The Collaboration of Niccolo Tegliacci and Luca Di Tomme

8/11/2019 The Collaboration of Niccolo Tegliacci and Luca Di Tomme

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The

Collaboration

o f

Niccol Tegliacci

and

Leadi Tomme


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his page intentionally left blank


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J .

PAUL

GETTY

M U S E UM

PublicationNo.5

THE

COLLABORATION

OF

NICCOL TEGLIACCI

A N D

LUCA

D I

TOMM

BY

S H E R W O O D A . F EH M , JR .

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Printed byAnderson, Ritchie Simon

Los

Angeles,

California


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tended the ideas theyhadoriginally learned in hisshop,andsuch

second generation Florentine artists

as

Agnolo Gaddi

and

Cen-

nino

Cennini

perpetuated Giotto's artistic notions

and

tech-

niques .

To

Cennino,

in

fact,

w e are

indebted

for a

''recipe book

which

provides some glimpse into a

craftsman's

workshop.

In

contrast, four important artists were

at

work

in

Siena

in the

first

half

of the

igoo's. Duccio's renowned Maest

was the

most

complete catalogue

of the

Christological scenes

yet

done

on

panel.

Its

scenes

o f

delicately cons tructed

and

exquisitely colored

figures

against

a

brightly burnished gold ground represent

the

summat ion

of

Byzan t ine

influence in

I ta ly . Simone Mart ini

worked both

on

panel

and

plaster, introducing into

his

works

elements borrowed from Nor thern Europe .

A

predilection

for

Gothic l inearity

and

elegance pervades

his

pictures. Ambrogio

and

Pietro Lorenzetti shared

an

interest

in

perspective

and

each

had his own individuality, though it seems they sometimes col-

laborated,

as was

f requent ly

the

case w ith large co m m issions dur-

ing this period. However, their particular collaboration isrela-

tively uncommon for the period as i t appears to have been the

cooperation of two equals, rather than the more usual master-

pupil

relationship.

Among

the

artists

of the

generation succeeding Simone, Duccio

and the

Lorenz etti, were

the

lesser known NiccolTegliacci

and

Lea

di

Tomme.

Tegliacci, known

to

have been active during

the 1340*8 and 1350*5 , was

undoubted ly

the

older

of the

two.

So

far

as it is known , he restricted himself to panel paint ing and

manuscr ip t i l lumina t ion .

His

rather s t i f f , wooden,

frontal

com-

positions are very reminiscent of S imone Mar t in i ,

from

wh om

he

acqu ired a tastefor elegant decoration. Lea diTomme, w ho

is last recorded

in

1390, owes

a

debt

to

both Simone

and

Pietro

Lorenzet t i

as

evidenced

by his

earlier works

in

wh ich

he

com-

bines the former's elegance with the latter 's interest in perspec-

tive.

Several works have been attr ibuted to Luca by one authority

and to

Niccol

by

another.

The

connections between

the two

were not considered un til the discovery of bo th signatures on the

f raming of a

large altar

in the

Siena Pinacoteca Nazionale.

This

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f ind

generated m uch controversy

in the

cr i t ical l i terature

an d has

tended to elevate opinions of Nicco l 's ar t ist ic stature. The pre-

della for the

altar

w as

recently recognized,

fu r the r

he igh ten ing

interest

in

th is wo rk.

This

problem ofjo in t au thorsh ipin am edieval workshopis in-

vestigated

here, an attem pt is m ade to determine w hich artist was

responsible

for the

o verall design

of the

altar,

and

argum ents sup-

por t ing a t t r ibu t ions

for

each individual panel within

the

work

are

presented.

I.

B A C K G R O U N D

One of the largest , most important

altarpieces

made in Siena

dur ing

the

th ird quar ter

of the

four teen th cen tury

is a

po lyp tych

representing

the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints John

th e Baptist, Thomas,

Benedict,

and Stephen (Figs,

i,

1 7,

19-25,

27 ) . This

paint ing had been a t t r ibuted to var ious ar t is ts unt i l

1932 .

1

In that year Cesare B randi pu blished an inscription fou nd

on the

decorative molding beneath

the Virgin and Child: NIC -

C H O L A U S

S ER

SOCCII

ET

L U C A S

TOMASDES EN ISH O C

HOPOS

P I N S E R U ( N ) T

A N N I

MC C C LXII .

2

This

double

sig-

natu re proved beyo nd a dou bt that the altarpiece w as the jo in t

work of

NiccolTegliacci

and Lea diTomme. In

1 958 , Fede-

rico

Zeri identif iedfour panels representing scenes

from the

life

of

Saint

Thomas (in the

collection

of the

Earl

of

Crawford

and

Balcarres,

Figs.

2 2 - 2 5 )

an

The Collaboration of Niccolo Tegliacci and Luca Di Tomme

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