taddeo1.300.300.c
Location: Philbrook Museum of Art
City: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Artist: Taddeo di Bartolo
Contents
Artist Biography
About the Painting
Related Links and Resources
References
Artist Biography
Taddeo di Bartolo, Siena (?) ca. 1362- Siena, after 1422.
Taddeo di Bartolo was born the son of a barber, most likely in or near the city of Siena. In 1389 he registered in the guild of Sienese painters and produced his first signed work, the altarpiece for the oratory of Santi Vito e Modesto at Collegarli in San Miniato al Tedesco. In the 1390s, Taddeo di Bartolo worked on several commissions destined for regions outside of his native Siena, and documents suggest that the artist may have traveled throughout Tuscany and to the cities of Umbria and Liguria. He moved his workshop to Pisa and remained there for nearly a decade, creating masterpieces such as the San Michele altarpiece (inspired by Agnolo Gaddi’s altarpiece for Santa Maria Novella in Florence).
Taddeo’s legacy also includes a series of frescoes created for the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena after 1406, which include religious scenes and compositions based on Greek and Roman subjects. In addition to his civic commissions, Taddeo di Bartolo created a number of altarpieces for various religious institutions. His panel paintings attest to his proficiency in gilding, and many of his works are adorned with intricate decorations made with pastiglia, punchmarks, and sgraffito techniques.
About the Painting
This panel depicting the Madonna and Child was probably the central element of a larger altarpiece, as related panels can be found in the Brooks Memorial Art Gallery and in the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art. Taddeo chose to render this popular subject in an extremely detailed manner, emphasizing textures and embellishing the figures’ clothes using various techniques. He contrasted the luminous golden background with the Madonna’s dark tunic and intricate punchwork surrounding both figures. Jesus, portrayed here as a young child, playfully grasps his foot while holding a goldfinch with his left hand.
Related Links and Resources
Santa Maria della Scala – Location of a related Madonna and Child by Taddeo di Bartolo at the Compagnia di Sta. Caterina della Notte, Siena.
Taddeo di Bartolo – Art In Tuscany
References
Cennini, Cennino. The Craftsman’s Handbook, translated by Daniel V. Thompson Jr. New York: Dover Publications, 1954.
Dunkerton, Jill, Susan Foister, Dillian Gordon and Nicholas Penny. Giotto to Durer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
Maginnis, Hayden B. J. The World of the Early Sienese Painter. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.
Norman, Diana. Painting in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena (1260-1555). New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003.
Solberg, Gail E. “Altarpiece Types and Regional Adaptations in the Work of Taddeo di Bartolo.” In Studies in the History of Art v. 61, Italian Panel Painting of the Duecento and Trecento, edited by Victor M. Schimdt, 198-227. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002.
Solberg, Gail E. “Taddeo di Bartolo: A Polyptych to Reconstruct.” In Brooks Museum Bulletin: Essays on the Collection, I. Board of Directors, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Inc., 1994.
The Philbrook Museum of Art. A Handbook to the Collections. Tulsa, Oklahoma: The Philbrook Museum of Art, 1991.