Fresco fragment, 'St John and St Dorothea', Attributed to Pier Francesco Fiorentino, 1490s

Two saints depicted side by side in full length under an arched painted frame: on the left, a bearded man wearing a tunic of animal's skin under a cloak and on the right, a woman, crowned with flowers, holding a pot with white flowers in her right hand.

Purchased, 1869

Historical significance: This fresco painting was previously attributed to Benozzo Gozzoli (ca.1421-1497) with whom Pier Francesco Fiorentino worked on the fresco cycle of the life of St Augustine in San Gimignano. B. Berenson (1909) then reattributed the painting to Pier Francesco Fiorentino on the ground of stylistic similarities with the artist's two signed works: two altarpieces showing a Madonna enthroned with saints, respectively in S. Agostino at San Gimignano (1494) and in the Pinacoteca Fortunato Duranti at Montefortino (1497).
The present fresco shows two saints probably from a series of saints. On the left is St John the Baptist identifiable from his tunic of animal's skin that he wears under a large cloak. His traditional attribute, a reed cross with a long slender stem, is here missing but his pointed finger alludes to his designation of Christ as the Redeemer. On the right is either St Dorothea or St Elizabeth of Hungary, sometimes crowned with roses and whose attribute is for both a basket of roses. St Elizabeth of Hungary is also sometimes dressed as a Franciscan nun and is for the Franciscans a symbol of female charity.
Certain stylistic features of the fresco such as its luminosity and the linear treatment of the figures also suggest comparisons with Giovanni di Francesco, with whom it is likely that Pier Francesco collaborated on the terra verde frescoes of biblical stories in the loggia of Palazzo Rucellai, Florence.
This fresco painting bears essential characteristics of Pier Francesco Fiorentino's art such as the sharp outlines of the figures and the clean linearity of the composition. It was probably part of a large wall decoration articulated around a major piece representing a scene from the New Testament including the Virgin and Christ.

Fresco painting is among the most complex projects undertaken during the Renaissance. This technique, i.e. painting on wet plaster, originated in the Antiquity (see the surviving fresco of Pompeii, near Naples, destructed during the eruption of the Vesuvius in 79 B.C.), was reintroduced and developed in the late 13th century and the 14th century particularly in the work of the Isaac master, Giotto and his followers and perfected during the Italian Renaissance, culminating in Michelangelo's technological tour de force in the Sistine chapel, Rome (1508-12). This medium was used to decorate large wall areas of both private and public buildings. Such sizable paintings, in which timing was of critical importance, took careful planning and involved a number of assistants. A precise plan in the form of a drawing or of many drawings was required so that the composition would fit exactly on the wall. The artist could draw directly on the wet plaster (this underdrawing technique is called sinopia) or use cartoons (from the Italian word cartone) from which the composition was then transferred onto the wall. Another method of transfer, used especially in the 17th century for vast ceiling frescoes, was squaring, which replaced the time-consuming and costly cartoon technique.

Formerly attributed to Benozzo Gozzoli at the time of acquisition

Pier Francesco Fiorentino [Pier Francesco di Bartolomeo di Donato] (1444/5-1497) was born in Florence and probably trained with his father Bartolomeo di Donato prior entering Benozzo Gozzoli's workshop when he moved to San Gimignano in 1463. A few works by Pier Francesco survived borrowing the style of such great masters of his time as Gozzoli, Domenico Veneziano but also Piero della Francesco and Perugino.

This painting bears many similarities with the art of Pier Francesco Fiorentino who developed a style inspired from Benozzo Gozzoli's art and was inspired by the other great masters of his time. This detached fresco shows two figures of saints side by side, St John the Baptist on the left and St Dorothea (or St Elizabeth of Hungary) on the right. This was probably part of a large fresco decoration including a main piece representing a scene with the Virgin and Christ, flanked by a series of saints.

196-1869