FRANCESCO D'ANTONIO DA ANCONA

MADONNA AND CHILD. CHRIST AND SAINTS

A polyptych consisting of 14 parts; fragment of a depiction of Maria Annunziata (upper row at the right restored at the beginning of the 20^th century).

There is a signature and date centre bottom on the base of the Madonna's throne: MATER FRANCISCVS ANTONII DE ANCONA ME PINXIT: ANNO. D.M.CCC.L. Lower down the date is repeated in full.

Before the polyptych was acquired by the Pushkin Museum it was regarded as the work of an unknown master of the Siena school in the 14^th century. This particular work was unique as the only one signed by the painter.

Provenance: it belonged to Izyumov (initials not known) in Moscow; from him it passed to the artist Pavlov (Moscow) and then to the antiquarian S.P.Tyunin (information gleaned from Pushkin Museum documents); in 1927 it was transferred from the shop "Detkomissiya" (Moscow) to the Pushkin Museum.