the tassel has been incised. The mordant gilding of the star on her shoulder and of the double line of the border of her cloak is well preserved.

The important parts of the paint surface are quite well preserved. However, there is a vertical loss through the bench corresponding to the join in the panel, and a line of damage running vertically up the centre, through the Virgin’s face and cloak.

There is a pentimento in her cloak, which was originally painted to fall straight down and extended further over the floor. The light brown of the floor and bench have been painted over the blue, which now shows as a faint shadow due to the increased transparency of the covering paint. The change gave the painter the opportunity to paint more elaborate drapery folds.

NG 579.8: Saint John the Baptist

In addition to the underdrawing, the drapery folds of the pink cloak (see detail, p. 255) been extensively incised with closely spaced lines.

Water gilding on a red bole has been used for the background, the cushion and the halo. There is a large loss in the gold background: all the gold above John the Baptist’s head and to the right‐hand side is missing.

The mordant‐gilded border of his cloak is slightly worn.

He sits on the same type of bench as the Virgin’s, which has the same type of cushion, painted orange; its pattern is done with sgraffito and punched with a four‐prong punch (fig. 11), and it has an incised tassel.

Much of the painting is well preserved, but there is a large loss along the bottom, including most of John the Baptist’s right foot and the toes of his left foot. The upper part of his index finger has been retouched. There has been some fading of the pink cloak, which has been painted with red lake mixed with white.

The scroll is very damaged and has evidently been completely repainted. Examination with infrared reflectography revealed no other inscription apart from that which is visible to the naked eye, but examination with a microscope reveals that underneath the white paint, between the first E and C of ECCE, are the remains of a flourish, painted in vermilion (the tip just visible to the naked eye); a very few traces of black lettering can be seen under the white paint under the second C, to the right of the V, and at the end of the scroll. The original inscription therefore began further down the scroll. The present inscription is entirely false.

Companion Panels

The three pinnacle panels were first associated by Miklós Boskovits with a polyptych of which two main tier panels survive:⁷

• 1. Christ Enthroned with Four Adoring Angels (Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera; fig. 13). The texts he holds are from the Apocalypse: Ego sum/ alpha et / o[mega] primus et / novissimus/ initium et/finis (Revelation 22:13) / Rex R/egum et d[o]m[inu]s/ domina[n]tium (Revelation 19:16) / scurtans (sic = scrutans) r/enes et c[or]/da et da[bo]/ unic[ui]que ve/strum sec/undum op[er]/a vestra n/u[n]c ergo (Revelation 2:23). (‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will give unto every one of you according to your works, now therefore…’)

• 2. Eleven Saints (Turin, Galleria Sabauda, fig. 12): Saint Peter in place of honour; Saint James carrying a pilgrim’s staff hung with a purse decorated with a scallop shell; an Evangelist, probably Saint John the Evangelist (who wrote the Book of Revelation), holding an inkwell, a quill pen and a book; two deacons; two bishops; two elderly saints, one with a knife and one with a flame, plausibly identified by Daniela Parenti as two patriarchs, namely Abraham, holding the knife with which he was about to sacrifice Isaac, and Moses holding the burning bush; a male Benedictine saint, probably Saint Benedict, although Parenti points out that he could also be either Saint Bernard or Saint Romuald; and a female saint in monastic habit, possibly Saint Scholastica, although Parenti observes that her habit is not necessarily Benedictine.⁸ The widths of the National Gallery pinnacle panels precisely correspond with the summits of these two main tier panels, and the apocalyptic iconography (see below) confirms the association.

  Two predella panels (figs 14 and 15), one showing the Incredulity of Saint Thomas (formerly Paris, Bacri Collection, now Newark, Delaware, Alana Collection) and one showing the Resurrection in the centre with Christ appears to Saint Peter after Death and Noli me tangere on either side (formerly Paris, Bacri Collection, now private collection, on loan to the Metropolitan Museum, New York), have also been associated with the altar piece. Missing are the right‐hand main tier panel and a third predella panel, probably showing another appearance of Christ after his death (see below).

  Luigi Cavadini’s reconstruction shows a triptych, possibly a pentaptych. While the latter cannot be excluded, the altar piece works well as a triptych (see fig. 1).⁹

Iconography

The overriding theme of the altar piece is apocalyptic. The texts carried by the enthroned Christ are from the Book of Revelation written by Saint John the Evangelist, while the appearance of the figure in the central pinnacle panel (NG 579.6) above him (see fig. 1) corresponds with Christ of the Apocalypse, identified in the Book of Revelation 1:13–18: ‘And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps … with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow… And he had in his right hand seven stars [see fig. 8] and out of his mouth went a sharp two‐edged sword [see fig. 16].’ In his left hand are the keys of hell and death (see fig. 9).¹⁰

Because of the inscription John the Baptist carries, he has sometimes in the past been identified as Isaiah. However, he wears the camel‐skin tunic worn by the Baptist, makes the gesture of the Baptist, and the inscription is not the original one. Inspection with a microscope reveals that it has been thoroughly repainted (see above); furthermore, the typography is not consistent with that used elsewhere by Giovanni da Milano, notably in one of the panels thought to have formed part of the same altar piece (see above). It is likely that the scroll originally bore as much of the following as would fit: ECCE AGNUS DEI QUI TOLLIT PECCATA MUNDI (John 1:29). At some stage it was repainted with the inscription from Isaiah, possibly because the submissive pose of the Virgin resembles that of the Virgin Annunciate.¹¹ Both the Virgin and the Baptist are intended as intercessors, their role on the Day of Judgement being to intercede on behalf of mankind.

Parenti has rightly identified the scenes in the surviving predella panels as concerned with Christ’s appearances after his death and resurrection: Christ appearing to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias (John 21:1– 11), Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene (John 20:13–17), and Christ appearing to the disciples and doubting Thomas (John 20:24–29).¹²

Carl Strehlke has suggested that the panel with Saint Peter, the resurrected Christ and the ‘Noli me tangere’ went on the left (below the main tier panel showing Saint Peter), and the scene with doubting Thomas in the centre; he suggests that the now lost third predella panel showed the Ascension on the right.¹³ However, Saint Peter also features prominently in the front row of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas. The composition of the panel with the resurrected Christ is clearly intended for a central position, and the sequence of the episodes is not chronological but thematic. All the episodes on the surviving panels are taken from the Gospel of Saint John the Evangelist, who, standing at the outer left of the main tier panel above, leads the eye down to the predella. Although at [page 253]first glance, the scenes might not overtly appear to conform to the theme of the Apocalypse found in the main tier and pinnacle panels, in fact, in showing one of Christ’s appearances after his death, each scene perfectly illustrates the words spoken by the Apocalyptic Christ/Son of Man to Saint John: ‘I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death’ (Revelation 1:18). (The keys of Heaven had been given by Christ to Saint Peter; Matthew 16:19.) Thus it seems very likely that the lost scene showed another of Christ’s appearances after death, possibly one described in the Gospel of Saint John, perhaps the Apparition behind Closed Doors (John 20:19–23) (from which Saint Thomas was absent), or one of those featuring Saint Peter, such as the Apparition at Supper (reminiscent of the Last Supper), where Christ charged Peter: ‘Feed my sheep’ (John 21:12–17).

Another possibility is that the lost scene showed the Supper at Emmaus or the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35), which might explain the presence of Saint James in the front row of the main tier, since Christ was commonly represented disguised as a pilgrim on the road to Emmaus:¹⁴ the same choice of scenes (excluding that with Saint Peter), namely the Noli me tangere and the Incredulity of Saint Thomas on the left and right respectively of the Resurrection, was sculpted by Tino di Camaino and his workshop on the front of the tomb of Cardinal Riccardo Petroni in Siena Cathedral (for which they were paid between January and June 1318), the sequence being reversed in the tomb of Bishop Gaston delle Torre (d. 1318) in Santa Croce, Florence; in both tombs the sequence was introduced at the left side by the Road to Emmaus (and closed with the Three Marys at the Sepulchre at the right side).¹⁵

Attribution, Date, Original Location and Patron

Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovanni‐Battista Cavalcaselle were in 1864 the first to attribute NG 579.6, 7 and 8 to Giovanni da Milano, and the attribution has never been disputed.¹⁶ The altar piece is generally considered to be a mature work, with critics divided over whether it was painted before or after Giovanni went to Rome in 1369. It has been argued, for example by Paolo Venturoli, that the altar piece shows a knowledge of Giotto’s Stefaneschi altar piece (Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana).¹⁷ However, Giovanni da Milano may never have returned to Florence from Rome, and the majority of critics date the altar piece around 1365. For example, Marabottini discussed it before the Pietà dated 1365 (Florence, Accademia).¹⁸ Boskovits dated it around 1364–6 and placed it, together with Giovanni’s frescoes in the Guidalotti / Rinuccini Chapel in Santa Croce (see biography above), among his last works in Florence before he left for Rome.¹⁹ Recently it has also been dated by Annamaria Bernacchioni and Daniela Parenti to the final period of Giovanni’s Florentine activity, around 1365–9, that is, contemporary with the Rinuccini Chapel, particularly in comparison with the Pantocrator in the vault.²⁰

The original location of the altar piece is not known, but Saint Peter is shown in the position of honour in the Turin panel, as well as being prominent in the predella panels.²¹ This led to Mina Gregori’s suggestion that the altar piece could have been the one commissioned by Piero Palagio/Pelagio in 1371 for the Chapter House of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence.²² The format is consistent with that of others in the series (see pp. 404–5); the fact that the pinnacle panels were attached to NG 579.1–5, which certainly came from Santa Maria degli Angeli (see p. 402), could argue in favour of this location. However, it is more likely that they were attached to NG 579.1–5 when in the Lombardi‐Baldi Collection. The frame of that altar piece is nineteenth century (see p. 396) and has an attribution to Taddeo Gaddi written on top of the panels in a nineteenth‐century hand – the attribution which is given to the altar piece in the catalogue of the Lombardi‐Baldi Collection (see Provenance), and which is more likely to have been the action of a dealer than of a monastic order. Moreover, the probable date for the execution of the altar piece around 1365 is earlier than the Palagio commission.

A strong possibility is that the altar piece was painted for the chapel of the Bishop of Florence in the Palazzo Arcivescovile, dedicated to San Salvatore. Among the reasons for this, as described by Annamaria Bernacchioni and Daniela Parenti, are: Christ is enthroned on a lion‐headed faldstool, representing episcopal and papal authority; and the saints represent a canonical hierarchy – Apostles, patriarchs, deacons, bishops and possibly Saints Benedict and Scholastica, the founders of monastic orders.²³ Bernacchioni adds the substantiating evidence that Giuseppe Richa recorded in the episcopal chapel in Florence a painting showing Christ Enthroned between the Virgin and John the Baptist by Giovanni Battista Naldini, dated 1574.

A further argument is the prominent stole, often, but not invariably, worn by Peter, the first vicar of Christ. Moreover, according to the Book of Revelation the seven stars in the sphere held by the Apocalyptic Christ (NG 579.6) are ‘angels of the seven churches’, which, if the interpretation is correct, could here symbolise the churches within the diocese of Florence, as well as the universal Church.²⁴

If the altar piece was indeed painted for the episcopal palace, then the most likely patron would have been Pietro Corsini, Bishop of Florence from 1362 to 1369.²⁵ The iconography would presumably have appealed to him in that it showed his name saint, Saint Peter, representing ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the universal Church, featuring prominently in the predella.

Other possible locations considered by Bernacchioni and Parenti are the Cistercian abbey of San Salvatore in Settimo and the Camaldolese monastery of San Salvatore in Florence.²⁶ Less likely is Luisa Marcucci’s suggestion that the altar piece might be the one recorded by Vasari in Santa Croce.²⁷

Exhibited

NG 579.6 only: Florence 2008, Accademia, Giovanni da Milano. Capolavori del Gotico fra Lombardia e Toscana (27).

Provenance

In the Lombardi‐Baldi Collection in 1845 (no. 11);²⁸ purchased with the other pictures from Lombardi and Baldi (attached to NG 579.1–5), 1857.²⁹

Notes